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Halifax Health Improves Physician and CDI Team Satisfaction, Productivity and Documentation Quality with Nuance’s AI-Powered Solutions
Innovative technology improves CDI program effectiveness while engaging physicians in documentation that better reflects the level of care provided to patients
BURLINGTON, MA and DAYTONA BEACH, FL- December 11, 2018 – Nuance Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ: NUAN) and Halifax Health today announced that Nuance’s artificial intelligence (AI)-powered solutions have improved physician satisfaction and productivity, while advancing patient care. Halifax Health chose Nuance to augment its electronic health record (EHR) system with a suite of proven, AI-powered solutions to improve workflows for its physicians, CDI team and coders, while contributing to improved patient care, documentation quality, and the health network’s bottom line. Halifax Health was also ready to transition to a more clinically focused documentation improvement program to better engage physicians around quality initiatives, improve CDS team efficiency, and support its goal to achieve clinical documentation excellence.
With Nuance’s AI-powered solutions, physicians are adding greater specificity at the point of care, reducing the need for the CDI team to query physicians for these details. In fact, Halifax Health reported a 63 percent reduction in severity queries and the productivity afforded by prioritizing encounters has enabled the team to expand its case coverage by 20 percent.
“We are committed to improving the satisfaction and productivity of our physicians and CDI team while continuously advancing patient care,” said Cathy Huss, HIM director, Halifax Health. “Since implementing Nuance’s suite of AI-powered solutions, we have experienced significant improvements in physician and CDI team productivity and satisfaction. Nuance CDE Triage’s prioritization and automation capabilities help our CDI team focus its efforts, using the added time to investigate additional opportunities to affect quality, while also expanding the ability to cover more cases.”
Nuance CDE Triage, a cloud-based solution for automated encounter prioritization, combines AI-powered capabilities and Nuance’s deep expertise in clinical documentation processes to prioritize cases that require the CDI team’s focused attention and documentation management. With CDE Triage, CDI leaders at Halifax Health can analyze performance and set standards for how their teams prioritize worklists, ensuring consistency and alignment with organizational goals. Better insight and workflows optimize quality and financial impact through better documentation.
To support its physicians and advance the use of its EHR, Halifax Health implemented Dragon Medical One speech recognition. Dragon Medical One, a HITRUST CSF certified solution, is completely cloud-based and seamlessly integrated into existing workflows so users can enjoy consistent documentation experiences regardless of their location. Greater ease of installation and virtualization support, higher portability and access, greater accuracy, and built-in productivity tools all contribute to increases in EHR adoption.
Beyond the productivity improvements provided by Dragon Medical One, Halifax Health providers are further enhancing the quality of documentation with the support of Dragon Medical Advisor. AI-powered Dragon Medical Advisor analyzes patient notes as they’re created so physicians can immediately update their documentation at the point of care. As a result, Halifax physicians are adding greater specificity around patient diagnoses and more effectively capturing the patient story – the first time.
“With the right solutions at the point of care, physicians are building better documentation up front,” says Dr. Ginny Kwong, vice president and chief medical information officer, Halifax Health. “The combination of people, processes and technology drives Halifax Health toward achieving our vision and mission.”
Michael Clark, general manager, provider solutions at Nuance Healthcare, stated, “Halifax Health has long viewed information technology innovations like speech recognition, documentation guidance and workflow prioritization to ensure optimal efficiency and productivity, as an essential part of improving patient care. The productivity benefits Halifax Health has experienced with our AI-powered solutions and clinical expertise help its physicians and CDI team save valuable time that they are now able to rededicate into patient care. This illustrates Halifax Health’s commitment to providing patients with the best care possible.”
Read the complete case study to learn more about how Nuance’s AI-powered solutions have helped Halifax Health evolve and adapt to a changing healthcare landscape.
