• Toronto General Hospital Deploys Vocera Smartbadge to Protect and Connect Care Teams During COVID-19 Patient Surges

    Thursday, July 8, 2021

    SAN JOSE, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)– Vocera Communications, Inc. (NYSE:VCRA), a recognized leader in clinical communication and workflow solutions, today announced Toronto General Hospital (part of the University Health Network) deployed the wearable Vocera Smartbadge across three of its intensive care units (medical-surgical, cardiovascular and coronary) to help improve staff response times during surges of COVID-19 patients. The voice-controlled Smartbadge enables clinicians to communicate and collaborate quickly and efficiently even while wearing personal protective equipment (PPE).

    “In the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, one of the common challenges staff faced was difficulty in hearing each other over PPE, creating potential barriers in patient care and staff safety,” said Linda Flockhart, Clinical Director at the Peter Munk Cardiac Centre and Medical Surgery Intensive Care Unit, University Health Network. “Through an innovative and simple-to-use device, Vocera has brought personal protection and clear communication together.”

    A nurse, doctor, or other care team member wearing a Smartbadge can initiate communication by saying, “OK, Vocera” followed by simple voice commands, like “call anesthesiology” or “call the emergency response team.” Clinicians can connect with the right person or group quickly and safely, saving critical time and resources. By simply saying a name, role or team, healthcare workers can collaborate completely hands-free, even in isolation, while scrubbed in, or wearing surgical gloves.

    “Most of our nursing staff were up and running with the Vocera Smartbadge in a few minutes,” said Dr. Andrew Steel, Attending Physician, Medical-Surgical Intensive Care Unit and Assistant Professor, University of Toronto. “The Smartbadge is very easy to use, and just what we needed at a time when there were a thousand other things to be learned during the growing challenges of the pandemic. There were new protocols, new technologies, new people, and new procedures. It was a relief to have something so intuitive to keep staff connected.”

    Purpose built for healthcare, the Vocera Smartbadge combines hands-free capability with smartphone functionality. The device’s 2.4” touchscreen enables clinicians to receive prioritized clinical events, read notifications with patient context, and send secure text messages, to accelerate care and improve patient safety. Additionally, the Smartbadge has a dedicated, one-touch panic button so healthcare staff can get help quickly in emergency situations.

    “Hands-free communication technology can be a lifeline for frontline healthcare workers who need to reach help fast and access resources without introducing the risk of infection,” said Brent Lang, Chairman and CEO of Vocera. “It is our mission to help protect and connect care team members, so they don’t feel isolated or alone. We are proud to support University Health Network during the coronavirus pandemic and beyond.”

    About University Health Network

    University Health Network consists of Toronto General and Toronto Western Hospitals, the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, Toronto Rehabilitation Institute, and The Michener Institute of Education at UHN. The scope of research and complexity of cases at University Health Network has made it a national and international source for discovery, education and patient care. It has the largest hospital-based research program in Canada, with major research in cardiology, transplantation, neurosciences, oncology, surgical innovation, infectious diseases, genomic medicine and rehabilitation medicine. University Health Network is a research hospital affiliated with the University of Toronto. www.uhn.ca

    About Vocera

    The mission of Vocera Communications, Inc. is to improve the lives of healthcare professionals, patients, and families. Founded in 2000, Vocera provides solutions that help protect and connect team members, simplify workflows, increase efficiency, enhance quality of care and safety, and humanize the healthcare experience. More than 2,300 facilities worldwide, including nearly 1,900 hospitals and healthcare facilities, have selected Vocera solutions to enable their workforce to communicate and collaborate with co-workers and engage with patients and families. Mobile workers can choose the right device for their role or task, including smartphones or one of the company’s wearable communication devices, and use voice commands to easily reach people by name, role, or group. The hands-free Vocera Smartbadge was named to TIME’s list of the 100 Best Inventions of 2020. The Vocera Platform can integrate with more than 150 clinical and operational systems, including electronic health records, nurse call systems, ventilators, physiological monitors, and more. In addition to healthcare, Vocera solutions are found in aged care facilities, veterinary hospitals, schools, luxury hotels, retail stores, power facilities, and more. Visit www.vocera.com to learn more, 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.

