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A Year Later: What WannaCry Taught Us About the Value of Collaboration

5.10.2018
Cletis Earle – Chair, CHIME Board; CIO, Kaleida Health

WannaCry made its first appearance on the morning of May 12, 2017, by infecting computers at Telefonica, a telecommunications company in Spain. Within hours, it had begun exploiting file-sharing networks in the UK’s National Health Service (NHS), eventually spreading to 45 organizations and 37 trusts in the UK. The ransomware attack forced NHS hospitals and clinics to shut down their electronic systems, divert patients needing emergency care to other hospitals, and cancel elective surgeries and general appointments. NHS racked up more than $1.4 million in losses because of WannaCry.

Before the malicious cyberattack was contained, it had spread to more than 150 other countries and infected 600,000 computers. Most hospitals in the U.S. went relatively unscathed, in part due to the discovery of a “kill switch” to deactivate the malware. But U.S. hospitals and health systems also benefited from relationships that had been cemented well in advance of WannaCry. Even as they wrestled with WannaCry, NHS members were informally alerting the U.S. healthcare community about the problem.

The anniversary of WannaCry offers an opportunity to reflect on what went wrong – and right – during the attack. The NHS provides a great example of leaders who shared information and knowledge outside their organization to thwart cyberthreats. Attacks in the healthcare sector have increased in frequency and virulence in recent years, making the need for information sharing and collaboration among healthcare organizations that much more critical.

It is becoming clear that a cyberattack on one organization can spiral into an attack on many, and this is especially true as health systems and other entities become digitally connected. To address this potential vulnerability, the Western New York region put together a multisector collaborative think tank that included Kaleida Health, where I am CIO. We developed relationships to mitigate risks if a breach occurs in an organization or an affiliated partner in the region. That includes a strategy for pooling resources and having an incident response team in place if an incident occurs.

This think tank has allowed what are traditionally competitive businesses to partner to prevent cyber incidents or lessen the damage during a breach. Our think tank model is not the only collaboration available to the healthcare IT community. CHIME also champions collaboration. That culture was apparent when WannaCry hit. Our public policy team was in close contact with federal agencies to provide timely and accurate updates to members, and members were networking with each other to share information and shore up defenses.

The healthcare IT community faces many challenges, though. One obstacle to information sharing comes from concerns about potential repercussions, for instance, if it gets publicly reported that patients’ data have been exposed in a breach. At the federal level, CHIME’s public policy team in Washington, D.C., and our Public Policy Steering Committee have been educating policy makers about the unintended consequences of a punitive approach when hospitals have taken reasonable measures to protect patient information. We advocate for policies that encourage information sharing and assist hospitals in the event of a cyberattack.

And we have seen some progress. After the WannaCry incident, a Health and Human Services representative listed improving cyberthreat information sharing as a priority in his written testimony to the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations. We are encouraged by the changes being considered in Washington, and our members and public policy team continue to work with federal officials to educate them about the benefits of a collaborative and fully informed healthcare IT community.

The healthcare IT community has learned many valuable cybersecurity lessons since WannaCry, including the importance of updating patches, backing up files and practicing good cyber hygiene. These are all excellent practices but they are not our only recourse. The more we stand together as allies against these bad actors, by sharing information and collaborating, the harder it will be for cybercriminals to succeed.

Editor’s note: This commentary was originally published in heathsystemCIO.com.

More Inside CHIME

LTPAC Health IT Summit Lets Acute and Post-Acute Care Teams Connect – By Rusty Yeager

Most Wired Proving to Be Boon for CHIME and Foundation Members – By Michelle Patterson and Barb Sivek

Posted 5.10.2018
Most Wired Proving to Be Boon for CHIME and Foundation Members

5.10.2018
Michelle Patterson – Vice President, Operations

Barb Sivek – Vice President, CHIME Foundation

When CHIME took over the HealthCare’s Most Wired program, we knew it would provide value for our CHIME members and Foundation firm partners. What we are learning is that it includes many bonuses that are exceeding our expectations.

Most Wired has a venerable history benchmarking the adoption of healthcare IT in hospitals and health systems in the U.S. Since 1999, the survey has tracked the increasingly important role that healthcare IT has been playing in patient care, with the results used to honor hospitals that meet or exceed defined metrics. CHIME has revised the survey to better reflect current practice. We will announce the winners at a recognition ceremony during our 2018 CHIME Fall CIO Forum, which will be held Oct. 30-Nov. 2 in San Diego.

Earning a Most Wired title is more than an IT achievement; it is a mark of prestige for the entire hospital. Many CEOs aspire to have their hospital on the winners list because they see it as a banner of overall excellence, and many hospitals use the accomplishment in their recruitment and marketing campaigns. The results get picked up in both mainstream and trade press, and winners often publicize their inclusion in their local media as well. Last year nearly 700 participants representing 2,158 hospitals took the survey, accounting for about 40 percent of all hospitals in the U.S., according to the American Hospital Association.

