Dr. Sol Lizerbram has been co-founder and chairman of the board of HealthFusion since its inception in 1998. HealthFusion develops web-based, cloud computing software for physicians, hospitals and medical billing services. HealthFusion’s fully integrated solution includes MediTouch EHR and MediTouch PM. Dr. Lizerbram was a co-founder of a national physician practice management company, and served as chairman of its board of Directors from 1986 through July 1998. Dr. Lizerbram has been in the healthcare industry for more than 35 years, received a degree in pharmacy in 1970 from Long Island University, School of Pharmacy, and was licensed as a registered pharmacist in the states of New York and Pennsylvania. He obtained a medical degree from the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine in 1977.
He is board certified in family practice and is licensed as an osteopathic physician and surgeon in the states of Pennsylvania and California. Dr. Lizerbram was recognized by NASDAQ/Ernst & Young as the 1996 Entrepreneur of the Year in the healthcare industry. He was a trustee of the US Olympic Committee and is active as a committee member in the Jewish National Fund. Dr. Lizerbram was appointed by the California Insurance Commissioner to the Governing Committee of the Workers’ Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau, and appointed by the California Governor as a Commissioner to the Health Policy and Data Advisory Commission.
Here, he discusses HealthFusion, the technology he helps develop and how it’s being used by physicians, the future of health IT, interoperability and the rise of consumerism and the cloud, the survival of EHR companies.
Tell me more about yourself and your background. Why healthcare?
I was a pharmacist prior to attending medical school in Philadelphia. After completion of my medical training I moved to San Diego, where I practiced as a board certified family physician. After several years in practice, I was appointed as the medical director of Prudential PruCare in San Diego. Soon after, I began to see the need for software that would assist doctors in improving the health of our population.
In 1998 I helped to found HealthFusion with Dr. Seth Flam, our CEO and a fellow family physician, to make the practice of medicine simpler for physicians and their staff by finding novel methods of utilizing the Internet.
Our job is to create the software tools used by physicians to further the health of their patients. We are honored that each day thousands of providers use our healthcare software to help make someone’s life a little better.
I come from a family with a strong healthcare orientation; my brother and six cousins are all physicians. As a result, I had an interest in helping people with their healthcare needs and found it very interesting.
What do you see as the sector’s biggest issues and, technologically, how can we solve them?
One of the biggest issues in healthcare right now is interoperability, the ability to seamlessly exchange patient data between physicians, hospitals, diagnostics centers, etc. This communication has been a challenge in healthcare because it needs to be accomplished between disparate systems, but it’s vital to garnering full value from digital healthcare information for patients, and for improving population health.
I’m glad to say that we are already accomplishing this with HealthFusion’s MediTouch; as an example, we provide data exchange successfully between Miami Children’s Hospital systems and MediTouch in the community doctors’ offices.
Every successful business seeks ways to grow, expand and thrive, even though they might have to lean on the guidance and counsel of others who have been their and beat down the path of least resistance. Medical practices, especially small ones, are often on their own, and as they strive to see patients and provide quality care, gain a solid and good reputation in their communities and build their brands – often through word of mouth — there usually is little time for some of important business building tasks like marketing their practices.
As a small business owner, I’m in the same boat. I focus on serving clients, producing results and trying to satisfy their needs. Even though I know I should spend at least 25 percent of my time building the business and creating a stronger sales funnel, I often don’t even know where to start.
Additionally, as someone who covers healthcare and speaks to a lot of primary physicians and caregivers, marketing their practices is not a priority given the responsibilities they have in other areas of their practices. In an effort to help cut through some of the clutter, I recently asked a few experts for some tips, or marketing hacks, for practice leaders to market their services. Their responses follow:
Develop a focused message — Focus on first positioning the practice to ensure a consistent, effective message across all materials. Physicians like a clear message and so do patients, yet this apparently simple starting point is most often missed by marketing novices and experts alike. To effectively craft the message requires knowledge and research of the competitive landscape. List the stand out features of your practice and compare them to the rest – be analytical, everyone thinks theirs is the best; prove or explain why.
Map those attributes important to the patient/referral community (not to you). Discard those that fail this test and confirm those that remain with your “customers” to ensure accuracy. This can be done through a short survey during paperwork.
