• CPES Promises Outstanding Faculty with Exciting and Valuable Program


    6.18.2019
    By Arika Lycan, Director, Corporate Partner Services

    Planning began in December and January for this year’s CHIME Partner Education Summit (CPES), taking place Sept.  4-6 at the Loews Chicago O’Hare hotel in Chicago. As the CPES Planning Committee convened earlier in the year to envision the educational program, ideas, topics and names flew. Planning Committee members, most of whom have attended CPES in years past, reviewed feedback from past programs, looked over evaluations from the most recent 2018 event, and put together a short list of hot topics that CHIME Foundation partners need to hear more about, as well as faculty that partners would most like to address those topics.  

    Fast-forward to today, where the CPES Planning Committee is proud to have secured most of everyone on that initial short list. The faculty lineup is looking impressive, and the program agenda is fully fleshed out with a variety of high-quality sessions. CPES19 faculty represents a wide swath of the CHIME members and several strong CHIME Foundation partners. Two–thirds of the CPES19 faculty are first-time CPES presenters; we’re excited for you to hear their perspectives as well as that of the entire faculty on the issues that most affect their C-Suite roles. 

    CPES19 faculty includes:  

    • Many CHIME Certified Healthcare CIO (CHCIO) and a CHIME Foundation Certified Healthcare Executive (CFCHE) individuals 
    • Several CHIME Board members 
    • Past CHIME Fall CIO Forum track session presenters 
    • Several previous CHIME and industry award winners   

    Take a closer look at the faculty roster for CPES19; bios are available for reference on the CPES page. We look forward to hearing from these incredible leaders at our fourth annual CHIME Partner Education Summit event, and we know you’ll find great value in the education they provide you and your teams. 

    CPES 2019 Faculty 

    Michael Archuleta, MBA, CIO, Mt. San Rafael Hospital  

    Cara Babachicos, CHCIO, Senior VP and CIO, South Shore Health 

    Erik Bermudez, Emerging Healthcare Markets & Technologies, KLAS Research 

    Aaron W. Brooks, CIO at HolmstromKennedyPC 

    Cyndi Vely Cahill, CFCHE, SVP Atos Digital Health Consulting 
     
    David Chou, CHCIO, Chief Information & Digital Officer 

    Steve Eckert, CFCHE, Senior Partner at ResourcingHQ 

    Carina Edwards, CEO at Quil  
     
    Spencer Hamons, CHCIO, CFCHE, FACHE Executive Architect at NetApp 

    Craig Joseph, MD, Chief Medical Officer, Avaap  

    Randy McCleese, FACHE, CHCIO, FHIMSS, FCHIME, LCHIME 
     
    Jennifer Ramstrom, CFCHE, VP, CHIME Foundation & CHIME Tech 

    Craig Richardville, MBA, CIO at SCL Health 

    Sarah Richardson, MBA, CHCIO, CPC, FCHIME, Healthcare and Technology Senior Executive 
    Davita/Healthcare Partners 

    Tressa Springmann, CHCIO, Chief Information Officer, Lifebridge Health 

    Denise Webb, Independent Health IT Strategic Consultant, former CIO at Marshfield Clinic Health System 

    More Foundation Insight

     

    Posted 6.18.2019

  • Computerworld Names RSM to 2019 List of 100 Best Places to Work in IT

    CHICAGO, IL – IDG’s Computerworld announced today that it has named RSM US LLP (RSM) – the nation’s leading provider of audit, tax and consulting services focused on the middle market – as a 2019 Best Places to Work in IT, one of 100 top organizations that challenge their IT teams while providing great benefits and compensation.

    “It’s quite an honor to be recognized for the fifth straight year as one of the ‘Best Places to Work in IT’ by Computerworld,” said Troy Cardinal, chief information officer with RSM. “At RSM, we understand the unique skills and experiences our people bring to the table, and we know that by combining our efforts and by working as a team, we’re able to provide innovative thinking and solutions that help both our clients and one another succeed. RSM truly is a great place to work – not only in IT, but in any line of business, industry or department.”
     
    “The market for IT talent remains very tight, and employers continue to focus on finding and holding onto the best people,” said Computerworld Executive Editor Ken Mingis. “Our 2019 survey shows again that the Best Places to Work in IT are dynamic organizations that provide top pay and a broad array of programs and benefits designed to make them attractive places to work. Many show that they have a commitment to training, to diversity and to improved communication and teamwork.”
     

    About the Best Places to Work in IT
    The Best Places to Work in IT list is an annual ranking of the top 100 work environments for technology professionals by IDG’s Computerworld. The list is compiled based on a comprehensive questionnaire regarding company offerings in categories such as benefits, career development, training and retention. In addition, Computerworld conducts extensive surveys of lT workers, and their responses factor heavily in determining the rankings.

    About Computerworld
    Computerworld is the leading technology media brand empowering enterprise users and their managers, helping them create business advantage by skillfully exploiting today’s abundantly powerful web, mobile, and desktop applications. Computerworld also offers guidance to IT managers tasked with optimizing client systems—and helps businesses revolutionize the customer and employee experience with new collaboration platforms. Computerworld’s award-winning website, strategic marketing solutions and research forms the hub of the world’s largest global IT media network and provides opportunities for IT vendors to engage this audience. Computerworld is published by IDG Communications, Inc.

