• Impact Advisors Honored with Consulting Magazine’s Excellence in Social & Community Investment Award

    Firm recognized for volunteer project with Florida Hospital for Children

    CHICAGO, IL – July 31, 2017 — Impact Advisors, LLC, a leading provider of healthcare information technology services, announced today that it has been named a recipient of Consulting Magazine’s Excellence in Social & Community Investment Award. The firm is being recognized for its employee motivated volunteer project work with the Florida Hospital for Children.

    The Social & Community Investment Award recognizes firms for outstanding client service, either on a pro bono, heavily discounted, or volunteer basis in either local communities or globally. Impact Advisors will be among the eighteen firms recognized at the 4th annual Social & Community Awards Gala Dinner on September 14th at the University Club of New York.

    In April, Impact Advisors, along with representatives from Southwest Airlines, the Orlando Magic, and the Miss Florida organization, delivered 200 backpacks to patients at Florida Hospital for Children in Orlando, Florida. Staff members filled the bags with craft supplies and games, then delivered them with a personalized luggage tag and a special message to each recipient. The firm was in Orlando for its annual team retreat, ImpactPalooza.

    “It was truly an honor to partner with the Florida Hospital for Children for this special backpack delivery,” said Andy Smith, co-founder and President at Impact Advisors. Smith went on to say, “This volunteer project is just one of the many ways our associates consistently demonstrate our commitment to caring for and serving our collective communities.” “Our mission is ‘to create a positive Impact’ and being there to personally witness the positive impact we created for the Florida Hospital for Children was so very special,” agrees Michael Nutter, Happyologist at Impact Advisors. “Knowing the care that each member of our Impact Advisors family genuinely delighted in as they built their backpacks – all to make a positive difference in the lives of these children – created a most memorable experience for everyone.”

    A list of this year’s winning firms will be available online at www.consultingmag.com/rankings/socialcommunity-investment.

    Impact Advisors adds this latest honor to a growing list of industry and workplace awards that includes being named Best in KLAS for eight consecutive years, Healthcare Informatics HCI 100, Crain’s Chicago Business Fast Fifty, Modern Healthcare’s Best Places to Work in Healthcare and Becker’s Hospital Review’s 150 Great Places to Work in Healthcare. In addition, Vice President, Lydon Neumann recently received honors as one of Consulting Magazine’s Top 25 Consultants of 2017. -more-

    About Impact Advisors, LLC
    Impact Advisors is a nationally recognized healthcare information technology consulting firm that is solving some of the toughest challenges in the industry by delivering strategic advisory, implementation and optimization services. Our comprehensive suite of patient access, clinical and revenue cycle services span the lifecycle of our clients’ needs. Our experienced team has a powerful combination of clinical, revenue, operations, consulting, and IT experience. The firm has earned a number of prestigious industry and workplace awards including Best in KLAS® for eight consecutive years, Healthcare Informatics HCI 100, Crain’s Chicago Business Fast Fifty, as well as “best place to work” awards from: Modern Healthcare, Consulting Magazine, Becker’s Hospital Review and Achievers. For more information about Impact Advisors, visit www.impact-advisors.com.

    Contact
    RoseAnn Haedt
    Chartwell Agency
    815.742.0573
    [email protected]

    Posted 7.31.2017

  • Healthcare IT Leaders Again Ranks Among Fastest-Growing Staffing Firms In US

    ATLANTA, GA – July 31, 2017 — Healthcare IT Leaders, a leading national provider of Healthcare IT workforce solutions, is again ranked among the fastest-growing staffing firms in the US, according to a new report from Staffing Industry Analysts (SIA).

    SIA’s annual ranking of the fastest-growing staffing firms is based on compound average growth rate (CAGR) from 2012 through 2016. With a CAGR of 37%, Healthcare IT Leaders is ranked 39th on the overall list. This is the second consecutive year that the firm has been included on the SIA list, ranking last year as the fastest growing IT staffing company in the US.

    “Hospitals and health systems with comprehensive IT workforce needs across EMR, ERP, CRM and BI solutions have fueled our continued growth, and we are grateful to our customers,” said Bob Bailey, Managing Principal. “But it’s truly our associates who make the business hum each and every day. Their tireless efforts on behalf of our consultants and clients are the real key to our growth.”

