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CHIME17 Forum Focuses on Healthcare IT Challenges, Future Directions
ANN ARBOR, MI, Sept. 27, 2017 – Dozens of healthcare IT thought leaders and industry luminaries will discuss cybersecurity, strategies for maximizing health IT, leadership skills and more at the CHIME17 Fall CIO Forum Oct. 31-Nov. 3 in San Antonio, Texas. The forum, presented by the College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (CHIME), will include keynote addresses by three prominent authors, special sessions on public policy, women in the workforce and more.New to this year’s forum is Leadership from the Edge, three TED-like sessions that focus on health IT in the future and how CIO leadership can prepare for it. Leadership from the Edge will be live streamed, as will be the keynote speakers.
“Healthcare IT is now integrated into every part of patient care,” said Sarah Richardson, California Market CIO at DaVita Medical Group and the Fall Forum Planning Committee chair. “Today’s CIOs need to have the technical knowledge to make EHRs, integrated networks, security systems and other technologies facilitate care. But they also need leadership skills to be effective torch bearers of change within their hospitals and healthcare systems. We developed a forward-thinking educational program that covers all their professional needs.”
While it is noted for its educational value, the forum also provides an opportunity for CIOs and senior healthcare IT leaders to share time together, network and have fun. Those who arrive on Oct. 31 can enjoy a charity golf outing that pits golfers against CHIME President and CEO Russell Branzell, a giving back event and a welcome reception and dinner. On Nov. 2, the Southern rock band 38 Special will perform.
“For our members, CHIME is a community of CIOs who share a mission to provide quality care that is safe, affordable and accessible,” said Michael Martz, Market Information Officer at Ascension and Fall Forum Planning Committee vice chair. “We learn from each other, we support each other and we inspire each other to be better. The planning committee selected keynote speakers and presenters who will challenge us to be even more ambitious in our efforts.”
Keynote presenters include:
- Kelly McGonigal, a health psychologist and a pioneer of the field “science-help,” who will kick off the forum on Nov. 1 with a talk about well-being. She is a lecturer at Stanford University and author of the international best seller The Willpower of Instinct and The Upside of Stress.
- Abraham Verghese, M.D., will share a vision on Nov. 2 of future healthcare that marries technological innovation with the traditional doctor-patient relationship. A National Humanities Medal recipient, he is a prolific writer whose work includes the best-selling novel Cutting for Stone and numerous books and publications.
- Don Tapscott, digital visionary and author of Wikinomics, Paradigm Shift, The Digital Economy and most recently Blockchain Revolution, will provide the closing keynote Nov. 3 with a presentation on blockchain and how it applies to healthcare and other industries.
A full agenda with details about the sessions and other events is available here. CHIME17 is open to CHIME members only. Membership information is available here.
Note to editors: Members of the media who are interested in attending the CHIME17 Fall CIO Forum should contact Candace Stuart, CHIME director of communications and public relations, at [email protected] or call 734-275-0104.
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.
Contacts
CHIME:
Candace Stuart
Director of Communications and Public Relations
734.665.0000
[email protected]Posted 9.28.2017 -
Impact Advisors to Participate in National Health IT Week
Firm celebrates healthcare IT through awareness activities
CHICAGO, IL – September 28, 2017 — Impact Advisors, LLC, a leading provider of healthcare information technology services, is partnering with hundreds of organizations across the country to celebrate National Health IT (NHIT) Week from October 2nd – 6th. The firm will be promoting the important role that health information technology plays in improving healthcare delivery in America by participating in several awareness activities throughout the week.
“As a firm, we are excited to celebrate NHIT Week and share the many reasons why we are so passionate about the industry we serve every day,” said Pete Smith, CEO and Co-Founder of Impact Advisors. “Health information technology is about improving relationships and improving lives.”
Initiated in 2006 by the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS), NHIT Week has emerged as a landmark occasion for celebrating and promoting health IT as part of the overall solution to improve America’s healthcare as a bipartisan, federally led, market driven initiative.
NHIT Week includes participants from all fields of healthcare, such as: vendors, provider organizations, payers, pharmaceutical/biotech companies, government agencies, industry/professional associations, research foundations, and consumer protection groups. The week brings these organizations and individuals together, at events across the country, to elevate national attention to the benefits of advancing health IT. For more information, visit www.healthitweek.org.
Impact Advisors will be participating in NHIT Week by promoting and celebrating the virtual events internally. In addition, the firm will be promoting the week on its social media sites and website.