    About RSM US LLP
    RSM’s purpose is to deliver the power of being understood to our clients, colleagues and communities through world-class audit, tax and consulting services focused on middle market businesses. The clients we serve are the engine of global commerce and economic growth, and we are focused on developing leading professionals and services to meet their evolving needs in today’s ever-changing business environment.

    RSM US LLP is the U.S. member of RSM International, a global network of independent audit, tax and consulting firms with more than 41,000 people in 116 countries. For more information, visit rsmus.com, like us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter and/or connect with us on LinkedIn.

    Posted 6.17.2019

  • Columnist Rana Foroohar, Innovator Wendy Sue Swanson and Tech Leader Eric Topol to Headline CHIME19

    ANN ARBOR, MI, June 14, 2019 – The College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (CHIME) will present three distinguished keynote speakers to discuss the global digital economy, digital innovation and emerging technology at the 2019 CHIME Fall CIO Forum in Phoenix in November. CHIME19’s marquee lineup of speakers includes:
    • Rana Foroohar, global business columnist at The Financial Times and global economic analyst at CNN;
    • Wendy Sue Swanson, MD, chief of digital innovation at Seattle Children’s Hospital, blogger and author of Mama Doc Medicine; and
    • Eric Topol, MD, a leading innovator in medicine who specializes in the use of artificial intelligence, “deep” data and smart technology in the practice of individualized medicine. 
    “Each of our speakers offers great insights that will help our members be effective healthcare leaders,” said Steven Stanic, chair of CHIME’s Planning Committee and vice president and CIO at Baptist Health System. “Rana Foroohar is a respected journalist who has a broad perspective on healthcare, technology and the economy. As a physician and digital innovator, Wendy Sue Swanson understands how technology can be applied to benefit patients and providers. And we’re thrilled to have Eric Topol back to talk about technologies that can transform healthcare.”   
     
    Foroohar covers the intersection of business, economics, politics and foreign affairs. She frequently profiles movers and shakers in finance and business, including Warren Buffett, Bill Gross, Howard Shultz, Mary Barra and Carl Icahn. Her high-level yet accessible analysis has made her a sought-after commentator on influential programs such as CNNI and Face the Nation. She has authored two books: Makers and Takers and the forthcoming Don’t Be Evil: The Trouble with Big Tech, due out in the fall of 2019.
     
    Swanson is leading the way to a new age in medicine in which innovations in digital and social media leverage the combined wisdom of clinicians, patients and researchers to help them collaborate more closely and build stronger relationships. She is a practicing pediatrician, blogger, a weekly TV reporter and an important thought leader online. Her innovations in digital health include developing translations for smart speakers to help them better respond to the health queries of young people, collaborating with Amazon on the development of Alexa for Kids, piloting technologies at Seattle Children’s and creating two apps. She also is chief medical officer at Before Brands, a health and wellness startup.
     
    Topol is a cardiologist, founder and director of the Scripps Research Translational Institute, executive vice president of Scripps Research and a professor of Molecular Medicine. He is a proponent of individualized medicine, also called precision medicine, which tailors diagnosis, prevention and treatment to the full biological and social profile of the individual, rather than the “average” human of traditional medical science. He is the author of two bestsellers on the future of healthcare, The Creative Destruction of Medicine and The Patient Will See You Now. His most recent book, Deep Medicine, was released this year.
     
    “Our members are eager to learn about innovations that can transform digital health, and Steve and the Planning Committee did a tremendous job finding speakers who can address key drivers of change,” said Tim Stettheimer, CHIME’s vice president of education. “We also will offer many other educational and networking opportunities each day, as well as our second annual Most Wired awards session. We’ve changed things up, too, by offering the CHIME Healthcare CIO Boot Camp after the forum and adding a CISO boot camp.”
     
    The 2019 CHIME Fall CIO Forum will be held Nov. 3-6 at the JW Marriott Phoenix Desert Ridge Resort and Spa in Phoenix. More information about the program and speakers is available here.
     
    Editor’s note: Members of the media are welcome to attend.
    Please email Candace Stuart, CHIME’s director of communications, at [email protected] to be added to the media list. 
     
    About CHIME
     
    The College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (CHIME) is an executive organization dedicated to serving chief information officers (CIOs), chief medical information officers (CMIOs), chief nursing information officers (CNIOs) and other senior healthcare IT leaders. With more than 2,900 members in 51 countries and over 150 healthcare IT business partners and professional services firms, CHIME provides a highly interactive, trusted environment enabling senior professional and industry leaders to collaborate; exchange best practices; address professional development needs; and advocate the effective use of information management to improve the health and care in the communities they serve. For more information, please visit chimecentral.org.
     
    Contacts
    Candace Stuart
    Director of Communications and Public Relations, CHIME
    734.665.0000
    Posted 6.14.2019

  • House Makes Historic Progress on Unique Patient ID Efforts

    6.13.2019
    Leslie Krigstein – VP, Congressional Affairs

    Great news! Yesterday evening the House passed an amendment that would remove a prohibition on funding for a national patient identification strategy. Our members have seen that 20-year prohibition as a barrier to interoperability and a risk to patient safety. Thank you to everyone who helped us reach this milestone.

