Healthcare faces daunting challenges and uncertainty as we look to the future. But we know one thing to be true: passionate advocates across the industry are working each day to improve the delivery of patient care.
Provider burnout, staffing shortages, inflation and economic uncertainty will force a shift in how care is provided. As a result, in 2023 we will see patient care teams evolve dramatically.
When I began my career as a community pharmacist 30 years ago, the telephone was the pinnacle of technology supporting how we filled prescriptions. Since then, electronic prescribing has helped prescribers and pharmacists step away from the phone and in 2021, Surescripts processed more than 2 billion prescriptions electronically.
This technology puts patient intelligence at prescribers and pharmacists’ fingertips, helping make better informed care decisions alongside their patients while eliminating time-consuming manual processes.
Despite these innovations, the COVID-19 pandemic uncovered gaps that remain in pharmacist and prescriber workflows, including burdensome administrative tasks that we know are contributing to concerning levels of provider burnout and driving costs sky-high.
Our responsibility is to make sure the health technology that exists today is effective in eliminating inefficiencies that contribute to burnout and is focused on supporting evolving patient care teams.
The cost of healthcare disparities has been long and deeply felt by patients and their families, but it wasn’t until the high rates of COVID-19-related hospitalizations and deaths among persons of color made headline news that the broader societal impacts of health disparities became more widely known. In response, health systems are prioritizing health equity and leveraging new tools and data to support their work.
At a physiological level, the presence of underlying chronic disease increases the risk presented by COVID-19. The incidence of chronic disease(s) is increasing among all Americans, but the prevalence is much higher among the poor, which includes a higher percentage of individuals of color compared to the overall White population.[1] Health inequities among communities of color are further exacerbated by structural and institutional racism, which experts say “harms health” because of negative factors in their physical, social, and economic environments and a propensity to develop maladaptive coping behaviors (e.g., smoking, alcohol, etc.)[2].
A Community-Level Issue
Increasing rates of chronic disease create a self-reinforcing cycle that threatens the well-being of entire communities (and the health systems that serve them). Individuals suffering from chronic disease have higher rates of absenteeism,[3] which limits their wealth building potential, the productivity of their employers and the tax base of their communities. This, in turn, increases poverty and the impact of the social determinants of health (SDOH) that contribute to higher rates of chronic disease. The combination of chronic disease (as an inflammatory condition) and the psychological stress of racism have been shown to cause physiological changes that raise the risk of contracting additional chronic diseases.[4]
Hospital performance is also tied to economic well-being. Research documents a correlation between the quantity and quality of local economic resources and the clinical performance of hospitals, which under value-based payment models, can also impact financial performance.[5] With chronic disease responsible for nearly 90% of national health expenditures,[6] it’s continued rise threatens our national economy and the ability to fund needed healthcare for the poor and aging. In other words, this is not just a social issue; it is an economic imperative. A 2021 Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) study found that 58% of healthcare executives ranked health equity as one of their organization’s top three priorities, up from 25% in 2019.
The EHR Association is a trade association of 30 companies that serve most of the nation’s hospitals and ambulatory care organizations using electronic health records (EHRs) and other health information and technology to deliver high-quality, efficient care to their patients.
David Bucciferro, Senior Advisor at Foothold Technology-Radicle Health, was elected Chair of the Executive Committee, which establishes the Association’s guiding principles and develops and implements strategic plans. William Hayes, MD, Chief Medical Officer at CPSI, was elected Vice Chair.
Newly appointed members of the Executive Committee include Leigh Burchell, Vice President of Government Affairs and Public Policy at Altera Digital Health, who previously served from 2011-2017, and Kayla Thomas, Senior Regulatory Strategist with Oracle Cerner. Continuing members are:
Pamela Chapman, Director of Solutions Management at Experity
Barbara Hobbs, Senior Government Affairs Manager at MEDITECH
Cherie Holmes-Henry, Vice President, Government and Industry Affairs at Nextgen Healthcare
Stephanie Jamison, Director of Regulatory Affairs at Greenway Health
Serving as ex-officio members of the Executive Committee are Past Chairs Hans Buitendijk, Director of Interoperability Strategy with Oracle Cerner, and Sasha TerMaat, Director at Epic.
The EHR Association is committed to working toward a healthcare ecosystem that leverages the capabilities of EHR and other health IT to efficiently deliver higher-quality care to patients in a productive and sustainable way. This commitment can be seen through the work underway within its issue-specific workgroups and task forces, which evolve in tandem with the critical issues impacting healthcare. This is reflected in the recent establishment of the Social Determinants of Health (SDOH) Workgroup, and the elevation of Information Blocking and Public Health from time-limited task forces to permanent workgroups.
“As the healthcare landscape continues to evolve, we remain focused on advancing interoperability and using our collective voice to educate policymakers as to how EHRs and other health IT can best be leveraged to ensure health data is used to improve the patient experience, ease provider burden, achieve health equity, and reduce inefficiency within the healthcare system,” said Bucciferro.
