• Introducing MEDITECH Greenfield, a New App Development Environment to Fuel the Building and Adoption of Mobile Apps

    Introducing MEDITECH Greenfield, a New App Development Environment to create an open space for our customers and third-party developers to increase the value of their MEDITECH EHRs

     

    Westwood, MA – September 18, 2018 – Embracing the changes that continue to shape healthcare, MEDITECH, a leading Enterprise Health Record (EHR) vendor, is launching a new app development environment, MEDITECH Greenfield. Supported by RESTful APIs including FHIR, Greenfield is an open space for MEDITECH customers and third-party developers to cultivate homegrown applications that increase the value of their Expanse EHR via interoperability.

    “In today’s healthcare paradigm, EHRs are not only judged on their inherent functionality, but also for how well they connect with other systems,” says MEDITECH President and CEO Howard Messing. “Greenfield is a natural extension of our open web environment, and represents another important step in MEDITECH’s commitment to driving interoperability and innovation forward.”

    Click to tweet: Introducing MEDITECH Greenfield, a new app development environment to fuel the building and adoption of mobile apps.

    Greenfield lays the groundwork for visionaries and innovators to create a better future for providers, patients, and consumers, with technology that connects communities and enables better care. In addition to providing access to MEDITECH’s API sandbox, Greenfield includes an online forum and technical support from MEDITECH developers. Greenfield will also feature a list of approved apps that integrate with MEDITECH and enhance EHR value.

    MEDITECH believes that as the next generation of EHR leaders emerge in the provider space, the future of healthcare is bright and full of potential. By leveraging contemporary technology to drive further innovations, Greenfield is well positioned to fuel transformation across the industry.

    Posted 9.18.2018

  • News of Note

    9.13.2018
    Candace Stuart – Director, Communications & Public Relations

     

    Here is a roundup from CHIME of recent news and upcoming events:

    Six CHIME members are vying for three board seats: The CHIME Board of Trustees will be filling three open positions with terms beginning in January 2019. Six members are vying for the three spots. CHIME members can review the candidates and their platform statements here. Votes must be placed by Sept. 28.

    CHIME Foundation Board election voting is now open: The CHIME Foundation Board will fill an open position that will begin serving in January, 2019.  Foundation representatives have the opportunity to vote for the candidate who they think will best provide the governance to lead CHIME into the future. Candidates and their platform statement can be found here. Votes must be placed by Sept. 28. Each firm is allowed only one vote.

    CHIME is accepting opioid webinar proposals: The CHIME Opioid Task Force invites members to share their experiences with opioid initiatives and solutions through educational webinars. Possible topics include reduced prescribing, identifying high-risk patients, strategies to assist in treatment and other solutions targeting the opioid crisis. Members can submit their proposals here.

    More Inside CHIME

    Posted 9.13.2018

  • Q&A with CHIME18’s Opening Keynote Speaker, Daniel Pink

    9.13.2018
    Candace Stuart – Director, Communications & Public Relations

     

    Daniel Pink, author of the New York Times bestseller When: The Scientific Secrets of Perfect Timing and opening keynote speaker at the 2018 CHIME Fall CIO Forum, discusses the motivation for his book and how he applies what he learned to his own work in this exclusive Q&A. “What I found really changed my own behavior and my own understanding of just how important timing is.” Read more below.

    Q: What prompted you to write When?

    A: It was personal. I realized that I was making all kinds of “when” decisions in my own life, but I was making them in a haphazard, brainless way. I looked around for guidance on how to make those decisions better. It didn’t exist. So I began digging into the research and found a veritable trove of material. It took me two years to work through the studies, to analyze them and sort them into something comprehensible. But what I found really changed my own behavior and my own understanding of just how important timing is. In a sense — and this might sound silly — I wrote this book in order to read it.

    Q: Has writing the book changed your approach to your work schedule, and if so, how?

    A: Yes. Here’s what we know: Most of us progress through the day in three stages: a peak, a trough and a recovery. During the peak, which for most of us is the morning, we’re better off at analytic tasks, those that require heads-down focus and attention. During the trough, which for most of us is during the early to mid-afternoon, we’re better off doing mundane administrative tasks. And during the recovery, which for most of us is the late afternoon and early evening, we’re better off doing creative tasks. The reasons for all this are somewhat complicated, but that’s the basic structure. However, if you’re a night owl — that is, you wake up late and go to sleep late — it’s much more complicated.

    Fortunately, I’m not a night owl, so I should be doing my writing when I’m at my peak vigilance. That’s the morning. Once I understood the pattern, I refashioned my schedule. On writing days, I clear out the entire morning to do nothing but write. No meetings. No calls. No email. I don’t even bring my phone into the office. I also give myself a quota of words — say, 800. And I don’t do anything until I hit that number. If I do that every day, the pages pile up. That’s how I wrote When. And — no joke — is the first of my six books that I finished on time.