For more information on Impact Advisors, visit www.impact-advisors.com or visit the company on Facebook www.facebook.com/impactadvisors.
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.
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RoseAnn Haedt
Communications Strategist
Chartwell Agency
www.chartwell-agency.com
120 W. State St.| Suite 305| Rockford, IL 61101
Direct: 815.708.6157 | Cell: 815.742.0573
Rockford: 815.282.9976| Madison: 608.239.0745
Quad Cities: 309.738.1662Posted 9.28.2017 -
Inside CHIME: CHIME to Give Proceeds from Fall Forum’s Charitable Events to Hurricane Relief Efforts
9.27.17
By Myra Davis, Senior VP & CIO, Texas Children’s HospitalI was informed by the staff at CHIME that most, if not all, of the proceeds from charity events at the upcoming CHIME17 CIO Fall Forum will go directly to disaster relief efforts in the wake of Hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria. The CHIME Board recently approved the decision to direct these funds to charities to help people affected by the storms.
As the CIO of a hospital in Houston, I am humbled by this decision. Hurricane Harvey dropped more than 50 inches of rain on parts of the Houston region after it made landfall in late August as a Category 4 storm. Thousands of residents were forced to evacuate their homes and some hospitals in the region evacuated, too. The Federal Emergency Management Agency listed more than 40 counties disaster areas and has received 213,062 applications for assistance as of mid-September.
Texas wasn’t Harvey’s only victim. Louisiana and other Gulf Coast communities experienced torrential rainfall, flooding and destruction. The storm system has been credited with more than 60 deaths, with about half in Harris County.
Then Hurricane Irma pounded Florida, Georgia and South Carolina just a few weeks later, leaving millions of utility customers without power. Hurricane Maria has been wreaking havoc in the Caribbean, with Puerto Rico taking a major blow along with the Dominican Republic, the U.S. Virgin Islands and other islands.
But there are things to be grateful for, too. During Harvey, many hospitals in Houston never closed, thanks to lessons learned from past hurricanes. Texas Children’s Hospital, where I am a senior vice president and CIO, is a member of the Texas Medical Center. After Allison caused major flooding damage to the complex in 2001, the center re-engineered its tunnel system to add flood protections – and they worked. EHRs and health IT systems in Texas remained functioning, too.
I also am thankful for the CHIME community. The support and encouragement I received from my CHIME colleagues reinforced my conviction that we are a family who looks out for one another. And we help those in need. CHIME forums traditionally include fundraising initiatives like the golf challenge and events to help a local nonprofit. Last year, your generosity allowed for more than $70,000 to go to local charities.
The CHIME staff will keep you informed about the giving opportunities in store for you at CHIME17. You can look for updates in this newsletter and on the CHIME website. If you haven’t registered yet, go here. You won’t want to miss the chance to meet friends, network, learn the latest in our industry and contribute to a good cause.
I look forward to seeing you in San Antonio.
More Inside CHIME Volume 2, No. 18:
- Inside CHIME: Task Force Chair’s Tips for Getting Clinicians to Follow Best Cybersecurity Practices – Theresa Meadows
- Inside CHIME: News of Note – Candace Stuart
Posted 9.28.2017 -
Inside CHIME: Task Force Chair’s Tips for Getting Clinicians to Follow Best Cybersecurity Practices
9.27.17
By Theresa Meadows, CHCIO, Senior VP & CIO, Cook Children’s Health Care SystemOctober is National Cyber Security Awareness Month, a campaign supported by the federal government to raise awareness of the importance of cybersecurity across all sectors and provide Internet users with tools and resources to prevent cyber incidents. As the chair of the Health Care Industry Cybersecurity Task Force, which was mandated under the Cybersecurity Act of 2015, I have had the opportunity to discuss strategies for strengthening the healthcare industry’s cybersecurity position with the industry’s top thought leaders.
I am also the senior vice president and CIO of Cook Children’s Health Care System. My fellow CIOs and senior IT executives know that cybersecurity is a 24/7 endeavor that takes no holidays. While we and our healthcare IT teams may be ever-vigilant, our clinicians and other staff may not. National Cyber Security Awareness Month provides an opportunity for us to help them better understand the threats and ways to mitigate those threats.
But how? Here are some tips.
- Build a culture of cybersecurity among your executive and physician leaders. Educate them about the threats, myths and importance of good cyber hygiene. As influential and knowledgeable leaders, they can champion the cause among their peers and staff and get them to buy into safety processes.