We have been encouraging the healthcare IT provider community to complete the survey to receive the many benefits that participation offers. Beyond the opportunity to be recognized if named a winner, each organization will receive a benchmarking report that can help executive leaders make informed decisions about their healthcare IT needs and resources. The survey will remain open through May, so there is still time. Email us at [email protected] for details and log-in information.

We also are looking for ways for Foundation firms to become involved. Some excellent options include award promotion/branding, access to the hundreds of Most Wired winners – and thought leadership venues. Sponsorship packages can be viewed here.

We have negotiated special advertising rates for Foundation firms and hospitals to purchase ads in a print and online supplement that will be published by Modern Healthcare Custom Media. The print supplement will be available at the fall forum, where CEOs and CIOs will be invited to join us at the recognition ceremony. The supplement also will be sent to Modern Healthcare’s more than 70,000 subscribers. Modern Healthcare is ranked as the No. 1 publication in readership among hospital CEOs, CFOs and CIOs, and it is the top choice among CEOs as the publication they would most like to receive.

If you have questions or want more information about sponsorships or advertising opportunities, please email Jessica Hadley, CHIME’s executive director for the Education Foundation and Fundraising, at [email protected].

As part of our partnership with Modern Healthcare, CHIME members are eligible for a 20 percent discount on the registration fee for the Healthcare Transformation Summit in Austin, Texas, on June 7-8. The summit, held by Modern Healthcare in conjunction with the Austin Healthcare Council, offers presentations and panel discussions by senior executives from hospitals, health systems, academic medical centers, payers, suppliers and technology innovators. Sessions will cover value-based care, population health, innovations impacting the industry, and highlights from tech and other startup companies.

CHIME will have a booth there, so be sure to stop by and say hello. You can register here; members need to log in to get the discount code. If you have any questions, please email us at [email protected].

More Inside CHIME

LTPAC Health IT Summit Lets Acute and Post-Acute Care Teams Connect – By Rusty Yeager

A Year Later: What WannaCry Taught Us About the Value of Collaboration – By Cletis Earle

Posted 5.10.2018
LTPAC Health IT Summit Lets Acute and Post-Acute Care Teams Connect

5.10.2018
Rusty Yeager – SVP & CIO, Encompass Health

Look at a dozen Medicare beneficiaries admitted into a hospital and you will see five who likely are destined to be treated in a post-acute care setting. About 42 percent of Medicare fee-for-service patients are discharged to skilled nursing facilities, home health agencies, inpatient rehabilitation facilities or long-term care hospitals, according to the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC). Medicare spends about $60 billion annually on post-acute care services.

Despite the volume of patients who transfer from a hospital to post-acute care setting, we still are challenged with sharing important information that would improve our ability to provide quality care. As CIOs and senior healthcare IT executives, we have an opportunity to close that gap.

This month, CHIME announced that we have joined the Long Term and Post Acute Care (LTPAC) Health IT Summit as a collaborative member. The summit, where I am participating on a cybersecurity panel, is June 24-26 at the Washington Hilton Hotel in Washington, D.C. The summit is being organized by LeadingAge, an association for nonprofit providers of aging services, and its Center for Aging Services Technologies (CAST).

As part of this collaboration, LeadingAge CAST has extended a $100 discount to any CHIME member who would like to attend the summit. This is a phenomenal opportunity to connect with healthcare strategists, medical directors, directors of nursing in long-term and post-acute care provider organizations, and the acute healthcare sector – as well as payers serving the growing older adult population. Presenters will discuss how technology connects our various healthcare systems in an era that emphasizes value. Besides cybersecurity, topics will include interoperability, innovative care delivery and payment models, and health information exchanges.

As CIOs, we know that appropriate coordination of care across healthcare settings increases quality and lowers costs; together, those create the value-based care that is increasingly driving reimbursement for both acute and post-acute healthcare systems.

Imagine if two of those five Medicare beneficiaries mentioned earlier were admitted to two different hospitals for heart failure, which is one of the conditions that fall under Medicare’s Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program. Both are treated and transferred to post-acute care facilities, where one facility can seamlessly exchange patient data with the discharging hospital, and the other can’t. Imagine again, if it was one of your loved ones who was one of the patients. Which one of these patients would you want them to be?

I am pleased to participate in an event that brings our healthcare communities together to learn more about each other’s systems and processes and hopefully bridge the divides between the venues of care. Please consider joining me at the summit. You can learn more about the program and register here. You will need to log in to see the discount code.

