• Inside CHIME: National Patient ID Challenge Update

    Inside CHIME - header

    Weinstock 70x70 3.30.17 by Matthew Weinstock
    Director of Communications and Public Relations, CHIME

    The National Patient ID Challenge is in a critical phase: submissions for the final innovation round are under review.

    It’s an exciting time for the National Patient ID Challenge. Submissions for the final innovation round are currently undergoing a thorough review by our illustrious panel of judges. Innovators had a tall mountain to climb to get to this point. For the final round, they had to work through 44 use-case scenarios and answer detailed questions around enrollment and identification; security and fraud; management; privacy; scalability; adoptability and implementation. They were also asked to provide details on intellectual property and come up with a prototype development plan. Phew!

    It’s a robust set of entries and we want to be sure we do our due diligence and give them the detailed review they deserve. All along, we’ve said that quality is our top priority. We want to identify a solution that will solve this critical patient safety problem. With that in mind, CHIME has adjusted the challenge timeline to ensure that both judges and innovators have adequate time to move through these final stages.

    • May 12: Finalists will be announced
      • Finalists will receive guidelines for the prototype stage of the challenge. We’ll also host a webinar to
        provide a more detailed review of what’s expected.
    • June 30: Deadline to submit prototypes
    • July 1 – August 25: Prototype testing phase 1: enrollment & identification
    • September 1 – October 15: Prototype testing phase 2: privacy & security
    • Early November: Winner announced

    There’s a lot of work ahead of us as we march toward naming a winner, but it’s important that we don’t lose sight of why CHIME launched this challenge in the first place. ECRI Institute listed patient identification as one of its top 10 patient safety concerns for 2017. Citing its 2016 deep dive on the issue, ECRI noted that of 7,613 events analyzed, 9 percent resulted in patient injury, including two deaths. Imagine if you or a loved one were part of that 9 percent. Our goal is make sure that everyone is correctly identified when they seek care and that we eliminate this risk of patient harm.

    More Inside CHIME Volume 2, No. 7:

    Posted 3.30.2017

  • Inside CHIME: Transforming Healthcare on a Global Scale

    Inside CHIME - header

    3.30.17 by Jane Dwelly, HIMSS-CHIME International

    A new CHIME-HIMSS partnership officially launched last month with a series of workshops in England. The whirlwind tour inspired health IT leaders to drive change in their organizations.

    London – HIMSS-CHIME International officially launched in the UK on a sunny spring morning at the historic central London headquarters of the British Medical Association.

    Addressing the invited audience of C-suite healthcare IT leaders, CHIME President and CEO Russell Branzell and HIMSS President and CEO Steve Lieber challenged attendees to re-imagine their approach to taking their teams and organizations through the transformative change needed in the National Health Service.

    The HIMSS-CHIME International tour then moved north to Manchester where 30 HIT leaders from the northwest of England met in the Museum of Science and Industry. Fittingly, this global heritage building is on the site of the world’s first railway station which opened in 1830 and also displays a prototype from 1950 of Ferranti Mark 1, the world’s first commercially available computer.

    Keeping to the theme of ideas that have changed our society, Branzell welcomed delegates “to the revolution” and over the next three hours led a series of mind-expanding and norm-challenging discussions and table top workshops. Branzell was supported by Rachel Dunscombe, CHIME ambassador and CIO of local health organization, The Salford Group. Dunscombe was one of the first CIOs to earn the international CHCIO designation.

    The overwhelming feeling at the end of the afternoon was one of optimism and excitement about tackling future challenges – people just wished they had more time to work on their leadership style!

    Then, the indefatigable Branzell hopped over to Dublin, Ireland, and gave two workshops to universal approval. Called “The People Side of Change: Talent, Teams and Networks,” Branzell spoke to the Irish Executive Leadership Summit and also to the Health Service Executive – the body which provides health and social services to everyone living in Ireland.

    It was an exciting launch to HIMSS-CHIME International!

    More Inside CHIME Volume 2, No. 7:

    Posted 3.30.2017

  • Ontario Hospitals Join Partnership to Deliver Seamless Patient Care with MEDITECH’s Web EHR

    Markham Stouffville Hospital, Southlake Regional Health Centre, & Stevenson Memorial Hospital to enhance the patient experience with integrated EHR

    WESTWOOD, MA – March 29, 2017 — Located in Ontario, where 58 percent of hospitals are using MEDITECH’s Electronic Health Record (EHR), Markham Stouffville Hospital (MSH), Southlake Regional Health Centre, and Stevenson Memorial Hospital announced a new partnership to integrate their Health Information System (HIS) and accelerate the adoption of MEDITECH’s 6.1 Web EHR across all three organizations. Over the next year, Southlake and Stevenson will implement the software company’s latest version which will be hosted by MSH, a current MEDITECH customer for over 25 years and first in Canada to implement MEDITECH’s Web Ambulatory solution.

    “The MEDITECH system creates the opportunity for a shared patient record across all three organizations, meaning regardless of where the patient receives care, the clinicians have real-time access to the patient’s health information,” Jo-anne Marr, president and CEO at MSH said. “This partnership offers a number of benefits to our community; it creates the opportunity for a common patient record, it enables us to optimize our staff and financial resources, and it showcases our expertise and innovation for healthcare IT.”