    John Elias
    Vocera Communications, Inc
    +1 416-899-4976
    [email protected]

    Posted 7.9.2021

  • Impact Advisors Receives High Overall Score in KLAS Security & Privacy Services 2021 Report

    Firm recognized for value, flexibility and responsiveness

    CHICAGO (July 6, 2021) — Impact Advisors, a leading healthcare consultancy providing strategy, operations, revenue cycle management, and technology services, received a high overall score in the KLAS Security & Privacy Services 2021 Report with a score of 99.1 on a 100-point scale.

    “We are honored to be recognized by KLAS for our security services, as this recognition validates that we are providing high-value solutions for our clients and supporting their mission to provide safe, high-quality care for their patients,” said Mike Garzone, Vice President at Impact Advisors. “Security and privacy continue to be a top priority for healthcare leaders, and we are proud to support our clients in developing proactive strategies to meet their goals.”

    For the report, KLAS spoke with security and IT leaders from 74 healthcare organizations of various sizes to understand what makes a security and privacy consulting firm a true partner, which firms are perceived to have the strong security service offerings that healthcare organizations need, how these perceptions compare to the experiences of actual clients, and how the COVID-19 pandemic has affected healthcare organizations’ security programs.

    In the report, Impact Advisors’ security clients consistently rate the firm extremely high, noting skilled people, on-schedule projects, and positive executive involvement.

    One CIO said, “Our overall experience was great with Impact Advisors. They did a really nice job of not just putting together their research and report but also adding value along the way. I was able to get their perspectives on a number of things that were out of the scope, and the leaders and consultants were more than willing to provide us with information, answer questions, and help with planning and strategizing. Overall, Impact Advisors had a fantastic perspective. They are a very flexible organization. They were able to adjust when we wanted to make a few modifications. They were very responsive.”

    In February, Impact Advisors was named No.1 Best in KLAS for Security and Privacy Consulting Services in the 2021 Best in KLAS: Software and Services Report with a score of 99.1. That recognition made it the 14th consecutive year the firm has been recognized by KLAS with awards in a variety of services.

    Impact Advisors offers proactive and actionable security risk assessment and security risk analysis services. The security risk assessment services identify potential risks and vulnerabilities to the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of electronic protected health information (ePHI) within organizations and complies with all necessary privacy and security safeguards. Security risk analysis services offer clients one “audit-ready” SRA tool to ensure compliance with HIPAA, Meaningful Use/EHR Incentive Program, MACRA/QPP-MIPS Track and General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

     

    About Impact Advisors

    Impact Advisors is a nationally recognized healthcare management consulting and technology services firm that is solving some of the toughest challenges in the industry by delivering strategic advisory, technology implementation and operational improvement services. Our comprehensive suite of strategic planning, digital health, clinical optimization and revenue cycle services spans the lifecycle of our clients’ needs. Our experienced team has a powerful combination of clinical, revenue, operations, consulting and information technology experience. The firm has earned several prestigious industry and workplace awards including Best in KLAS® for 14 consecutive years, Healthcare Informatics HCI 100, Crain’s Chicago Business Fast Fifty, as well as “best place to work” awards from: Modern Healthcare, Consulting Magazine, Becker’s Hospital Review and Achievers. For more information about Impact Advisors, visit www.impact-advisors.com.