    Q: You will be our first keynote speaker and your keynote will be the first main-stage event of the morning. Is that a good time for you and for the audience? Why?

    A: I hope so! The science is actually on our side. For about 80 percent of us, our mood is reasonably high in the morning. And there’s a pile of evidence showing that most people learn faster and better in the morning compared with other times of day. As for me, I tend to be at the peak of vigilance in the morning — so I’m slightly more likely to be concise and on point.

    Q: Some professions don’t follow predictable schedules. How should people in these positions apply the lessons in When?

    A: Here’s one key: Be sure to take breaks. That actually matters much more than we realize. Breaks are not deviations from performance. They are *part* of performance. In fact, the science of breaks is where the science of sleep was 15 years ago — about to break through the surface. We also know a lot more about which breaks are best at restoring energy and reviving mental acuity. The best breaks are those in which we’re moving rather than stationary, outside rather than inside, with others rather than alone, and fully detached rather than semi-detached.

    Q: Even our most proactive leaders must respond to crises from time to time. What should they do in terms of timing in non-crisis times that will help them perform better during an unscheduled high-stress period?   

    A: During non-crisis times, it’s important to be intentional. We tend to be very intentional about what we do, how we do it and who we do it with. But we’re far less intentional about when we do things. That’s a mistake. Our cognitive abilities don’t stay the same throughout the day. Indeed, time-of-day alone explains about 20 percent of the variance on how people perform at work. So when we’re not confronting crises, it’s essential to move your analytic tasks to your peak. (That’s early in the day for 80 percent of us and in the late afternoon and evening for the 20 percent of people who are owls.) Don’t schedule administrative meetings then. Figure out your most important focused work, protect your peak hours, and do the work then.

    Q: Are you working on a book now? If so, what is it?

    A: I’m beginning to figure that out. But I’m, uh, taking my time.

    Editor’s note: CHIME18 will be held Oct. 30-Nov. 2 in San Diego. For more information about the forum and to register, go here. Pink’s TED talk on the science of motivation has had more than 20 million views. To view it, go here.

    More Inside CHIME

    Posted 9.13.2018

  • Here Is What CHIME’s Press Panelists Have to Say about Key Policy Topics

    9.13.2018
    Candace Stuart – Director, Communications & Public Relations

     

    The CHIME Advocacy Summit will include a press panel on Oct. 4 that features four well known journalists who have covered healthcare IT and related policies. They are:

    • Arthur Allen, founder and editor of POLITICO’s eHealth section. He is a former Associated Press foreign correspondent, a magazine writer and author of three non-fiction books, including Vaccine: The Controversial Story of Medicine’s Greatest Lifesaver. His articles have appeared in the New York Times, Atlantic Monthly, New Republic, Smithsonian, Washington Post, Reader’s Digest, LinguaFranca, Landscape Architecture, com and Science.
    • Rachel Arndt, a reporter at Modern Healthcare, where she covers technology. Before joining Modern Healthcare, she earned MFAs in poetry and nonfiction writing at the University of Iowa. Earlier, she was a technology editor at Popular Mechanics. Her first book, Beyond Measure, came out in 2018.
    • Marianne Kolbasuk McGee, executive editor at Information Security Media Group, where she leads content development of the HealthcareInfoSecurity.com media site and events. That includes overseeing coverage of such issues as HIPAA and other regulatory compliance, information risk management, health data privacy and cybersecurity, including challenges facing medical devices. She has been chronicling IT, as well as health IT issues, for more than 20 years. Prior to joining ISMG, she oversaw health IT and related coverage at United Business Media’s InformationWeek magazine and online news site.
    • Alex Ruoff, who covers Congress for Bloomberg Law’s health desk, unpacking health-related legislation for healthcare providers, lawyers and compliance professionals. Before being sent to Capitol Hill, he covered health IT issues for Bloomberg Law. He has covered most topics in health, from Medicare payment polices to HITECH to data breach response.

    Below they respond to questions posed to them by CHIME:

    Question: The opioid crisis is getting a lot of attention in Washington right now. Are the programs being discussed coordinated? Are we at risk of funding programs that overlap or that contradict one another?

    Arthur Allen: I’m sure there will be duplication and a lack of coordination. There always is, and this administration isn’t particularly coordinated. But it is interesting how the opioids issue has provided a vehicle to bring forward certain health IT issues that have lagged despite general enthusiasm for them—I’m thinking of telemedicine, more efficient PDMPs (prescription drug monitoring programs) and possible reforms of 45 CFR part 2.

    Question: What do you see as the biggest barrier to interoperability? What role should public policy play in removing those barriers?