    The first-of-its-kind since the start of the province’s new eHealth 2.0 guidelines, a blueprint set forth to help healthcare organizations collaborate and exchange health information, the historic and strategic partnership will enable all three sites to improve the quality of care and patient safety with seamless care coordination across the continuum.

    “This partnership clearly aligns with the goals of eHealth 2.0,” Dr. Dave Williams, President and CEO Southlake Regional Health Centre said. “We’re out there at the forefront. What’s unique about this partnership is a common patient record. We’re truly doing something that enhances system integration and provides value for not only patients but providers as well.”

    In addition to improving patient care and the overall patient experience, the partnership will increase physician productivity with an integrated EHR across all points of care.

    “MEDITECH brings a wealth of experience that helps solidify all three organizations through the same EHR platform,” President and CEO of Stevenson Memorial Hospital, Jody Levac said. “This particular project allows us to address the disparities that occur in small to rural hospitals. Many of our patients can’t access specialists or consultants. A single EHR across the three institutions allows our patients to get access to high quality care that could never be possible without this type of partnership.”

    “When healthcare organizations share a single, modern system, we see substantial benefits to patients in the community,” MEDITECH Associate Vice President of Marketing, Christine Parent said. “MEDITECH is proud to play a key role in accelerating EHR adoption and driving quality care, and we’re excited to see future results of this long-term partnership.”

    Serving customers in Canada since 1981, MEDITECH is the leading EHR vendor in the country with 589 facilities. The MEDITECH EHR is also installed in seven out of ten provinces as well as in two of three territories. In 2015-2017, MEDITECH was recognized as Best in KLAS Community HIS and KLAS Category Leader for Global Acute EMR in Northern America (Canada).

    Learn more about how MEDITECH’s clinically-integrated, state-of-the-art Web EHR is transforming care delivery and sign up for MEDITECH’s next webinar:

    • Webinar: MEDITECH’s Web ED
      Tuesday, April 11, 2017, 2 – 3 PM (Eastern)
      Presented by: Dr. Clark Simpson, Emergency Department Physician, Punxsutawney Area Hospital

    About MEDITECH
    Healthcare is long overdue for genuine disruption and innovation. MEDITECH is leading the charge by helping care organizations reclaim their productivity, coordinate care, and do more for patients with its mobile Web Electronic Health Record (EHR). With 2,400+ customers, across 22 different countries, MEDITECH solutions are empowering users to provide higher quality care, with greater efficiency, to more people, at a lower cost. A leading EHR vendor with over 45 years of experience, MEDITECH is helping care organizations reach their clinical, analytical, and financial goals. For more information on how MEDITECH is transforming healthcare and building the next generation of EHR leaders, go to ehr.meditech.com.

    Contacts
    Paul Berthiaume
    Senior Manager, Marketing Communications
    MEDITECH
    781.774.5742
    [email protected]

    Liz Carroll
    Manager, Public Relations and Media Relations
    MEDITECH
    781.774.3297
    [email protected]

     

     

    Posted 3.29.2017

  • Sectra Signs Enterprise-Wide PACS Contract with the University of Pennsylvania Health System

    SHELTON, CT – March 29, 2017 — International medical imaging IT and cybersecurity company Sectra (STO: SECT B) announces that the University of Pennsylvania Health System (UPHS) will install Sectra PACS in their healthcare enterprise. The Sectra solution, integrated with Epic Radiant and the Epic EMR, will enable access and sharing of images and information across the entire clinical pathway. Additionally, UPHS and Sectra will enter into a development and research partnership within enterprise diagnostic imaging. The multi-year agreement includes Sectra PACS for all diagnostic radiology, Sectra Breast Imaging PACS for mammography workflow, 2D and 3D orthopaedic templating tools as well as a complete advanced visualization portfolio. The University of Pennsylvania Health System serves patients in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and the surrounding region through a network of five hospitals and ten multispecialty centers.

    “We are elated to partner with a highly-esteemed institution like UPHS. We look forward to joining forces to accomplish our mutual goals of enhanced patient care and improved diagnostic outcomes,” says Mikael Anden, president of Sectra North America.

    Sectra PACS is optimized for high production environments with stability and usability in focus. It is designed to shorten report turnaround times, enhance result distribution workflows, and improve communication between radiology and referring departments. For four continuous years, Sectra PACS has won the customer satisfaction award “Best in KLAS” for US hospitals over 200 beds.