     

    Media Contact:

    Karli Smith

    Chartwell Agency

    815-282-9976

    [email protected]

    Posted 7.7.2021

  • Pivot Point Consulting Publishes Q3 Insights and Leading Trends

    Report Details What to Expect in Telehealth, M&A, Data and Analytics, EHR, ERP and More

    NASHVILLE, Tenn., July 1, 2021 /PRNewswire/ — Pivot Point Consulting, 2020 Best in KLAS Overall IT Services Firm and a healthcare IT consulting leader, today released its latest Quarterly Pivot report, showcasing top industry developments impacting providers and health plans in Q3 2021. The report explores major trends across managed services, mergers and acquisitions (M&A), virtual care, data analytics, electronic health records (EHRs) and more.

    “The healthcare industry was preoccupied with the pandemic, a mass vaccination roll-out and getting back to normal operations in the first half of 2021,” said Rachel Marano, Pivot Point Consulting Managing Partner and Co-Founder. “The latter half of 2021 is going to be just as eventful. Our Q3 report offers insights on what’s ahead, including market disruptions, big healthcare deals and changes coming to IT, virtual care, analytics, reporting, the workforce and our industry.”

    The Quarterly Pivot highlights are included below. For the complete Q3 Quarterly Pivot, including additional insights such as industry innovations and important events from Pivot Point Consulting’s subject matter experts, please download the full report here.

    Managed Services:

    Hiring Locally vs. Recruiting Nationally for EHR IT Staff – As we continue adjusting to COVID-19’s long-term impact on how we work, many health systems are experiencing an unexpected crunch in hiring local EHR IT staff due to fully remote positions available across the country. Managed services can act as a mechanism to supplement your existing team and fill in those gaps.

    Managed Reporting Services – Health systems struggle to keep up with the high demand for reporting and analytics, including new reports and dashboards and data visualizations. As demand continues to increase, some are appointing a dedicated team to manage backlogs.

    Managing Upgrade Fatigue – As EHR vendors continue to upgrade their platforms at a rapid pace, hospitals and health systems are looking for new solutions to address “upgrade fatigue” due to the tremendous amount of time and energy involved.

    M&A:

    Deals Heat Up – 2021 will be a busy year for healthcare M&A activity, including for providers, payors and vendors. We already see signs of hospital M&A­ activity—and our work related to M&A strategy and IT integration—take off this year. On the vendor side, it’s full steam ahead with Cigna’s acquisition of MD Live and the Doctors on Demand merger with Grand Rounds.

    Rationalization ROI– Increased M&A activity, combined with a focus on IT value and optimization, is driving CIOs, CFOs and COOs to look strategically at service, application and vendor rationalization. Health systems are proactively building rationalization models into their growth strategy playbooks.

    Virtual Care:

    Funding Future of Telehealth – Medicare Telehealth visits climbed from 325,000 services in mid-March 2020 to 1.9 million in April. Telehealth visits have decreased significantly since then, but the rate of decline has slowed in the past few months. While several pieces of legislation are in the works, there are big unknowns about continued access and funding for telehealth services.

    Pub Health Infrastructure Funding– In this blog post, we cover the influx of funding for public health infrastructure, including Health IT, stemming from the CARES Act and the American Rescue Plan, as signed into law in late March. 

    Amazon & Walmart steamrolling Into Healthcare – Amazon and Walmart are ramping up to drive extraordinary change. Amazon is expanding its app-based primary and urgent care services nationwide. Similarly, Walmart is investing heavily in its healthcare capabilities and supporting technology. In addition to increasing its in-store clinics footprint, Walmart purchased telehealth vendor MeMD in early 2021.

    Data Analytics:

    New Players and Partnerships– As noted above, new players are aggressively entering healthcare. Google seeks to partner with payors and large provider organizations that will use its technology, Care Studio, to better assess and display clinical data. In addition to primary and urgent care services, Amazon is focused on the supply chain and is looking to disrupt the retail pharmacy space with businesses like PillPack.

    Robotic Process Automation – Many organizations are looking to drive additional efficiencies and cost savings. Typically, these are identified by data analytics, and then improved/automated via tools such as robotic process automation.