For example, the EHR Association continues to collaborate closely with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC), and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of the Inspector General (OIG) on issues related to policy and regulatory compliance. It has also joined with other professional organizations, including AHIMA and AMIA, to work toward consensus on issues related to information sharing and electronic health information (EHI).
“In addition to our ongoing collaborations with key agencies, including CMS and ONC, and other stakeholders on efforts to make progress toward shared goals, the Association will continue providing proactive perspectives and guidance to the industry and using our members’ expertise to raise critical questions on issues that are important to our health IT community and the healthcare providers we support,” said Hayes.
By Teri Gatchel-Schmidt, vice president, consulting and business development, SYNERGEN Health.
Almost a quarter of U.S. national health expenditures go toward administrative costs. In revenue cycle, rising costs continue to escalate which negatively impacts the bottom line. There is a silver lining in all of this; as a potential recession looms, these costs can be reduced with automation.
By simplifying daily routine tasks with automated tools like robotic process automation (RPA) and machine learning (ML), nationwide spend could be reduced from 25% of the national healthcare expenditure to 18%.
Automation: The key to improving efficiency
As it stands, manual revenue cycle processes burdens staff with repetitive, mundane tasks, causing staff burnout. Additionally, the reimbursement landscape evolves in complexity year after year. Staffing issues also continue to plague health systems, leaving chief financial officers playing defense, with high turnover rates causing a decrease in productivity and an increase in aged receivables.
When it comes down to it, organizations must either add more resources to support the manual way of working – which can prove to be costly and inefficient – or invest in automation. Simply put, revenue cycle is ripe for automation which results in reducing cost-to-collect and creating large-scale cost savings throughout the revenue cycle. When pairing automated technology with best practices to empower operational teams, revenue cycle leaders will streamline workflows to reduce manual work and increase efficiency, all while boosting revenue.
Denial Avoidance
Many providers are not fully aware of just how deeply denied claims can affect their bottom line. According to HFMA, providers lose nearly $5 million on average per year due to claim denials.
With ever-changing reimbursement and collection requirements, providers and their staff need tools to analyze and prevent denials to reduce the workload required to avoid an increase in denials.Instead of assigning denial management and appeals to staff members, providers should look to automation as a champion for claims and denials management.
I’m a grown man who’s afraid of needles. Yes, that’s an inconvenient fear in the time of vaccines and booster shots. This irrational dread plagued me when I scheduled my Covid vaccine. I hoped to at least book an appointment at a pleasant urgent-care clinic that would soothe my nerves. Or perhaps a modern retail pharmacy that offered easy online scheduling.
But the only appointment I could get was at NYC Health+Hospital’s Coney Island Hospital in New York.
I didn’t expect much. It’s public health, after all. So, when I walked into the hospital, anticipating dingy hallways staffed by soulless zombies, I was shocked to be greeted by friendly and helpful staff who admitted me—right on time—to a modern and clean facility. The nurse administering my vaccine couldn’t have been more supportive.
I walked away a changed man—slightly less afraid of needles, and with a different perspective on public health. Somehow, the largest public health provider in the country managed to capture my initial visit and create a customer for life. How? This public health organization had started viewing patients as consumers, much like its private, national counterparts.
It made me think: If NYC Health+Hospitals can do it, surely more public health providers can make their patient experience positively pleasant, just like large, well-funded private systems have been doing for a while.
The key: treating patients as consumers who have a choice in where they receive their care.
COVID has certainly turned patients into savvy telehealth consumers.
The mantra of the American consumer has always been, “I know what I want, and I want it now.” We apply this to everything from clothes to cars to computers. But healthcare, especially virtual care? Not so much. Prior to Covid-19, however, most consumers didn’t even know immediate, remote access to healthcare was an option. They simply accepted clunky EHR portals, long wait times and in-person visits where virtual would suffice.
Visit rehabilitation centers right across the world and there’s a growing problem – fentanyl addiction.
Over the past few years there have been hundreds of reports in the news around overdoses and problems with addiction, and it doesn’t appear to be getting any better, as in the western world, more and more people are checking into rehab, with drug and alcohol treatment centres noting that it is especially among young people.
That’s a similar story in the US, where fentanyl addiction is at crisis levels, with a recent report revealing there have been more than a staggering 100,000 incidents of Americans dying of drug overdoses last year, with the rate of teens having never been higher.
Many families have been left torn through by the substance, which is often laced in other counterfeit pills often used as medication, particularly in more deprived areas of the country.
One of the main problems the US government is facing is policing its arrival in the country. It’s being shipped in illegally to the country on an epic scale, with a large amount being smuggled in by Mexican drug cartels.
This has been especially worrying in more recent times as a new form of rainbow fentanyl, rainbow coloured to appeal to a younger audience, is now starting to appear. In New York recently, 15,000 rainbow fentanyl pills were seized, having been hidden in a Lego toy box.