About Halifax Health
Recognized by The Joint Commission as a Top Performer on Key Quality Measures, Halifax Health serves Volusia and Flagler counties, providing a continuum of healthcare services through a network of organizations including a tertiary hospital, community hospital, freestanding emergency department, an urgent care, psychiatric services, a cancer treatment center with five outreach locations, the area’s largest hospice, a center for inpatient rehabilitation, outpatient rehabilitation clinics, primary care walk-in clinics, a walk-in clinic specializing in women’s health, a pediatric care community clinic, three children’s medical practices, a home healthcare agency, and an exclusive provider organization. Halifax Health offers the area’s only Level II Trauma Center, Comprehensive Stroke Center, Pediatric Intensive Care Unit, Pediatric Emergency Department, Child and Adolescent Behavioral Services, complete Neurosurgical Services, OB Emergency Department and Level II Neonatal Intensive Care Unit that cares for babies born as early as 28 weeks. For more information, visit halifaxhealth.org.About Nuance Healthcare
Nuance provides intelligent systems that support a more natural and insightful approach to clinical documentation, freeing clinicians to spend more time caring for patients. Nuance healthcare solutions capture, improve and communicate more than 300 million patient stories each year, helping more than 500,000 clinicians in 10,000 global healthcare organizations to drive meaningful clinical and financial outcomes. Nuance’s award-winning clinical speech recognition, medical transcription, CDI, coding, quality and medical imaging solutions provide a more complete and accurate view of patient care.About Nuance Communications, Inc.
Nuance Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ: NUAN) is the pioneer and leader in conversational AI innovations that bring intelligence to everyday work and life. The company delivers solutions that can understand, analyze and respond to human language to increase productivity and amplify human intelligence. With decades of domain and artificial intelligence expertise, Nuance works with thousands of organizations – in global industries that include healthcare, telecommunications, automotive, financial services, and retail – to create stronger relationships and better experiences for their customers and workforce. For more information, please visit www.nuance.com.Trademark reference: Nuance and the Nuance logo are registered trademarks or trademarks of Nuance Communications, Inc. or its affiliates in the United States and/or other countries. All other trademarks referenced herein are the property of their respective owners.
Contact Information
Julie Sculley (for Nuance)
FleishmanHillard
M: 617-986-5730
[email protected]Posted 12.11.2018 -
Gather Valuable Information from Top-Level Executives: Conducting Online Member Surveys with CHIME
12.11.2018
Arika Lycan, Specialist, CHIME FoundationGathering qualitative data from CHIME CIOs can be of great value to your organization. Implementing a CHIME member survey is an easy way to obtain actionable information that can be used in your plans to engage providers. Here are some steps to make planning and executing an Online Member Survey in 2019 an easy venture with a big impact.
Survey Submission Basics
- Proposal form is available on the CHIME website here.
- Online Member Surveys are implemented for a one-month duration.
- Surveys are scheduled several weeks ahead of desired implementation month.
Upon completion, the collected raw data will be distributed to you in an Excel and PDF format. There are many ways to approach a topic that lends itself to surveying. To gain the most insight from your survey, follow an efficient, focused process to produce concrete data from which substantial inferences can be made. When definitive data is gathered from a survey, it will be easier to organize and analyze the results. The underlying purpose of a survey is to measure whether you are able to identify a proposition and to design and implement a plan to gather the data necessary to prove the proposition.
Let’s review some tips, tricks, and advice from fellow CHIME Foundation members.
Best Practices for Engaging Surveys
- Short and sweet: Surveys in the 5-10 question range elicit more responses.
- Keep questions simple: Many CIOs complete surveys on mobile devices, so minimize their need for scrolling, hitting “next page,” or reading long-form questions.
- Anonymous feedback is most honest: CIOs feel most comfortable sharing anonymously. If you want to collect respondent information, we suggest an optional question at the survey’s conclusion.
For firms with goals like increased exposure and knowledge-sharing, holding an Online Member Survey can be a key part of your CHIME strategy for success. Here are some ideas to leverage your Online Member Survey results to compound your other Foundation benefits.
Make Your Survey Work for You
- Create an Executive Summary: drafting an executive summary is a great way to present your findings with the industry at large. When referring to CHIME’s involvement, we ask that you frame it in the following way, “A survey of CHIME CIOs” or “A survey of CHIME members” vs. “A CHIME Survey.”
- Expound upon survey questions in a Focus Group: Use the input you got to refine and further guide your lines of inquiry for your next In-person or Online Focus Group.
- Share your survey data with CHIME members in a College LIVE webinar: Survey respondents like to hear results from their participation. Create graphs, charts and digestible data that you can share to inform members in your next College LIVE presentation.
We hope these logistics, tips and best practices help make implementation of an Online Member Survey part of your plans for engagement in the 2019 membership year.
More Foundation Insight:
Posted 12.11.2018 -
Board Transitions: Frank Nydam Leaves a Legacy and Model for the Future
12.11.2018
Arika Lycan, Specialist, CHIME FoundationA new year will bring with it change and transition to the CHIME Board. As we enter 2019, we are excited about things to come, and the guidance we’ll receive from our Foundation Board. That comes with the knowledge that a strong CHIME advocate is concluding his time on the board: Frank Nydam, vice president, Global Healthcare Alliances at VMware.