    About Sectra
    With more than 20 years of innovation and 1,700 installations, Sectra is a leading global provider of imaging IT solutions that support healthcare in achieving patient-centric care. Sectra offers an Enterprise Image Management solution comprising PACS for imaging-intense departments, VNA and Cross Enterprise Workflow solutions. Read more about Sectra and why Sectra PACS is “Best in KLAS” at sectra.com

    Contacts
    Andrea Sowitch, Vice President of Marketing
    Sectra North America
    [email protected]
    203.925.0899 ext. 268

    Torbjörn Kronander, President and CEO
    Sectra AB
    [email protected]
    46.705.23.5227

    Posted 3.29.2017

  • GetWellNetwork Marks Growth Trajectory With New Milestone: 4.6 Million Patients Engage Using Company’s Cross-continuum Platform

    BETHESDA, MD – March 28, 2017 — GetWellNetwork®, Inc., the leader in Interactive Patient Care™ (IPC) solutions, hit a new milestone with the number of patients using its technology to engage in their health care: 3.75 million inpatients and 900,000 outpatients for a total of 4.6 million patients in 2016. This milestone was made possible through a seventh consecutive year of significant growth for the company – GetWellNetwork added more than 100 new client facilities and expansions last year and extended its cross-continuum patient engagement platform to more than 150 clinics nationwide with the acquisition of Seamless Medical Systems earlier this year.

    “We are very proud of this milestone at GetWellNetwork. Our reach and growing asset of patient data is unique in the noisy ‘patient engagement’ world, and our scale enables us to push innovation and provide these increasingly important solutions cost-effectively to our provider community as their needs evolve,” said Michael O’Neil, founder and CEO, GetWellNetwork. “We are delighted to be the partner of choice for a growing community of health care systems, hospitals and clinics that are leading care delivery innovation, and we are excited to continue shaping the future of the patient experience together with them.”

    GetWellNetwork has expanded its presence in the pediatric space, seen significant adoption of its mobile data collection tool, Marbella, and continued to move into the international market. The company added to its pediatric client community of more than 50 organizations, which now includes eight hospitals of the top ten on U.S. News & World Report’s Honor Roll of Best Children’s Hospitals. The company has also partnered with King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Centre to integrate IPC as a strategy to transform care for patients and families in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

    Among the new organizations GetWellNetwork welcomed to its client community are:

    • Connecticut Children’s Medical Center, Hartford, Conn.
    • Dayton Children’s Hospital, Dayton, Ohio
    • Excela Hospital, three facilities in Pennsylvania
    • Holy Name Medical Center, Teaneck, N.J.
    • Main Line Health, Berwyn, Pa.
    • ​​Mountain Vista Medical Center, Mesa, Ariz.
    • Salah Foundation Children’s Hospital at Broward Health, Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
    • Stamford Hospital, Stamford, Conn.
    • Luke’s Medical Center, two facilities in Phoenix/Tempe area
    • Virginia Hospital Center, Arlington, Va.
    • Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center, Winston-Salem, N.C.

    GetWellNetwork’s patient-centered platform is designed to expand patient engagement opportunities to a wider spectrum of care episodes and patient profiles. Its solutions can be used in any care setting, and among patients of all ages and cognitive and physical abilities. To see how patients use GetWellNetwork in the inpatient setting to be more actively involved in their health care experience, view a short video by Reading Health System.

     

    About GetWellNetwork
    GetWellNetwork, Inc.® powers patient experience. Our solution, The Patient’s Platform, helps leading health care systems create connections with patients in any setting, deliver insights to clinicians in real time, and transform care through an evidence-based model for patient engagement. Our open technology integrates with electronic health record and IT applications to extend the value of existing investments and expand the possibilities of care. With more than 50 million patient interactions per year, we drive performance improvement, positive outcomes and patient loyalty. Learn more at getwellnetwork.com.

    Media Contact:
    Marcia Rhodes
    Amendola Communications
    [email protected] / 480.664.8412 ext. 15

    GetWellNetwork, Inc.
    7700 Old Georgetown Road, 4th Floor
    Bethesda, MD 20814-2500
    877.633.8496
    [email protected]

     

    Posted 3.28.2017

  • Healthcare Leaders Drowning in Data Receive Lifeline from Health Catalyst with Leading Wisely, Next-Generation Executive Decision Support System

    The next step in the evolution of executive decision support automates insight discovery, simplifying decisions in a culture rife with information overload

    SALT LAKE CITY, UT – March 28, 2017 — Healthcare leaders are tasked with managing the most complex and changeable industry on Earth, one in which access to the right information at the right time is mission critical. Yet many are almost literally drowning in information as they struggle to collect and interpret data from dozens of IT systems and hundreds of reports in competing formats.

    It’s a problem that threatens the productivity of healthcare executives and the efficiency of the enterprises they lead—if not the very health of the nation.

    To help, Health Catalyst, a leader in data analytics, decision support and outcomes improvement, today announced the release of Leading Wisely™, a breakthrough technology marking the long-awaited next step in the evolution of executive decision support. The web-based solution automatically transforms data, key measures and goals from multiple business units into the fundamental insights critical to leadership. Leading Wisely combines and analyzes near real-time data from every available IT system and software program, and then enables users to customize information, share it with others, and set their own alerts and notifications. As a result, managers are empowered to take control of the data deluge to more effectively plan, prioritize improvement projects, create alignment among groups, strategize best solutions, and communicate decisions.

    “Collecting and synthesizing the data required for quarterly and annual planning can be an extremely time-consuming and frustrating process that often leaves executive teams struggling to make critical strategic decisions based on incomplete information,” said Timothy Sielaff, MD, PhD, Chief Medical Officer of Allina Health, Minnesota’s largest health system with 13 hospitals and 27,000 employees. “Leading Wisely is a game changer that promises to completely transform the decision-making process by giving each member of the executive team immediate access to the insights that are critical to their success and that of their team’s.”