- Know the strengths and weaknesses of your cyber infrastructure and practices. Assess risks, including staff noncompliance to safe practices, and determine a plan to address or mitigate those risks.
- Establish an ongoing education program for all your employees about cybersecurity and cybersecurity threats, and reinforce good security practices as much as possible.
- Address myths. There are many myths about cybersecurity, for instance, that appropriate security controls decrease productivity. Use your C-suite and physician champions and educational sessions to debunk those myths.
- Emphasize the consequences to patients. Share with physicians that a lack of adequate security puts their patients at risk. For instance, a ransomware attack might block an organization or caregiver from access to a patient’s medical record, which might lead to a medical error or otherwise compromise that patient’s safety. Today most medical devices require network connectivity, and many are connected to patients. Adding a device without appropriate security precautions could open the door to potential harm to the patient if the medical device is impacted in a hack.
- Don’t allow complacence. There is an overall trust in healthcare that a cyber incident could never happen to an individual’s organization. The WannaCry and Petya attacks earlier this year have helped to convince some that the threat is real and universal. In truth, every organization no matter what the size, is at risk, and it is critical to have a plan in place to address that risk.
The Health Care Industry Cybersecurity Task Force released 100 recommendations earlier this year, including one that encouraged healthcare organizations to participate in National Cyber Security Awareness Month events. The full report is available here.
On a related note: If you are in Washington. D.C., on Oct. 4, be sure to join me at CHIME’s briefing, “The Critical State of Healthcare Cybersecurity: Leveraging the Recommendations Made by the Health Care Industry Cybersecurity Task Force.” The noon- 2 p.m. presentation is hosted by CHIME’s public policy team and will include members of CHIME and the Association for Executives in Healthcare Information Security. If you plan to attend, please RSVP here.
More Inside CHIME Volume 2, No. 18:
Posted 9.28.2017 -
Inside CHIME: News of Note
9.27.17
By Candace Stuart, Director of Communications & Public Relations, CHIMEGeorgia HIMSS includes CHIME track: CHIME members who live in Georgia or nearby are invited to attend a four-session track on digital leadership and the changing role of the CIO on Oct. 17 at the Georgia Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) Annual Conference. This will mark the first time that CHIME has paired with the Georgia Chapter of HIMSS on the event, which is scheduled to be at the Cobb Galleria Conference Center in Atlanta.
The CHIME track is designed exclusively for senior healthcare IT leaders who are current or eligible members of CHIME and CHIME’s affiliate associations and has been approved for four CHIME Continuing Education Units that can count toward Certified Healthcare CIO certification. Eligibility to attend these sessions will be verified upon registration. GA HIMSS registration information is available at gahimss.com.
Member benefits include CIO SmartBrief: One of the added benefits of CHIME membership is a subscription to CHIME’s Healthcare CIO SmartBrief, an e-newsletter for healthcare CIOs. This twice-weekly news brief is designed to keep you up-to-date on the industry news affecting healthcare CIOs. Each week, a CHIME member provides commentary as well. Members who aren’t receiving the newsletters can sign up here. Please also take a moment to add [email protected] to your safe senders list.
CHIME CMIO members spotlighted: Health Data Management recently published a list of the 25 leading CMIOs at healthcare organizations that was heavily represented by CHIME members. More than 80 percent of these leaders have ties to CHIME. The list is available here.
More Inside CHIME Volume 2, No. 18:
Posted 9.28.2017 -
Pivot Point Consulting Announces New ERP Consulting Services
NASHVILLE, TN – September 27, 2017 — Pivot Point Consulting, a Vaco Company is proud to introduce its new ERP consulting services, which will allow the company to provide clients with strategic insight across their technology spectrums.
As federal incentives and deadlines made EHR projects a high priority for many hospitals and health systems over the last eight years, ERP system maintenance, upgrades and implementations often took a back seat. Now, many organizations are realizing the costs of putting these important projects off—a loss of performance, clunky workflows, and potentially compromised security.
“With so much at stake, it’s never been more important to assess the current status of an ERP solution,” explained Rachel Marano, Pivot Point’s Managing Partner. “Clients asked our advisors for assistance in identifying their most urgent needs, as well as for implementing a plan of action for getting systems up and running efficiently. I’m honored that when there’s an initiative as important as an ERP upgrade or implementation, they’d look to us.”
Pivot Point’s existing methodologies have supported the planning, implementation, and optimization of integrated systems across the United States. The company’s announcement comes shortly after the news that they were the highest rated vendor in the Select Category of the July 2017 Implementation Services KLAS report.