    We commend U.S. Reps. Bill Foster (D-IL-11) and Mike Kelly (R-PA-16), the sponsors of the amendment, for their leadership on this critical patient safety issue. Reps. Foster and Kelly took to the House floor, with the Chairwoman of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor-Health and Human Services (Labor-H), Rosa DeLauro (D-CT-3), to highlight the patient care implications of addressing patient identification in a meaningful way with the passage of this amendment.

    The House will now need to vote on the full Appropriations package, which is expected next week; it will then be sent over to the Senate for consideration.

    This journey is far from over, but the vote taken last night is the most significant step forward in dismantling the policy barriers that have handcuffed our industry for 20 years. We’ll need your help as we continue our efforts. You can visit CHIME Media to watch the House proceedings and be sure to look for updates in this newsletter and our weekly Debrief.

    More Inside CHIME:

    Posted 6.13.2019

  • CHIME Conducts First CHCIO Exam Completely in German


    6.13.2018
    By Ashley Jester – Director, Professional Development

    On May 16, eight German students sat for CHIME’s very first fully German translated certification exam following an intense two-day training.  This was the first introduction of the CHIME Certified Healthcare CIO (CHCIO) Program in Germany at the Hospital Management and Digital Transformation Congressional event and in partnership with VuiG and AuiG Academy.  All eight students mastered the program preparation course, underwent 2 ½ hours of testing, and walked away becoming CHCIO certified!

    “The CHCIO Program of CHIME, AuiG Academy and VuiG is an excellent differentiator for leaders in health IT,” said Stanislaw Wieser, senior vice president and CIO at the Hospital & Senior Home Group St. Augustinus, a VuiG board member and one of the eight to earn a CHCIO title. “AuiG and VuiG did a brilliant job in the localization of the CHCIO program for the German-speaking communities – literature,  references and language. That said, the preparation course and the test were very difficult. Having passed the test successfully makes me feel proud. The CHCIO from CHIME and AuiG Academy will move my career to the next level.”

    The German language CHCIO was made possible through a partnership between CHIME and AuiG. ”One of the best parts of the partnership between VuiG, AuiG Academy and CHIME is that we have the same mindset,” said Dr. Pierre-Michael Meier,  president and CEO ENTSCHEIDERFABRIK, CEO AuiG Academy and executive vice president and CFO of VuiG. AuiG, which stands for Akademie für Unternehmensführung und IT-Service Management in der Gesundheitswirtschaft, is VuiG’s educational arm. Meier collaborated with CHIME to design the preparatory course and market the program.

    Prof. Dr. Gregor Hülsken, professor of Business and Medical Informatics at FOM University of Applied Sciences, CEO AuiG Academy and a board member of VuiG, Prof. Dr. Björn Maier, professor of Business  Administration and Healthcare Management at DHBW Mannheim University of Applied Sciences, president and CEO DVKC (German Association of Hospital Controlling) and a board member of VuiG, and Meier led a team that interpreted and integrated the fundamental factors of CHCIO in their teaching and also translated and regionalized the entire process and examination into the German healthcare market. Hülsken noted that today’s digital health executive must have a global perspective of information management and a broad understanding of many other disciplines to be effective.

    “It is precisely these competences that are necessary to carry out and control the digital transformation in healthcare facilities,” Maier added. The CHCIO assesses expertise as well knowledge gained from practical experience, he said, making it a “a valuable career building block.” He suggested that the German-language exam serves as a model that could be applied in the countries represented through AuiG – Austria, Belgium, Germany, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, and Switzerland – and beyond.

    With the successful launch of the exam, CHIME and AuiG expect to enter a second phase of collaboration in October. The new partnership expands CHIME’s handprint in the German-speaking countries and allows for further engagements, bringing CHIME’s high standards for professional education and development to more health IT executives.

    “This credential is a testament to the individual’s commitment to the industry, our profession and most importantly, the patients we serve,” Meier said. “Not only do we give the highest degree of commendation to the individuals who earn and maintain the CHCIO status, but we strongly encourage everyone in the industry eligible for the honor to pursue it.”

    More Inside CHIME:

    Posted 6.13.2019

  • How to Stay Informed and Involved in Policy Matters

    6.13.2018
    By Liz Johnson, MS, FAAN, FCHIME, FHIMSS, CHCIO, RN-BC; vice chair, CHIME Policy Steering Committee; retired chief innovation officer, Tenet Healthcare

    Every CIO has received The Email at one time or another: “I just read about (fill in name of the act, rule, policy change here) in (publication name here). What does this mean for us?” signed by your CEO or someone else on the hospital leadership team. The last thing you want is to be caught flat-footed, scrambling to find an answer. When it comes to public policy, a CIO should be prepared – or better yet, be proactive.

    Today more than ever we need senior health IT executives to be ahead of the policy decisions made by our federal agencies, members of Congress and the administration. At a minimum, we must make it part of our job to be well informed about digital health regulations and legislation that can impact workflow and patient care. When we get that email in our inbox, we already should have the answers as well as the tools to help our hospitals and health systems accommodate new state and federal guidelines and regulations.