Frank will have served on the CHIME Board of Trustees and the CHIME Foundation Board from Jan. 1, 2015 – Dec. 31, 2018. During his term of service, Frank demonstrated a high level of commitment to find ways for existing Foundation firms to become more engaged with CHIME. He was a tireless representative of the interests of the Foundation to the larger board. Frank used his passion for CHIME’s mission and worked diligently to attract new Foundation firms to CHIME, serving as an ambassador and demonstrating the possibilities offered through CHIME partnership.
Among his many contributions, one of Frank’s longest lasting legacies will be his efforts to champion the cause of a partner education event for our Foundation firms. Frank saw, early on, the need for specific education tailored to the needs of our Foundation firms to help make them more engaged and more informed partners to CHIME provider members. Frank worked with the CHIME team and a dedicated planning committee to build what is now known as the CHIME Partner Education Summit (CPES).
The first CHIME Partner Education Summit was held in 2016, and we are already engaged in the planning process for this September’s CPES 2019, the program’s fourth year. CPES has grown into a very successful educational offering for our Foundation firms. Not only did Frank support this idea’s coming to fruition, but he has provided excellent oversight and direction for the CPES planning committee for the past three years.
Frank has served as a great representative for his fellow Foundation firms during his tenure. His presence on the Board will be missed. We want to extend our sincerest appreciation to Frank for his service on the CHIME Board of Trustees and the CHIME Foundation Board over the past four years. The support structures that he has championed will help to sustain and grow the CHIME Foundation long in to the future.
More Foundation Insight:
Posted 12.11.2018 -
CHIME Foundation Rounds Out a Robust Second Half of 2018
12.11.2018
Barb Sivek, Chief Operating Officer, CHIME FoundationIn January 2018 we outlined our vision for the year ahead. As we wrap up December and look toward 2019, CHIME Foundation has achieved a great deal in the past 12 months. Here is a look at what we have accomplished in 2018, and our upcoming 2019 opportunities.
In March of 2018 we hosted the CHIME HIMSS CIO Forum and enjoyed our biggest attendance yet, 600-plus CHIME members and a record number of Foundation partners as well. The Forum and all the activities surrounding it, including the CHIME booth on the exhibit floor, education throughout the week, Foundation Luncheon and Foundation Focus Groups offered chances to connect with CHIME staff, CHIME Leadership, and CHIME members in meaningful ways.
The CHIME Foundation Certified Healthcare Executive (CFCHE) program celebrated its one-year anniversary (June 23) and has awarded 37 designees to date! CFCHE has proved itself to be a one-of-a-kind opportunity for CHIME Foundation representatives to distinguish themselves and showcase their professional commitment, credibility and comprehensive understanding of the healthcare IT environment. In 2019 we hope to continue following the model that the CHIME Certified Healthcare CIO (CHCIO) has established.
In the late summer, we also welcomed Jennifer Emory Ramstrom to the CHIME team as vice president of the CHIME Foundation and of CHIME Technologies, Inc., effective Aug. 1. Jennifer served previously as vice president of vertical strategy and business development at Connection and she has already made a significant contribution to CHIME Foundation’s mission in her short time with the organization.
2018’s CHIME Partner Education Summit (CPES), held Sept 5-7 in Chicago, was a great success. Our third CPES featured a great lineup that included new faculty members in addition to several veteran CIOs from past years. We had our strongest attendance in the history of the event, and planning efforts are already underway for a high-quality 2019 program.
With strong Foundation partner support, our inaugural CHIME Advocacy Summit was held Oct. 3-5 in Washington, D.C. This program was open to CHIME Foundation firm representatives, CHIME members, members of CHIME’s affiliated associations and others. Speakers included Washington, D.C. policy leaders, CHIME and CHIME affiliated association members. The event garnered a great deal of enthusiasm from both CHIME members and Foundation firms. In 2019, we welcome your participation.
The 2018 CHIME Fall CIO Forum in San Diego kicked off a milestone year for CHIME Foundation—our 25th anniversary! Whether you have been a Foundation member since the beginning or just joined us recently, we appreciate you, our valued members, who help make the Foundation such a robust part of the CHIME mission.
As we look toward 2019, CHIME Foundation has exciting plans in store. We are doing some internal restructuring, which will enable us to best support your team’s efforts to connect and interact with our CHIME provider members. CHIME is also expanding its international partnerships which will lead to more opportunities to engage with our global memberships. As we turn the calendar page to 2019 –we look forward to finding new ways of working together. And as always, we’re thankful for your continued partnership and support.