    SIA is a global advisory firm that produces proprietary research on the staffing industry. To qualify as a ‘fastest-growing’ company, staffing firms had to post at least $1 million in revenue in 2012 and have compound annual revenue growth of at least 15% between 2012 and 2016. 110 firms with a median CAGR of 28% are included on the 2017 list.

    About Us
    Healthcare IT Leaders is a KLAS-rated, national leader in IT workforce solutions, connecting healthcare provider and payer organizations with experienced technology talent for consulting and full-time hiring. Areas of focus include EMR, ERP, CRM, and BI. Based in Greater Atlanta, our company ranked in 2016 as the fastest growing IT staffing company in the US, according to Staffing Industry Analysts and has twice-ranked on the Inc. 5000 (2016, 2015). We have also been named a Best Place to Work by the Atlanta Business Chronicle and and one of America’s Best Professional Recruiting Firms by Forbes. Learn more at healthcareitleaders.com.

    Posted 7.31.2017

  • Healthcare Cybersecurity Execs Cite Surge in System Breaches, Data Loss Since 2015: KPGM Survey

    Executives say they are better prepared than two years ago, but signs show that view may be amiss – Percentage of companies invested in cybersecurity declines in 12-month period

    NEW YORK, NY – July 31 — The KPMG 2017 Cyber Healthcare & Life Sciences Survey of providers and health plans found a dramatic rise in computer system breaches and data compromises, which include patient records, over the past two years. Despite that increase, more executives, who oversee protecting patient records and other information, say they are better prepared than two years ago to protect themselves against cyber-attacks, according to the survey by KPMG LLP, the US audit, tax and advisory firm. “Healthcare payers and providers are on treacherous ground here and some organizations are underestimating cyber-security risks,” said Healthcare Advisory Leader Dion Sheidy. “There needs to be a higher degree of vigilance among boards and executive suites as attacks become much more sophisticated, especially as doctors need to share information to improve quality and as connected medical devices and wearables proliferate. The WannaCry ransomware hack in May was a warning shot against our collective ability to protect patient safety and privacy.”

    KPMG, which published its findings in a report titled The Healthy Approach to Cyber Security, found that 47 percent of healthcare providers and health plans said they had instances of security-related HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) violations or cyber-attacks that compromised data compared with 37 percent in KPMG’s 2015 survey — an increase of 10 percentage points. However, when asked about “readiness to defend against a concerted cyber-attack,” 35 percent said they are “completely ready” versus 16 percent in 2015.

    Despite the rising threats, KPMG’s survey found that cyber security as a board agenda item has declined over the past two years (79 percent versus 87 percent in 2015). In addition, KPMG found a disconnect regarding cyber investment in this volatile environment. A smaller majority of healthcare companies made investments in information protection in the prior twelve months (66 percent versus 88 percent in the 2015 survey).

    Data sharing with third parties is seen as one of the biggest vulnerabilities among healthcare providers and insurers with 63 percent of respondents mentioning it, topping Internet-enabled devices not fully controlled by IT and the lack of resources/budget. Yet sharing data is an important element of coordinating care and succeeding in a healthcare reimbursement environment that is moving away from paying for activity (fee-for-service) and toward outcomes.

    KPMG’s survey found that both payers and providers were opting to focus on investing in technology rather than process and staffing. “A solid cyber security program needs people, processes and technology and short-changing staff and the process structure needed to adequately govern, manage and monitor the technology is a faulty approach,” said Michael Ebert, leader of KPMG’s cyber security group in healthcare & life sciences. “Software can only protect you so far and staff is important when it comes time to respond to a data breach. The respondents that are not emphasizing staff and processes are underestimating the threats or creating a false sense of security among their management and board.”

    Only 15 percent of respondents said that increased or higher quality staffing are needed to make their organizations more effective in cyber security, while an “overarching strategy” was seen as the biggest need by 24 percent. “Stronger processes” at 21 percent, and “increased funding” and “better technology” at 20 percent were also cited as big needs. Staff (hiring, training) ranked last at 24 percent in areas where organizations planned to make investments, trailing planned investments in stronger policy, technology, consulting, managed services and hardware.

    The KPMG 2017 Cyber Healthcare & Life Sciences Survey asked 100 C-level technology, information and security executives at healthcare providers and health plans about their overall readiness, vulnerabilities and resources dedicated to protecting data. A separate cyber security survey was conducted with 100 executives at biotech, pharmaceutical and medical device companies.