To learn more about Pivot Point’s ERP Consulting Services, click here.
Posted 9.27.2017 -
Streamlined Communication Translates to Better Patient Care, Halifax Health Discovers
SAN JOSE, CA – September 26, 2017 – By Tom Stafford – Halifax Health is a public hospital in the state of Florida. We see about 85,000 to 90,000 patient visits a year in our main campus emergency department (ED). It is one of the largest emergency departments in central Florida and includes a Level 2 Trauma Center, so the patients we care for are quite sick. Effective communication for those patients needing critical care really matters.
- See the full story of how Halifax Health uses better communication to help deliver better patient care. Watch the video.
In 2009, we moved our ED to a brand new tower, and we didn’t want the chaotic nature of overhead paging. Most people who go to the ED are already under huge amounts of stress, and we did not want to add to that. Our chief nursing officer noticed the Vocera solution at a conference. After learning more, we decided all ED communication would go through Vocera. So when we opened our ED in our new tower in June 2009, we did not use overhead paging at all.
Efficient Communication, Less Noise
In the past, the main communication methods in our emergency department were with pagers or overhead paging. Sometimes a provider would actually yell down the hall to find somebody in an urgent situation. It could become very loud.
We needed a communication infrastructure in our ED that was complete, and we chose a Vocera solution. With Vocera technology, if you want to talk to somebody, you just tap your Vocera Badge and find her, and have your conversation in a normal tone of voice.
We broadcast everything over our Vocera Badges, so do not need to utilize overhead paging. The communication is fast and effective, and the absence of overhead pages promotes a calmer, healing environment. When I give a tour of our ED to members of the information technology field, they always tell me it is the quietest ED in the world.
Physician Communication
Before we knew it, all of our clinical units were using Vocera, and we had a very large network of healthcare providers who were communicating and caring for patients, hands-free. Then we started researching secure texting options, specifically to identify a solution that physicians could use without difficulty. We were looking for encrypted text and a solution that would enable HIPAA compliance.
The Vocera solution met our criteria for encryption and compliance. It is much like a normal text messaging application that all of us know how to use, but it also provides the ability to transition that text conversation into voice. And that’s what makes people say, “Oh wow, this is really cool.” It streamlines their workflows day to day.
Prior to implementing a secure texting solution at Halifax Health, the process for reaching the right physician required several steps. If a unit care team member needed to consult a physician who wasn’t immediately available or was offsite, the communication workflow involved a staff member calling the unit clerk, who would call the hospital call center, who would then call the physician to relay the message from the unit. It could take almost 15 minutes for the right physician to receive the original message. When response time is factored in, the entire process sometimes took an hour. When Vocera’s secure texting solution is used, the physicians can be contacted almost immediately, which helps us be more efficient in caring for our patients.
Better Patient Care
To our patients, Vocera technology means a timely and coordinated response to their medical needs. When patients see their caregivers communicating in real-time, it helps them recognize that Halifax has an entire team working together to help them to get better. When a nurse is able to stay at a critically ill patient’s bedside and communicate through Vocera with another caregiver to coordinate further care, as opposed to leaving the bedside in order to make phone calls, that is in the patient’s best interest.
In hospitals, information exchange between people and systems is as important as communication between people. A patient being septic is a very big deal in hospitals, and when it comes to sepsis, timing is everything. We have a care advisory product that takes about 300 data points from the patient’s record in the EHR. This data goes into a decision tree engine in the cloud that determines if the patient could be mildly, moderately, or severely septic. As soon as the system is aware of potential sepsis, it alerts the care team within seconds.
We also use Vocera Rounds, a rounding application that enables purposeful rounding at the patient bedside. Rounding on paper is not efficient at all because patient comments and requests cannot be tracked and measured. The app captures patient feedback and data in real time on the caregiver’s mobile device so that when we call the patient to follow up 28 to 48 hours after discharge, the information entered is there for easy reference.
We use Vocera technology to find the answers quickly, give the information to the patients, and have them ready to go home. It really makes a difference.
About Vocera
The mission of Vocera Communications, Inc. is to simplify and improve the lives of healthcare professionals and patients, while enabling hospitals to enhance quality of care and operational efficiency. In 2000, when the company was founded, we began to forever change the way care teams communicate. Today, Vocera continues to offer the leading platform for clinical communication and workflow. More than 1,400 hospitals and health systems around the world have selected our solutions for care teams to text securely using smartphones or make calls with our hands-free, wearable Vocera Badge. Interoperability between Vocera and more than 120 clinical systems helps reduce alarm fatigue, speed up staff response times, and improve patient care, safety and experience. In addition to healthcare, Vocera is at home in luxury hotels, nuclear facilities, libraries, retail stores and more. Vocera makes a difference in any industry where workers are on the move and need to connect instantly with team members and access resources or information quickly. Learn more at www.vocera.com and follow @VoceraComm on Twitter.