    Data Analytics as a Service – As data requirements expand and become more complex, many organizations are partnering with Pivot Point to provide expertise not only on the EMR reporting platforms such as Epic’s Cogito Suite, but also with aligned tools such as Microsoft PowerBI, Tableau, and Qlik.

    Analytics Strategy – Data analytics is making the transition into a mission-critical, core strategic platform for health systems.  As such, organizations are looking to maximize the value and utility of their data across their healthcare enterprise.

    EHR:

    Apple Driving Record Sharing– In June, multiple EHR companies announced significant record-sharing initiatives with Apple. Cerner, Meditech, Allscripts and athenahealth have all signed on to share data with Apple’s Health app.

    The Drive for Data– Google and HCA Healthcare announced an agreement in which Google will develop health-focused algorithms for the hospital chain’s 2,000 hospitals and 32 million annual patient visits.

    ERP:

    Integration Is Key– Many healthcare organizations across the country continue to invest heavily in cloud-based ERP (Business Systems) solutions with an eye on integration. With so many patched together systems, investment in software as a service (SaaS) continues to see rapid growth.

    Strategic Plans and a Good Roadmap– Many clients have the best success when they approach ERP system upgrades and business systems consolidation the same way clinical systems have traditionally been mapped out and planned.  A good strategic plan and roadmap to success over a five-year period is a great way to demonstrate a vision and how it can become a reality. 

    RCM:

    Price Transparency– CMS has started issuing its first round of warning letters to hospitals not in compliance with the hospital price disclosure rule, which took effect as of January 2021 based on recent audit findings. The price transparency rule indicates that if a hospital is noncompliant, the agency may request a corrective action plan, assess a civil monetary penalty of up to $300 per day or publicize the penalty on a CMS website.

    AAPC New Coding Sets Released for FY 2022 ICD-10-PCS Code Files – The FY 2022 ICD-10-PCS code files containing information on the ICD-10-PCS updates for FY 2022, are available via CMS. These FY 2022 ICD-10-PCS codes are to be used for discharges from October 1, 2021, through September 30, 2022, and for patient encounters occurring from October 1, 2021, through September 30, 2022.

    “It’s exciting to see providers and health plans start to put the pandemic in the rearview mirror and move forward with strategic plans,” said Marano. “These next six months will be about strengthening the new workforce, developing a solid virtual care strategy and optimizing IT and analytics to drive additional efficiencies and cost savings. As always, Pivot Point Consulting is available to help navigate these changes and will continue to stay ahead of key industry happenings.”

     

    About Pivot Point Consulting

    Pivot Point Consulting enables healthcare organizations to realize the most value from their technology through our Advisory, Enterprise Application Support, EHR, ERP, Data Analytics and Revenue Cycle Management services. Our experts deliver consulting, managed services and talent solutions to providers, payers and life sciences organizations. Pivot Point Consulting has earned multiple industry and workplace quality awards, including Best in KLAS: Overall IT Services Firm (2020), Top Three Best in KLAS for HIT Implementation and Support (2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019), Highest Rated Vendor in KLAS Implementation Services in the Select Category (2017), #1 in KLAS for Epic Consulting in the Select Category (2016), #9 in Modern Healthcare’s Best Places to Work (2016).

    Practices: Epic®, Community Connect®, Cerner®, Siemens®, Allscripts®, MEDITECH®, McKesson®, Centricity®, eClinicalWorks®, NextGen® CPSI®, MEDHOST®, athenahealth®, Greenway®, Workday®, Lawson/Infor®, Peoplesoft®, SAP®, Kronos® and Facets®.

    For more information, visit us at pivotpointconsulting.com. Follow us on LinkedIn.

    SOURCE Pivot Point Consulting

    Related Links

    https://pivotpointconsulting.com

    Posted 7.2.2021

  • Innovaccer Recognized as an Industry Leader with Top Score in KLAS Population Health Vendor Overview 2021 Report

    KLAS named the healthcare cloud company a leading vendor of population health management solutions with high customer satisfaction and a wide variety of offerings.