    About KPMG LLP
    KPMG LLP, the audit, tax and advisory firm (kpmg.com/us), is the independent US member firm of KPMG International Cooperative (“KPMG International”). KPMG International’s independent member firms have 189,000 professionals, including more than 9,000 partners, in 152 countries.

    Contacts
    Bill Borden/ Ann Marie Gorden
    KPMG LLP
    201.505.6351/ 201.505.6288
    [email protected]
    [email protected]

    Posted 7.31.2017

  • Nordic expands Madison office by 6,000 square feet

    Second-floor space to house expansion of Managed Services & Data & Analytics business lines

    MADISON, WI – July 27, 2017 – Nordic debuted the 6,000-square-foot expansion of its Madison office today, gathering local community leaders and employees to celebrate the growth of the company’s Managed Services and Data & Analytics business lines.

    Nordic cut the ribbon on its new space at 8:45 a.m. on Thursday, July 27, followed by words from Nordic President of Managed Services Vivek Swaminathan and Greater Madison Chamber of Commerce President Zach Brandon. Local community leaders and Nordic employees were invited to take a tour of the office, which includes over 60 workstations, four conference rooms, two private offices, a spacious break room, and several open spaces for collaboration.

    Nordic’s office expansion is intended to accommodate rapid growth in its Managed Services and Data & Analytics divisions, in response to an increasing need for managed application support and data-driven efficiencies across the healthcare industry. Earlier this year, Nordic reached a milestone of 700 consultants and 200 clients and announced the expansion of its Managed Services division.

    “We are excited to move into this beautiful space as we continue to grow our Managed Services and Data & Analytics capabilities,” said Swaminathan. “It is a privilege to celebrate our expansion in our hometown of Madison with local leaders today.”

    Nordic partnered with Madison-based architectural design firm Potter Lawson, construction company Ideal Builders, and furniture partner Emmons Business Interiors to develop the second-floor office. The addition pairs bright, open spaces with modern design for a collaborative, creative workspace.

    About Nordic
    Based in Madison, Wis., Nordic is the nation’s largest independent and employee-owned consulting firm, connecting strategy to IT execution through deep capabilities in the Epic EHR space and trusted partnership with healthcare systems. Nordic offers advisory services, Epic implementation, optimization, data & analytics, managed services, population health, and affiliate extension solutions, including mergers and acquisitions. Renowned for excellence, Nordic helps clients improve the health of their patients and businesses while shaping the future of healthcare. In 2016 KLAS recognized Nordic as a top performer in Epic IT Advisory Services, Comprehensive Healthcare IT Advisory Services, and Optimization Services. Nordic has also received elite KLAS rankings in Epic Staffing and Implementation Support since Nordic’s inception.

    Contact
    John Pollard
    Senior Director of Marketing
    608.268.6900

    Posted 7.27.2017

  • CHIME Statement on HIMSS CEO Appointment

    ANN ARBOR, MI, July 26, 2017 – The Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) today announced that Harold “Hal” Wolf III was appointed president and CEO. He will replace H. Stephen Lieber, who is retiring.

    Statement by Liz Johnson, CHIME Board Chair and CIO of Acute Care Hospitals and Applied Clinical Informatics at Tenet Healthcare, and CHIME President and CEO Russell Branzell on the appointment of Harold Wolf III.

    Hal Wolf’s depth of experience and leadership skills will help keep HIMSS at the forefront of innovation in health IT. HIMSS has played a prominent role in the development of health IT globally and continues to be a leading resource for health IT professionals and industries across the world. Hal, whose background includes leadership positions at Kaiser Permanente Foundation and The Chartis Group, has the vision to ensure that health IT contributes to healthcare solutions.

    Under Steve Lieber’s leadership, HIMSS has brought together thought leaders from across the world at industry-leading conferences and other events. In recent years, HIMSS has been a generous partner to CHIME as we have broadened our outreach in Europe, Asia and elsewhere. We wish him well in this next stage of his life and thank him for his service to the community. We will miss him.

    About CHIME
    The College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (CHIME) is an executive organization dedicated to serving chief information officers (CIOs) and other senior healthcare IT leaders. With nearly 2,400 CIO members and over 150 healthcare IT vendors and professional services firms, CHIME provides a highly interactive, trusted environment enabling senior professional and industry leaders to collaborate; exchange best practices; address professional development needs; and advocate the effective use of information management to improve the health and healthcare in the communities they serve. For more information, please visit chimecentral.org.