    Rachel Arndt: Slow adoption of standards is what’s getting in the most way of interoperability. Though there’s a great standard available—FHIR (Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources)—healthcare systems and vendors have been slow on the uptake, and until data are in standardized formats, it’ll be hard to get them from one place to another. Even when data do travel easily between EHRs, they often do so in clunky documents that prevent recipients from incorporating the information in any useful way.

    When it comes to policy, I’ll mostly cede my vote to those who are actually exchanging healthcare data daily. But I will say I’m wary of an approach that relies too heavily on neoliberal notions of competition and free markets.

    Question: What role if any should the federal government and federal agencies play in shoring up cybersecurity in the nation’s hospitals and health systems?  

    Marianne Kolbasuk McGee: The federal government can potentially help the nation’s hospitals and health systems improve cybersecurity in several areas. One of those is around medical devices. There appears to be a great deal of frustration and confusion among many healthcare organizations when it comes to dealing with legacy medical devices and security problems that get identified—but sometimes not sufficiently disclosed or addressed by the vendors.

    Although FDA has issued guidance advising manufacturers to “build” cybersecurity into their new devices pre-market—as well as guidance addressing cybersecurity issues in older devices post market— hospitals still complain about a lack of transparency from device makers about security problems in these interconnected products. Can the FDA put “more pressure” on medical device makers under the agency’s current authority, or should Congress step in to expand the FDA’s regulatory authority on these matters, especially as it pertains to security issues that pose patient safety concerns? Medical device cybersecurity might indeed be a candidate for additional federal government intervention or assistance.  

    Question: What among today’s health federal policies is your favorite to cover and why? What is your least?

    Arthur Allen: Cybersecurity might be my least favorite, because it is obviously incredibly important, yet hard to measure success on.

    I find the ongoing issue of physician burden in regard to data sharing and EHR usability to be compelling and always important. We constantly hear of great new inventions yet the backward state of many medical practices and hospital systems is still evident. There is lots of room for improvement—both successes and failures can make for good copy.

    Rachel Arndt: I eagerly await the information-blocking rule from the ONC this fall because I’m curious to see what it does for interoperability, my favorite topic to cover. It embodies so much of what’s important in healthcare technology: moving data, making those data useful and getting people to cooperate without mandating explicitly that they do so.

    But there is one part of interoperability in particular that’s frustrating to cover: meaningful use—or, I should say, “promoting interoperability.” I find it frustrating because, with it, policy makers rely heavily on language to signal progress but they use that language so vaguely that the words scarcely hold meaning at all.

    Editor’s note: The CHIME Advocacy Summit will be Oct. 3-5 in Washington, D.C. The full program, speakers list and registration information are available here.

    More Inside CHIME

    Posted 9.13.2018

  • Health Catalyst Launches Patient Safety Organization for Hospitals and Health Systems

    New PSO offers confidential environment to assess safety concerns, reduce harm risk and improve safety culture free from threat of legal discovery

     

    First PSO to incorporate industry-leading analytical technologies for computer-based active monitoring, clinician assessment, intervention, and a track record of successful outcomes’ improvement

     

    Salt Lake City, UT – September 11, 2018 – Health Catalyst today launched its federally-certified  Health Catalyst Patient Safety Organization (HC PSO) that protects all-cause-harm patient safety data derived from the company’s Patient Safety Monitor™ suite of software applications. Health Catalyst Patient safety experts will work closely with clients to collect, detect, intervene, learn, and prevent all-cause patient harm, all within the legal-protection of the HC PSO.

    Tens of thousands of patients die every year in U.S. hospitals due to avoidable errors, according to numerous studies. The Journal of Patient Safety reports that avoidable non-lethal harm events affect up to 5 million patients per year. Yet fewer than 5 percent of adverse patient events are reported, making it difficult, if not impossible, to intervene in the events leading to harm. The threat of legal action can dissuade health systems from finding the root causes of patient harm and implementing prevention protocols.

    In response to this dilemma, the Patient Safety and Quality Improvement Act of 2005 establishes strong federal confidentiality and privilege protections for information that clinicians and provider organizations assemble and develop when conducting quality and safety deliberations and analysis within a PSO. Health Catalyst PSO is certified by the federal Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) and listed as one of the nation’s 82 PSOs: https://www.pso.ahrq.gov/listed. It provides a safe, confidential and collaborative environment for hospitals to assess threats to patient safety, reduce the risk of harm, advance a culture of safety, and improve care processes to reduce or eliminate harm, free from the threat of legal discovery.

    “As a nurse, the Health Catalyst PSO is personally meaningful to me. My first professional responsibility is to patients’ care and safety” said Holly Rimmasch, Health Catalyst Chief Clinical Officer. “Our PSO’s principles are aligned with my professional duty, as is Health Catalyst’s core patient safety and care quality mission.  As a patient advocate, it is exciting to be a part of creating meaningful tools and services that can illuminate new improvement opportunities, prevent harm, and support the culture of safety journey.”


