Archive
Houston HIE to connect 130 hospitals via ‘network of networks’
See on Scoop.it – Hot Topics in Healthcare Law and Regulation
HOUSTON – Greater Houston Healthconnect announced Thursday that it will partner with Medicity to establish a community-wide health information exchange, connecting more than 130 hospitals and some 14,000 physicians in a 20-county region of Southeast Texas.
See on community.oneclickmed.com
IT could end up being health reform’s highest hurdle | Health …
See on Scoop.it – Hot Topics in Healthcare
If state health care exchanges survive the Supreme Court challenge to health care reform, the election and state tea party activists, health policy experts are worried they could still be brought down by a much more mundane …
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“A growing movement of e-patients”: Hugo Campos on NPR’s Morning Edition & “Shots”
See on Scoop.it – Hot Topics in Healthcare
See on e-patients.net
5 Care Improvements Hospitals Experience With Innovative Technology
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With healthcare costs continually increasing, hospitals can turn to innovative technology to aid care collaboration and coordination across a fragmented healthcare continuum.
See on leomoo.com
Doctors, Patients and Social Media – SocialTimes
See on Scoop.it – Hot Topics in Healthcare
How are Doctors connecting to the social media revolution? There are serious issues with providing any sort of medical advice online.
See on socialtimes.com
HIT, Small Physician Practices, and IPAs
In its June 2011 Research Brief, the National Institute for Health Care Reform reports that “lessons from independent practice associations (IPAs) — net-works of small medical practices — can offer guidance about overcoming barriers to HIT adoption and use” in small physician practices. The study found that IPAs, as local networks of independent physician practices, promoted the development of HIT-knowledgeable physician leaders who were able to gain the trust of their less HIT experienced colleagues in coordinating efforts to deal with risk-based managed care contracts.
The study concludes that “IPA experiences with HIT adoption can offer insights for other entities charged with helping physicians in small practices overcome barriers to HIT adoption and use.”
(The study may also provide critical insights to, and hope in, dealing effectively with the even greater hurdles that physician groups are facing in their coming together to form accountable care organizations, where HIT will be critical to success.)
Are ACOs Destined to Fail?
HealthLeadersMedia published today an article titled “5 Reasons Why ACOs Could Fail.” There is nothing new about these five reasons. They are the ones all of us are aware of that haunt any effort these days to put together an integrated group of healthcare providers. Nevertheless, it is good to be reminded of these issues, because if not confronted and conquered, no group of providers will be anything more than a confederation of solo practitioners.
Here are the five reasons:
1. EHR — Without EHR, there can be no integrated healthcare. Many physician practices still do not have any form of electronic record system. The recent CMS roll out of the EHR incentive program registration may spur some activity.
2. Income Redistribution — ACOs must have a system for distributing the savings that are earned as a result of quality and utilization controls. The problem is that the rewards are based on a paradigm shift from the current system that pays more for doing more.
3. Lack of Patient Incentives — There are no economic reasons for patients to join an ACO or to cooperate in reducing costs relating to their care.
4. Cost Management Confusion — Providers will need assistance from actuarial and insurance consultants in order to set up an ACO.
5. Cost Shifting — The physician practice industry is consolidating through hospital acquisitions and mergers, and this may force increases in private insurance costs through cost shifting.
The above five reasons are from the HealthLeadersMedia article.
Here’s a sixth reason from me:
6. Out of Pocket Costs — Related to some of the reasons listed above is the cost and time to establish a viable ACO. Who will pay or reimburse the costs incurred by physician leaders who see longterm value in setting up an ACO?
Leadership, early planning, and a willingness to invest in the future are needed to overcome these obstacles. Can physicians do this on their own or will they wait for the hospitals and insurance companies to do it for them. If they wait, physicians stand to lose much.
HealthLeadersMedia’s Top 5 Physician Challenges in 2011
HealthLeadersMedia has identified the “Top 5 Physician Challenges in 2011.”
The author of the article, Joe Cantlupe, describes these challenges as “carry-overs, issues that unfolded in 2010, and will continue to be important for physicians in 2011, whether physicians are changing their practices or cutting back on their hours. These are certainly hot-button issues …”
The five challenges are listed below (linked to some additional explanatory material), but read the entire article for the complete discussion.
1. “Doc Fix”
3. Impact of Primary Care Shortages
“Meaningful Use” Checklist for EHR from PhysiciansPractice.com
The website, PhysiciansPractice.com, has published a helpful checklist for “meaningful use” in EHR. The checklist is reprinted below, but the website provides some useful CMS links.
Meaningful Use Checklist
In order to access federal incentive dollars through your EHR, you must prove “meaningful use,” the goal of which is to improve care and outcomes for your patients.
As defined by CMS, to achieve meaningful use you must first meet 15 core objectives plus 5 additional objectives from the menu below:
15 Core Objectives (You must meet all 15)
1. Computerized provider order entry (CPOE)
2. Drug-drug and drug-allergy interaction checks
3. Maintain an up-to-date problem list of current and active diagnoses
4. E-Prescribing (eRx) (CMS does not currently have e-prescribing guidelines available; check their EHR Web site for updates.)
5. Maintain active medication list
6. Maintain active medication allergy list
7. Record demographics
8. Record and chart changes in vital signs
9. Record smoking status for patients 13 years or older
10. Report ambulatory clinical quality measures to CMS/States
11. Implement one clinical decision support rule
12. Provide patients with an electronic copy of their health information, upon request
13. Provide clinical summaries for patients for each office visit
14. Capability to exchange key clinical information among providers of care and patient-authorized entities electronically
15. Protect electronic health information
10 Additional Objectives (You must choose 5)
1. Drug-formulary checks
2. Incorporate clinical lab test results as structured data
3. Generate lists of patients by specific conditions
4. Send reminders to patients per patient preference for preventive/follow up care
5. Provide patients with timely electronic access to their health information
6. Use certified EHR technology to identify patient-specific education resources and provide to patient, if appropriate
7. Medication reconciliation
8. Summary of care record for each transition of care/referrals
9. Capability to submit electronic data to immunization registries/systems (At least 1 public health objective must be selected)
10. Capability to provide electronic syndromic surveillance data to public health agencies (At least 1 public health objective must be selected)
Clinical Quality Measures (You must choose 6)
CMS also requires that you also meet 6 clinical quality measures –
One-Half of the clinical quality measures must be either the CMS core quality measures:
(NQF Measure Number & PQRI Implementation Number / Clinical Quality Measure Title)
* NQF 0013 /Hypertension: Blood Pressure Measurement
* NQF 0028 / Preventive Care and Screening Measure Pair: a) Tobacco Use Assessment; b) Tobacco Cessation Intervention]
* NQF 0421, PQRI 128 / Adult Weight Screening and Follow-up
Or the CMS alternate core measures:
(NQF Measure Number & PQRI Implementation Number / Clinical Quality Measure Title)
* NQF 0024 / Weight Assessment and Counseling for Children and Adolescents
* NQF0041 / PQRI 110
* Preventive Care and Screening: Influenza Immunization for Patients 50 Years Old or Older / NQF 0038
You choose 3 more quality measures from a menu of 38 measures.
For more information on clinical quality measures, go to the following link. In total, to achieve meaningful use, you will need to meet 26 requirements: 18 mandatory objectives and measures and another 8 of your choosing.
You can get more information directly from CMS.
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