    Contact
    Candace Stuart
    Director of Communications and Public Relations, CHIME
    734.665.0000
    [email protected]

     

    Posted 7.26.2017

  • Waypoint Centre for Mental Health Care is LIVE with MEDITECH’s EHR

    Canadian hospitals, Waypoint Centre for Mental Health Care & Ontario Shores Centre for Mental Health Sciences, collaborate on fully-integrated MEDITECH EHR

    WESTWOOD, MA – July 26, 2017 — In what some are calling the biggest technological advancement in the hospital’s history, Canada’s Waypoint Centre for Mental Health Care (Waypoint) is now LIVE with MEDITECH’s 6.1 Electronic Health Record (EHR). After an extensive procurement process that involved hundreds of staff and stakeholders evaluating EHR options, the 301-bed psychiatric hospital located in Penetanguishene, Ontario, partnered with Ontario Shores Centre for Mental Health Sciences (Ontario Shores) in Whitby to implement MEDITECH’s fully-integrated EHR.

    “Clinicians, clinical information and IT managers, and other staff agreed MEDITECH had the mental health functional tools, support, and experience required to meet our unique needs,” Vice President of Corporate Services at Waypoint, Lorraine Smith said. “The ability to integrate and support various Ministry and healthcare reporting requirements were also factors in the final decision.”

    Partnership with Ontario Shores
    As MEDITECH was already utilized in Ontario Shores Centre for Mental Health Sciences, it paved the way for a future partnership between the two hospitals to launch the 6.1 platform.

    “The goal of an EHR and a partnership with Ontario Shores in particular, was to enhance and standardize clinical care, and advance research using the shared MEDITECH system and a single, shared database,” Waypoint Vice President of Quality and Practice, Linda Adams said. “Setting a vision to ‘use today’s technology to improve quality and safety for patients and staff through a collaborative and interactive experience’ helped us keep an eye on what we wanted to accomplish with this transformation.”

    To ensure effective and efficient use of resources in alignment with the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care’s Health Information System (HIS) Renewal Strategy, Waypoint teamed up with Ontario Shores to form an HIS partnership with MEDITECH. Ontario Shores was the first hospital in Canada and the first mental health hospital in the world to receive the prestigious HIMSS EMRAM Stage 7 award for having a completely paperless health information system.

    “Our partnership with Ontario Shores and the support from MEDITECH was instrumental in the transition we had to the new system. We can’t thank them enough,” Waypoint President and CEO, Carol Lambie said. “Waypoint is excited about the many opportunities that an EHR brings to the field of mental health research. Using this technology will help improve patient outcomes, ensure our healthcare professionals have the most up-to-date and accurate information all in one place, and improve communication among doctors, nurses, allied health professionals and the rest of the care team; all helping us deliver even safer care.

    Go-LIVE a Success
    Waypoint took a phased approach to implementation starting in Nov. 2015 and culminating with both inpatient and outpatient programs being LIVE by May 2017.

    “MEDITECH’s launch at Waypoint was completed in three phases, in each of the three clinical divisions and thanks to a great team we have had a smooth transition,” Director of Clinical Informatics at Waypoint, Jeannie Borg said. “Our Regional programs were the first to go-LIVE in February and it only took days for staff to recognize the benefits of a paperless system, including more efficient readmission and documentation processes.”

    “MEDITECH is committed to providing our customers the specialized tools that serve the unique needs of behavioral healthcare organizations,” Associate Vice President of Marketing at MEDITECH, Christine Parent said. “Waypoint and Ontario Shores are leading the way in delivering exemplary mental healthcare to patients, and we are proud to partner with these organizations by providing a robust and integrated EHR to improve the quality and efficiency of patient care.”

    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. For the third year in a row, MEDITECH was ranked in the Best in KLAS: Software & Services report. MEDITECH’s 6.x platform received 2017 Best in KLAS for Community HIS and was also rated 2017 KLAS Category Leader for Patient Accounting & Patient Management (Community Hospital) and Global Acute Care EMR – Canada.

    Learn more about how MEDITECH’s clinically-integrated, state-of-the-art EHR is transforming care delivery around the world.

    About MEDITECH
    Healthcare is long overdue for genuine disruption and innovation. MEDITECH is helping care organizations to 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 7.26.2017

  • CHIME to Administer HealthCare’s Most Wired Hospital Survey

    ANN ARBOR, MI, July 24, 2017 – The College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (CHIME) and the American Hospital Association (AHA) are pleased to announce that the annual “HealthCare’s Most Wired” hospitals study now will be conducted through CHIME. CHIME, which has been an active supporter of Most Wired since its inception, will assume all aspects of the popular survey and benchmarking program.