    Collaboration and Trusted Guidance
    Health Catalyst is already widely known for delivering measurable and sustainable improvements across the patient safety spectrum. Examples documented in over 150 client case studies include 68 percent reduction in venous thromboembolisms (VTEs), 74 percent reduction in pressure ulcers (PUs) and $1.2 million saved in one year from decreased variable sepsis care cost.

    HC PSO members can leverage that experience and learn best practices from other participating peer-organization members in an open, confidential environment. Collaboration is extended as organizations work with the HC PSO advisory team, which has more than 100-person-years of applied safety experience in organizations. Combined, the HC PSO will translate learnings from the nation’s best patient safety evaluation systems into systematic, sustainable improvement in outcomes for patient populations.

    Other HC PSO membership services include:

    • Semi-weekly reviews of patient safety data for trends, dissemination of learnings, and identification of improvement opportunities
    • Patient safety governance consultation from the HC PSO team for effective adoption and stewardship of patient safety work
    • Quarterly in-person and remote visits where the HC PSO team meets with the organization’s leadership to consult on improving safety culture, best practices, and optimizing outcomes
    • Support for members’ legal counsel on patient-specific data access subpoenas and PSO data grievance handling

     

    Beginning in 2019, HC PSO member organizations will also participate in one of Health Catalyst’s patient safety collaboratives, where they can share and learn with peer organizations across the country.

    “Patient safety is a personal passion of mine, and a core mission of our company,” said Health Catalyst CEO Dan Burton. “I’ve had many discussions with clients who have asked for PSO support. Offering these advisory services, fully integrated and aligned with our Patient Safety Monitor Suite, further solidifies the strong partnerships we have with clients to protect patient safety and improve patient outcomes.”


    Patient Safety and Data Analytics Expertise in One
    Health Catalyst PSO is the only PSO to incorporate industry-leading analytical technologies for computer-based active monitoring, clinician assessment, intervention, and a track record of successful outcomes improvement. Timely insight and automated processes overcome several challenges common in manual patient safety event data capture and reporting. Based on data that is at least 30 days old, a manual approach requires extensive time and resources for data extraction, aggregation, and reporting, but still fails to facilitate whole-person patient safety and to predict all-cause harm.

    Health Catalyst’s Patient Safety Monitor™ Suite, including the new Surveillance Module, transforms the process. In near real-time, the module quickly identifies patterns of harm and provides viable options to eliminate patient safety risks and hazards for current and future patients. This potent combination of predictive analytics, text analytics and timely data from multiple sources enables the Patient Safety Monitor Suite to predict harm events and trigger a clinician response while the patient is still in the hospital.

    Later this year, the Surveillance Module will leverage additional AI and machine learning capabilities to learn from patterns of harm, significantly improving its ability to propose strategies to eliminate patient safety risks and hazards for current and future patients.

    Membership in the HC PSO optimizes the value of this technology. In addition, data from the Patient Safety Monitor Suite as well as any other data reviewed is kept secure using Health Catalyst’s state-of-the-art hardware, software, and handling facility. HC PSO segregates all PSWP to the latest server technology, using the strictest security protocols, in accordance with federal PSO regulations.

    Health Catalyst is working with our client partners, as well as members in the PSO, to evolve the Patient Safety Monitor Suite with important upcoming features including Risk Prediction, Improvement Tracker, and Decision Support (Safety Consultant).  The suite and each of its modules will be continuously enhanced based on emerging safety threats and new regulatory requirements.

    “Patient safety improvement efforts are often hindered by antiquated, manual efforts or EHRs’ technological and legal-discovery barriers,” said Stanley Pestotnik, MS, RPh, Health Catalyst’s vice president of patient safety products. “That’s why it’s so gratifying to see organizations better safeguard patients and supporting clinicians with our quantitative and AI-enabled near real-time data to help them identify and mitigate safety risks. This technology, combined with the best brains in the world on this topic in the Health Catalyst PSO, makes it an essential service for any healthcare delivery organization dedicated to patient safety.”

    To learn more about the HC PSO and Patient Safety Monitor Suite: Surveillance Module, schedule a demo, or download a datasheet, visit https://www.healthcatalyst.com/product/patient-safety-organization-pso.

     

    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 unleash and integrate data from across the healthcare ecosystem. Our Health Catalyst Data Operating System (DOS™)—a next-generation data warehouse and application development platform powered by data from more than 100 million patients, and encompassing over 1 trillion facts—helps improve quality, add efficiency and lower costs 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, communities, 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, LinkedIn and Facebook.