More Foundation Insight:
Posted 12.11.2018 -
Integration, Physician Efficiency Key Drivers for Berkshire Health Systems to Select MEDITECH Expanse
Dr. David Albert and Dr. Mark Snowise, medical directors of informatics at Berkshire Health Systems, share their excitement for implementing MEDITECH’s Acute and Ambulatory solutions.
Berksire, MA – December 10, 2018 – Berkshire Health Systems (BHS), the leading provider of comprehensive healthcare services in Berkshire County (Mass.), recently signed to implement the intuitive and mobile web-based MEDITECH Expanse Enterprise Health Record (EHR) system. The organization will be adding MEDITECH Ambulatory and MEDITECH Acute Care solutions across its 225 physician practices.
Two BHS physicians heavily involved in the decision process, Dr. Mark Snowise, family practice, medical director of informatics ambulatory physician practices, and Dr. David Albert, nephrology, medical director of informatics acute care, stated that the health system was focused on providing clinicians with an interoperable EHR that ensured a complete patient picture across all care settings.
“Having an EHR with the flexibility for our on-call physicians to easily access patient records from a variety of mobile and web-based platforms is vital to advancing BHS operational efficiencies,” stated Dr. Snowise.
MEDITECH’s customizable Ambulatory solution within Expanse provides users with a single schedule, combining appointments across multiple care settings, streamlined referral management, advanced revenue cycle tools, and more — all in one place to keep practices running at peak efficiency.
Dr. Albert hopes the tools will improve end-user experience. He stated, “The improved user interface really appealed to BHS clinicians, and we’re excited to substantially improve efficiency. The web-based platform features advanced technologies beneficial to our organization’s performance, particularly the real-time safety and surveillance tools.”
Along with accessibility, MEDITECH’s intuitive tools provided by Expanse will help refine physician workflow and enhance BHS’ goal to improve the overall health of the Berkshire County patient population.
“We wanted the ability to seamlessly manage our patient population as they transition from one care setting to another. Having access to customizable surveillance status boards and clinical results will enable our users to effectively monitor patient conditions and increase communication to avoid negative outcomes,” said Dr. Snowise.
Dr. Albert added, “We expect that these improved transitions of care will lead to decreased readmission and a better patient and clinician experience.”
BHS has been a MEDITECH customer since 2000, due in large part to quality customer service.
“I’ve always been impressed with MEDITECH’s perceptiveness to our customer feedback and their agility responding to critical concerns,” stated Dr. Snowise.
“MEDITECH has the best customer service in the industry. We know we can reach a live person 24 hours per day who will do everything within their power to assist our Clinical and Information Technology team,” stated Dr. Albert.
System implementation will be led by Santa Rosa Consulting, Inc., a MEDITECH READY-certified firm and leading provider of management consulting and information technology services for the healthcare industry.
Learn how MEDITECH’s Ambulatory Solution helps users see a patient’s complete story to deliver the most appropriate care.
Contacts
Paul Berthiaume
Senior Manager, Marketing Communications
MEDITECH
781-774-5742
[email protected]Liz Carroll
Manager, Public Relations and Media Relations
MEDITECH
781-774-3297
[email protected]Twitter-@MEDITECH
Facebook-@MEDITECHEHR
Linkedin–https://www.linkedin.com/company/meditech/Posted 12.10.2018 -
Nicklaus Children’s Health System Selects Health Catalyst to Uncover Opportunities to Lower Costs and Enhance Efficiency
Health Catalyst Data Operating System supplies insights that will improve award-winning health system’s revenue cycle management, drive operational excellence
SALT LAKE CITY and MIAMI – December 6, 2018 – Nicklaus Children’s Health System, one of the most-awarded pediatric healthcare organizations in the nation, has selected Health Catalyst, Inc., a leader in next-generation data, analytics, and decision support, to improve its revenue cycle management and optimize operations. Nicklaus Children’s will initially leverage Health Catalyst’s powerful, cloud-based Data Operating System (DOS™) to facilitate appropriate payment for services, and to better understand the costs of healthcare.
Nicklaus Children’s Health System includes the flagship 309-bed nonprofit Nicklaus Children’s Hospital, South Florida’s only licensed specialty hospital exclusively for children, as well as a network of outpatient centers situated in Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties, a physician group and an ambulatory surgery center. Nicklaus Children’s Hospital has won numerous awards for clinical and IT excellence, including recently being named the 2018 Most Wired Hospital by CHIME, and has been designated as a Magnet facility for the high quality of its nursing care. In addition, six of the hospital’s medical units have received Beacon Awards from the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses, a distinction no other children’s hospital in the nation currently holds.