    “With a membership of nearly 2,400 CIOs, CHIME provides an ideal home for Most Wired,” said Maryjane Wurth, AHA’s executive vice president and chief operating officer and president and CEO of Health Forum. “CHIME has direct access to the healthcare IT leaders who participate in the survey and who benefit from knowing the trends that emerge in the results.”

    Since 1999, the Most Wired Survey has tracked and chronicled how hospitals use information technology to improve patient care and control costs. Hospitals that make the list consider it a mark of honor. A longtime sponsor of Most Wired, CHIME transitioned to a partner role with AHA in 2015 to spotlight the accomplishments of the healthcare IT community and share the results.

    “Most Wired is a valuable resource for CHIME’s members, and for their hospitals and healthcare systems,” said CHIME President and CEO Russell Branzell. “CHIME is honored to have the opportunity to continue this tradition of acknowledging exceptional healthcare IT leadership and, through the survey results, identifying and sharing best practices.”

    About CHIME
    The College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (CHIME) is an executive organization dedicated to serving chief information officers (CIOs) and other senior healthcare IT leaders. With nearly 2,400 CIO members and over 150 healthcare IT vendors and professional services firms, CHIME provides a highly interactive, trusted environment enabling senior professional and industry leaders to collaborate; exchange best practices; address professional development needs; and advocate the effective use of information management to improve the health and healthcare in the communities they serve. For more information, please visit chimecentral.org.

    About AHA
    The AHA is a not-for-profit association of health care provider organizations and individuals that are committed to the health improvement of their communities. The AHA is the national advocate for its members, which include nearly 5,000 hospitals, health care systems, networks, other providers of care and 43,000 individual members. Founded in 1898, the AHA provides education for health care leaders and is a source of information on health care issues and trends. For more information, visit the AHA website at www.aha.org.

    Contact
    Candace Stuart
    Director of Communications and Public Relations, CHIME
    734.665.0000
    [email protected]

    Posted 7.24.2017

  • Inside CHIME: Survey Involving CHIME Finds Many IT Budgets Nudging Up

    Inside CHIME - header

    7.20.17
    By Candace Stuart, Director of Communications & Public Relations, CHIME

    SearchHealthIT released its 2017 Health IT Purchasing Intentions Survey in July. The survey, which is conducted in conjunction with CHIME, tracks trends in healthcare IT spending and use.

    A total of 425 IT professionals responded to the survey, which ran between January and March 2017. Many respondents reported increases in their IT budgets for 2017 and plans to boost their investment in technologies that engage and involve patients. Cybersecurity remained an investment priority.

    Key findings:

    • 41 percent of respondents reported that their budgets increased compared to 2016, with the majority seeing a bump up in funding of 1 to 5 percent. Another 6 percent had increases of 16 percent or more.
    • 21 percent reported no changes in their budgets compared to 2016.
    • More than half (53.3 percent) said that improving the quality of patient care was a key driver behind their healthcare IT changes. In 2016, 44.1 percent reported improving quality of care as the leading reason for changes.
    • 67.1 percent planned to invest in patient portals and 58 percent in telemedicine technologies.
    • 41 percent expected to purchase EHR systems or services in 2017, up from 33.7 percent in 2016.
    • 4 percent considered cybersecurity a top healthcare IT investment, a drop from 53.3 percent in 2016, although it should be noted that the survey took place before the global WannaCry attack in May.

    “We don’t expect cybersecurity spending to fade away, as even one major attack in the future could force the entire industry to react,” wrote Scott Wallask, the editorial director for TechTarget’s Health IT Group. TechTarget publishes SearchHealthIT. “The WannaCry malware attack in May 2017 proved health IT pros must remain vigilant.”

    He thanked CHIME and its members for their support with the survey, which is available here.

    More Inside CHIME Volume 2, No. 15:

     

    Posted 7.20.2017

  • Inside CHIME: How CHIME’s International Outreach Benefits All of Us

    Inside CHIME - header

    7.20.17
    By Russell Branzell, President & CEO, CHIME

    Between March and the end of June this year, I traveled more than 44,000 miles on international flights, crisscrossing more time zones than John Glenn during his astronaut days, or so it seemed. I talked with CIOs and IT leaders in India, Australia, the U.K. and Ireland about leadership, the changing role of the CIO, cybersecurity and more. Some members may be wondering, “Why all the globetrotting by a president and CEO whose members primarily hail from the United States?” Or more pointedly, “What’s in it for me, a CIO or the equivalent based in Los Angeles, Dallas or rural Maine?”