Develop and standardize content that positions you as a resource of trust. Calls to action are fine, but customers want to know “why you”. When your message is clear, outreach is more effective with prospective customers.
Positioned and focused content separate you in the market, differentiating you from the rest. This helps craft a unique and compelling message targeted to people who need your resources.
Create a top-notch website — In the age of digital media, a website can go a long way in setting the stage for your practice. It serves as the one-stop shop for all your services; it’s the resource center for both your patients and staff. A current mobile optimized website with simple navigation, will allow your patients to easily view your offerings and set the tone for your practice.
Use patient testimonials — If you have loyal patients who recommend you to every family member and friend, use them! Ask if they might be willing to write a review or allow you to quote them on your website or a brochure. You may also want to consider claiming your profile on Yelp! and updating it with your practice information.
Host an open house — Invite your staff, referral coordinators, colleagues, current and prospective patients, and even the local media to an open house at your practice. Offer prizes or a raffle to incentivize people to bring their friends. It’s a great chance to let people know you who you are and what your practice has to offer.
Try referral gifts — Offer loyal patients a gift for referring a patient to you. It’s a nice way to say thank you, as well as remind them to tell their friends about you. It can help encourage word of mouth marketing, one of the most compelling and effective ways to spread your brand.
Send birthday cards/emails — A personal touch goes a long way. Sending a birthday card or personalized note tells your patients you care. A birthday postcard can also serve as a reminder for regular check-ups and help ensure compliance for patients’ annual visits.
Virtru allows user to choose when to keep their digital content private and secure even after it’s shared online. Manage and revoke access to emails, photos, files and other content at any time, right from within your favorite programs like Gmail, Outlook, and Mac Mail on your desktop or smartphone. The TDF is an open standard for securing content of all kinds. Virtru gives everyone the power of the TDF by integrating it with the tools you use every day, like Gmail and Outlook.
Elevator pitch
Virtru Pro makes it dead simple for physician practices and other organizations to easily, conveniently, and cost-effectively send PHI messages and files over email while complying with HIPAA. While hospital medical record systems often include a secure messaging component that supports safe communications, many organizations prefer to use regular email or do not want to incur the cost and complexity of heavyweight systems. This is especially true for small to mid-sized practices that have fewer financial or IT resources available to them. Virtru Pro is easy to set up and easy to use for doctors, administrative staff, and patients.
Product/service description
Virtru Pro is a cost-effective, easy-to-use, HIPAA-compliant email service for the healthcare industry. Offering the easiest, most secure way for healthcare organizations to comply with the Protected Health Information (PHI) requirements of HIPAA, Virtru Pro ensures these communications are secure, protected and integrated into the tools and processes used daily by physicians, administrators and patients:
Provider-to-provider communications including consult results, CT scans, diagnostic images, prescriptions and scheduling information;
Provider-to-patient communications including test results, prescription information, procedure preparation, and scheduling information; and
Patient-to-patient communications, such as the connection of patients who share a condition and can support each other as physicians offer group care.
With Virtru Pro, an entire organization can now easily send and receive secure, PHI-compliant encrypted emails, revoke sent messages, restrict forwarding and set expiry for emails and files to auto delete. Confidential information sent to colleagues and patients remains private, audit ready, and protected. Virtru Pro eliminates the risk of patient data being inadvertently forwarded to an unintended party and provides added controls so that physicians can determine how their patients’ health information is viewed and shared.
Virtru Pro works with all major email systems and is especially well suited to organizations using cloud-based email providers such as Google Apps for Work, Gmail and Microsoft Office 365.
Founders’ story
Will and John Ackerly
Virtru was founded to bring true digital privacy to everyone – making end-to-end email encryption dead simple to use and integrated into the products people use every day.
CTO and co-founder, Will Ackerly, spent eight years at the NSA in various positions of senior management where as a cloud security architect he developed the standard for secure data transfer used today by various government agencies – The Trusted Data Format (TDF). He left the NSA to bring this technology to the consumer market, where he saw a real need for people to have control over the privacy and protection of their personal information online. As a senior technology adviser for the Bush White House, before and after the events of 911 followed by six years in the private equity business, co-founder and CEO John Ackerly also saw a real need to provide individuals with the power to protect their digital communications. Combining the technical knowledge and know-how brought by Will with the-on-the-ground experience of John has resulted in a perfect storm that is Virtru.