    Media Contact:
    Todd Stein
    Amendola Communications
    510-417-0612
    [email protected]

    Posted 9.11.2018

  • CHIME Foundation Anniversary: Twenty-five Years of an Exceptional Partnership

    9.11.2018
    By John Glaser, Founding chairman of CHIME and CHIME Foundation 

    As the founding chairman of the CHIME Foundation, may I say how difficult it is to believe that it’s coming up on its 25th birthday? (As difficult as the realization that I will be a first-time grandfather in November. Seems like it was only yesterday that my daughter was starting kindergarten). 

    CHIME was established in 1992 when I joined with 191 other charter members to create an organization that served to advance the strategic use of information technology in healthcare and advance the professional knowledge and skills of the healthcare information technology executive. At the time, many industries were recognizing the critical role of information technology and the importance of the CIO as a member of the leadership team. CHIME understood that healthcare was no exception. 

    The vision and mission of CHIME was shared by the companies that provided healthcare information technology solutions and services. In fact, those companies had formed the Center for Healthcare Information Management (CHIM) in the years preceding CHIME, and the CHIM leadership participated in defining the need for CHIME and helping it to get started. 

    Recognizing that the partnership between the CIOs and the solutions and services providers was essential to our collective efforts to improve health and healthcare delivery, the CHIME Foundation was created in 1994 as a separate 501(c)3 organization. Not only did the Foundation cement the partnership, it also provided funding that has enabled CHIME to thrive, and the Foundation has established multiple programs and initiatives that advance our collective vision and mission. With the creation of the Foundation, CHIM disbanded. 

    As the founding chairman of the CHIME Foundation Board, I presided over a dozen vendor and consultant members initially. Six of those are still with the Foundation today, through all the twists and turns of mergers and acquisitions and name changes (see recent past issues of Insight for some profiles of these early members), the total membership has burgeoned to more than 150 today. 

    Along the way, Foundation members have helped guide the content of the CHIME Forums, offered CIO focus groups to discuss new products and services, established scholarships, assisted in Federal policy development, and crafted certification and education programs.  

    Two notable recent contributions:  in 2017, the Foundation established a professional certification program for Foundation members –  CFCHE (CHIME Foundation Certified Healthcare Executive). And the CHIME Partner Education Summit is now being held for the third year. 

    Consider the mind-boggling number and scope of changes that have come to the healthcare world, and often specifically to healthcare IT, since those earliest days of the Foundation: 

    • The opening of the commercial Internet and the invention of the World Wide Web changed everything about how healthcare organizations communicate–both internally and with patients and the public.  
    • The introduction of the iPhone put the power of the Internet, and then some, into everyone’s pocket. 
    • With all power comes the Dark Side, and healthcare organizations began to grapple with the baleful forces of hacking, ransomware, and medical identity fraud. 
    • The HI-TECH Act nudged (or in some cases dragged) large numbers of providers into adopting electronic health records, pushing the industry over a stubborn hump but leaving us with years of work to make the transition truly worth it.  
    • Once EHRs started to become commonplace, we realized we needed the kind of seamless interoperability that people expect from their apps and the Internet—another goal that’s going to take years to achieve, as well as intense cooperation between the health IT industry and healthcare providers.  
    • The Affordable Care Act brought the “three-legged stool” of cost-quality-access to the forefront of public consciousness, and started a national conversation about health coverage that puts our industry’s finances and practices uncomfortably in the spotlight almost daily.  
    • The proliferation of new technologies has led to a proliferation of “chiefs” in health IT organizations—no longer just CIOs, but chief technology officers, chief medical and nursing information officers, chief data officers, chief analytics officers, and chief security officers 
    • Artificial intelligence gets smarter almost daily: Amazon Echo, Siri, and our phones’ Autocorrect feature can now annoy us almost as much and as easily as real people do. 
    • Medicine has delivered revolutionary developments, like genome sequencing and targeted cancer therapies, that will transform all our lives but will also depend heavily on our ability to manage vast quantities of data.   
    • The rules of the healthcare delivery system seem set to change dramatically, with the shift to value-based care, and the entry of unfamiliar players like Amazon/Berkshire Hathaway/JP Morgan, or the teaming of companies like Aetna and CVS. 

    While the last 25 years have seen stunning changes and progress, the strong partnership between CHIME and the CHIME Foundation has remained a constant. The two organizations have helped their collective membership to adapt to, and master, these changes. Moreover, the partnership has helped to shape the direction and form of these changes. 

    The changes and challenges will continue as they always have. Our work to make healthcare safer, more efficient and of higher quality is not done and never will be done. We should be proud of the contribution of the Foundation and proud of the partnership. And we should appreciate that we will be more effective at addressing the work that remains because of the partnership. 

    I get asked about the differences between being a CIO and being a member of a vendor leadership team. There are differences. Vendors have sales groups; few providers do. Provider organizations have many more committees than vendor organizations. However, the two types of organizations have much in common. At the center of that commonality is a deep commitment to making healthcare as good as it can be. 