    SAN FRANCISCO, CA, July XX, 2021 — Innovaccer Inc., a leading San Francisco-based healthcare technology company, was recognized in the KLAS report, “Population Health Vendor Overview 2021.” Innovaccer stood out in customer interviews for its “customer experience, market energy, and breadth of PHM capabilities,” solidifying its status as a leader in today’s competitive PHM market.

    The KLAS Population Health Vendor Overview Report is one of the most esteemed reports of healthcare technologies, services, and trends. The ratings are determined by provider experiences with a combination of in-depth research and real-world customer interactions. The comprehensive survey includes top executives and healthcare leaders who are creating population health management strategies at the most prominent healthcare organizations in the U.S.

    Innovaccer’s Collaborative Development Drives Deep Partnership with Customers

    Innovaccer’s customers include some of the country’s largest healthcare organizations and champions of value-based care. When surveyed, these customers were confident Innovaccer’s technologies, such as custom-built dashboards and risk models, could meet their organization’s needs.

    According to the report, “customer success with PHM often hinges on ongoing optimization from their technology vendors. Some vendors do this well, while others take a more hands-off approach, providing the technology but not much guidance [sic].” It also noted how Innovaccer fosters true, supportive partnerships with its customers.

    Kanav Hasija, Co-founder and Chief Customer Officer at Innovaccer, explained, “We are a customer- and learning-obsessed organization, working hand-in-hand with our clients to help them connect and curate healthcare information to make it accessible and useful. We’re making things easier for our customers every time we update our products, and we’re thankful for our clients’ unwavering support and faith in us.”

    “Organizations that choose or consider Innovaccer highlight the platform’s customizability, workflows, and risk algorithms and feel confident in Innovaccer’s ability to provide good relationships and support,” the report quotes.

    Innovaccer Seeing the Most Energy with Highly Customizable Platforms

    “Healthcare organizations require highly flexible, configurable, and dynamic technology suites so they can quickly respond to sudden and unforeseen changes,” said Sandeep Gupta, Co-founder and Chief Operating Officer at Innovaccer. “The Innovaccer Health Cloud is designed to grow with healthcare organizations and provide unparalleled scalability across the care continuum. We offer tailored dashboards, tools that enhance patient-physician engagement, and out-of-the-box functionality to meet the data needs of our customers.”

    As per the report, Innovaccer is amongst “the most considered and most chosen PHM platforms, with organizations citing the platforms’ flexible customization, broad functionality, and focus on data.” Customers also valued the supportive relationship that Innovaccer forms with its partners.

    “The future of healthcare is personalized, digital, and collaborative, and organizations need powerful technology to meet operational goals,” said Abhinav Shashank, Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer at Innovaccer. “With the Innovaccer Health Cloud, we’re improving care experiences and uniting providers and patients. We’d like to thank our customers for helping us earn this KLAS recognition, which is a testament to our impact on the industry.”

     

    About Innovaccer

    Innovaccer Inc. is a leading San Francisco-based healthcare technology company committed to helping healthcare care as one. The Innovaccer Health Cloud unifies patient data across systems and settings and empowers healthcare organizations to rapidly develop scalable, modern applications that improve clinical, operational, and financial outcomes. Innovaccer’s solutions have been deployed across more than 1,000 care settings in the U.S., enabling more than 37,000 providers to transform care delivery and work collaboratively with payers and life sciences companies. Innovaccer has helped organizations integrate medical records for more than 24 million people and generate more than $600 million in savings. Innovaccer is recognized as a Best in KLAS vendor for 2021 in population health management and a No. 1 customer-rated vendor by Black Book.

    For more information, please visit innovaccer.com.

     

    Press Contact

    Sachin Saxena

    Innovaccer Inc

    415-504-3851

    Posted 7.1.2021
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