    Old approaches to decision support miss the mark
    In most healthcare organizations, the process of collecting data to support decisions is both time-intensive and frustrating. Organizations are forced to use creative workarounds that assimilate and align data from multiple sources, with results that often reflect a months’-long time lag. These approaches are resource-intensive and often miss the mark, leading to inconsistent date ranges, cohort selections and measure calculations. In the absence of trusted, current and actionable information, executives find it difficult to plan, delegate, engage their teams in solving issues, and to track progress by work groups.

    Unlike existing decision support solutions, Leading Wisely leverages Health Catalyst’s proven ability to integrate over 100 sources of data in its data warehouse, enabling unprecedented access to and consistency of measures across business units. Moreover, its highly configurable framework gives users the equally unprecedented ability to slice and dice data to suit their roles and goals.

    With Leading Wisely, users can:

    • Choose, configure and display the balanced measures that best suit their objectives
    • Set alert thresholds, and configure push notifications across teams for when data changes, without help from the IT department
    • Set system targets and goals and track time to meet them with a single-source view of progress and outcomes
    • Enable project integration and collaboration through built-in social communication and sharing features
    • Drill down to department-level data to uncover the sources of variation

    “Why settle for a good-enough decision when truly automated and personalized decision support is now available to uncover the right decision at the right time?” asked Dale Sanders, executive vice president of product development for Health Catalyst. “Unlike traditional dashboards or static reports, Leading Wisely helps executives and their teams avoid being blindsided by unexpected information and gives them control over their data with self-service alerts and notifications that they can customize for any purpose. Now they can filter through the thousands of measures available to easily find, track, follow-up on, and share those measures that are most meaningful to their roles or their teams, and that will have the greatest impact on performance.”

    Common headaches relieved
    The exceptional decision support capabilities of Leading Wisely have the power to solve extremely common problems for healthcare leaders across the C-Suite and at the department level, such as when:

    • An alert set by the CEO calls his attention to a worrisome, real-time downward trend in days of cash on-hand. The CEO quickly reaches out to the CFO and operating unit leaders to address the trend to prevent a bond downgrade by bond rating agencies who are visiting in three months. This prevents adding millions to the cost of acquiring new capital.
    • The CFO is notified of a problematic rise in accounts receivable (or an increase in costs, or declining revenue). Using Leading Wisely, she is able to quickly uncover the root cause and reverse the trend.
    • The COO notices an upward trend in surgery revenue at one of the system’s five regional medical centers. Drilling into the data, she learns this is due to a significant improvement in Operating Room turnover time following an improvement project resulting in greater productivity and increased revenue. She connects the surgery director with surgery directors at the other four centers and quickly spreads the best practice across the system.
    • The CIO is alerted when labor costs and timelines on a large, expensive IT project that had been spiraling out of control finally hit their targets. Leading Wisely lets him quickly see the improvement and determine what made the difference. He is able to quickly share the knowledge with all of the IT Directors so it can benefit other IT projects.
    • An alert set by the Chief Medical Officer goes off when blood utilization at one of the system’s hospitals increases suddenly. Drilling into the data reveals the cause is a newly trained surgeon who is unfamiliar with the standard blood utilization protocols. The CMO contacts the surgeon and reviews the best practice protocols. Subsequently, the surgeon quickly aligns with best practice.
    • The HR Leader is notified when staff turnover increases sharply at one of the system’s hospitals. The timely heads’ up triggers a proactive effort to uncover the cause and minimize additional turnover thereby avoiding the expense of recruiting and training additional new personnel.

    Leading Wisely resolves these and other problems for healthcare leaders via integration of common industry measures such as AR days, length of stay, patient satisfaction, mortality rate, readmissions, census, and boarder measures. Once deployed, customers can add and integrate additional standard and custom measures.

    “Leading Wisely is the Bloomberg terminal of healthcare, giving organizations much greater visibility into key measures and goals, and helping to coordinate work via a single source of truth,” said Dorian DiNardo, PMP, vice president and product line manager for operations and performance management at Health Catalyst. “Leading Wisely prevents the communication breakdown that often happens from the time a decision is made in the board room through to tracking improvement, reaching targets, and monitoring progress.”

    Online Demo Available

    A video demonstration of Leading Wisely can be viewed here: healthcatalyst.com/demos/leading-wisely

    A downloadable data sheet detailing the solution’s benefits and features is available here:

    healthcatalyst.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/leading-wisely-data-sheet.pdf

    About Health Catalyst
    Health Catalyst is a next-generation data, analytics, and decision-support company, committed to being a catalyst for massive, sustained improvements in healthcare outcomes. We are the leaders in a new era of advanced predictive analytics for population health and value-based care with a suite of machine learning-driven solutions, decades of outcomes-improvement expertise, and an unparalleled ability to integrate data from across the healthcare ecosystem. Our proven data warehousing and analytics platform helps improve quality, add efficiency and lower costs in support of more than 85 million patients for organizations ranging from the largest US health system to forward-thinking physician practices. Our technology and professional services can help you keep patients engaged and healthy in their homes and workplaces, and we can help you optimize care delivery to those patients when it becomes necessary. We are grateful to be recognized by Fortune, Gallup, Glassdoor, Modern Healthcare and a host of others as a Best Place to Work in technology and healthcare. Visit healthcatalyst.com, and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook.