    Healthcare is better because of the Foundation and its members. 

    More Foundation Insight Volume 2, No. 9:

    Posted 9.11.2018

  • Modern Healthcare Offers Opportunity for Exposure in Special Print and Digital Supplement

    9.11.2018
    By Michelle Patterson , VP, Operations

    Modern Healthcare Custom Media is offering advertising space in a special print and digital supplement that will honor the hospitals and healthcare organizations receiving 2018 CHIME HealthCare Most Wired awards. CHIME members and CHIME Foundation firm members qualify for a discounted rate for full- and half-page ads. 

    The print publication will be distributed at the closing day of the 2018 CHIME Fall CIO Forum in San Diego and posted online on the Modern Healthcare and CHIME websites. It also will be distributed to Modern Healthcare’s more than 70,000 subscribers. It will include a list of the winning organizations and articles highlighting exemplary healthcare IT programs.  

    The Most Wired winners have demonstrated that they are committed to using healthcare IT to achieve performance excellence. They have embraced innovation and incorporated best practices to improve the delivery of care to their patients. Winning participants have been informed under a strict embargo about their awards and we have begun sharing details about the advertising opportunities with them. Foundation firms are encouraged to advertise alongside these top performing hospitals and health systems.  

    Modern Healthcare Custom Media will accept ads though Oct. 11. For more information, contact us [email protected]. 

    CHIME Foundation firms also can sponsor Most Wired and receive many added benefits. To learn more about sponsorships, email [email protected].     

    CHIME18 will run from Oct. 30-Nov. 2. Attendees at the Most Wired recognition event will be able to stay and hear the forum’s closing keynote speaker, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN’s chief medical correspondent and a practicing neurosurgeon. Learn more about CHIME HealthCare’s Most Wired here and about CHIME18 here. 

     

    More Foundation Insight Volume 2, No. 9:

    Posted 9.11.2018

  • CHIME Technologies, Inc. Expands Reach of Cooperative Member Services Program to AEHIA, AEHIS & AHIT Members 

    9.11.2018
    By Rebecca Scholten, Business Development Specialist  

    CHIME Technologies, Inc., which offers value added benefits for CHIME Foundation firms, is expanding the reach of the Cooperative Member Services program. For subscribing Foundation firms, this means a wider audience viewing your logo, firm information, and offering through multiple publication activities. The Cooperative Member Services program was created to help Foundation firms build relationships with CHIME members, by assisting CHIME members in stretching their budgets.  

    Previously limited to CHIME members, CHIME has identified a need among its associations for the Cooperative Member Services programs. On 9/14,  AEHIA, AEHIS, and AEHIT members and foundation firms will be able to participate in and access the offerings in the Cooperative program. For Foundation firms, this means the reach of the program will grow from 2,700 CHIME members to a total of 3,900+ CHIME, AEHIA, AEHIS and AEHIT members. For one subscription price, Foundation firms from CHIME and the associations will be eligible to present offerings to senior level healthcare IT executives.  

    Members look to CHIME to help identify qualified and trust-worthy organizations in healthcare information services. Through the Cooperative Member Services program, members can access discounts and packaged offerings from Foundation firms. Members seek offerings through the program to identify potential vendors and to make the most of their limited budgets. Foundation firms that choose to subscribe to the Cooperative Member Services program receive placement on the CHIME website in the “Member Resources.” While at the core this program is a lead generation program for Foundation firms, it is also a method to gain brand recognition and to initiate conversations that encourage connection to CHIME provider members.  

    When a member is interested in an offering presented through the Cooperative, they may log in on their membership site to submit an inquiry. The inquiries are sent directly to a representative at the Foundation firm. CHIME does not participate in any negotiation or sales activities. The offerings are presented to CHIME members through presence on the membership website, Constant Contact HTML email sends, member chat forum postings, social media, and more. Three and twelve month subscription options are available, which run from the date of signature. The subscription model is a flat rate fee, no commission or referral fees are charged on sales agreements generated through the program.  

    If you’d like to learn more about the Cooperative Member Services program, please join us for an information webinar on Tues, 9/25 at 2pm ET. Register here. 

    To connect with the CHIME Technologies, Inc. team for more details, email [email protected] 

    More Foundation Insight Volume 2, No. 9:

    Posted 9.11.2018

  • CHIME Foundation Board Elections Are Open: Vote Now!

      9.11.2018
    By CHIME Foundation Team 

    Below is the candidate slate for the 2019 CHIME Foundation Board of Trustees ballot, CHIME Foundation Board members play an important role in guiding the overall direction of our organization. As a member, you have the opportunity to vote for the candidates that will best provide the governance care needed to lead CHIME into the future.  