The little spacecraft that flew for 10 years crossing millions of miles in space, bounced on a comet hurtling 84,000 mph, transmits tons of data for 64 hours, finally tells its handlers that it needs to take a nap. Hitting any kind of target after 10 years in space is an amazing feat by itself, but this project had many hurdles and changes since its inception.
Healthcare is transforming at a rapid pace. In the past 10 years that the Rosetta orbiter traveled with the Philae lander strapped to its side, electronic health records have been implemented, meaningful use instituted, the diverse and multiple roads of interoperability have been examined, but progress has been slow.
The Rosetta project had to plan for executing tasks 10 years in advance. The team also had to anticipate the problems that it would find when Philae did something that had never been done before—landing on a comet. Nearly all projects on Earth have been done before but the nature of a project’s progression varies.
Here are three events that occurred on the Rosetta project that analogous Earth-bound healthcare projects also face.
Major change pre-launch. A problem was discovered that caused the launch to be delayed. This in turn caused the chosen comet to be abandoned because the orbit window was missed. Another comet whose gravity and other differences were not accounted for in the design of Philae was selected. Would the lander survive the descent? The craft would need to be put in a 3-year hibernation to conserve energy on the new flight plan.
Response: Adjust to the change. A large health insurance company discovered a security flaw in a new application to enroll customers during dry run tests. The problem would have caused multiple HIPAA violations and the company would be subject to expensive fines. The project had to be delayed until a fix was in place in spite of publicity of the go live date.
Major changes prior to the launch of a project are best addressed immediately. There is much better control in the early stages of a project. Changes may affect scheduled milestones, but it is better to adjust dates early in the project and explain changes to executive supporters.
Dr. Jose Barreau is the chairman and CEO, Doc Halo.
Dr. Jose Barreau
Health IT advancements have become a very important part of the doctor-to-doctor and doctor-to-staff communication channel, and secure text messaging is a very important tool that allows physicians to streamline vital tasks. In busy environments like hospitals, the need for efficient and real-time communication touch points between doctors and staff promotes better patient care, increases productivity and reduce expenses. Over time, innovations like secure text messaging have made healthcare workflow much faster and safer.
Why secure texting is an important element for improving doctor communication channels
A streamlined mobile health platform makes it easy for doctors to use many different communication tools, such as secure texting. Secure texting features can allow senders to create separate threads when conversing with another doctor about multiple patients, providing a platform that reduces medication errors and maintains HIPAA compliance at the same time. As an overall strategy, physician-to-physician messages, notes between doctors and nurses, managers or other staff, checking on and scheduling appointments or video/photo consultations with specialists works alongside secure messaging to create an optimal mobile health system.
What’s more, doctors can accomplish more tasks during their time on the floor because they don’t have to lose time searching for phone numbers. Scrambling to find an office or hospital’s number following a traditional page adds complexity and reduces valuable response time.
Secure messaging can also improve referrals between doctors by leveraging the organization’s internal database and giving the physician the ability to easily send that person a message seeking to refer a patient in real time. Names can be organized by specialty and then aligned in an organizational directory so physicians can access the individuals they need without hassle.
Bioscape Digital integrates text, audio and 3D visual imagery into an intuitive touch screen solution, allowing providers to overcome language and education barriers: critical for the better outcomes required in a patient-centric healthcare delivery model.
Elevator pitch
Bioscape offers an interactive healthcare platform via tablet, delivering engaging healthcare to close the gap between patient and provider, while helping increase patient engagement and satisfaction.
Product/Service Description
Bioscape Digital engages consumers with targeted healthcare content and transactions, at the ideal time and location: in the hospital. Bioscape does this by installing a customizable tablet-based platform into health systems.
Bioscape’s tablet-based platform, which is installed into every room and introduced to every patient by the nurse, creates a truly unique opportunity to engage a captive audience. As a result, hospitals experience improved patient engagement, enhanced patient satisfaction and generate incremental revenue and cost savings.
Bioscape’s platform integrates text, audio and visual imagery into an intuitive touch screen solution, allowing doctors to overcome language and education barriers: Critical for improved outcomes, which result in higher reimbursement rates.