The Vocera logo is a trademark of Vocera Communications, Inc. Vocera® is a trademark of Vocera Communications, Inc. registered in the United States and other jurisdictions. All other trademarks appearing in this release are the property of their respective owners.
MEDIA CONTACT:
Shanna Hearon
Vocera Communications, Inc.
865-769-2028
[email protected]###
Related Resources:
www.vocera.com
www.vocera.com/blog/halifax-health-better-communication-better-patient-carePosted 9.26.2017 -
Orion Health Achieves HITRUST CSF Certification to Further Mitigate Risk in Third Party Privacy, Security and Compliance
HITRUST Certification validates Orion Health is committed to meeting key healthcare regulations and protecting sensitive private healthcare information
SCOTTSDALE, AZ – Sept. 25, 2017 — Orion Health, a leading provider of interoperability, population health management, and precision medicine solutions, today announced its Amadeus solution and supporting AWS Infrastructure, Orion Health Corporate Network, and its Customer Support team have earned Certified status for information security by the Health Information Trust (HITRUST) Alliance. With the HITRUST Certified Security Framework (CSF) status, these solutions meet key healthcare regulations and requirements for protecting and securing sensitive private healthcare information.
View a video on how to choose the right industry certifications:
HITRUST CSF Certified status indicates that the organization’s Amadeus population health solution has met industry-defined requirements and is appropriately managing risk, and places Orion Health in an elite group of organizations worldwide that have earned this certification. By including federal and state regulations, standards and frameworks, and incorporating a risk-based approach, the HITRUST CSF helps organizations address these challenges through a comprehensive and flexible framework of prescriptive and scalable security controls.
“Achieving HITRUST CSF Certification is another step in validating our security controls, processes and systems,” said Gerard Scheitlin, vice president of security, risk and assurance for Orion Health. “This certification provides additional assurance to our current and future clients that Orion Health takes the role of data custodian very seriously.”
“HITRUST has been working with the industry to ensure the appropriate information protection requirements are met when sensitive health information is accessed or stored in a cloud environment,” said Ken Vander Wal, chief compliance officer, HITRUST. “We are pleased that Orion Health has taken the steps necessary to achieve HITRUST CSF Certified status, and we expect their customers to have confidence in this designation.”
About Orion Health
Orion Health is a global healthcare technology company delivering interoperability, population health and precision medicine solutions. Thousands of clinicians use Orion Health software to deliver care for more than 110 million patients in more than 25 countries. The company employs over 1,200 people globally and is committed to continual innovation. For more information, visit orionhealth.com.#####
Orion Health Media Contact:
Marcia Rhodes
Amendola Communications
[email protected]
480-664-8412 x 15Posted 9.25.2017 -
MVP Health Care Advances Employer Reporting with MedeAnalytics
Regional Health Plan Provides Employer Groups and Brokers with Industry-Leading Analytics and Reporting to Fuel Data-Driven Decisions
Emeryville, CA- September 18, 2017 – MedeAnalytics, a pioneer in health care analytics, today announced that MVP Health Care (MVP), a not-for-profit health insurer serving New York and Vermont, is improving reporting turnaround time and enhancing self-service capabilities by leveraging MedeAnalytics’ Employer Reporting solution. Employer Reporting provides collaborative, modern, health care analysis and reporting to health plans, helping them increase employer retention, reduce strain on internal reporting staff and improve client satisfaction.
Since launching the solution earlier this year, MVP has provided its employer groups and brokers with access to actionable data to make better strategic decisions on behalf of its members. With this clinical and financial information, employers can focus on the strategies that are most likely to help improve the health of their employees.
“In the wake of rising costs, employers are continually searching for the best possible benefit packages and we knew our brokers needed better access to reliable, comprehensive and actionable data,” said Augusta Martin, vice president, client engagement. “With MedeAnalytics’ ability to rapidly refresh data from a variety of sources and their self-service capabilities, we can now deliver real-time, quality insights to our employers and brokers. Reporting turnaround times have also been greatly improved, allowing our brokers to focus their time and resources on giving our members the best possible offerings.”