    But we can do more than that, too. CIOs have many opportunities to weigh in on policies before they are finalized and offer our insights and perspectives on how these changes might help or hinder our mission. No one knows better than us how digital health regulations might remove a barrier or disrupt care. That is why it is so important that we make sure our voices are heard in our state capitals and in Washington, D.C. The question is, how?

    This month we have a chance to meet and talk with some of the most influential policymakers in D.C. at the CHIME Advocacy Summit. You don’t have to be a member of CHIME to attend. You don’t even need to be a CIO. All it requires is a willingness to learn and a desire to make a difference. CHIME and I have a long history together, going back to my earliest years at Tenet Healthcare Corporation and through my roles as chief clinical information officer, chief information officer and most recently chief innovation officer. Joining, leading and now serving as the vice chair on CHIME’s Public Policy Steering Committee has been a rewarding experience, and it has shown me why we need educational and networking programs like the Advocacy Summit.

    Take Meaningful Use as an example. In its early period, members and CHIME’s policy team focused on requirements that truly advanced digital health rather than metrics that did not improve clinical outcomes or align with caregivers’ workflow. It was a give-and-take process of educating and working with policymakers, building mutual trust and respect, and persisting – lots of persisting. All that work was worth the effort when the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services revised their timeline to delay reporting on requirements that, in essence, were just coming out. That was a relief to CIOs across the nation.

    Digital health’s role in patient care is only getting larger, which is why we need you, every one of you, to get engaged and help shape policies. What might be an administrative annoyance for a large healthcare system like Tenet could be an immense burden for a small or rural hospital, for instance. Having viewpoints from many types of healthcare organizations in many diverse geographical regions gives decision makers a broad understanding of the benefits and challenges of their proposed ideas. Without that, we run the risk of getting one-size-fits-all regulations that distract us from doing what we do best – using technology to make health and care better in our communities.

    I hope you can join me at the CHIME Advocacy Summit on June 26-28. You can learn more here. If you can’t make it, be sure to look for coverage in healthsystemCIO.com and visit CHIME’s website for updates.

    Editor’s note: This commentary originally appeared in healthsystemCIO.com. It can be accessed here.

    More Inside CHIME:

    Posted 6.13.2019

  • Now is Opportune Time for Health IT Executives to Weigh in on 5G

    6.13.2019
    By Candace Stuart – Director, Communications & Public Relations

    Now is the time for digital health leaders like CHIME’s membership to take a serious interest in 5G, says Ken Bradberry, senior vice president and CTO at The HCI Group. Not the gee-whiz 5G that is being hyped but rather a 5G that needs careful curating to reach its potential as a transformative technology in healthcare.

    “This is the time, while the technology is still evolving,” he said. “We can influence the technology vendors and the carriers to align them with the challenges of healthcare providers.”

    Congress and the administration are promoting fifth generation wireless technology as a juggernaut for economic growth and innovation. Carriers have rolled out 5G mobile services in parts of major cities like Chicago, Minneapolis, Los Angeles, Boston and Dallas, and Rush University Medical Center and AT&T made headlines this year by introducing 5G in a healthcare setting. 5G’s capability to provide faster, more reliable service holds the potential to improve the quality and access to healthcare. Remote monitoring, telehealth and augmented or virtual reality to treat patients or educate clinicians are among the many possible applications that a 5G architecture might facilitate.

    Bradberry sees many benefits with 5G, adding that The HCI Group and parent company Tech Mahindra view 5G as transformational. The technology may be compelling, but it won’t become fully realized without carefully evaluating costs, safety, operational considerations and the regulatory environment, Bradberry cautions. “We don’t want to take our CIOs down the path thinking they will gain all of these advantages and then find it was not well researched or thought through,” he said. “This is a good time to put rigor behind it.”

    Cost is a factor as health IT executives consider 5G. Bradberry recommends first looking at how 5G’s speed and reliability can drive down costs. “We need to clearly articulate not just these great use cases that we talk about with telehealth and IOT and other things but how from an infrastructure perspective it will make a difference,” he said. Availability is also a potential constraint. Hospitals and health systems may need to weigh a more contained approach such as within a medical campus and then integrate into the larger network when the opportunity arises. With a clear understanding of the cost, value and infrastructure needs, health IT teams can identify a starting point that makes sense for their institution and then the roadmap for an extended network that could encompass clinics, ambulatory facilities, pharmacies, payers and beyond.

    Earlier this year, Bradberry visited a 5G Center of Excellence in Redmond, Wash., that Tech Mahindra opened in 2018 to accelerate the rollout of 5G services. The labs include the infrastructure that a hospital or health system would need to support a 5G environment and will be used to test connected devices, including medical devices. The results from their studies will help to put some of the hype through a reality check.

    “We are getting some really unique perspective,” Bradberry said. “We will have a lot more data as to how much optimization can be expected.”

    More Inside CHIME:

    Posted 6.13.2019

  • CHIME and AuiG Launch Chapters in Austria, Belgium, Germany, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg and Switzerland

    ANN ARBOR, MI, June 13, 2019 – The College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (CHIME) and the Akademie für Unternehmensführung und IT-Service Management in der Gesundheitswirtschaft (AuiG) have launched CHIME chapters in Austria, Belgium, Germany, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg and Switzerland. The six chapters represent German-speaking communities with programming tailored to German-speaking senior healthcare IT executive members.
     