    Lots.

    The United States produced the assembly line, and Japan gave us Six Sigma and lean manufacturing. France gets credit for Louis Pasteur, and England for Francis Crick. No one country has a monopoly on great ideas.

    In the rapidly changing and increasingly threatened environment of healthcare IT, the more we share, the more we can learn from each other. For instance, Australia’s efforts to deliver healthcare across an expanse of 2.9 million square miles can inform health systems in vast and sparsely populated states like Alaska and Montana. At the HIMSS/CHIME Australia eHealth Summit in late May, Zoran Bolevich, CIO and CEO of eHealth NSW (New South Wales) outlined steps underway to connect to patients digitally.

    Although health systems may vary culturally and function under different regulatory bodies, we also have commonalities beyond the technologies we use. We all face leadership and management challenges, and this is one way that CHIME, through its members’ experience and wisdom, can have a global impact. Singapore is a case in point. Although highly skilled and technically sophisticated, the CIO community in Singapore sometimes struggles with establishing a leadership role within the healthcare system. Some feel isolated. The opportunity to learn from seasoned leaders at CHIME is helping them navigate within their hospital management’s upper echelons and develop a support network.

    I am not the sole voice from CHIME at these international events. Tim Stettheimer, vice president and regional CIO at St. Louis-based Ascension Health Information Services, joined me in Australia and participated in five presentations, including a session on the International CHIME Certified Healthcare CIO program. Albert Oriol, vice president and CIO at Rady Children’s Hospital in San Diego, spoke at a leadership academy in Spain last year. They are among the growing roster of CHIME members to contribute to international events.

    If we share at a global level, we will be able to drive healthcare change for the betterment of patients worldwide, one great idea at a time. It will be our equivalent to orbiting the Earth, as John Glenn first did in 1962, which set the stage for more ambitious manned space travel.

    Here is what the astronaut-turned-senator said in a speech in 2008 at NASA’s 50th anniversary:

    “Where we go in exploration is certainly important. But what we learn and benefit from each of those steps along the way will benefit every man, woman and child in our nation and eventually around the world. The next 50 (years)? Who knows, but I am convinced it’s going to be great.”

    I, too, am convinced the next 50 years in healthcare IT will be great, if we share what we learn and apply those benefits beyond the borders of our hospital walls and our national and continental boundaries. We’ve already started by growing our international CHIME membership, offering the international version of the CHIME Healthcare CIO program and reaching out globally through HIMSS/CHIME summits. It’s a great big world out there, and all of us in CHIME can help in lending—and borrowing—ideas on this global stage. If you want to participate, contact CHIME at [email protected].

    Thanks for your support and the important work that you do to advance patient care.

    More Inside CHIME Volume 2, No. 15:

     

    Posted 7.20.2017

  • CHIME Chair-elect to Testify at House Hearing on Meaningful Use

    ANN ARBOR, MI, July 20, 2017 – The chair-elect of the College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (CHIME) is scheduled to testify today in a hearing before the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health. Cletis Earle, chief information officer of Kaleida Health in Western New York State, will be among healthcare leaders invited to address legislators at a hearing about legislation designed to improve the Medicare program.

    In written testimony, Earle noted that CHIME members have been early and prolific adopters of electronic health records (EHRs). He credited the enactment of the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act of 2009 (HITECH) and its Meaningful Use incentive program with accelerating use of healthcare IT tools. But providers have been hamstrung in their efforts to meet increasingly stringent requirements mandated in the legislation due the timelines needed to develop the necessary new technologies and the challenges of integrating new technologies into healthcare systems. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ changing timelines have also exacerbated their problems.

    “As we stand now, more than eight years after passage of HITECH, there exists an opportunity to make policy decisions apart from the arbitrary deadlines and measures of the EHR Incentive Program,” he said in the written statement. “We are at an inflection point where our gains can be used to pivot towards the long-term goal of building and supporting a national digital health ecosystem that is interoperable and which best supports patient outcomes.”

    As a representative of CHIME’s nearly 2,400 CIOs and senior health IT leaders, Earle is expected to request more flexibility in the Meaningful Use program as proposed in H.R. 3120. The bill gives the Health and Human Services Secretary discretion to modify the requirements over time as deemed necessary in conjunction with the industry.