“We look forward to leveraging analytics to impact many areas at Nicklaus Children’s,” said Ed Martinez, the health system’s CIO. “We chose Health Catalyst as our partner because of its track record of outcomes improvement and its ability to match up technology with improvement services. Health Catalyst brings capabilities that will enable us to identify new opportunities to better serve our patients, physicians, employees, and community.”
Analyzing revenues and costs
Like most healthcare organizations, Nicklaus Children’s has faced increasing margin pressures, and its leaders recognize the need to enhance management of revenues and costs. To do that, they required a robust solution that would trend and benchmark financial data so they could identify areas to improve, starting with their revenue cycle. The health system selected Health Catalyst’s DOS to contribute to that goal.
Working with Nicklaus Children’s existing IT systems, DOS will serve as the hospital’s digital analytics backbone. The platform can integrate critical data from over 200 of the most popular data sources, including third-party electronic medical records (EMRs), data warehouses, claims processing systems, financial systems, operational systems and patient experience survey data. Moreover, DOS includes a large suite of products and analytic accelerators that are optimized with machine learning and natural language processing. These flexible solutions will help to meet Nicklaus Children’s needs for revenue cycle management and operational performance improvement initiatives. They will also enable the health system to monitor payer contracts to make sure that payers aren’t under-reimbursing or incorrectly denying claims.
“We’re excited to partner with Nicklaus Children’s Health System to harness the power of data to identify opportunities for strengthening its financial base while supporting patient outcomes,” said Dan Burton, CEO of Health Catalyst. “The DOS platform, along with Health Catalyst’s proven outcomes improvement services, will help Nicklaus Children’s get a firm grip on its financial management and ensure that their patients continue to receive first-rate care.”
Under the agreement, Nicklaus Children’s will have access to Health Catalyst’s library of technology solutions built on the DOS platform, as well as content culled from the company’s outcomes-improvement work with health systems across the country. Health Catalyst applications address some of 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 patient safety concerns before harm can occur.
About Health Catalyst
Health Catalyst, Inc. 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 Nicklaus Children’s Health System
Nicklaus Children’s Health System (NCHS) is the parent organization of Nicklaus Children’s Hospital, South Florida’s only licensed specialty hospital exclusively for children. The 309-bed nonprofit hospital, known as Miami Children’s Hospital from 1983 through 2014, was founded in 1950 by Variety Clubs International and is renowned for excellence in all aspects of pediatric medicine, with many programs routinely ranked among the nation’s best by U.S. News & World Report.The health system also includes Nicklaus Children’s Hospital Foundation, the organization’s 501c3 fundraising arm; a network of nonprofit outpatient centers situated in Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties; Pediatric Specialists of America, a nonprofit physician practice subsidiary; a managed care plan, and an ambulatory surgery center, as well as an e-commerce line of children’s wellness and safety products that support the hospital’s mission of serving the region’s pediatric population. NCHS is the region’s only healthcare system exclusively for children.
For more information contact:
Todd Stein
Amendola Communications
510-417-0612
[email protected]Posted 12.6.2018 -
Spok to Modernize Communications Throughout Veterans Affairs Hospitals
Strategic partnership with Standard Communications, Inc. enhances care team collaboration across the entire hospital to improve the Veteran experience and safety
“We are proud to be working with the VA Medical Centers and believe that this is further validation of the tremendous value we provide to our customers,” said Vincent D. Kelly, president and chief executive officer of Spok Holdings, Inc. “Organizations continue to depend on the Spok Care Connect platform to fully support care team collaboration and decision-making to improve patient safety and outcomes.”
Together, Spok and SCI are helping a growing number of VA hospitals implement Spok Care Connect to modernize communications and deliver actionable information to the right clinician or staff member on VA approved mobile devices. This includes sending alerts from nurse call systems to the appropriate nurse and delivering radiology test results to the ordering physician to respond quickly to the patient’s needs. To keep patients safe and reduce patient elopement and wandering, real-time location system (RTLS) tracking notifications can also be sent to appropriate hospital staff when a patient begins roaming outside the established boundaries.
“SCI brings a high level of expertise and understanding to the challenges VA Medical Centers are facing daily,” said Hemant Goel, president of Spok Inc. “Improving the patient experience for our Veterans is a top priority. Not only do efficient communications improve patient safety, but care teams are also able to spend more meaningful time with patients.”