MVP, which serves more than 700,000 members across two states, began leveraging MedeAnalytics’ Employer Reporting solution by first initiating close collaboration between its analytics, information technology, and account management departments. After integrating the collective feedback, MVP launched the web-based solution with dashboards and standard reports that automatically refresh on a monthly basis to continually measure the performance of a plan. The solution aggregates data ranging from raw membership information and medical and pharmacy claims to authorizations and third-party data, bringing it all into one source. Users can generate a stylized presentation report that packages performance data into an attractive PowerPoint that brokers can provide to clients. Alternatively, users can also leverage the self-service and drill-down capabilities to dig deeper and make data-driven decisions and client recommendations on the fly.
“By having access to a complete, longitudinal view of members, along with utilization and enrollment data, MVP can provide the highest level of service to its members while improving communications, both internally and externally,” said Paul Kaiser, chief executive officer of MedeAnalytics. “We are pleased to have played a critical role in their success and are committed to helping similar payers across the country achieve agile reporting to maintain a competitive edge in their markets.”
Reaction to the current solution rollout has been very positive among MVP’s brokers. The health plan aims to continue to expand reporting capabilities in the upcoming year with additional data, as well as formatting enhancements.
About MVP Health Care
MVP Health Care is a nationally recognized, community-focused, not-for-profit health insurer serving more than 700,000 members in New York and Vermont. Committed to the complete well-being of its members, MVP provides the tools and information they need to achieve better health and peace of mind. For more information, visit www.mvphealthcare.com, or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/mvphealthcare, and on Twitter at @MVPHealthCare.
About MedeAnalytics®
MedeAnalytics provides evidence-based insights to solve a real problem that plagues healthcare – how to use the immense amount of patient data collected along the care continuum to deliver cost-effective care and promote a healthier population. Its analytics platform delivers intelligence that helps healthcare organizations detect their greatest areas of risk and identify opportunities to improve their financial health. It empowers providers and payers to collaborate and use data to strengthen their operations and improve the quality of care. MedeAnalytics’ cloud-based tools have been used to uncover business insights for over 1,500 healthcare organizations across the United States and United Kingdom. The company has also been named one of Modern Healthcare’s top 100 Best Places to Work in Healthcare for 2014, 2015 and 2016. For more information, visit www.medeanalytics.com.
Media Contacts:
Anne Perez, Senior Director, Marketing
MedeAnalytics
703.403.0496
Victoria Khamsombath
SHIFT Communications
415.591.8464
Jo Ann LeSage Nelson
MVP Health Care
518.427.1186
Posted 9.18.2017 -
Strategic Alerts Give Patients, Clinicians Peace of Mind, according to Vocera Thought Leader
EHRs Send STAT Orders Automatically, Speeding Patient Care
SAN JOSE, CA – September 14, 2017 – By Jennifer Knapp – A hospital’s team of respiratory therapists had trouble keeping up with STAT orders. Sometimes the orders were buried within patient records in the EHR. Often the therapists couldn’t access the EHR for hours while engaged with a patient or on a transport. Occasionally they missed orders altogether.
- The Vocera Platform can help manage clinical alarms and alerts for better patient safety; learn more at https://www.vocera.com/product/vocera-engage.
- Original post can be found at https://www.vocera.com/blog/five-ways-effective-use-alerts-helps-improve-patient-safety.
The hospital realized that leaving order detection to chance could put patients at risk. It set up the EHR to automatically send alerts for STAT orders directly to the team on their mobile phones. Now they’re notified immediately if an order is waiting, which helps speed patient care.
This is a simple yet illustrative example of why proactive alerts are so important to patient safety.
According to The Joint Commission1, 69 percent of accidental deaths and injuries in hospitals are caused by communication breakdowns. We have more data than ever, but it resides in disparate systems, and care teams do not have time to sift through all the information to determine what is actionable.
In many clinical scenarios, sending proactive alerts and alarms directly to care team members on their mobile devices – when and where they need them most – can improve patient safety. Five scenarios stand out for me.
- Early Warnings of Deterioration Speed Sepsis Risk Response
A variety of solutions are available for detecting signs of clinical deterioration. These range from basic modified early warning score systems, to algorithms that pull data from a range of sources to pinpoint when a patient is nearing trouble in order to proactively communicate risk warnings to caregivers. An early warning system that surveils for patient deterioration, paired with a notification solution that sends real-time alerts, can speed response time.