In the healthcare industry, marketing is an essential component of success. It is important for healthcare organizations to market their product and services in order to reach their target audience.
The importance of marketing in the healthcare industry cannot be overstated. Marketing is an essential component of success for healthcare organizations. In order to reach their target audience, they need a strong marketing strategy in place that includes a variety of marketing methods and channels, including print ads, digital ads, TV ads, social media campaigns, and more. But this only sometimes works. You need to work smarter and not harder in order to get successful in selling your healthcare products.
1. Use persuasive words and images to draw attention
We have all seen the power of persuasive words and images when it comes to marketing. A picture can be worth 1000 words, but it can also be worth a lot more. The right word or phrase in the right place can make the difference between a customer not buying your product and them purchasing it.
Marketers use persuasive words and images to draw attention to their products, services, or brand. They want people to notice their products at the store or on social media so they will buy them. Marketers use visual language because it grabs people’s attention more than text alone does. This is why you need to market your healthcare products in such a way that people absolutely need to buy them.
The most potent persuasive words are those that are emotional in nature – such as “love.” Marketers know that if they evoke an emotional response from potential customers, they will be much more likely to buy their product.
By Chris Evanguelidi, director, enterprise healthcare Market, Redpoint Global
The growing healthcare consumerism trend has empowered millions of patients and healthcare consumers to take more control over their individual healthcare journeys, in and out of the doctor’s office. Healthcare is no longer viewed as strictly a relationship between a patient and a doctor, but as a collection of disparate experiences all geared toward improving outcomes.
Wearables, telehealth, patient portals and other digital-first touchpoints all contribute to an expectation among patients for a consistent experience centered around their ongoing care and well-being. To meet the expectation for a personalized experience, healthcare providers are prioritizing the development of an understanding of their patients outside of a clinical setting.
A recent Dynata survey, conducted in collaboration with Redpoint Global, explored consumer perceptions about their healthcare experiences. The research revealed that more than half of consumers surveyed (57%) said that how well a healthcare provider understands them as a patient and creates a personalized experience was one of the most important considerations when choosing a healthcare provider. In addition, poor patient experience and a lack of personalization and patient understanding was cited by survey respondents as the top reasons patients consider switching healthcare providers (as well as healthcare plans).
Engage with Consistent Relevance
What does it mean, though, to develop a personal understanding of a patient? An electronic health record (EHR) – a modern version of the traditional chart – often lacks important data that reveals a contextual understanding of what makes a patient unique. And by having this data, providers are then able to engage a patient with a relevant experience across the healthcare journey. Data such as social determinants of health (SDOH), medication adherence, risk tolerance, diet and exercise programs and data from wearables are important attributes that reveal patient behaviors and preferences that form a personal understanding.
Possessing this detailed knowledge of behaviors and preferences also aligns with the value-based care approach to healthcare. In parallel with the rise in healthcare consumerism, a value-based care model that ties financial compensation to improved outcomes makes it even more important for providers to compile a single patient view.
One key challenge for providers in compiling a single patient view that is then used to deliver a personalized omnichannel experience is siloed data and processes. A single provider network or healthcare organization, for example, often has multiple EHRs that don’t share data. In addition, because PII data and PHI data also typically live in separate systems, it is extremely difficult for healthcare organizations to deliver hyper-relevant communications.
Consider, for example, a marketing organization tasked with closing care gaps and segmenting out only basic patient data – name, age, address, etc. They might send an email to men over 50 urging them to schedule a preventive screening. With a single patient view, however, the same marketing team might improve outcomes considerably by matching the recipient to a preferred provider, recommending optimal times, offering transportation options to someone without access to transportation or leveraging other social determinants. By delivering the right message at the right time and on the right channel, the preferred outcome – a scheduled appointment/closed care gap – has a higher chance of success.
Close the Experience Gap
By knowing all that is knowable about a patient through a single patient view, an organization can leverage advanced segmentation rules based on everything that makes a patient unique – current health condition, social determinants of health, etc. – to allow for efficient and effective personalized messages and communications to key segments, returning the most value for a provider group or health plan. Particularly in a VBC healthcare model, there is a direct revenue link between hyper-personalized content through advanced segmentation and improving health outcomes.
The Dynata survey shows a pronounced gap between the type of experience healthcare consumers expect to receive from their provider and the experience delivered. More than 90 percent of patients said that it is either “important” or “very important” to receive relevant communications from their provider and healthcare plan that accurately reflect an understanding of their healthcare journey, yet just 50% say they are very satisfied with the relevance of the communication they receive.
A single view of the patient is the key to closing the experience gap, finally delivering patients and healthcare consumers the personalized omnichannel experiences that improve outcomes and lead to happier, healthier patients.
The 
Visit rehabilitation centers right across the world and there’s a growing problem – fentanyl addiction.