    This year’s slate of Foundation Board candidates was competitive, receiving 20 nominations. The CHIME Foundation Board pared these submissions down to 3 final, highly qualified candidates. Each Foundation Firm has 1 vote, so coordinate with your team and make your choice. Voting will be open through September 28, so make sure to make your organization’s selection today! Please take some time to review the platform statements of the three candidates and place your vote here: https://chimecentral.org/foundation/chime-foundation-board-election-2019/ 

    More Foundation Insight Volume 2, No. 9:

    Posted 9.11.2018

  • In the News – August 2018

    Mari Savickis, CHIME vice president of federal affairs, made a case for easing anti-kickback rules to let resource-strapped healthcare organizations receive donated cybersecurity assistance in an article in HealthcareInfoSecurity.com.

    Twelve members of CHIME or members of the CHIME Foundation firms who currently serve on a CHIME board made Becker’s “Female Health IT Leaders to Know” report.  They are listed here.

    HealthsystemCIO.com interviewed Tim Stettheimer about his new position as the vice president of education at CHIME. “This role offers a chance to not just help with current education programs and provide feedback, but also to look at opportunities for expanding on those offerings, and creating programs that, even to a greater extent, touch on the developmental needs of CIOs and their team,” he said. 

    Politico covered a webinar by CHIME Opioid Task Force member Dave Lehr in which he explained how Anne Arundel Health System cut opioid prescriptions by 60 percent in volume over 18 months.

    Posted 9.7.2018

  • Survey: Physician I.T. Leaders Say Recent Improvements to Medication Management in Hospitals Make Patients Safer

    CMIOs cite progress but also say health systems must adopt better technologies to address high drug costs and combat opioid abuse

     

    Rockville, MD – September 6, 2018—Nearly 100 percent of chief medical information officers (CMIOs) in U.S. hospitals believe medication management improvement initiatives are having a positive impact and that patient safety issues are less likely to occur today, as compared to 5 years ago, according to a new survey from the Association of Medical Directors of Information Systems (AMDIS). The survey of physician leaders, sponsored by DrFirst, also revealed that CMIOs believe there is more work to be done to address gaps that could potentially impact patient safety.

    Among the top patient safety gaps identified by CMIOs is the “inability to prevent financial constraints” from impacting patients’ adherence to prescribed medications. In fact, 71 percent of the survey respondents cited concerns with the lack of price transparency—the ability to inform patients how much a prescribed medication will cost, including their insurance co-pay amount. Medication costs are a key concern for patients as well, as evidenced by a Truven Health Analytics-NPR Health Poll which found that 67 percent of patients who failed to fill their prescriptions in the last 90 days reported high costs as their reason.

    Addressing high drug prices is also a priority for the Trump administration, which earlier this year introduced the American Patients First blueprint, a comprehensive plan to bring down prescription drug prices and out-of-pocket costs.

    The surveyed CMIOS also identified a major gap related to the opioid epidemic. Sixty-five percent of respondents cited the need for an integrated clinician workflow that makes it easy for clinicians to coordinate the entire medication management process, including electronic prescribing of controlled substances like opioids, access to state Prescription Drug Monitoring Programs (PDMPs) to identify patients’ opioid histories, and electronic access to prescriptions from other providers and locations to avoid potentially harmful drug combinations. Similarly, 41 percent shared concerns about providers’ abilities to prevent opioid abuse since they often cannot easily distinguish “drug shoppers” from genuine patients.

    Overall, 82 percent of surveyed CMIOs concur that medication management improvement initiatives have had a positive impact on adverse drug events. However, only half of the CMIOs expressed satisfaction with the medication management process, while 12 percent indicated dissatisfaction. According to the survey, the biggest gaps in the entire medication management process are incomplete patient medication histories (80 percent) and misaligned medication reconciliation and care transition cycles that lead to misinformed decisions by care teams (75 percent).

    “While the industry has clearly made significant strides to improve medication management processes, CMIOs remain troubled by a number of gaps that compromise patient safety and quality outcomes,” said G. Cameron Deemer, president of DrFirst. “That’s why DrFirst has remained firmly committed to addressing these pain points with innovative new technologies that make a meaningful difference in patient care and the physician experience.”

    He added, “By leveraging data and medication management technologies, including those that provide easy PDMP access and price transparency at the point of prescribing, care teams are better positioned to drive safer, more effective care—and increase medication adherence for patients across the country.”

    Since DrFirst pioneered its drug pricing program two years ago, the company has performed more than 8 million transactions for over 33,000 providers, benefiting almost 1.4 million patients. 