More Inside CHIME

Most Wired Proving to Be Boon for CHIME and Foundation Members – By Michelle Patterson and Barb Sivek

A Year Later: What WannaCry Taught Us About the Value of Collaboration – By Cletis Earle

Posted 5.10.2018
Northern Valley Indian Health selects eClinicalWorks cloud-centric Electronic Health Record System for its 73 Providers

Health Center implements eClinicalWorks EHR for medical and dental records and behavioral health

Westborough, MA – May 9, 2018 – eClinicalWorks^®, a leader in healthcare IT solutions, announces that Northern Valley Indian Health (NVIH), a non-profit, Tribal Health Program, is transitioning to the eClinicalWorks cloud-centric EHR solution for its 73 providers across seven locations. Use of the cloud-based technology will support care coordination between physicians and patients to enhance communication and improve the delivery of care.

“At Northern Valley Indian Health our mission is to provide excellence in healthcare services to Native Americans and all community members,” said Inder Wadhwa, CEO of Northern Valley Indian Health. “To maintain our mission, we determined eClinicalWorks provided the most advanced cloud-based EHR. As a result, we decided to transition to eClinicalWorks because the platform will provide NVIH with a multitude of reporting capabilities which will improve operational efficiency and flexibility that our current system doesn’t support. We look forward to partnering with eClinicalWorks to enhance and improve the delivery of care.”

The eClinicalWorks cloud-centric EHR solution will allow NVIH to streamline and automate processes for a more effective patient treatment model, regardless of the setting. The software is the only one that includes an Electronic Medical Record, Electronic Dental Record, and behavioral health module — providing a fully integrated technology platform with each patient’s records. The solution will improve NVIH’s operational efficiencies and provide a high-quality, evidence-based care for its patient populations.

“We are proud to partner with Northern Valley Indian Health to improve the delivery of care to its Native American and community members,” said Girish Navani, CEO and co-founder of eClinicalWorks. “By transitioning to eClinicalWorks, NVIH will benefit from a unified medical record platform to enhance its outcome-based healthcare. At eClinicalWorks, we are committed to providing evidence-based care to medically underserved populations.”

About Northern Valley Indian Health
NVIH is a private, nonprofit tribal corporation that was founded in 1971 by a group of Northern California Native American Tribes seeking to reestablish health services for Native Americans in California. NVIH continues to focus agency efforts on establishing and maintaining an effective and efficient healthcare system for Native Americans and the general public through medical, dental, and pediatric services at clinics in Chico, Willows, Red Bluff, and Woodland. For more information go to www.NVIH.org.

About eClinicalWorks
eClinicalWorks® is a privately held leader in healthcare IT solutions. With more than 130,000 physicians and nurse practitioners using its solutions, customers include ACOs, physician practices, hospitals, community health centers, departments of health, and convenient care clinics. During the past ten years, 19 eClinicalWorks customers have received the prestigious HIMSS Davies Award, honoring excellence in Electronic Health Record implementation. The company is second largest in the country for e-prescribing. Based in Westborough, Mass., eClinicalWorks has additional offices in Austin, New York City, Chicago, California, Georgia, London, India, and Dubai. For more information, please visit www.eclinicalworks.com, Facebook, Twitter or call 866-888-6929.

Posted 5.9.2018
Change Healthcare Teams Up with Adobe and Microsoft to Put the “Consumer” in Healthcare Consumer Engagement

Cross-industry alliance to help healthcare organizations enhance patient experience

Las Vegas, NV – May 8, 2018 – PRNewswire — HLTH 2018 — Today Change Healthcare announced its plans for a collaboration with Adobe and Microsoft that will bring providers a more effective way to give patients the exceptional experience they want. By uniting engagement orchestration proven to work in consumer marketing with industry leading healthcare IT across the continuum of care, providers can compete on the strength of their patient relationships, beyond their existing quality and cost effectiveness capabilities.

This new, visionary approach to consumer engagement is needed because existing methods aren’t working. An ORC International study concluded healthcare stakeholders are investing heavily in engagement strategies and technologies, but only one-fifth of consumers said their experiences improved, and another fifth said their experiences worsened. Even the most-accessed patient engagement solutions are used by just a third of consumers.

Change Healthcare is now working with Adobe and Microsoft to build a joint solution leveraging the Change Healthcare Intelligent Healthcare Network™, Adobe Experience Cloud, and Microsoft Azure to provide patients with significantly improved healthcare experiences. The solution is expected to collect, aggregate, and activate consumer data from disparate healthcare IT sources, including EHRs, registration, scheduling, billing, and other mission-critical applications, while taking care to respect patient confidentiality and privacy.