    Media Contact
    Todd Stein
    Amendola Communications
    916.346.4213
    [email protected]

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    Posted 3.28.2017

  • Bernoulli Announces Physician Advisors to Consult on Real-Time Healthcare & Patient Safety Issues

    Expertise will Provide Valuable Insights on Supporting Clinical Workflow & Driving Improved Quality of Care

    MILFORD, CT – March 27, 2017 — Bernoulli, the leader in real-time solutions for patient safety, announced that two prominent physicians will join the company as consultants to explore issues related to real-time healthcare delivery and increased patient safety.

    Neil A. Halpern, MD, MCCM, FCCP, FACP, is Director of the Critical Care Center, Chief of the Critical Care Medicine Service and Medical Director of Respiratory Therapy at Memorial Sloan Kettering (MSK) Cancer Center in New York. Dr. Halpern oversees a team of highly experienced doctors, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, respiratory therapists, research and bedside nurses, and critical care programmers who help provide care for patients in MSK’s adult medical-surgical intensive care unit (ICU).

    Since 2000, he has co-chaired the hospital’s Clinical Device and Product Evaluation Committee, and since 2014, the Alarm Committee at MSK. Between 2005 and 2007, he chaired the multidisciplinary ICU Design Committee that developed the plan and monitored the construction of MSK’s 20-bed medical-surgical adult ICU, which opened in April 2007.

    “There is a clear need in healthcare for greater connectivity, interoperability and comprehensive real-time data to support improved patient safety, enhanced care team collaboration and proactive clinical intervention,” said Dr. Halpern. “I look forward to advising Bernoulli on the applications and services that will have the greatest impact.”

    Amar Setty, MD, is the CEO of AnesthesiaStat, a Baltimore-based anesthesia consulting and management company operated by practicing, Board Certified anesthesiologists. In addition to an active private practice, Dr. Setty serves as the immediate-Past President of the Maryland Society of Anesthesiologists, where he continues to be an advocate.

    He is working to develop data-centric applications for patient-advocated value-based care, ultrasound/video-based artificial intelligence for medical procedures, as well as an app for patient empowerment in chronic pain. He has a unique interest in the use of technology to improve the perioperative experience and is working to build a new system of surgical risk prediction and management. He hopes to improve the quality and care of patients before and after discharge.

    “The complexity and exponential growth of patient-generated data in modern care settings can be overwhelming, and even act as a barrier to real-time patient care and interventions if not properly managed,” said Dr. Setty. “I am excited to sharing my perspectives and experiences as a physician with Bernoulli to better facilitate the use of comprehensive real-time patient data to improve patient safety, quality and cost of care.”

    “Many of the challenges facing healthcare providers – including mitigating patient safety threats, embarking on value-based care initiatives, and streamlining clinical workflows – require comprehensive real-time data, surveillance and analytics,” said Janet Dillione, CEO of Bernoulli. “Dr. Setty and Dr. Halpern’s clinical expertise will help uncover valuable insights, enabling us to better align our solutions with the needs of hospitals and health systems.”

     

    About Bernoulli
    Bernoulli is the leader in real-time solutions for patient safety, with more than 1,200 installed, operational systems. Bernoulli One™ is the market’s only real-time, connected healthcare platform that combines comprehensive and vendor-neutral medical device integration with powerful middleware, clinical surveillance, telemedicine/virtual ICU, advanced alarm management, predictive analytics and robust distribution capabilities into ONE solution that empowers clinicians with tools to drive better patient safety, clinical outcomes, patient experience, and provider workflow. For more information about Bernoulli, visit bernoullihealth.com. Follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn. Visit our Resource Center to download case studies, white papers and articles.

    Media Contact
    Matt Schlossberg
    Amendola Communications for Bernoulli
    630.935.9136
    [email protected]

    Posted 3.27.2017

  • DrFirst Receives Two Awards for Exceptional Corporate Culture

    Becker’s Hospital Review & SmartCEO recognize DrFirst for its positive, team-based work environment

    ROCKVILLE, MD – March 27, 2017 — DrFirst, the innovative leader in delivering medication management solutions that improve clinical workflows, enable secure care collaboration and enhance patient safety, announces that it has received recognition from two leading publications for its positive corporate culture and employee-centric work environment. The two awards were bestowed by Becker’s Hospital Review and SmartCEO, where the healthcare technology provider earned the following distinctions:

    • Becker’s Hospital Review named DrFirst as one of the Top 150 Places to Work in Healthcare, citing the company’s training and leadership program, DrFirst University, which provides all employees with access to educational resources designed to advance their careers. Additionally, Becker’s recognized DrFirst’s peer bonding initiatives, including its regular book clubs and multicultural celebrations, as well as its peer recognition program and individual awards held during quarterly meetings.
    • SmartCEO designated DrFirst as the recipient of its Corporate Culture Award for companies located in the greater Washington, D.C., area. SmartCEO highlighted the philosophy of DrFirst Founder and CEO, James F. Chen, who encourages each team member to play to their strengths while leveraging team synergies, similar to highly effective basketball teams. The result has been ever-increasing satisfaction of DrFirst’s staff, leading to enhanced company productivity. DrFirst’s commitment to improving health and stress reduction was also cited, with specific mention of the company’s painting classes, recreational golf clinics and table tennis tournaments.