The Spok solutions enhance workflows for code processes, critical test results automation, and notification to on-call care teams, nurse call alarming for actionable events, and patient tracking, all of which help improve patient outcomes.
“We are proud to partner with Spok to make it easier for doctors, nurses, and other care team members to provide exceptional care to our Veterans,” said Tom Michie, executive vice president of sales at SCI. “VA hospitals are excited about leveraging a true platform solution they can scale and build upon for years to come.”
About Standard Communications, Inc.
SCI is focused on Next Generation Healthcare Optimization helping modernize VA Medical centers by providing an array of VA approved clinical IT solutions that improve VA SAIL scores. The SCI team has a deep understanding of FDA 510K Biomedical technologies, VA clinical workflow practices, Veteran Centered Care, Veteran and Staff safety, and Veteran care processes. SCI designs, installs and operates VA specific solutions providing complete turn-key managed services offerings including onsite resources.
About Spok
Spok, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Spok Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: SPOK), headquartered in Springfield, Virginia, is proud to be a global leader in healthcare communications. We deliver clinical information to care teams when and where it matters most to improve patient outcomes. Top hospitals rely on the Spok Care Connect® platform to enhance workflows for clinicians, support administrative compliance, and provide a better experience for patients. Our customers send over 100 million messages each month through their Spok® solutions. When seconds count, count on Spok. For more information, visit spok.com or follow @spoktweets on Twitter.
Spok is a trademark of Spok Holdings, Inc. Spok Care Connect is a trademark of Spok, Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
Contacts
Jill Asby
+1 (952) 230-5363
[email protected]Posted 12.6.2018 -
A Global Perspective on Healthcare IT
12.6.2018
Candace Stuart – Director, Communications & Public RelationsIn 2017, CHIME launched its first international chapter in India and now is poised to open several more in Europe and elsewhere. Ricky Caplin, CEO of The HCI Group, has seen first-hand the opportunities and challenges healthcare IT brings to hospitals and systems around the world. Here are some observations, based on HCI’s interactions with customers in nearly 20 countries in North America, Europe, the Middle East and the Asia Pacific.
Differing Systems but Similar Goals
Healthcare organizations worldwide share a common goal even if they have cultural and national differences, Caplin observes. The United States, for instance, uses a multi-payer system while many other nations favor a single payer system. Either way, most clinicians strive to improve quality and access to care while giving patients a positive experience.
“No matter what kind of reimbursement model, we want to provide the best healthcare, keep people healthy and bring costs down,” Caplin says. Healthcare in the U.S. is more expensive compared to other nations and healthcare takes a bigger bite from the U.S. gross domestic product (GDP). In 2017, healthcare spending per capita in the U.S. averaged over $10,000, according to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the highest of any OECD member. Health spending accounted for 17.2 percent of GDP in the U.S. last year, about twice the OECD average.
How do these other developed countries keep cost down while still offering quality care?
A Global Perspective
The HCI Group’s decision to expand its footprint globally has given the company a broad perspective that can be shared with its customers. “We get to see healthcare delivery all over the world,” Caplin points out. “This provides a holistic view for us to offer solutions and best practices from the biggest and best hospitals and health systems in the world.”
He highlights the Nordic countries and Singapore as models that could be used in the U.S. to bring down operating costs and increase investment in patient care. Both consider the long-term horizon when making a significant investment in health IT. “They don’t have a rip-and-replace mentality from a healthcare IT perspective,” he says of Nordic countries. Instead they look for quality and durability. “They say, ‘We want to buy the best out there, but it needs to last 20 years.’”
About 6,000 miles away, healthcare organizations in Singapore also make decisions involving healthcare IT with a long-term mindset. “Singapore has to be one of the most strategic countries in the world that I have visited,” Caplin says, citing their public utilities agency’s decision to build fresh water reservoirs to give the densely populated island a self-sufficient water supply. “Most of their decisions are very long-term thinking and they put a very good process around that. They make their investments count. When you look at their health system and the process they go through, they are making a lot of calculated decisions.”
A Place for Innovation
Despite its challenges with cost, the U.S. is considered a leader in healthcare innovation. In their latest Moneytree Report, PricewaterhouseCoopers and CB Insights found that U.S. healthcare companies raised $5.4 billion in venture capital-backed funding in the third quarter of 2018. Biotechnology took the lion’s share of those deals. But investments in artificial intelligence, machine learning, virtual care, data analytics and other heath IT innovations have grown exponentially in recent years.