    “Our colleagues at AuiG have inspired us to push the boundaries on what CHIME offers by creating educational and certification materials in a language other than English,” said Russell Branzell, president and CEO of CHIME. “We recently had the privilege to participate in the Health Information Management Executives Leadership Summit at Schloss Dyck, hold workshops there and conduct our first certification exam in German. This was a historic moment for CHIME, and it would not have been possible without the support of AuiG and the ENTSCHEIDERFABRIK network.”
     
    “CHIME and AuiG are committed to helping our members lead the transformation of digital health,” said Dr. Pierre-Michael Meier, executive vice president and CFO of VuiG e.V. AuiG is VuiG e.V’s educational arm. “We are thrilled to have our members be the first ever to earn credentials through CHIME’s German exam. Opening chapters in Austria, Belgium, Germany, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg and Switzerland will provide even more opportunities to collaborate, learn together and use innovative and disruptive technologies to improve care.”
     
    VuiG e.V. serves CIOs in a community – ENTSCHEIDERFABRIK network – that includes 34 user associations, over 800 hospital locations, over 130 vendors and exclusively selected consultancies. VuiG e.V. has been a growing and active community within the ENTSCHEIDERFABRIK network since its foundation in 2006. The ENTSCHEIDERFABRIK network develops digitized solutions in the healthcare sector, provides hospital decision makers with tools to be successful, and serves as an incubator to test innovations.
     
    CHIME is a membership-based organization serving more than 2,900 chief information officers (CIOs) and senior healthcare executives in 51 countries. CHIME offers online and in-person educational and networking opportunities as well as accreditation through a domestic and international CHIME Certified Healthcare CIO (CHCIO) program.
     
    CHIME now has eight international chapters. CHIME established a CHIME chapter in Italy earlier this year and in India in 2017. In addition, CHIME has signed letters of intent for partnerships with organizations in Canada, Ireland, the UK and Israel.
     
    About CHIME
     
    The College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (CHIME) is an executive organization dedicated to serving chief information officers (CIOs), chief medical information officers (CMIOs), chief nursing information officers (CNIOs) and other senior healthcare IT leaders. With more than 2,900 members in 51 countries and over 150 healthcare IT business partners and professional services firms, CHIME provides a highly interactive, trusted environment enabling senior professional and industry leaders to collaborate; exchange best practices; address professional development needs; and advocate the effective use of information management to improve the health and care in the communities they serve. For more information, please visit chimecentral.org.
     
    About AuiG, VuiG e. V. and the ENTSCHEIDERFABRIK Network
     
    VuiG e.V. is the home of CIOs in 34 user associations in the ENTSCHEIDERFABRIK Network. The ENTSCHEIDERFABRIK network includes 34 user associations, over 800 hospital locations, over 130 vendors and exclusively selected consultancies. The network develops digitized solutions in the healthcare sector, provides hospital decision makers with tools to be successful, and serves as an incubator to test innovations. Membership into VuiG e.V. is by title as a part of an executive team or by qualification. AuiG is VuiG e.V.’s educational arm and validates the qualification of VuiG e.V. members.
     
    Contacts
    Candace Stuart
    Director of Communications and Public Relations, CHIME
    +1734.665.0000
     
    Dr. Pierre-Michael Meier
    President & CEO
    AuiG Academy
    +49 2182 8865382
    Posted 6.13.2019

  • Vital® Partners With Baptist Health to Deliver Complete Vitrea® Enterprise Imaging Solution

    Minnetonka, MN – June 11, 2019 – Vital announced today continued success with Baptist Health in the implementation of the Vitrea Enterprise Imaging solution. Baptist Health is Arkansas’ largest healthcare provider and physician network. The solution deployment will include the full Vitrea Enterprise Imaging suite.

    Strong partnership between Vital and Baptist Health
    With a strategy focused on synergies, Vital enabled Baptist Health to shift from the original implementation plan to a smoother and more successful plan that catered to Baptist Health’s growing needs, including the acquisition of two additional hospitals and a variety of clinics. Through clinical and technical consulting and various discovery workshops, Vital continues to help Baptist Health refine their project deployment schedule and implementation details, as well as work together to create a phased rollout approach.

    This strong partnership has allowed Baptist Health to become self-reliant and self-sufficient with their upcoming deployments. With Vital’s support and knowledge transfer, Baptist Health is now able to launch each new site independently. “We’re working with our customers and giving them the toolkit they need, while surfacing elements of their current environment which they had never had to think about since their previous PACS,” said Carrie Handley, Clinical Applications Consultant for Vital. “Given our experiences with other customers, we were able to evaluate their clinical workflows, engage their working knowledge of their ambulatory applications and expertly integrate with features they previously were not aware of.”

    Data migration
    One of the most critical pieces of the Baptist Health project has been data migration. “With Baptist Health, we were able to level-set and clean their data that had been with another PACS vendor for 10-12 years,” said Handley. “It was important that the data was extracted, cleaned and upheld to a level of integrity that Baptist Health required to remain successful.” It was clear to Vital that data migration was a pivotal point for Baptist Health.