    “DrFirst supports professional growth, better health and social bonding between employees, striving for a fun work environment where leadership skills are refined through teamwork,” said G. Cameron Deemer, president of DrFirst. “We are so pleased that Becker’s Hospital Review and SmartCEO have honored our commitment to providing our employees with ongoing opportunities to strengthen individual leadership and team development skills – all within an upbeat, collaborative work environment. This unique corporate culture fuels our team’s passion for working at DrFirst and powers our organization’s ongoing success.”

    To learn about DrFirst job opportunities, please visit drfirst.com/about-us/careers.

     

    About DrFirst
    DrFirst, the nation’s leading provider of medication management solutions, enables stakeholders across the healthcare industry to intelligently utilize comprehensive real-time data and connectivity to increase their patient safety ratings, efficiency and profitability. Today, over 170,000 healthcare professionals and over 60% of Electronic Health Record vendors, depend on DrFirst’s innovative software solutions to improve clinical workflows, expedite secure collaboration across a patient’s care team and drive better health outcomes. The company’s integrated technologies include its award-winning electronic prescribing platform, the most comprehensive medication history available, clinically specialized secure messaging, as well as patient medication adherence monitoring and benefits checking. In addition, DrFirst was the first to offer e-prescribing for controlled substances (EPCS), and is considered the industry standard for providers nationwide. For more information, please visit www.drfirst.com or connect with us @DrFirst.

    Media Contact
    Stephanie Fraser
    Amendola Communications for DrFirst
    734.233.1483
    [email protected]

    Posted 3.27.2017

  • Stoltenberg Survey Reveals Healthcare Organizations Still Underprepared for MACRA

    PITTSBURGH,PA – March 22, 2017 — In the fifth annual Health IT Industry Outlook Survey conducted by Stoltenberg Consulting Inc., a leading healthcare information technology consulting firm, more than half of healthcare providers (64 percent) reported being “unprepared” or “very unprepared” for managing and executing Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act (MACRA) initiatives. The survey arises as the healthcare industry approaches the end of the first quarter in the first-ever MACRA reporting year.

    “Many felt MACRA would be delayed due to its size and enormous financial impact on physician reimbursement in the transition to value-based care,” said Joncé Smith, vice president of revenue cycle management at Stoltenberg Consulting. “MACRA’s quality payment program (QPP) now streamlines and increases provider accountability for quality outcomes and cost reduction, but success under the program will take far more than just passive submission of claim data.”

    A majority (68 percent) of participants voiced that preparation and compliance with MACRA should be a combined effort across clinical, financial and IT departments. Additionally, “revising data management/reporting mechanisms to meet new reporting requirements” was deemed the top QPP challenge (31 percent), while “motivating the entire organization to collectively work together to achieve program alignment goals” (29 percent) came close.

    The survey was conducted at the 2017 Health Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) annual conference in Orlando. Survey participants represented practice management, project management, director and c-suite roles. IT professionals (53 percent) led survey participation, while executive/C-suite representation (42 percent) followed closely behind.

    “Success with MACRA requires a joint effort of IT and departmental resources to successfully combine clinical, financial and operational data,” Smith said. “This effort commands not only a deep technical knowledge of how and where to extract and transform the right data, but also a solid understanding of how to integrate it in such a way that the resulting data demonstrates that an organization meets objective criteria for its chosen reporting path.”

    For a complete look at the 2017 survey results, please download the report or visit www.stoltenberg.com.

    About Stoltenberg Consulting
    Founded in 1995, Pittsburgh-based Stoltenberg Consulting, Inc., provides healthcare organizations with a variety of information technology and business consulting services including system selection, project management, implementation support, legacy and help desk support, optimization and integration between systems. Stoltenberg consultants, averaging 15 years of experience, hold skills in both financial and clinical systems, offering expertise for Cerner/Siemens, Epic, Meditech, NextGen, Allscripts and McKesson customers. For more information call 412.854.5688 or visit www.stoltenberg.com.

    Media Contact
Shana Tachikawa
Stoltenberg Consulting 
[email protected]
419.617.8341
    Posted 3.22.2017

  • CynergisTek Announces New Compliance Program Effectiveness Assessment

    Company’s Latest Service Provides Independent Evaluation of Regulatory Compliance Programs & Delivers Actionable Recommendations to Healthcare Organizations

    AUSTIN, TX – March 22, 2017 — CynergisTek™, an Auxilio company (NYSE MKT: AUXO), and industry leader in health information privacy, compliance and cybersecurity, today announced its new Compliance Program Effectiveness Assessment (CPEA) service, which provides a comprehensive evaluation of healthcare organizations’ regulatory compliance programs. CynergisTek’s CPEA is conducted by a team of experienced consultants in accordance with rigorous procedures outlined by the Federal Sentencing Guidelines and the Health & Human Resources Office of Inspector General (OIG), as well as industry best practices.