“This unique collaboration is all about helping our customers put the consumer first,” said Neil de Crescenzo, president and CEO of Change Healthcare. “Bolting transactional features onto portals can’t provide the frictionless, end-to-end experience consumers want. That ideal can be met only when providers can infuse and orchestrate intelligence into touchpoints across healthcare’s administrative, clinical, and financial continuum. This alliance aims to merge the finest consumer capabilities with unrivaled healthcare data, AI-enhanced workflows, and operational expertise—and that’s the key to help providers keep patients connected with care and wellness solutions throughout their healthcare journey.”

Once delivered, providers will be able to use the solution as part of their revenue cycle and patient relationship management (PRM) initiatives to coordinate and personalize multi-channel engagement campaigns, develop and manage content, and analyze results the same way retailers activate consumers. The big difference: instead of promoting a buying experience, these technologies and related services will help provide a better healthcare experience.

“Patients today expect the same seamless, personalized experiences with healthcare providers they already know from other consumer brands,” said Matt Thompson, executive vice president of worldwide field operations, Adobe. “By collaborating with Microsoft and Change Healthcare, a pioneer in healthcare IT, we’ll be able to help transform the way healthcare organizations engage with patients across all channels, from follow-up care coordination and caregiver personalization to cost transparency.”

This new alliance will help providers leapfrog existing strategies to successfully engage consumers for better clinical and financial outcomes.

“Microsoft is excited to work alongside Change Healthcare and Adobe to improve the healthcare experience for people and providers alike,” said Dr. Simon Kos, chief medical officer at Microsoft. “Microsoft Azure provides the scale, performance, and intelligent services patient engagement platforms require, underscored by Microsoft’s investments in cloud security, data privacy, and regulatory compliance.”

Providers believe a solution like this is clearly needed. “As a multi-specialty clinic with urgent care, we are on the forefront of consumer trends in healthcare,” said John R. Kaiser, M.D., OB/GYN, president of Saltzer Medical Group. “Our patients want the digital tools to simplify and improve their healthcare experience, so it is critical that we bring them the best experience—connecting and simplifying each step in their healthcare journey to improve their lives. Helping them better understand what they need to know and do, and making it easier, can only lead to great outcomes for our practice. We’re excited to work with Change Healthcare to deliver amazing patient experiences.”

As one of the largest independent healthcare IT companies in the United States, Change Healthcare services customers across the continuum of care. The Change Healthcare Intelligent Healthcare Network is used to process clinical, administrative, and financial transactions among hundreds of thousands of healthcare industry stakeholders (physicians, hospitals, and other providers as well as commercial and government payers), including processing over $2 trillion in claims annually.

About Adobe Experience Cloud
Within Adobe Experience Cloud, tightly integrated solutions offer a complete set of cutting-edge technologies that enable brands to deliver data-driven, tailored experiences across all customer touch points. This includes experience management and personalization across all screens and devices, experience delivery through advertising, video as well as other channels and analytics. The tie-in with Adobe Creative Cloud makes it easy to quickly activate creative assets across all marketing channels and customer touch points. Adobe Experience Cloud helps clients manage more than 233 trillion data transactions annually, including 41 trillion rich media requests, over 150 billion emails and $3 billion in ad spend.

About Change Healthcare
Change Healthcare is inspiring a better healthcare system. Working alongside our customers and partners, we leverage our software and analytics, network solutions, and technology-enabled services to enable better patient care, choice, and outcomes at scale. As a key catalyst of a value-based healthcare system, we are accelerating the journey toward improved lives and healthier communities. Learn more at www.changehealthcare.com.

Media Contact
Change Healthcare
Kerry Kelly
339-236-2756
[email protected]

Posted 5.9.2018
Redox Launches FHIR® API, Immediately Available at 200+ Healthcare Organizations

MADISON, WI – May 8, 2018 – Today, Redox, healthcare’s leading integration platform, announced that they will now offer developers and healthcare organizations the option to use FHIR®, Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resource, for data exchange over the Redox Network: R^FHIR. This includes first-to-market messaging functionality allowing clinical data to be pushed to applications.

FHIR® is a healthcare data standard developed by the standards body Health Level Seven International (HL7) designed to modernize the way healthcare exchanges data. Until today, the use of FHIR® in real-world settings has been limited by the rate and extent of adoption by incumbent Electronic Health Records (EHR) vendors in use at healthcare organizations.

R^FHIR expands the capabilities of the Redox Platform by offering developers the choice to interact with a singular FHIR® implementation while still benefiting from the standardization and normalization provided to the network of organizations using Redox for health data exchange.

“Redox uses input from its users to develop a uniform data structure that represents healthcare developer’s real-world demands today,” said Redox’s co-founder and CTO, James Lloyd. “Making R^FHIR available to organizations powered by Redox allows us to accelerate the adoption and use of FHIR® in a way that ensures consistency and usability by enabling integration workflows we’ve executed at hundreds of healthcare organizations. As supporters of open standards, we’re excited to implement FHIR® in an EHR-agnostic, interoperable way.”