    The decision for Enterprise Imaging
    According to Michael Elley, Chief Information Officer at Baptist Health, the decision to implement Vitrea Enterprise Imaging was based on financial factors and the demand for interoperability. “Our imaging data was siloed in numerous disparate PACS,” he says. “We needed consistent, remote reading capabilities network-wide. We manage nearly 60 imaging sites across the state of Arkansas. And every clinician needs full access to our complete imaging repository.” Elley said the Vital partnership would improve cross-site imaging workflows, eliminate PACS and identify other areas for business improvement through enterprise analytics.

    Enterprise imaging represents a new way of thinking about image management according to Vice President, Chief Strategic Information Officer for Enterprise Applications Larry Sitka from Vital. “In the past, digital imaging decisions were made at the department level,” Sitka explains. “But department-centric solutions don’t typically integrate well. Enterprise imaging is IT-centric, and IT crosses all department boundaries. Vitrea Enterprise Imaging is the universal language for healthcare imaging data for all modalities.”

     About Vital®
    Vital, a Canon Group company, has a legacy of leadership in healthcare imaging using smart algorithms and techniques of innovation spanning 30 years. As the premier provider of an Enterprise Imaging (EI) solution focused on interoperability, Vital transforms and seamlessly connects disparate PACS and other data into an efficient, perceptive and interoperable EI solution. Through modular and scalable enterprise message orchestration, enterprise visualization and enterprise analytics solutions, Vital’s Vitrea® Enterprise Imaging solution makes data accessible across the entire enterprise anytime, anywhere, and in any standardized form. Today, Vital is selectively embedding intelligence and leveraging decades of smart algorithms in advanced visualization, giving clinicians the ability to make real-time precise decision-making for today’s empowered healthcare consumer while delivering an exceptional patient care experience. For more information on how Vital is shaping the future of healthcare technology, visit www.vitalimages.com, or join the conversation on LinkedIn, Twitter or Facebook.

    About Baptist Health
    Baptist Health is an Arkansas-based, locally owned and managed, not-for-profit, and faith-based health care organization. Baptist Health is also Arkansas’ most comprehensive health care organization with more than 200 access points and approximately 11,000 employees operating 11 hospitals. For more information about Baptist Health, visit baptist-health.com or call Baptist Health HealthLine at 1-888-BAPTIST. Find us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.

    For more information contact:
    Jessica Baker
    (952) 487-9713
    [email protected]
    www.vitalimages.com

    Posted 6.12.2019

  • Vocera Announces New Platform Enhancements to Improve Patient, Staff Experience

    Care Experience solution now uses AI to provide valuable sentiment analysis

    SAN JOSE, CA – June 12, 2019 – Vocera Communications, Inc. (NYSE:VCRA), a recognized leader in clinical communication and workflow solutions, today announced that its next generation rounding solution now uses artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning to track satisfaction trends faster and provide sentiment analysis to enable healthcare leaders to quickly understand patient perceptions. Vocera Rounds integrates with a natural language processing service that uses machine learning to identify and analyze key words and phrases.

    Real-time situational awareness about patient satisfaction is presented in a new user interface that features an intuitive dashboard with customized smart filters, diagnosis information, and sentiment emojis. It makes all types of rounding easier and more meaningful with tools to prioritize patient populations.

    “I’m impressed by the time-saving navigation, unique experience management tools, and new design of Vocera Rounds. We will be able to identify potential issues and trends more quickly,” said Sue Murphy, Chief Experience Officer at UChicago Medicine. “The sentiment analysis with both high-level views and drill-down reports will also be valuable for nurse leaders who need a quick look at how things are going so they can address service issues proactively, and those who need a more detailed view to initiate long-term improvement strategies.”

    The customizable user experience of Rounds enables nurse leaders to prioritize rounding based on information about patients’ past experiences, feedback and risk factors. Care teams can customize questions within the rounding tool to gather data about patients’ risk of falling or infection, mental status, skin integrity, and other clinical indicators. Rounds is an award-winning mobile solution used to standardize rounding processes and improve patient, family and staff engagement and experience. More than three million rounds have been conducted across the country in hospitals using the Rounds solution. It is one of four upgraded solutions within Vocera Care Experience, a set of applications designed to engage and educate patients and families from pre-arrival communication to post-discharge follow-up calls.

    Part of the Vocera Platform, the newly designed patient and family communication solution, Care Inform, is now accessible from the Vocera smartphone app. Clinicians using the collaboration app to communicate with care teams can also engage with patients and families by launching Care Inform from the mobile app to record personalized discharge instructions. They can also share a range of educational materials in the form of text messages, videos, and support documents.

    The Vocera Platform unifies different types of communication at critical touch points in a patient’s journey. Clinicians who engage with patients during rounds, hospital discharge or follow-up care calls can easily send patient requests or service recovery notifications to team members using a hands-free Vocera Badge, Smartbadge, or a Vocera app on their smartphones or web console. Care Experience business intelligence, which now includes sentiment analysis, provides multi-dimensional analysis of patient experience across units and different facilities within a health system to identify gaps and improve processes throughout the care continuum.