“The U.S. is such a large country with vast resources and intelligent people,” Caplin says. “You can look at health systems in our country that have done an incredibly good job from the innovation and incubation going on.” In this way, the U.S. also serves as a model for health systems globally, with the U.S. continually pushing the envelope for what healthcare can and should be.
Through its international chapters, CHIME is positioned to share best practices and drive change globally. “Establishments like CHIME provide the opportunity to collaborate and bring joint solutions,” Caplin notes. “It is our personal, family, friends’, colleagues’ and neighbors’ health that is at stake. We should be working together.”
More Inside CHIME:
Posted 12.6.2018 -
Scholarships Available for CHIME’s Spring Forum, Boot Camp
12.6.2018
Barb Sivek – Chief Operating Officer, CHIME FoundationThe CHIME Education Foundation is offering $1,500 scholarships for members to attend the 2019 CHIME/HIMSS CIO Forum and $5,000 scholarships for members or direct reports to attend the upcoming CHIME Healthcare CIO Boot Camp. Candidates have until Dec. 12 to apply for the spring CIO forum scholarships and until Jan. 10 to apply for Boot Camp scholarships.
The 2019 CHIME/HIMSS CIO Forum is scheduled to take place Feb. 10-11 in Orlando, Fla. The Education Foundation has six CIO Forum scholarships available for the event, with one of those five provided by Foundation firm Spok. In addition, two Neal L. Patterson Community and Rural Hospital Scholarships are available.
Forum scholarship applicants must be current CHIME members. Winners will receive complimentary registration to the forum and may submit travel expenses for reimbursement with the remaining funds at the conclusion of the event. You can learn more about the CHIME/HIMSS CIO Forum here and CIO Forum scholarships here.
The Education Foundation has 10 scholarships to help CHIME members and/or their direct reports attend the CHIME Healthcare CIO Boot Camp. The 2019 Spring Boot Camp will be held April 13-19 in Chicago. Each $5,000 scholarship covers tuition for the popular event, which is designed to help healthcare IT executives advance the profession by developing their leadership skills.
You can learn more about the Spring Boot Camp here and Boot Camp scholarships here.
More Inside CHIME:
Posted 12.6.2018 -
Most Wired Cybersecurity Results Point to Gaps and Gains
12.6.2018
Candace Stuart – Director, Communications & Public RelationsCyberattacks pose a significant safety risk to patients, whether that is through the theft of protected health information, a bad actor gaining access to a digitally connected medical device or disruption in care. Even in cases where no harm is done to patients, a successful breach can inflict significant pain on a hospital or healthcare organization. Loss of a community’s trust. Reputational damage. Potential audits. Lost income. Costly repairs and replacement of hardware and software. The list goes on.
The 2018 CHIME HealthCare’s Most Wired survey included several questions to assess a healthcare organization’s cyber hygiene. Just as washing hands can reduce the spread of germs, practicing good cyber hygiene can help protect a hospital or healthcare system from a cyberattack or lessen the damage if a breach occurs. Based on the results, the healthcare IT industry is making some progress.
For instance, one question that assessed the adoption of security frameworks suggested that hospitals and healthcare systems were moving from using self-developed to formal frameworks. The trend may reflect a shift from trying to merely meet baseline privacy and risk assessment standards set under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) to implementing a more rigorous and standardized framework, observed Theresa Meadows, co-chair of the U.S. Health and Human Services Healthcare Cybersecurity Task Force. In 2017, the task force released a landmark report to Congress that contained more than 100 recommendations, including guidance on healthcare-specific cybersecurity frameworks.
“The first step to any good security program is picking a framework to use so you can do a thorough assessment and know what your gaps are,” said Meadows, CIO at Cook Children’s Health Care System, a 2018 Most Wired recipient. “And then have an action plan in place to mitigate those gaps or accept the risks.”
Cyberattacks on the healthcare sector have risen drastically since 2009, according to the Institute of Critical Infrastructure Technology, and healthcare is now the top target for cyber criminals. They are becoming increasingly sophisticated, always looking for new ways to hack healthcare organizations.
“The security landscape is constantly changing,” Meadows said. “Doing ongoing risk assessment, communicating the risk and having a plan for this is the most important thing – and, of course, implementing some of your action plans.”
Here’s a look at best practices and their adoption, based on an analysis of the Most Wired survey data.
Most organizations are moving from self-developed security information frameworks to using one or more standardized options.
