HIMSS 2025 – Civitas Networks for Health's Takeaways

Our team is back from Vegas, and Jolie Ritzo, MPH , our VP of Strategy and Network Engagement, shared some takeaways from her time at HIMSS 2025. Her reflection covers everything from the Interoperability and HIE Forum, to conversations in the hallways and our Civitas Member Meet Up.??

Let's dive in.

Interoperability and HIE Forum

In the opening keynote, Brendan Keeler of HTD Health , started by noting: “People ask, 'Why are we not there yet with nationwide interoperability? How are we not done with interoperability?'" And then said, "The question is, 'why do you think we would ever be done?'”?

He sparked the room with inspiration saying, “Let’s build more infrastructure – we have a lot more to put in place.”?

Also interesting was Keeler’s depiction of network evolution cycle and the acknowledgement that we are very much in the messy middle.??

State of Interoperability and HIE Today: Breakthroughs and Barriers Session

During the "State of Interoperability and HIE Today: Breakthroughs and Barriers" session with Lisa Bari , Michael Westover , Nancy Beavin , and Jay Nakashima , Lisa noted, “We just don’t know what is coming from the federal government. So, we must ask ourselves what we can do.”

The conversation brought about some other very important topics to be explored while considering the state of interoperability. They discussed the need to:?

• Move beyond the treatment use case, to payment, operations, and public health?
• Revisit the definition of minimum necessary?
• Go further with patient access, information blocking, and consent management?
• Close implementation loops impeding bulk FHIR and other adoption of standards?

Advancing Public Health with Interoperable Data Session

Civitas member, Waldo Mikels-Carrasco with Illinois Public Health Institute (IPHI) , Co-Director of Data Across Sectors for Health , and newly named Managing Director of the Chicago Regionwide Community Information Exchange, tackled the importance of "Advancing Public Health with Interoperable Data."

He called attention to an important paper that came out five years ago – "Driving Public Health in the Fast Lane" by the de Beaumont Foundation – that caught the attention of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and laid the groundwork for the Public Health Infrastructure Program (PHIG).

He outlined the work of the PHIG and the Implementation Centers. The highlight was his recognition that exchange is not possible unless you have trusted partners to exchange data with. PHAs need to expand their own state and health data ecosystems. Noting that this needs to be more connected so that we move away from one-to-one connection.?

The Role of Next-Gen Health Data Networks Session

This dovetailed nicely into a following session featuring two Civitas members CRISP - Chesapeake Regional Information System for our Patients and Velatura Public Benefit Corporation with Janée T. , Craig Behm , Angie Bass, MHA , and Jeff Nguyen . Craig Behm, CEO of CRISP, stated with certainty that, “All the work is local, all the trust is local, the use cases are local. When you need to make something happen, you do it locally. You call your governor, you work with your legislature, you partner with key stakeholders in your state and in your jurisdictions.”

Angie Bass, Executive Vice President and Chief Strategy Officer of Velatura, centered on acknowledgement of learning from our history and the increased focus on data quality: "Now we understand how to manage the trash in, trash out problem. We have to participate in data quality; providers, payors, and HIEs are coming together.”??

In this session, they also discussed barriers to next-generation health data networks, which included things such as:?

• No mandate, no money – this is needed at state and federal levels?

• Technology is the easiest part. Trust is more challenging?– we have many examples of how interoperability works (e.g., direct secure messaging, ADT notifications, etc.)

• Change management is hard

• Providers are still being paid through fee-for-service and need to be incentivized differently?

• Politics and business decisions?

Ending with a visionary note, a panelist illustrated a picture that, years down the road, we will have a health data utility (HDU) model in every state with its own governance and a strong hope that consumerism has forced our hand. They noted that health data should be as successful as our financial data is currently.?

Comments and Conversations Had in the HIMSS Halls

Beyond the Forum, the halls were abuzz with people connecting on the uncertainties of federal health policy right now, the changes in health AI regulations, and the need for more localized approaches to information exchange, governance structures, and health improvement.

The burning question for many around the conference and at the "Interoperability and HIE Forum" was: "Will TEFCA succeed?"

The reality is that the jury is out.

However, we do know that the country needs a national framework for interoperability, and if it's not TEFCA, then we will need something else (some of which already exists). While some think TEFCA will persist, others think that the current structure will fail because of things like the Common Agreement’s shortcomings (particularly in allowing for bad actors) and eroded trust.??

Civitas Member Meetup

Civitas hosted a member meet up on Tuesday afternoon – a huge thank you to our members and partners at InterSystems . The room was packed with members from all over the country.

The commitment to collaboration is so evident when our members come together.

For 90 minutes, members chatted extensively about what is working and where we need to go further. They also discuss solutions, key partnerships, and new opportunities.?

Thank You to HIMSS for Having Us

Above all HIMSS is a place for networking, coming together, and recognizing how much we can do when we bring brilliant people together.??

A huge thank you to HIMSS for hosting another great conference – we can't wait for next year.

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