    “Our Care Experience suite of solutions is integral to the Vocera Platform, helping improve patient communication and education, and ensuring the healthcare experience is as frictionless as possible for patients, families and care teams,” said Brent Lang, president and CEO of Vocera.

    About Vocera

    The mission of Vocera Communications, Inc. is to simplify and improve the lives of healthcare professionals and patients, while enabling hospitals to enhance quality of care and operational efficiency. In 2000, when the company was founded, we began to forever change the way care teams communicate. Today, Vocera offers the leading platform for improving clinical communication and workflow. More than 1,850 facilities worldwide, including nearly 1,600 hospitals and healthcare facilities, have selected our clinical communication and workflow solutions. Care team members use our solutions to communicate and collaborate with co-workers by securely texting or calling, and to be notified of important alerts and alarms. They can choose the right device for their role or task, including smartphones or our hands-free, wearable Vocera Smartbadge and Vocera Badge. Interoperability between the Vocera Platform and more than 140 clinical and operational systems helps reduce alarm fatigue; speed up staff response times; and improve patient care, safety, and experience. In addition to healthcare, Vocera is at home in luxury hotels, aged care facilities, nuclear power facilities, schools, libraries, retail stores, and more. Vocera solutions make a difference in any industry where workers are on the move and need to connect instantly with team members and access resources or information quickly. In 2017, Vocera made the list of Forbes 100 Most Trustworthy Companies in America. Learn more at http://www.vocera.com and follow @VoceraComm on Twitter.

    Vocera® and the Vocera logo are trademarks of Vocera Communications, Inc. registered in the United States and other jurisdictions. All other trademarks appearing in this release are the property of their respective owners.

    Shanna Hearon
    Vocera Communications, Inc.
    669-999-3368
    [email protected]

    Posted 6.12.2019

  • Health Catalyst Launches the Foundational Solution for Population Health

    Population Health Foundations solution unites data- and analytics-first approach and industry-leading expertise for new population health management standard

    SILICON SLOPES, UT – June 12, 2019 – As healthcare costs soar, to help organizations ranging from hospital systems to large employers who are increasingly assuming a greater share of the financial risk for the health of populations, Health Catalyst®, Inc. is launching its Population Health Foundations solution. An important enhancement to the company’s existing population health technology, the solution will deliver the insights and comprehensive cross-continuum views that organizations need to succeed with value-based care.

    Population Health Foundations’ data-and analytics-first approach draws on a wealth of data sources, domain knowledge, and adaptable analytics tools to meet the dual imperatives of high-quality care and cost containment. Built on Health Catalyst’s foundational data and analytics platform, and supported by world class healthcare domain experts, Population Health Foundations helps organizations analyze data from multiple sources to create meaningful, actionable views of financial and clinical performance. Flexible enough to start small and evolve with growing organizations, the solution overcomes the limitations of current “black box” population health applications by revealing the “why” of analytic insights, and addressing multiple problems and use cases.

    “Entering into risk-bearing contracts is challenging with limited visibility into performance,” said Amy Flaster, MD, MBA, Health Catalyst’s senior vice president of population health and care management. “Risk-bearing arrangements require intelligent tools to help identify and stratify patient populations, and financial performance analytics to ensure clinical operations aligned with contract targets. Population Health Foundations delivers these capabilities, in a form designed to grow with organizations as they take on risk, and with a knowledgeable, experienced partner to drive optimization of the technology and greater outcome improvements.”

    Supporting the data-informed healthcare system

    Many healthcare organizations are understandably reluctant to enter into risk-based contracts without a clear understanding of the financial risks and rewards. Population Health Foundations helps by delivering the essential analytic tools and resources required to succeed with value-based risk arrangements: unified claims and clinical data; web-based patient stratification and registry building; quality and financial performance metrics; flexible, transparent tools for ad-hoc analysis; and side-by-side partnership with population health experts.

    As a powerful “starter set” for population health management, Population Health Foundations also gives organizations the ability to integrate and add other Health Catalyst population health tools that support:

    • Contract performance modeling
    • Measures and care gap analysis
    • Care management workflow support
    • Risk adjustment and hierarchal condition category (HCC) coding gap identification
    • Cost accounting and management
    • Care variation analysis
    • Patient safety identification and reporting
    • Web-based patient stratification and registry building with the Population Builder™: Stratification Module

    “Population health work can seem overwhelming and risky, but the transition to value is an imperative,” said Eric Just, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Applications for Health Catalyst. “The challenge of turning raw data into actionable, decision-quality insights can be underestimated.  Population Health Foundations dramatically reduces time to quality insight with data integration and the necessary tools for launching a value-based care initiative. It accelerates the push of insights to the edges of the organization. The incorporated services help launch, and complement population health success for payers, providers, and employers.”

    More information

    For more information on Population Health Foundations, including examples of common problems it solves, visit https://www.healthcatalyst.com/product/population-health-foundations.

    About Health Catalyst

    Health Catalyst is a leading provider of data and analytics technology and services to healthcare organizations, committed to being the catalyst for massive, measurable, data-informed healthcare improvement. Our customers leverage our cloud-based data platform—powered by data from more than 100 million patient records, and encompassing trillions of facts—as well as our analytics software and professional services expertise to make data-informed decisions and realize measurable clinical, financial, and operational improvements. We envision a future in which all healthcare decisions are data informed. Learn more at www.healthcatalyst.com. 