    As the OIG continues its proactive efforts to combat fraud, waste and abuse, and the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) ramps up enforcement of HIPAA with hefty penalties, the ability to demonstrate that compliance programs address a host of complex regulatory requirements has become a top priority. CynergisTek developed its CPEA service to meet demand by healthcare organizations for third-party validation that existing compliance processes and procedures are both effective and meet government expectations.

    “The increasing prevalence of enforcement actions by the CMS programs and contractors, Department of Justice initiatives and OCR settlement agreements over the past few years has turned up the lights on compliance and demonstrated that regulators mean business,” said Patricia Bickel, Compliance & Privacy Officer, USF Health at the University of South Florida. “As healthcare continues to grapple with growing regulatory scrutiny and the need to prove program effectiveness, the availability of a credible third-party evaluation like CynergisTek’s is a welcomed service to our industry.”

    “2016 was a record year for enforcement action across several government agencies, and that has been a huge motivating factor for healthcare organizations in looking closely at their programs and recognizing the need for expert support,” said Mac McMillan, CEO of CynergisTek. “With recent strategic additions to our team and this new offering, CynergisTek is more equipped than ever to deliver what healthcare organizations need to navigate an evolving and increasingly intricate regulatory landscape.”

    Leading the CPEA service is Marti Arvin, who joined CynergisTek in August 2016 as Vice President of Audit Strategy. Since coming onboard, Arvin has supported the company’s development of innovative service offerings that meet today’s regulatory demands. With more than 30 years of experience in the fields of compliance, research and regulatory administration at academic medical centers and traditional hospital settings, Arvin will be instrumental in ensuring the success of the company’s CPEA service.

    About CynergisTek
    CynergisTek, an Auxilio company, (www.cynergistek.com) is a top-ranked cybersecurity, privacy and compliance consulting firm. The company offers solutions to help organizations measure privacy, security and compliance programs against regulatory requirements and assists in developing risk management best practices. Since 2004 the company has served as a partner to hundreds in the healthcare industry and is dedicated to supporting and educating the industry by contributing to relevant industry associations. The company has been named in numerous research reports as one of the top firms that provider organizations turn to for privacy and security, and won the 2017 Best in KLAS award for Cyber Security Advisory Services.

    About Auxilio
    Auxilio (www.auxilioinc.com) provides complete document workflow solutions and IT security services to healthcare organizations across the United States. Auxilio has helped its clients save more than $80 million since 2004 by providing Print as a Service (PRaaS) vendor neutral solutions which lower costs, improve operational efficiency and enhance security. Auxilio’s intelligent workflow automation suite delivers a customer driven approach transforming printed documents to digital workflows, reducing waste and driving additional savings opportunities. Auxilio serves a national portfolio of nearly 220 hospital campuses and manages over 1.5 billion documents annually from over 90,000 devices supporting over 280,000 caregivers.

     

    Media Contact
    Chanel Benoit
    Senior Account Executive
    Aria Marketing
    617.332.9999 x209
    [email protected]

    Posted 3.22.2017

  • GetWellNetwork to Launch Person Engagement Index at Beryl Institute Patient Experience Conference

    New tool enables personalized care management plans based on health engagement capacity levels

    DENVER, CO – March 20, 2017 — GetWellNetwork®, Inc., the leader in Interactive Patient Care™ (IPC) solutions, will launch a new tool to help clinicians personalize care management plans based on a person’s capacity to be engaged in their health care. Researchers from GetWellNetwork’s O’Neil Center will officially introduce the Person Engagement Index ™ (PEI) on Tuesday, March 21, at The Beryl Institute’s Patient Experience Conference 2017 in Denver, Colo., during a session titled, “Person Engagement Index: Measuring a Person’s Capacity to Engage in their Healthcare.”

    “Ultimately, we envision PEI scores sitting front and center in clinical charts and EHRs for millions of patients across the world,” said Michael O’Neil, founder and chief executive officer of GetWellNetwork. “Armed with this unique, patient-centered data point, clinicians will be empowered in real time to prescribe more personalized interventions and meet patients where they are in their care journey. Along with our research partners, we are incredibly excited for the rollout and future impact of this work.”

    Research demonstrates that actively engaging patients and their families in the care process can significantly improve health care outcomes. Yet clinicians and care managers lack consistent insight into factors that can influence a person’s ability to engage, such as willingness to be proactive, knowledge of health status, motivation, aptitude for technology use for health care and level of psychosocial support for health care.

    During the conference session, lead researchers Karen Drenkard, Ph.D., RN, NE-BA, senior vice president and chief clinical and nursing officer at GetWellNetwork, and Ellen Swartwout, Ph.D., RN, NEA-BC, vice president of research at GetWellNetwork, will outline for clinicians an evidence-based approach for determining how to assess a person’s capacity to engage.

    The Person Engagement Index: Capturing the Voice of the Patient
    The PEI assigns a numerical index “score” to a patient, which represents a comprehensive measure of a person’s capacity to engage in their health care. It was developed using evidence from an extensive literature review of the current state of practice in patient and family engagement, then tested and validated with hundreds of patients in a multi-site study across four health care systems in the US. Paired with clinical assessment information, the PEI allows for actionable care plan interventions to meet each patient’s needs and enable providers to deploy resources where they are needed most.