    Additional key findings from the AMDIS survey include:

    • 91 percent of CMIOs say that the biggest gap in medication history adherence and monitoring is the lack of visibility into a patient’s medication adherence. In most cases, only pharmacies know whether a patient has filled a prescription.
    • 85 percent of CMIOs point to the lack of patient participation in the medication reconciliation process as the biggest gap for medication history availability in their organization.
    • CMIOs identified workflow variations across departments (91 percent), a lack of process buy-in and/or process compliance (77 percent), and a lack of process ownership (73 percent) as the top issues compromising patient safety.
    • Virtually all the surveyed CMIOs believe it is imperative to focus on the entire medication process when addressing patient safety concerns and process efficiencies; 95 percent also feel that reducing order entry and data validation burdens for pharmacy and clinical staff will enhance patient safety and process efficiencies.

    About DrFirst

    DrFirst, the nation’s leading provider of e-prescribing and medication management solutions, enables stakeholders across the healthcare industry to 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 (EHR) 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, and patient medication adherence monitoring and benefits checking. In addition, DrFirst was the first to offer e-prescribing for controlled substances (EPCS) and is considered the industry standard for providers nationwide. For more information, please visit www.drfirst.com or connect with us @DrFirst.

     DrFirst Media Contact:

    Lisa Chernikoff

    Amendola Communications

    734-678-5513

    [email protected]  

     

     

    Posted 9.6.2018

  • University of Louisville Hospital, Physicians Select Health Catalyst to Drive Cost Reduction, Patient Safety Initiatives

    Data Operating System provides actionable insights to improve outcomes and reduce costs

     

    Salt Lake City, UT AND Louisville, KY – September 6, 2018 – As part of an ongoing initiative to strengthen patient safety and reduce costs, University of Louisville Hospital and University of Louisville Physicians have partnered with Health Catalyst® to implement the Data Operating System (DOS™) and leverage the company’s outcomes’ improvement professional services.

    The agreement includes UofL Hospital, the region’s preeminent medical teaching and research hospital, and UofL Physicians, the largest, multi-specialty physician practice in Louisville with more than 78 specialties and subspecialties, 1,200 staff professionals and more than 600 primary care and specialty physicians.

    “To transform our care delivery model and provide the highest quality of care to patients at the lowest cost, it is imperative that we adopt a data-driven approach to care improvement,” said Jason W. Smith, MD, PhD, chief medical officer, UofL Hospital. “We’re excited to partner with Health Catalyst to leverage their outcomes-improvement expertise in service of our patients.”

    UofL Hospital and ULP will adopt DOS, a data-first, analytics and application platform that transforms raw data from virtually any data source into Deep Data—data that is meaningful, actionable, and provides actual business value at a lower cost. DOS accomplishes this by integrating and analyzing critical data from over 200 of the most widely-used data sources, and delivering real-time decision support within the existing workflows of clinicians, administrators and other healthcare professionals.

    Hosted on the Microsoft Azure® cloud computing service, DOS will serve as a platform for UofL’s analytical backbone. With built-in Artificial Intelligence, Deep Learning, pre-built Machine Learning models for common healthcare scenarios, and Big Data support, DOS enables users to predict the future and identify actionable steps to change it.

    “We’re excited to partner with UofL to harness the power of data to optimize quality and lower costs,” said Dan Burton, CEO of Health Catalyst. “As providers assume additional risk under value-based care arrangements, it has become increasingly essential that they use data and predictive analytics to gain insights that lead to better decisionmaking and greater efficiency.”

    Under the agreement, UofL also will have access to Health Catalyst’s library of technology solutions and content culled from the company’s outcomes-improvement work with health systems across the country. Health Catalyst applications built on the DOS platform address the most pressing concerns of healthcare organizations, including managing population health; gaining a comprehensive view of the true cost of care; empowering executive decision support with a dashboard view of enterprise-wide performance; benchmarking and prioritizing improvement opportunities; and monitoring, detecting, predicting and preventing threats to patient safety, before harm can occur.

     

    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 unleash and integrate data from across the healthcare ecosystem. Our Health Catalyst Data Operating System (DOS™)—a next-generation data warehouse and application development platform powered by data from more than 100 million patients, and encompassing over 1 trillion facts—helps improve quality, add efficiency and lower costs 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, communities, 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, LinkedIn and Facebook.

    About UofL Hospital
    UofL Hospital, an academic teaching and research hospital, is at the heart of the Louisville Metro area in downtown Louisville. UofL Hospital offers a second-to-none cancer center, world-renowned trauma team and a uniquely streamlined, nationally accredited stroke center – the latest innovations in a history of world-class care.

    About UofL Physicians
    UofL Physicians is the largest, multi-specialty physician practice in Louisville with more than 78 sub specialties, 1,200 dedicated staff professionals and more than 600 primary care and specialty physicians. The physicians are also all professors and researchers at the University of Louisville School of Medicine, teaching tomorrow’s physicians, leading research in new innovative medical advancements and bringing progressive, innovative, state-of-the-art healthcare to every patient.

    For more information contact:
    Todd Stein
    Amendola Communications
    510-417-0612
    [email protected]

    Posted 9.6.2018
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