Mobile technology can streamline the delivery of both health data and care. But with this easy access, IT managers know that the real test of a new application’s usefulness is whether it can be integrated into existing workflows, securely.

To help HIMSS15 visitors focus on the practical opportunities, the Mobile Health Knowledge Center provides a central spot for seeing mHealth technologies and hearing expert presentations on best practices.

“The HIMSS annual conference is massive,” says David Collins, senior director of healthcare information systems for HIMSS. “The show floor takes up nine football fields and there are more than 1,100 exhibitors.”

For show attendees, Collins says, this knowledge center is “a one-stop shop for mobile.”

“Say I’m a director of IT at a hospital,” he adds. “My CIO says, ‘David, I want you to go to HIMSS. I want you to network, find out what people are doing with mobile, then come back to me with a solution so we can update our pager system to a better communications system using mobile technology.’ Well, the Mobile Health Knowledge Center is the place for that.”

More than 20 vendors, in fact, will be demonstrating products.

Doc Halo will present secure texting and paging solutions. PerfectServe will display a unified communications platform that connects clinicians using a rules-based engine. And TapCloud will show an app that captures patient health data and sends a real-time stream for clinicians to evaluate and assess the effectiveness of treatments.

The Mobile Health Knowledge Center also features education sessions in the theater on a range of topics, including:

• issues surrounding patient-generated health data
• technical requirements for deploying and securing mobile devices and mobile data
• challenges of protecting patient privacy in a mobile environment
• overcoming resistance to mobile healthcare from patients

Collins says some vendors will do a presentation with a client, which offers attendees a chance to hear from other healthcare professionals about their experiences with a particular product or service.

“A hospital CMO can come in, describe the problem they faced and the benefits of the solution they chose,” he says. “It’s a case study in person.”

In addition, the Mobile Health Knowledge Center will include a joint HIMSS/mHealth Summit booth, where attendees can see the resources and content developed by the two organizations, as well as learn how to submit a proposal or reserve a vendor spot for next November’s mHealth conference.

The Mobile Health Knowledge Center will be on the HIMSS15 exhibit floor at Booth 8368.