“If I ran my business the way our healthcare system operates, I’d go bankrupt,” is all I could think almost two decades ago, as I struggled with a life-or-death decision – which course of treatment to pursue for my prostate cancer.
As a self-made businessman whose key to entrepreneurial success stemmed from informing every business decision I made with objective data, I simply could not believe that none of my doctors could answer a seemingly simple question I posed. “Based on the experiences of other patients like me,” I asked, “which treatment is likely to work best?” Every doctor I saw was only able to answer with, “In my experiences…”
Data did not exist to offer me the information I desired to inform my decision.
My frustrating patient experience led me to envision what some experts now believe is the key to the cure. I imagined a health system in which every patient’s health experiences would be captured digitally and in which we would learn from millions of people’s lifetimes of health experiences (while safeguarding privacy).
Guest post by Bettina Experton, MD, MPH, CEO of Humetrix.
The HITECH Act and its $30 billion attached budget mainly focused on building a provider-based health IT (HIT) infrastructure for providers to exchange patient health information. Two years after its implementation and the adoption of Stages 1 and 2 of meaningful use (MU 1 and MU 2) requirements for the use of electronic health records (EHRs), the federal government, EHR industry and providers across the country can claim remarkable results: more than 55 percent of hospitals and close to 50 percent of primary care physicians were using basic EHRs in 2012 (versus 10 percent, and 14 pecent respectively in 2009).
Now that the building of an HIT infrastructure is well underway, the capacity of the newly deployed provider EHRs to allow for health information exchange (HIE) remains limited. The persistent lack of interoperability of the more than 1,200 MU-certified EHRs and the scalability issues attached to provider-centric means of HIE leave policy makers, providers and especially patients wishing for a novel approach to achieving true anytime, anywhere HIE.
In almost all other economic and social activities, personal information exchange is driven by the consumer. In banking for instance, whether it is online, using mobile apps or ATM cards, consumers direct and mediate the necessary exchange of their personal information to enable and complete the desired transactions. The days of mainly bank-to-bank transactions by letters of credit are long gone. The convenience and control of today’s online and mobile banking services make them universally used around the globe.
MGMA president’s open letter to HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius from Susan Turney, MD, MS, FACMPE, FACP president and CEO, that is an important summation of the current meaningful use Stage 2 situation facing physicians and caregivers:
August 21, 2013
The Honorable Kathleen Sebelius Secretary Department of Health and Human Services 200 Independence Ave., S.W.
Room 445-G Washington, DC 20201
RE: Stage 2 meaningful use EHR Incentive Program
Dear Secretary Sebelius:
The Medical Group Management Association (MGMA) writes today to share our concerns regarding the current meaningful use environment and diminished opportunity for physician practices to meet the requirements for Stage 2 of the program. If the appropriate steps are not taken, we believe physicians that have made significant investments in EHR technology and successfully completed Stage 1 requirements will be unfairly subject to negative Medicare payment adjustments. Accordingly, HHS should immediately institute an indefinite moratorium on penalties for physicians that successfully completed Stage 1 meaningful use requirements.
The HIPAA Privacy Rule regulates the use and disclosure of Protected Health Information (PHI) held by “covered entities.”These entities generally include healthcare clearinghouses, employer sponsored health plans, health insurers, and healthcare providers.
PHI is any information held by a covered entity concerning the health status, provision of healthcare, or payment for healthcare that can be linked to an individual.
Covered entities must disclose PHI to the individual within 30 days upon request. They also must disclose PHI when required to do so by law, such as reporting suspected child abuse to state child welfare agencies.
Andrew Gelman, senior vice president, corporate development and EHR vendor relations and general counsel of PDR Network discusses the organization, patient adherence and how EHRs may enhance patient care.
What is your role at PDR Network in terms of working with the company’s EHR vendor partnership network?
As senior vice president–EHR Vendor Relations at PDR Network, I work directly with EHR vendors to understand their systems, identify opportunities where PDR solutions can enhance their systems for providers, and developing strategic partnerships. I am the primary point of contact for members of our growing PDR Certified EHR Network,that now includes 28 industry leading partners, delivering valuable PDR services via 225 EHR platforms and reaching more than 160,000 EHR-based prescribers.
Tell me more about the PDR Network and its value proposition? What elements make it a long-lasting viable option?
As the industry leader in drug information, PDR has been a trusted partner to healthcare providers for generations. With the adoption of EHR systems the provider workflow has changed, but their need for up-to-date, FDA-approved prescribing information has not. We have developed solutions that can be easily integrated into partner EHR systems to deliver PDR’s prescribing and patient support information to their end users:
It’s rare to find an organization where document management doesn’t play a major role in day-to-day operations, and healthcare is no exception. Advancements in patient record technology have revolutionized how healthcare systems operate and have greatly improved patient information sharing between different physicians, departments and even disparate organizations.
With recent HIPAA regulations and the impending Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) mandates, which require electronic health records (EHR) adoption by 2015, the focus on technology in the healthcare space will only get stronger in the coming months, as more and more organizations put measures in place to achieve compliance.
Among the many misconceptions providers have about using a practice management software for their daily workflow, they believe that the software slows them down. A good PM software will never slow the doctor down and instead, will make their workflows efficient, save them time, remove the daily monotony of work and reduce the paper work.
The second misconception providers have about practice management software is that it makes them spend lesser amounts of time with their patients. While this may be true for those providers who still don’t know how to effectively use the software, it is entirely false because a practice management software actually allows providers to spend more time with their patients.
Milton Silva-Craig, president of TransUnion Healthcare, discusses his thoughts for the future of healthcare, payment reform, new patients and financial pressures in the reform era and changes he sees on the horizon.
How has the role of data analytics changed in the healthcare industry, especially in light of the ACA and reform?
It is no longer a nice tool to have at your disposal. It is a requirement. It is the foundation necessary to support the outcomes of reform. Moving forward, reimbursement will be tied directly to outcomes and performance. The only way to measure such performance will be through the use of data. It will be the insights gleamed from the data that will allow providers to be successful in managing the intersection of patient care and a healthy business.