R^FHIR is in conformance with FHIR messaging making it the first production implementation to support bidirectional push and write workflows. This design enables integration workflows to be triggered based on clinically relevant events like an appointment being scheduled or patient admission.

R^FHIR is immediately available to every organization currently powered by Redox, regardless of their EHR vendor’s support or implementation of FHIR®. On May 15, 2018, Redox is hosting a webinar to share more about this functionality. To register and learn more about R^FHIR, the Redox Platform and Network, check out www.redoxengine.com/fhir.

Redox accelerates the development and distribution of healthcare software solutions with a full-service integration platform to securely and efficiently exchange data. Healthcare delivery organizations and technology vendors connect once and authorize the data they send and receive across the most extensive interoperable network in healthcare. Redox exists to make healthcare data useful and every patient experience a little bit better. Learn how you can leverage the Redox Platform at www.redoxengine.com.

FHIR® is the registered trademark of HL7 and is used with the permission of HL7.

Media Contact:

Alessandra Nix
617.779.1860
[email protected]

Posted 5.8.2018
Major Health Partners Improves Clinical Workflows and Patient Satisfaction with Vocera Solution

San Jose, CA – May 7, 2018 – Vocera Communications, Inc. (NYSE:VCRA), a recognized leader in clinical communication and workflow solutions, today announced that Major Health Partners (MHP) has improved emergency department (ED) throughput, surgical start times, and patient satisfaction using Vocera technology throughout its new hospital in Indiana.

In January 2017, MHP moved from a 150,000-square-foot facility to a new location that spans 350,000 square feet. The 48-bed hospital has more than 1,000 employees and houses multiple provider practices, an outpatient lab, and all acute, ambulatory, observation, and specialty services under one roof. Plus, the emergency department doubled in size and increased the number of beds from 13 to 24. Expecting more than 1,000 patient visits a day, it was critical for MHP to find a secure and flexible communication solution to meet communication needs of nurses, physicians and other care team members, who were using multiple mobile devices.

“We’ve been in our new facility for over a year, and we’ve been blown away by the successful design and deployment of our mobile communication strategy with Vocera,” said David Augsburger, Director of Clinical Informatics at MHP. “Before selecting the Vocera platform, we considered several factors that had limited us in the past. We needed a solution that would help us serve patients now and in the future, as well as one that could easily expand as we grow. Vocera was the ideal choice.”

Depending on the patient care situation, care team members can choose to use the hands-free Vocera Badge or the Vocera secure texting app on their smartphones or at their workstations. In addition, 90 percent of physicians at MHP use the Vocera secure texting application to communicate and collaborate with other clinical care team members on patient cases.

“One of our proudest accomplishments has been deploying a clinical communication solution that our physicians actually use,” said Augsburger.

Integrating Vocera with the hospital’s electronic health records, telephony, and nurse call systems has helped improve clinical workflows. One year after the new hospital opened, MHP reported a 7.7 percent increase in its average on-time surgical starts. According to Augsburger, the percentage continues to improve as more and more physicians rely on the Vocera solution.

Additionally, the ED reported faster throughput with a decrease in door-to-decision time by 2.6 minutes. This time is measured by how long it takes the ED to triage, assess and treat a patient, before deciding on admission or discharge. This process involves collaboration among several departments, including the ED, laboratory, imaging, respiratory and registration. Patient experience in the ED also improved within a year’s time. Overall patient satisfaction with physician encounters increased 5.5 percent; and for nurse interactions, patient satisfaction increased 8.1 percent. Patient satisfaction with the quietness of the hospital improved, too, by 8.4 percent.

“It’s impressive to see how Major Health Partners has innovated new ways of using the Vocera solution across every department and multiple workflows to improve the healthcare experience for patients, families and clinicians,” said Brent Lang, president and CEO of Vocera. “I’m excited to see what they do next at the new hospital.”

About Major Health Partners
Major Health Partners is a leading healthcare provider for patients in southeastern Indiana. Since 1924, Major Hospital/Major Health Partners has grown to offer a wide spectrum of services, leading the region in many areas of healthcare delivery. By providing quality care through our unique combination of state-of-the-art technology, modern facilities, and personal service, Major Health Partners gives patients the same advantages found at large urban hospitals, combined with genuine personal service. That is the Major Difference. For more information, visit www.mymhp.org.

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 1,700 facilities worldwide, including nearly 1,500 hospitals and healthcare facilities, have selected our solutions for team members to text securely using smartphones or make calls with our hands-free, wearable Vocera Badge. Interoperability between Vocera and more than 140 clinical and operational 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, aged care facilities, 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. In 2017, Vocera made the list of Forbes 100 Most Trustworthy Companies in America. Learn more at www.vocera.com, and follow @VoceraComm on Twitter.