- National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST): 78%
- Health Information Trust Alliance (HITRUST): 40%
- Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL): 35%
- SysAdmin, Audit, Network and Security (SANS): 24%
- Self-developed: 19%
- Control Objectives for Information and Related Technologies (COBIT): 11%
These six core components are the foundation of a comprehensive security program. Only 29 percent reported having a complete program in place.
- Report deficiencies*: 95%
- Report progress*: 94%
- Dedicated CISO: 90%
- Governance committee: 79%
- Annual updates*: 76%
- Board-level oversight: 34%
*Reporting these findings to the board
More Inside CHIME:
- Scholarships Available for CHIME’s Spring Forum, Boot Camp
- A Global Perspective on Healthcare IT
- News of Note: Interoperability Webinar and Baldrige Honor
- EMR Helps Clinicians Screen, Treat Patients at Risk of Opioid Misuse
Posted 12.6.2018 -
News of Note: Interoperability Webinar and Baldrige Honor
12.6.2018
Candace Stuart – Director, Communications & Public RelationsHere is a roundup from CHIME of recent news and upcoming events:
Interoperability webinar on Dec. 11: CHIME Chair-elect Shafiq Rab, senior vice president and CIO at Rush University Medical Center, and Marc Probst, a member of CHIME’s Public Policy Steering Committee and CIO at Intermountain Healthcare, will participate in a webinar on interoperability hosted by healthsysemCIO.com. The webinar begins at noon ET Dec. 11. CHIME members earn one CEU for attending. Registration is available here.
Memorial Hospital in Jasper named Baldrige winner: Memorial Hospital and Health Care Center in Jasper, Ind., received the 2018 Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award for Healthcare. Five organizations were named Baldrige recipients this year. This is a presidential-level honor that recognizes exemplary U.S. organizations and businesses. More details are available here.
More Inside CHIME:
Posted 12.6.2018 -
EMR Helps Clinicians Screen, Treat Patients at Risk of Opioid Misuse
12.6.2018
Candace Stuart – Director, Communications & Public RelationsWhen the Substance Use Intervention Team (SUIT) at Rush University Medical Center wanted to add two questions to the list that nursing and social work staff asked patients receiving inpatient care, they knew they had to tread carefully. The questions were brief queries about misusing alcohol or drugs in the past year for a new screening and treatment program. But they were two questions on top of more than 170 existing items for nursing, and yet one more in a litany of tasks for social work. How to ensure that these two questions wouldn’t get skipped, and if they were, where to correct the omission?
Working with an interdisciplinary group that included clinicians and IT specialists, they found a readily available tool: the electronic medical record. The EMR allowed the SUIT team to add the questions into nursing and social work workflows and design discipline-specific columns to flag if the task was completed. If a patient answered “yes,” the social worker had the option to recommend a consult, which then was transmitted to addiction medicine or the SUIT team.
The EMR tool extended from Rush’s inpatient to outpatient setting, ensuring parity in the data collected in the outpatient Addiction Medicine Clinic and the inpatient intervention. It also assisted in administrative functions, including a report that was sent monthly to the Illinois Department of Human Services, which awarded Rush a $380,000 grant to support the program.
At noon ET on Dec. 12, two members of SUIT will conduct a College LIVE webinar to discuss how they used the EMR to launch and maintain SUIT, a comprehensive screening and treatment program launched in 2017 to assist patients who struggle with substance use disorders. The webinar, which is hosted by CHIME and the CHIME Opioid Task Force, is free and open to the public.
“The EMR is definitely a facilitator for communications across disciplines,” said Kristin Hill, a practice administrator in Rush’s Population Behavioral Health Section and SUIT’s liaison with Rush’s healthcare IT department. “It helps us with our reporting to the state. It also helps with universal screening. Everyone gets asked, regardless of why they get admitted. That helps us to try to saturate everybody and ask people who otherwise may have never been asked.”
So far Rush has screened more than 30,000 patients. In addition to IT tools, the SUIT team has developed interview training and education programs to help clinicians identify and treat at-risk patients. SUIT was so successful in its first year that the state renewed the grant, whose funding comes from an opioid initiative funded under the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Niranjan Karnik, MD, PhD, associate dean for community behavioral health, psychiatry professor and vice chair of innovation in the Department of Psychiatry at Rush Medical Center, will join Hill as webinar presenters. This is the fourth educational webinar presented through CHIME and the CHIME Opioid Task Force. Members and non-members can register for their presentation, “Rush Substance Use Intervention (SUIT): Raising Awareness for Better Care,” here. Members will receive one CEU for attending.
More Inside CHIME:
Posted 12.6.2018