- Pain Assessment Reminders Help Prevent Drug Overuse
Opioid overuse threatens patient safety because liberal dosing and administration can result in respiratory depression and respiratory arrest. It’s important for caregivers to receive timely reminders to assess pain levels and administer medications appropriately. When medication is administered, the electronic medication administration record can start a timer and deliver a reminder to the nurse’s mobile device. Closing the loop enables therapeutic pain management and earlier detection of adverse events, and supports The Joint Commission’s pain management standards.
- Bed Exit Alarms Help Prevent Falls
Fast response is critical for preventing patient falls. The University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (https://www.vocera.com/resource/university-arkansas-medical-sciences-uams-uses-vocera-fall-prevention-and-other-key) reduced falls by 11 percent and fall-related injuries by 60 percent in its first year of sending bed exit notifications to care team members on their mobile devices, resulting in $1.27 million in savings. Evans Army Community Hospital reduced falls by 88 percent by sending call light alerts directly to nurses.
Combining fall risk scores with nurse call requests enables alerts to be sent at different priority levels. For example, if a patient is a fall risk and needs to use the bathroom, that alert can be delivered with a higher priority than other nurse call requests.
- RTLS Alerts Enable Fast Intervention
Seconds matter when intervening in a potential patient abduction or elopement. A real-time location system (RTLS) can send alerts to nearby team members with details about the patients and their locations, enabling quicker response. Because RTLS alerts sometimes trigger accidentally, there are also options for canceling them from mobile devices.
- Prioritizing Physiologic Monitor Alarms Helps Stem Interruption Fatigue
According to The Joint Commission, 85 percent to 99 percent of alarms don’t require clinical intervention. Filtering out the noise so only actionable alarms are delivered can significantly reduce the risks associated with alarm fatigue.
At a hospital in New York City, the 64-bed telemetry unit generated 13,000 alarms per day. Each nurse received an alarm every two minutes on average. Nurses risked ignoring alarms that mattered because so few were clinically significant. After implementing an alarm management system configured to deliver only actionable alarms and to send clinical context directly to nurses’ smartphones, the alarm count dropped to 1,000 per day.
Better for Patients, Better for Clinicians
When used judiciously, proactive alerts and alarms can significantly enhance patient safety. It’s a best practice for an alarm committee to assess alert and alarm utilization broadly and guide decisions about alarm management. A great resource for more information is AAMI’s Clinical Alarm Management Compendium (http://www.aami.org/productspublications/pressreleasedetail.aspx?ItemNumber=2905). It’s designed to help healthcare organizations meet The Joint Commission’s National Patient Safety Goal on clinical alarms.
The Joint Commission, an independent healthcare accreditation organization
About Vocera
The mission of Vocera Communications, Inc. is to simplify and improve the lives of healthcare professionals and patients, while enabling hospitals to enhance quality of care and operational efficiency. In 2000, when the company was founded, we began to forever change the way care teams communicate. Today, Vocera continues to offer the leading platform for clinical communication and workflow. More than 1,400 hospitals and health systems around the world have selected our solutions for care teams to text securely using smartphones or make calls with our hands-free, wearable Vocera Badge. Interoperability between Vocera and more than 120 clinical systems helps reduce alarm fatigue, speed up staff response times, and improve patient care, safety and experience. In addition to healthcare, Vocera is at home in luxury hotels, nuclear facilities, libraries, retail stores and more. Vocera makes a difference in any industry where workers are on the move and need to connect instantly with team members and access resources or information quickly. Learn more at www.vocera.com and follow @VoceraComm on Twitter.
The Vocera logo is a trademark of Vocera Communications, Inc. Vocera® is a trademark of Vocera Communications, Inc. registered in the United States and other jurisdictions. All other trademarks appearing in this release are the property of their respective owners.
MEDIA CONTACT:
Shanna Hearon
Vocera Communications, Inc.
865-769-2028
[email protected]###
Posted 9.14.2017 -
Survey: Healthcare Technology Pros See Poor ROI from Electronic Records but View Analytics as a Solution
SALT LAKE CITY, UT – September 14, 2017 — The billions in taxpayer dollars spent on electronic health records (EHRs) since 2009 have unfortunately generated a poor return for the nation’s healthcare system, according to a survey of more than 1,100 healthcare professionals attending the fourth annual Healthcare Analytics Summit™ (HAS 17), Sept. 12-14 in Salt Lake City.
Fortunately, survey respondents also overwhelmingly signaled that analytics software—a technology designed to make the clinical data in EHRs more valuable—holds great promise for the future. The divergent views of the two technologies likely reflects the industry’s abrupt shift away from data collection and toward data analysis as healthcare transitions from fee-for-service to value-based reimbursement.