    Testimony is scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. EST. It will be available by webcast here. The written testimony is available here.

    About CHIME
    The College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (CHIME) is an executive organization dedicated to serving chief information officers (CIOs) and other senior healthcare IT leaders. With nearly 2,400 CIO members and over 150 healthcare IT vendors and professional services firms, CHIME provides a highly interactive, trusted environment enabling senior professional and industry leaders to collaborate; exchange best practices; address professional development needs; and advocate the effective use of information management to improve the health and healthcare in the communities they serve. For more information, please visit chimecentral.org.

    Contact
    Candace Stuart
    Director of Communications and Public Relations, CHIME
    734.665.0000
    [email protected]

    Posted 7.20.2017

  • Inside CHIME: Scholarships Help CIO Turn Hospital’s ‘Couldn’t’ into ‘Did’

    Inside CHIME - header

    7.20.17
    By Candace Stuart, Director of Communications & Public Relations, CHIME

    Keith Robison, CIO of a community hospital in New York’s Chautauqua County, faced a dilemma in 2006. His employer, now called UPMC Chautauqua WCA, eliminated the hospital’s travel budget, a move that potentially cut him off from the educational opportunities he benefited from as a CHIME member — unless he paid out of pocket.

    Despite that hurdle, Robison has attended three CHIME CIO Forums and one CHIME Healthcare CIO Boot Camp™ since the ongoing freeze. How? He was awarded four scholarships totaling $10,500 through the CHIME Education Foundation.

    “You really gain insights from hearing people discuss topics and being able to ask questions and get responses,” Robison said. The CHIME 2017 Fall CIO Forum, for instance, will showcase three keynote addresses plus four track sessions with each featuring four presentations presented by CIOs and other industry leaders. Track sessions include leadership, integrating IT into clinical care, emerging healthcare IT trends and clinical informatics. The forum also offers a plenary session, focus groups and Leadership from the Edge, three short “moon shot” presentations on the future of healthcare.

    Robison added that beyond the educational sessions, the forums allow him to share and learn from the CIO colleagues around him. “The most valuable part is talking and networking.”

    He had the opportunity at forums to reach out to CIOs who work in similar environments and, like him, wear many hats and sometimes wrestle with staffing and financial constraints. He credits the knowledge he gained at these events as well as his growing professional experience for the achievements his department and hospital have made over the years.

    As a manager, he has learned how to place staff in suitable roles with challenges that inspire them to stretch, and to collaborate with clinicians to maximize their healthcare IT resources. He also learned budgeting tips such negotiating with vendors to lease rather than buy equipment to stretch his budget. And despite lacking the resources of a large urban healthcare system with deep pockets, he and his team managed to transition the hospital from paper to electronic records in 12 months.

    They also made strides improving the hospital’s IT infrastructure. “We were given the opportunity with meaningful use funding,” he said, referring to EHR incentives offered through the Affordable Care Act. He applied his CHIME training to the task and the hospital qualified for payments for all four years. In addition, they have earned HIMSS Stage 6 status, thanks to a small but effective staff.

    “We are the little engine that couldn’t but did,” Robison said.

    Editor’s note: The CHIME Education Foundation has opened enrollment for scholarships for the 2017 CHIME Fall CIO Forum and for the CHIME Healthcare CIO Boot Camp™. Applications are available here; the deadline for submissions is Aug. 9. To donate to the scholarship fund, go here.

    More Inside CHIME Volume 2, No. 15:

     

    Posted 7.20.2017

  • The Most Wired Survey Shows That Growing Demand of Technologies Paves the Way for Transformation in Healthcare Delivery & Charts Course for Heightened Cybersecurity in Nation’s Hospitals

    Results Show How Digital Platforms Drive Dramatic Changes in Healthcare Delivery for Improved Patient Engagement

