You are currently browsing the tag archive for the ‘Meaningful Use’ tag.
This week, Bill Miller – OptumInsight EVP responsible for provider strategy and solutions – explains why Sustainable Health Communities are both possible and probable in the years ahead as guest blogger for Healthcare-Exchange.
The buzzword du jour in healthcare is “Accountable Care Organizations”, or ACOs. The cynics among us might ask “Weren’t we calling these ‘medical homes’ just a few short months ago?” Those with long memories in addition to that dose of cynicism hark back twenty years and say these are just capitated HMOs.
The term is hardly what’s most important as the healthcare system evolves in response to healthcare reform, ARRA meaningful use, spending cuts, increasing regulation and a myriad of other influences, many of which are beyond the control of the hospital community. What matters is the outcome, the building and operation of what we at Ingenix refer to as Sustainable Health Communities.
Coming off of a pivotal year in healthcare and gearing up for an exciting 2011 – with HIMSS around the corner – meaningful use continues to be on the tip of everyone’s tongue. Whether it’s vendors achieving certification or hospitals striving to get there, these two words have secured their place in the world of healthcare IT.
Hospitals continue to evaluate where they stand when it comes to meeting meaningful use regulations today and in the long-term, and are faced with some tough decisions about the right systems to implement and, in many cases, replace. Hear what execs and clinicians from a few key hospitals, including Exempla St. Joseph Hospital and Alegent Health System, have to say when facing the meaningful use challenge:
For 2011, we hope you meet a resolution of preparing your hospital with the technology that is the best fit for it and its patients. It is bound to be another exciting year in healthcare so stay tuned!
- Dr. Mark Crockett
This week we’re excited to introduce Sharon Giarrizzo-Wilson MS RN, CNOR, Informatics Nurse Specialist with the Association of periOperative Registered Nurses (AORN) as our guest blogger.
Not since Florence Nightingale has nursing been viewed as a key agent in changing the delivery of healthcare. The landmark report recently released by the Institute of Medicine (IOM), in collaboration with the Robert Woods Johnson Foundation (RWJF), The Future of Nursing: Leading Change, Advancing Health, urges strategic nursing opportunities to transform the healthcare in the United States. The report from this joint partnership made several recommendations based on the challenges the nursing workforce faces as contributors in national healthcare reform and public health access. The collective recommendations call for a stronger nursing voice in redesigning the healthcare system.
It’s not news to most that with increasing regulations, an aging population, rising healthcare costs and dwindling numbers of nurses and certain medical specialists, U.S. hospitals are finding themselves scrambling to do more with less. Most hospitals today are focused on trying to meet Meaningful Use requirements, to avoid penalties and secure financial incentives. But many are missing the bigger, longer term picture of this country’s financial situation: how half a trillion (or more) in Medicare cuts over the next 10 years will impact the industry.
I don’t know about you, but I was thrilled to hear about today’s launch of MEDS-ED Link, a project of the Northern Virginia Regional Health Information Organization (NoVaRHIO) in conjunction with Inova Health System and GE Healthcare.
In a move that caught many by surprise, the recently-installed coalition government of Britain has proposed a radical reorganization of the National Health Service (NHS). The goals of the reorganization are to decentralize the control of the NHS budget, dismantle layers of bureaucracy, empower patients, and realize some £20 billion in savings through increased efficiency. All of this is set against a backdrop that calls for doing more with less – improving outcomes, ensuring high quality care and patient safety and giving providers and hospitals more autonomy while requiring more accountability. The UK, like much of Europe, is looking at ways to restructure budgets and social programs, in an attempt to reduce deficit spending and overall debt. And while the original goals of healthcare reform in the US included cost control, we on this side of the Atlantic did not take the courageous steps necessary to “bend the curve” on health care costs.
As an insider in healthcare for more than 20 years, today is an exciting day for me. Picis, the company I co-founded with Liz Popovich and helped grow into an international software company with 700 employees, is being acquired by Ingenix, a leading HIT, consulting and services company with nearly 6,000 hospital clients around the world.
This is a classic “win-win-win” situation that will benefit us, Ingenix, and all our customers and prospects. With all that is going on in healthcare industry today, I can tell you from the heart that the timing was perfect for this transaction, and this is truly the best possible home for Picis in which to grow and prosper.
Health care leaders and policy makers should be commended for making several smart moves in this week’s delivery of the final rule for the meaningful use (MU) criteria, but one of the most critical is the committee’s decision to include the emergency department (ED) as a viable place of service.
For the past several months, several of my colleagues and I have been part of the ongoing effort, working directly with legislators and other industry leaders to ensure that the ED “gets its due” in the MU final rule. One of the most cost and care intensive areas of every health system, but neglected in the initial rounds of MU criteria, the ED is where the flow of patient care most often begins and consistently feeds patients throughout the rest of the hospital – and I’m thrilled that policy makers have now shown that they agree.
Meaningful use was a major focus of many presentations at the recent Picis Exchange User Conference in Miami, but it was the representation from hospitals in Europe (including World Cup finalists Spain and the Netherlands!) and the UK, that sparked some of the most interesting discussions. It made me realize that European hospitals have been working to achieve many of the same “meaningful use” criteria that have become such a huge focus here in the U.S. – but that they have been doing it for much longer than ARRA HITECH has been around. From coordination of care to improving quality measures, Europeans have been in the “meaningful mindset” for a long time.
As hospitals and care centers across the nation are preparing to meet meaningful use guidelines, we wanted to post something from the lighter side of the meaningful use debate.
Straight out of Picis Exchange, we bring you a comical and Letterman-esque list of the top 10 signs that you might not yet be ready to qualify for meaningful use.
Top 10 Signs You Might Not Qualify for Meaningful Use
10. Your patient tracking system uses a lot of chalk.
9. The only device the software can interface with is the printer.
8. The surgery scheduling system is a woman named Delores.
7. Preference cards recently upgraded from 3×5 to 5×8 index cards.
6. The name of the software is called LunchBreak Manager.
5. Everything is free text.
4. Priceline.com-inspired software lets the patient name their own price.
3. Your EDIS comes with a ticket dispenser and a “please take a number” sign.
2. Your patient medical records are stored on vinyl.
1. You have a problem with commitment, and “meaningful” sounds scary.