Vocera® and the Vocera logo are trademarks 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.

Contact
Shanna Hearon
Vocera Communications, Inc.
865.805.1078
[email protected]

Posted 5.8.2018
New York State Psychiatric Association Endorses DrFirst Medication Management Tools for Use by Psychiatric Community in New York State

Rockville, MD – May 4, 2018 – The New York State Psychiatric Association (NYSPA), representing more than 3,800 practicing psychiatrists and residents throughout New York, has designated DrFirst, the nation’s leading provider of e-prescribing and medication management solutions, as the vendor of choice for cost-efficient, reliable and robust e-prescribing tools for its members.

As part of this endorsement, NYSPA members will be able to purchase Rcopia, DrFirst’s industry-leading, web-based, stand-alone e-prescribing service, at a substantial discount. Doctors and clinicians can e-prescribe both legend drugs and controlled substances with Rcopia, as well as access clinical decision support, robust medication history, secure electronic prescribing of controlled substances (EPCS) and market-leading patient benefit check features, all within the e-prescribing workflow.

NYSPA has also endorsed the use of DrFirst’s revolutionary mobile e-prescribing solution, iPrescribe, so members can write prescriptions on their mobile devices from anywhere, including between offices or during a patient visit. iPrescribe also enables prescribers to communicate in real time with other care team members, and even with the patient themselves (with proper consent), through its HIPAA-compliant, secure text messaging feature. iPrescribe can be used as a stand-alone application or with Rcopia.

“We are pleased to offer our prescribing members the opportunity to obtain these cost-efficient and powerful tools, particularly at a time when we are focused on enhancing patient behavioral health care needs while coordinating with patient primary care and other specialty care providers,” said Seeth Vivek, M.D., DLFAPA, president of the New York State Psychiatric Association.

“Having helped 30,000 New York providers meet I-STOP e-prescribing requirements, we are acutely aware of the data-flow challenges they face and the flexibility providers and staff need to securely access patient medication histories and write prescriptions wherever and whenever they need to,” said G. Cameron Deemer, president of DrFirst. “We are very pleased to have the NYSPA’s endorsement.”

About DrFirst
DrFirst, the nation’s leading provider of e-prescribing and medication management solutions, enables stakeholders across the healthcare industry to intelligently use comprehensive real-time data and connectivity to increase their patient safety ratings, efficiency and profitability. Today, more than 170,000 healthcare professionals and more than 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), which is considered the industry standard for providers nationwide. For more information, please visit www.drfirst.com or connect with us @DrFirst.

DrFirst Media Contact:
Jenna Warner
Amendola Communications
480-664-8412 x 19
[email protected]

Posted 5.8.2018
CHIME Foundation 25th Anniversary Profiles – CHANGE Healthcare
5.08.18
By Arika Lycan, Specialist, CHIME Foundation

In last month’s Insight edition, CHIME Foundation announced that 2018 marks CHIME Foundation’s 25^th anniversary celebration. As a retrospective on the past 25 years of supporting healthcare IT firms of all sizes, we’re featuring our first of several articles featuring insights and voices from one of our long-term members.

This is the first of several articles in our series leading up to Fall CIO Forum, “Founding Firms: Celebrating 25 Years of Robust Partnership.” CHIME Foundation’s inaugural year ended with just 15 Foundation firms, at least six of which are still active members today.

Our first featured partner firm is CHANGE Healthcare, with input from Dan Mowery, executive director, Industry Relations and Market Intelligence. He’s been with Change Healthcare (with roles in its previous iterations at HBO & Co. and McKesson) for over 30 years.

Q: Paint us a picture (in 2-3 sentences) of Change Healthcare when you joined CHIME Foundation in 1994:

A: The Change Healthcare of today has its roots in many companies, and if we look back to 1994, we were roughly 1/10th the size we are today. Throughout all those years of evolving as a company, one thing has remained constant – the vision of technology as core to a better healthcare system.

Q: Do you know why Change Healthcare decided to join the then-newly formed CHIME Foundation?

A: At the time, we were one of the largest HIT firms in the world, and health system CIOs were our primary “customers.” We provided clinical, financial, billing, physician practice and medical records software, so becoming engaged with CHIME made total sense. Today, 25 years later, it is valuable for us as Change Healthcare, from an engagement perspective, legislative visibility and ability to capture the insights of CIOs.

Q: How has Change Healthcare’s healthcare-focused work grown and transformed in the past 25 years?