Unlike traditional “shout” solutions (i.e. televisions), Bioscape’s touch screen allows for the smart delivery of targeted functionality, generating an entirely new set of valuable transactions and data. Key functionality includes real time feedback, lead generation, insurance calculators, educational content, medication adherence program and targeted marketing.
Bioscape’s solution enhances the quality of care, improves patient compliance, increases patient satisfaction and drives additional revenue opportunities through specific feature based functionality: All critical if the healthcare provider of the future expects to remain competitive and be successful for the long term.
A creative group of nurses are helping uncover better ways to use barcode printers and scanners at the bedside. In the past, it was common to see barcode scanners mounted on workstation-on-wheel (WoW) carts behind the display and out of the way. It made perfect sense at a time when reading barcodes was a new and relatively uncommon task. Today, the frequency of reading barcodes at the bedside has dramatically increased and as the industry continues to adopt meaningful use Stage 2 this trend will continue.
Nurses using cordless barcode scanners quickly discovered that mounting it in an elevated, forward-facing orientation allowed them to fully benefit from the scanner’s “presentation mode” feature. Just like built-in scanners found at the grocery store, presentation mode scanning is faster because it eliminates the need to squeeze the trigger, and frees up the second hand for quickly handling items.
Thanks to high performance imaging technology, nurses can now use scanners that are suited specifically for hospital applications and are able to quickly read the toughest barcodes, such as clear IV bags or micro medication barcodes. Gone are the days of aligning that little red line so that it precisely dissects the barcode; today’s latest scanning technology brings a “squeeze-and-beep” solution to nurses fingertips.
Hospital workers have learned that selecting a cordless scanner can dramatically improve workflows at the bedside, as evidenced by the fact that more that 70 percent of hospitals purchasing scanners recently have chosen the cordless options. The most significant advantage is the freedom of movement followed by the elimination of “cord snagging and tangling,” which can be critically important in an environment where you have patient IV lines and other monitoring equipment in the vicinity.
More than just performance, a lot of design work goes into creating a barcode scanner for healthcare environments. By going cordless, the scanner cable that notoriously drags on the floor, is eliminated from the cleaning routine. The time saved in cleaning alone has been justification enough for most hospitals to switch to cordless scanners.
Let’s face it, return on investment (ROI) for an electronic health record (EHR) has been has been a rainbow unicorn kitty for practices over the years. Some studies have indicated that many practices don’t see positive returns for years if ever while others show very positive results of increased revenue per full time provider and ROI in as short as two and half years.
Why the big variation? It’s hard to say for sure but some of the factors may be practice size, type of EHR, and looking for the ROI in the right places. According to the Physicians Practice 2014 Technology Survey, sponsored by Kareo, over 40 percent of practices have seen a return on their investment from their EHR.
Some of the places they are seeing financial rewards may be old news but others could be a surprise.
CMS Incentives
It will come as no great shock that practices that got on board with PQRS and meaningful use at the beginning have reaped some financial benefits. The full incentives for MU early adopters was $44,000, and they avoid any penalties. For the past several years one of the top three reasons physicians cited for changing or adopting and EHR was qualifying for incentives.
The incentives are gone but the penalties are still in play. If you haven’t started yet, you will have reductions in your Medicare payments starting this year, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t get on board. If you serve a large portion of Medicare patients it may make sense to attest for MU to avoid further penalties.
Reducing Expenses
The ability to cut costs has always been a bugle call for EHR, and nothing has changed. You can cut costs and streamline with an EHR. The key is to ensure it is implemented correctly with the right workflow, that everyone is onboard and using it the way they are supposed to, and you let go of paper as much as you can.
When you do that, you can save anywhere from $5 to $8 per new paper chart along with ongoing savings on paper, toner, and printer and fax equipment. They are seeing so many benefits from the EHR, they’d never go back now. Eric Pokky, practice manager at Total Healthcare for Women, says about 20 percent of their patients are new and those charts run $5 at their practice. With 15 new patients a week, that is a savings of around $300 a month.
When physicians maximize the EHRs documentation tools, you can also cut transcription significantly or all together. Transcription has been estimated at as much as 11 percent of total collections so that is a substantial savings. For a primary care provider who brings in $300,000 a year, that is a savings of more than $30,000 alone.
Virtru
Bioscape Digital