    Media Contact:

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

    Posted 6.12.2019

  • Leading Digital Analytics and Digital Therapeutics Companies Mix Music and Data to Help Survivors of Stroke

    SALT LAKE CITY, UT and PORTLAND, ME – June 11, 2019 – Health Catalyst®, Inc. and MedRhythms, Inc. are teaming up to help the millions of Americans who are survivors of stroke to access a promising new digital therapeutic that uses sensors, music and artificial intelligence to measure and improve walking. The agreement is the first for Health Catalyst’s new life sciences business, which aims to align providers, patients, and life science companies through its physician ecosystem and evidence derived from its partnership with many of the nation’s largest health systems encompassing more than 100 million patient records.

    Each year, more than 795,000 Americans suffer a stroke, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Many are left unable to walk or talk normally and require extensive care and rehabilitation, with total costs estimated at $34 billion a year. While existing therapies for these patients rely mainly on one-on-one physical therapy, MedRhythms has developed a neuroscience-based approach to treatment, employing the principles of rhythmic auditory stimulation (RAS). RAS has been shown in over 50 clinical research studies to improve walking for patients with stroke, traumatic brain injury, multiple sclerosis, cerebral palsy, and Parkinson’s Disease.

    The partnership between Health Catalyst and MedRhythms represents a new dynamic for improving outcomes for patients with neurologic injury or disease. The companies will deploy new methods for pinpointing patients who could benefit from MedRhythms’s digitally-forward therapeutics, accurately measuring their clinical outcomes and enabling MedRhythm’s integration within the provider clinical workflow.

    “One of the biggest challenges facing life science companies is how to integrate their products within the clinical workflow so they are able to improve patient outcomes,” said Elia Stupka, PhD, general manager of Health Catalyst’s life science business. “Health Catalyst will leverage our services and relationships with some of the nation’s largest provider organizations to develop a convenient means of providing MedRhythms’ products and those of life science companies in general within the clinical workflow, in a manner that’s respectful of clinicians’ existing care processes.”

    Under the agreement, Health Catalyst will use real-world data and analytic applications to identify unmet medical needs within the care of neurologic injury and disease. The methodology leverages Health Catalyst’s analytics to uncover variation in outcome metrics and care within healthcare organizations. As best practices for patient care are identified through this process and put into practice by provider organizations, patients are identified as potential beneficiaries of a new medication or digital therapy such as MedRhythms product. By standardizing the way in which both clinical outcomes and cost reductions are measured, a reliable framework can be developed to measure effectiveness and structure outcome-based pricing that can be applied to the digital therapy.

    “This partnership with Health Catalyst is a true milestone in our effort to develop digital therapeutics based on the neuroscience of music,” said Owen McCarthy, President and co-founder of MedRhythms. “We’re confident that the combination of Health Catalyst’s data and analytics expertise, and its nationwide customer base of provider organizations, offer an unprecedented opportunity to achieve MedRhythms’ mission and vision of making a high-quality clinical impact in the lives of millions of people.”

    “This partnership comes at a crucial time in the digital therapeutics industry,” said Carlos Rodarte, senior vice president of strategy and business development for the life sciences at Health Catalyst, and renowned thought leader in digital health. “Several companies in this field have completed or are completing important trials demonstrating the significant clinical impact of true, validated and regulated digital therapeutics, paving the way for an entire new industry in digital health which has disruptive potential globally to deliver rapid, efficient therapies for patients with unmet needs. We are excited to leverage our technological platform, outcome expertise and trusted network of providers to support digital therapeutics companies like MedRhythms.”

    “We believe it’s time for a trusted company with proven expertise to take a different run at building partnerships between providers and life science companies, as a neutral party focused on improved health and wellness for patients,” said Dr. Stupka. “This agreement with MedRhythms aligns perfectly with our mission of serving as a catalyst for massive, sustained improvements in healthcare outcomes.”

    About Health Catalyst

    Health Catalyst is a leading provider of data and analytics technology and services to healthcare organizations, committed to being the catalyst for massive, measurable, data-informed healthcare improvement. Our customers leverage our cloud-based data platform—powered by data from more than 100 million patient records, and encompassing trillions of facts—as well as our analytics software and professional services expertise to make data-informed decisions and realize measurable clinical, financial, and operational improvements. We envision a future in which all healthcare decisions are data informed. Learn more at www.healthcatalyst.com.

    About MedRhythms

    MedRhythms, a privately held company headquartered in Portland, ME, is a digital therapeutics company that uses sensors, music, and AI to build evidence-based, FDA-regulated, neurologic interventions to measure and improve walking. MedRhythms has a pipeline of products across acute and chronic neurology. The first product focuses on the post-stroke population. The MedRhythms team has extensive experience in rehabilitation techniques that use music. The company began as a therapy services company that launched out of Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital, which the US News & World Report named the No. 2 rehabilitation hospital in the country.

    For more information contact:

    Todd Stein
    Amendola Communications
    510.417.0612
    [email protected]

    Posted 6.11.2019
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