When asked to assess the “return on digital investment” produced by the billions of dollars invested in implementing EHRs since the 2009 federal stimulus program, 61 percent of respondents to the online survey answered either “terrible” (19%) or “poor” (42%). Another 29 percent said the ROI from EHR investments has been “mediocre.” Only 10 percent rated the ROI from EHRs as either “positive” (9%) or “superb” (1%).
By contrast, 83 percent of HAS 17 attendees who responded to a series of online mini-surveys rated analytics as “extremely important” to “the future of healthcare and population health.” Fourteen percent of respondents said analytics is “very important,” while 3 percent rated it “moderately important.” No respondents rated the technology as either “somewhat important” or “not important.”
Analytics progress lags its promise … but optimism is high
Despite their enthusiasm for analytics, most HAS 17 attendees work for organizations that have yet to make full use of the technology’s capabilities. When asked to compare their organizations’ use of analytics with a 4-level scale of analytics sophistication, half (50%) of respondents ranked their organization’s use of analytics as “artisanal,” at the bottom of the scale. According to the model, developed by author and HAS17 keynote Tom Davenport, the four levels or analytics adoption are:
- Artisanal Analytics – the most basic level, consisting mainly of data integration and curation
- Big Data – analytics 2.0, enabling experimentation, open source coding and visual analytics
- The Data Economy – analytics incorporating machine learning, agile methods and change management
- Cognitive Analytics – enabling natural language process, event stream processing, work design and neural networks or deep learning
Survey takers generally aligned with levels 1, 2 or 3 on the scale, with 26 percent assigning “Big Data” standing to their organizations, and 17 percent selecting “data economy” analytics. Only a handful of survey takers (5%) rated their organizations as having achieved the most advanced form of analytics, “cognitive analytics.”
While most healthcare organizations may be early in their adoption of analytics, survey takers overall were optimistic about the technology. Seventy-six percent of respondents said they were either “optimistic” (35%) about the potential of analytics, or rated themselves as “advocates” (41%) who want to “help lead the change and a make a difference.” Much smaller numbers said they were in a “wait and see” mode (9%), or “worried” about other priorities getting in the way of analytics success. Just four percent of survey takers said they were “skeptical” about making analytics work as promised.
Survey results were generated by HAS 17 attendees using the conference’s mobile app to provide answers to questions posed by keynote presenters.
For more information on HAS 17, which is hosted by Health Catalyst, visit http://www.hasummit.com.
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 www.healthcatalyst.com, and follow us on Twitter (@HealthCatalyst), LinkedIn and Facebook.
Media Contact:
Todd Stein
Amendola Communications
916-346-4213
[email protected]Posted 9.14.2017 -
Inside CHIME: News of Note
9.14.17
By Candace Stuart, Director of Communications & Public Relations, CHIMEHere is a roundup from CHIME of recent news and upcoming events.
CHIME and DirectTrust announce collaboration: CHIME and DirectTrust announced Aug. 30 that they are collaborating to promote the universal deployment of the DirectTrust framework and health information exchange network as the common electronic interface for health information exchange across the U.S. DirectTrust’s network is the largest standards-based network for the exchange of health information, with more than 1.5 million send and receive endpoints, at over 100,000 healthcare organizations, via more than 350 ONC-certified EHRs. More information is available here.
Interoperability webinar counts for one CEU: Two leading CHIME members will participate in a webinar on interoperability on Sept. 19. Attendees to the webinar, which is produced in partnership with CHIME, can earn up to one Continuing Education Unit for the CHIME Certified Healthcare CIO program. CHIME Board Chair Liz Johnson, CIO of Acute Care Hospitals and Applied Clinical Informatics at Tenet Healthcare, and Brian Patty, M.D., vice president and CMIO at Rush University Medical Center, will share their experiences and insights along with Andrew Mellin, chief medical officer at Spok. Anthony Guerra, editor-in-chief of healthysystemCIO.com, will moderate the live event. The webinar is produced by healthysystemCIO.com in partnership with CHIME. Register here.
More Inside CHIME Volume 2, No. 18:
- Inside CHIME: Georgia HIMSS to Include Educational Track for CHIME Members – Jeff Buda & Dee Cantrell
- Inside CHIME: ‘Leadership’ Talk Looks at How IT Team Helped Break Cycle of Abuse – Candace Stuart
Posted 9.14.2017