    NASHVILLE, TN – July 19, 2017 — The American Hospital Association’s 19th annual HealthCare’s Most Wired® benchmarking study and survey, sponsored by Clearwater Compliance, shows how technology and digital health tools play a crucial role across the healthcare and hospital industry with a major impact on driving patient engagement and improving diagnosis, safety, access to care, treatment, and communications. Technology innovations in patient care underscore the need for secure patient information exchange and wireless medical devices, with an increase in the use of sophisticated IT monitoring systems to detect patient privacy breaches and monitor for malicious activities.
    “The 2017 Most Wired Survey results demonstrate the growing awareness by the hospital C-suite that cybersecurity is no longer just an IT problem, but a corporate-wide risk management issue tied to quality and patient safety,” said Bob Chaput, CEO of Clearwater Compliance. “The Most Wired hospitals face challenges around the proliferation of data-collecting devices, ensuring data availability and protecting patient privacy with the need to have a strategic approach and model. The current risk environment for hospitals and health systems is changing quickly and includes a wide spectrum of threats — ranging from traditional intrusions designed to steal protected health information (PHI) to more novel attacks, such as tampering with biomedical devices or blocking access to essential records systems. The changing threat environment blurs the lines between information security and patient safety and requires each discipline to expand its scope. This survey shows hospital leaders are investing in information risk management security as they understand the evolving vulnerabilities that go along with today’s drive for the mainstream adoption of digital health tools, technology options and platforms with the availability of patient data.”

    “The Most Wired hospitals are using every available technology option to create more ways to reach their patients in order to provide access to care,” said AHA President and CEO Rick Pollack. “They are transforming care delivery, investing in new delivery models in order to improve quality, provide access and control costs.”

    According to the American Hospital Association’s 2017 survey, Most Wired hospitals are using smart phones, telehealth and remote monitoring to create more ways for patients to access healthcare services and capture health information. For cybersecurity:

    • 97 percent use intrusion detection systems.
    • 96 percent perform data access audits.
    • Nearly 90 percent run targeted phishing exercises to teach employees to question suspicious emails.

    In addition, this year’s results show:

    • 76 percent offer secure messaging with clinicians on mobile devices.
    • When patients need ongoing monitoring at home, 74 percent use secure emails for patients and families to keep in touch with the care team.
    • 68 percent simplify prescription renewals by letting patients make requests on mobile devices.
    • 62 percent add data reported by patients to the electronic health record to get a better picture of what is going on with the patient.
    • Nearly half of the hospitals are using telehealth to provide behavioral health services to more patients.
    • 40 percent offer virtual physician visits.

    The survey of 698 participants, representing an estimated 2,158 hospitals — more than 39 percent of all hospitals in the U.S. — examines how organizations are leveraging IT to improve performance for value-based healthcare in the areas of infrastructure, business and administrative management; quality and safety; and clinical integration. Clearwater Compliance, a leading provider of hospital cybersecurity and compliance solutions, is the exclusive sponsor of the 19th annual Healthcare Most Wired® benchmarking study and survey, a strategic tool that helps hospitals and health systems to continually increase their technology operational efficiency and high performance enhancements.

    The Most Wired Survey looks at how hospitals and health systems are leveraging information technology to improve patient care and efficiency for value-based healthcare and implementing information technology (IT) strategies essential for future delivery systems. Through this benchmarking study and survey, hospital organizations, at no cost, can gain insights by benchmarking their IT priorities and capabilities against the industry to help exceed industry standards.

    Detailed results of the survey and study can be found in the July issue of Hospitals & Health Networks (H&HN). For a full list of winners, visit hhnmag.com.

    HealthCare’s Most Wired® survey, conducted between Jan. 15 and March 15, 2017, is published annually by H&HN. The 2017 Most Wired® survey and benchmarking study is a leading industry barometer measuring information technology (IT) use and adoption among hospitals nationwide.

    About Clearwater Compliance
    Clearwater Compliance, LLC is a leading provider of critical infrastructure regulatory compliance and cybersecurity management solutions. Its mission is to empower customers to successfully manage the evolving information security risk landscape. Clearwater solutions have been employed by hundreds of customers including the Fortune 100 and federal government. More information about Clearwater Compliance is at: Clearwatercompliance.com.

    About the Most Wired Survey
    The 2017 Most Wired Survey is conducted in cooperation with the American Hospital Association and Clearwater Compliance, LLC.

    About the American Hospital Association
    The AHA is a not-for-profit association of healthcare provider organizations and individuals that are committed to the improvement of health in their communities. The AHA is the national advocate for its members, which include nearly 5,000 hospitals, healthcare systems, networks and other providers of care. Founded in 1898, the AHA provides education for healthcare leaders and is a source of information on healthcare issues and trends. For more information, visit aha.org.

    Contact
    Clearwater Compliance, LLC
    Kelly Motley
    615.483.0365
    [email protected]

    Posted 7.19.2017
Older posts