A: As with other industry participants, we have evolved, and responded to market needs, in dozens of ways. Early on, we expanded into a wide range of provider markets, then added payers to the mix, and were one of the earliest companies offering connectivity services, claims clearinghouses and financial services. Depending on what part of Change Healthcare you consider, our portfolio of capabilities/ products, and services has evolved as technology has advanced, our customer needs have changed, and legislation has brought new requirements.

Q: In what ways has CHIME Foundation been able to support those changing needs?

A: CHIME has, and continues to, provide excellent insights into the evolving role of health system CIOs, given us insights into legislative issues and provided visibility into our health systems’ largest HIT challenges and needs.

Thanks for your thoughts on the CHIME Foundation and CHANGE Healthcare’s significant partnership. Next month we will profile another long-term member. Stayed tuned for more information as we move closer to our big anniversary celebration at CHIME18!

More Foundation Insight Volume 2, No. 5:
Posted 5.8.2018
CPES Planning Committee ‘chimes’ in on Value of CHIME Partner Education Summit
5.08.18
By Arika Lycan, Specialist, CHIME Foundation

The CHIME Partner Education Summit (CPES) Planning Committee is comprised of a dedicated group of CHIME Foundation members and CHIME CIOs. The Planning Committee has been integral to the development and delivery of highly successful CPES events in 2016 and 2017. The Planning Committee is working together with CHIME Foundation staff to bring you an interesting, compelling CPES18 – one not to be missed!

Frank Nydam, healthcare vice president and chief technology officer at VMware and CPES Committee Chair, is proud of the growth that CPES has seen in the past three years. “Now in its third year, CPES is quickly maturing into a must-attend event for Foundation members wishing to sharpen their healthcare skills and broaden their professional network,” he said.

“We are very much looking forward to the third year of CPES, as each time we gain insights into the industry from key healthcare executives,” said John Bullitt, Solution Engineering Leader, Healthcare Americas at VMware and member of the CPES Planning Committee. Bullitt and his team have attended CPES for the past two years.

Bullitt and his team were able to put knowledge imparted by CPES faculty at past events into practice, which resulted in enhanced customer experiences. “These insights enable us to build more relevant relationships with our healthcare customers – improving the results for both our customers and our business.”

CPES18 will feature many new presenters as well as several highly rated former presenters who will be returning with a fresh perspective and content. Faculty will enlighten attendees with:
- Best practice data and tools for establishing, nurturing and sustaining partnerships
- Envisioning future provider needs
- Updates on policy from Washington and beyond
- Timely, relevant breakout sessions
Many of the CPES faculty are CHIME Board members, and the quality of the sessions and the presenters in past events has set a high bar for this year’s event. “The CHIME Partner Education Summit is a great opportunity to meet leading CIOs, understand the priorities and challenges they face each day, and learn about the characteristics that they look for when forming trusted relationships with technology partners,” said Jen Ryan, director of Customer Relations at Imprivata.

Ryan added, “Each year I look forward to hearing the CIO perspectives on the industry’s hot topics and current events. I always come away feeling better equipped to create valuable partnerships with our customers.”

No matter what stage they are in their careers, attendees can expect to gain valuable insights from leading CIOs, and acquire tools and tips in leadership, relationship building and more. “The ROI on CPES is unmatched for Foundation organizations who need to get new employees trained as well as helping seasoned veterans keep up to date on the latest healthcare IT trends,” said Nydam.

There will also be an opportunity to pursue the CHIME Foundation Certified Healthcare Executive (CFCHE) certification, with an exam scheduled at the conclusion of CPES18 on Friday afternoon.

Registration and hotel block for CPES18 are open now, and more information on the event is available here. Our CPES Planning Committee team looks forward to seeing many of their CHIME Foundation peers at this exciting and valuable summit.

CPES Planning Committee Members:

Frank Nydam (Chair) – VMware
John Bullitt – VMware
Jon Karl – CDW
Donna Roach – Ascension Information Services
Charlie Anastos – Healthlink Advisors
David Finn – Symantec
Laurel Vine – Cerner Corporation
Christine Holloway – CDW
Phil Wasson – Kofax
Cyndi Cahill – Pursuit Healthcare Advisors
Jackie Gordee – Epic
Jennifer Ramstrom – Connection
Jen Ryan – Imprivata
Barry Mathis – Clearwater Compliance

More Foundation Insight Volume 2, No. 5:
Posted 5.8.2018
CFCHE Adds Value to Your CIO Relationship
5.08.18
Rose Lucas, Specialist, CHIME Foundation

No longer in its infancy, the CHIME Foundation Certified Health Executive (CFCHE) program is gaining momentum and recognition in the healthcare IT industry. Many current CFCHE holders will be celebrating their one-year exam anniversary at this year’s CHIME Partner Education Summit (CPES) taking place Sept. 5-7 in Chicago.