    The 18-question PEI survey assesses and scores four key factors: engagement in health care, technology use in health care, proactive approach to health care and psychosocial support for health care. By understanding a person’s PEI score and key factors for engagement, clinicians can prescribe the most appropriate care to improve an individual’s outcomes.

    “Clinicians often see hundreds of patients and have only 15 minutes per patient to determine their capacity to be engaged in their care journey,” said Drenkard. “There is a need for a way to help them accurately assess a person’s aptitude for engaging in their own health care.”

    The PEI can be used strategically by clinicians to identify how best to engage and educate patients; by population health and care managers to improve risk stratification with PEI variables; and by marketing and patient experience officers to understand how best to communicate with each patient, resulting in a personalized, memorable experience.

    Product Demos
    Interested parties can learn their own PEI score by taking the survey in the GetWellNetwork booth located in the Diamond exhibit. Beryl conference attendees are invited to celebrate the launch of PEI on Monday, March 20, during exhibitor receptions at 4:45 p.m. in the GetWellNetwork booth.

     

    About GetWellNetwork
    GetWellNetwork, Inc.® powers patient experience. Our solution, The Patient’s Platform, helps leading health care systems create connections with patients in any setting, deliver insights to clinicians in real time, and transform care through an evidence-based model for patient engagement. Our open technology integrates with electronic health record and IT applications to extend the value of existing investments and expand the possibilities of care. With more than 50 million patient interactions per year, we drive performance improvement, positive outcomes and patient loyalty. Learn more at www.getwellnetwork.com.

    Media Contact
    Marcia Rhodes
    Amendola Communications
    [email protected]
    480.664.8412 ext. 15

    GetWellNetwork, Inc.
    7700 Old Georgetown Road, 4th Floor
    Bethesda, MD 20814-2500
    877.633.8496
    [email protected]

     

    Posted 3.20.2017

  • Inside CHIME: Years of IT Wisdom and Fresh Perspective of a Newcomer

    Inside CHIME - header

    3.16.17
    By Amy McDonald, CHIME Communications

    Anthony Williams – CIO, American Family Care


    One of CHIME’s newest members brings over two decades of IT knowledge and a passion for improving patient care.

    Anthony Williams made the transition to healthcare just five years ago, but that hasn’t stopped the self-professed “newbie” from tackling some of healthcare’s most daunting challenges. Far from being unfamiliar with IT, Williams, CIO at American Family Care, has over 15 years of experience in the government sector, telecommunications and retail. He is passionate about his job and fascinated with the unique IT challenges healthcare presents. Given the opportunity to work at AFC, a nationwide urgent care provider, he jumped at the chance not only to overcome a new challenge, but to make a difference in the lives of patients.

    “I saw healthcare as the last industry to be impacted by IT. I saw it in the finance industry with ATMs, manufacturing with robotics, retail with Amazon and Google and I see the same type of movement now taking place in healthcare,” he said. “There are the same concerns as banking with security and trying to protect medical records. Things like HIPAA and cybersecurity are very exciting, with lots of government regulation that can be both positive and negative, and it’s evolving right about now. I wouldn’t dream of being anywhere else.”

    With his passion for the industry and varied background, Williams is poised to be a game-changer in the urgent care sector. Coming into the industry at a very pivotal moment, he sees that healthcare providers are struggling with cybersecurity, interoperability and electronic health records. “There have been good efforts, but we are just now scratching surface of what ultimately needs to happen,” he said.

    Williams and his team at AFC are digging deeper to make meaningful gains in their urgent care sphere. “We have a close relationship with our EHR provider. We are one of the largest customers, so we are able to work closely with them to really help enhance their product by sharing and providing real-time feedback on things we are seeing in everyday workflow and tweaks we feel will enhance the product.”

    With the company active in 26 states and 178 locations, it is important to ensure that the over 2 million people who visit American Family Care each year have the best, most cost-effective care, that includes being able to transfer records to other healthcare providers. Williams is working to share medical records safely and securely with their partners, whether hospitals, small and large physician practices, as well as ER staff, for the best overall patient care.

    Patient care is at the core of what CHIME members are all about and as one of CHIME’s newest members, Williams is excited to grow as both professionally and personally.

    “I welcome the opportunity to engage with and network with likeminded individuals who have been where we are going, are open to sharing experiences and perspectives on this evolving industry, and at the same time, I have things I can share with others who haven’t been where we have been. I can be a resource for others in the space as well.”

    Williams is not only a CIO, but a family man who enjoys a healthy work-life balance; a lifelong learner with a “healthy expectation” for his golf game.

    “I love what I do, I am blessed to be in a field that I absolutely love, and enjoy doing every day,” he said. “I love the challenges that it offers, and I love the fact that it is evolving, I am not a static guy–I am very much intrinsically motivated, I love solving problems.”

    He credits his CEO for the opportunity to be on the leading edge of changing lives. Everyone will need healthcare at some point in their lives, and improving quality of care improves quality of life as well.

    More Inside CHIME Volume 2, No. 6:

    Posted 3.16.2017
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