As a refresher, the CFCHE program is your opportunity as a CHIME Foundation representative to distinguish yourself and showcase your professional commitment, credibility and comprehensive understanding of the healthcare IT environment. A typical CFCHE candidate is an individual who has three years professional experience at a CHIME Foundation firm and either has primary responsibility for the firm’s relationships to CHIME members or leads/participates in product development designed for or communications to CHIME members.

Insight asked a few participants who either received their CFCHE or served on the development committee to provide their thoughts and perspective on the program.

Randy McCleese, FCHIME, LCHIME, CHCIO, FHIMSS, CIO at Methodist Hospital, and recent recipient of the 2017 John E. Gall Jr. CIO of the Year award, had this to say about what earning your CFCHE means to a CIO:

“As a CHCIO and part of the group that developed the requirements for CFCHE, I can attest that anyone with the credential has a thorough knowledge of the industry and can hit the ground running when working with a healthcare provider. The designation of CFCHE lets CIOs and other leaders know that their foundation firm representative cares enough about their position to learn what makes things tick in healthcare. Healthcare providers can rest assured that anyone with the credential has an elevated understanding of care delivery, and the technology ecosystem that assists in that delivery.

“A CFCHE saves their clients valuable time because they come to the partnership with a solid understanding how the industry operates and only need to increment their knowledge with the specifics of the individual’s provider organization.”

When we asked pioneer CFCHE designee Lydon Neumann, vice president of Impact Advisors, LLC, how the professional designation has made a difference to him, he replied: “The recognition by colleagues and customers has been very rewarding, which is a positive reflection on the value of a CHIME certification and my personal and professional commitment to serve healthcare’s technology leaders.

As far as any advice to interested colleagues: I would encourage my peers to pursue the CFCHE credential, which has the added benefit of raising the visibility and high standards of performance of those who are committed to the industry we love, healthcare.”

Another CFCHE designee, Susan Biddle, senior director of Government, Education and Healthcare Industry Marketing at Fortinet, said: “I’m proud to have earned the CHIME Foundation Certified Healthcare Executive (CFCHE) credential and appreciate CHIME’s focus and commitment to developing the leadership competencies of its Foundation members. CFCHE offers instant industry ‘street-cred’ and has provided me with the resources and connections necessary for long-term success in my career.”

We welcome feedback from other CFCHE designees. If you would like to share your experiences as a CFCHE, or if you have questions about how you can become certified or send your team to take the exam and receive a discount on materials and the program, please contact us at [email protected].

More Foundation Insight Volume 2, No. 5:
Posted 5.8.2018
Opioid Task Force Starts Repository for Educational Materials
5.08.18
Candace Stuart, Director, Communications & Public Relations

The CHIME Opioid Task Force reached a milestone in April with the presentation of a webinar that was free and open to the public. The webinar officially launched the task force’s educational initiative, which is a pillar of its mission.

On April 25, three healthcare leaders from Geisinger shared their health system’s strategy for reducing opioid prescription rates across the system: John Kravitz, CIO and a member of the CHIME Board of Trustees; Richard Taylor, M.D., Geisinger’s chief medical information officer, and Michael Evans, vice president of enterprise pharmacy and chief pharmacy officer.

In 2016, Pennsylvania had the fourth highest opioid-related death rate in the U.S., and many of the counties with the highest death rates were served by Geisinger. Geisinger developed and initiated several approaches that focused on changing physician practice patterns to reduce the prescribing of opioids. That included creating a provider dashboard linked to their EHR to identify current practice patterns among Geisinger providers. With their baseline data, they found that providers varied greatly in their opioid prescribing patterns, with a relatively small number being heavy prescribers. They then used that information to first target the outliers and provide them with non-addictive options and best practices for pain management.

The results: Geisinger reduced prescriptions for opioids by about half after launching these initiatives, from a monthly average of 60,000 opioid prescriptions to 31,000. They also reported e-prescribing for controlled substances created $1 million in savings within five months due to greater efficiencies. Geisinger plans to integrate its multifaceted approach for reducing opioid prescriptions across the enterprise.

The CHIME Opioid Task Force was launched in January to harness the knowledge and resources of CHIME and its diverse membership. The task force encourages broad and active participation of members to identify and promote best practices and build an evidence base to inform public policy.

The archive of this presentation, the task force’s first educational offering, is now housed on the new CHIME KnowledgeHub. The CHIME Opioid Task Force is building a repository of educational white papers and case studies that reflect emerging and best practices for identifying those with or at risk of opioid addiction, and evidence-based strategies for reducing opioid addiction and death rates.

Foundation firms involved in opioid-related projects are welcome to submit their findings. More information about the KnowledgeHub submission and selection process is available here.

More Foundation Insight Volume 2, No. 5:
Posted 5.8.2018