Greenway Health announced that its Board of Directors has named Pratap Sarker as chief executive officer effective January 1, 2022. Mr. Sarker, who has served as President of Greenway Health since August 2020, succeeds Richard Atkin who has served as CEO since 2018. Mr. Atkin will transition to the role of Executive Chairman of the Greenway Health board.
“Pratap Sarker brings the ideal combination of leadership, experience and vision as the new Greenway Health CEO for this next chapter in the evolution and growth of the company,” said Atkin. “As we continue to enhance our product offerings, invest in our technology platform and deliver measurable client outcomes, we are uniquely positioned for continued growth in 2022. With a seamless transition to CEO, Pratap’s leadership will continue to be invaluable to the expansion of solutions we offer our clients nationwide.”
Sarker joined Greenway Health in 2020 as president. His vision and ownership for client relationship building and his passion for growth has revolutionized the Greenway brand, helping to actualize the company’s purpose of creating successful providers and empowering patients, resulting in healthier communities. Prior to joining Greenway Health, Sarker spent three years as president at Conduent, where he led a multi-billion-dollar business in mission-critical technology and BPO services.
“Greenway Health is primed for growth and market opportunity,” said Sarker. “Together with a strong senior management team, we will continue to evolve our company and transform the healthcare technology sector with products and services that enhance practice growth and deliver innovative, client-centric solutions. I look forward to guiding Greenway Health into its next phase as an industry leader in this exciting market.”
Sarker, who holds a Bachelor of Science degree and a Master of Business Administration degree from Savitribai Phule Pune University, has over 25 years of experience and achievements garnered from helping organizations drive results through strategic development and a focus on execution.
Greenway Health, a leading health information technology services provider, announces an expanded partnership with HealthLinc, a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving healthcare for the residents of northern Indiana. A Greenway client for more than a decade, HealthLinc will be leveraging Greenway Telehealth, the first tool in the company’s virtual care portfolio, to remove care delivery barriers, enabling greater provider productivity and improved patient outcomes.
HealthLinc is a leading nonprofit organization with 12 community locations, serving five counties in northern Indiana with 97 providers and over 150 staff. The organization operates a Patient-Centered Medical Home model, offering medical, dental, optometry, behavioral health and more. HealthLinc implemented telehealth early into the pandemic but was seeking an improved solution that did not require separate logins for each of their providers, and that was easier for patients to use while completely protecting their data. With Greenway Telehealth, the organization now benefits from a secure, HIPAA-compliant solution that is integrated with its core electronic health record.
“Our goal at HealthLinc is to make a difference in our patients’ lives by delivering the exceptional care they deserve,” said Melissa Mitchell, chief operating officer, HealthLinc. “Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic we were seeking a telehealth solution that would offer the convenience and flexibility our patients were requesting. Now, with Greenway Telehealth, we have a long-term solution in place that will further enable us to improve access to resources and care, including as part of our paramedicine program for homebound patients. Our improved experience with Greenway Telehealth enables us to focus more on innovation, exploring what virtual care looks like for our most at-risk patients, ultimately closing gaps in care and improving outcomes.”
Launched in October of 2020, Greenway Telehealth was developed in direct response to evolving client needs and the increasing demand for a secure, high-quality and flexible remote care solution that practices can implement as part of a long-term virtual care strategy. Since its initial launch, the solution has been implemented by thousands of users and featured on Becker’s list of Telehealth Companies to Know.
“For ambulatory care providers, having a telehealth solution integrated with its core EHR is a key component to reducing administrative burden and provider burnout, while maximizing the efficiency of the practice with added flexibility to maintain business continuity,” said David Cohen, chief product and technology officer, Greenway Health. “We’re excited to expand our partnership with HealthLinc and to provide them with the telehealth solution they need to further improve care and patient outcomes.”
Greenway Telehealth is now available at a special rate of $39 per provider, per month. For more information on how Greenway’s EHR-integrated telehealth solution can help your practice maintain business continuity, create additional revenue streams and reach new patient populations, visit http://www.greenwayhealth.com/solutions/telehealth.
By Zachary Blunt, manager of product management population health, Greenway Health
Zachary Blunt
Electronic health records (EHRs) were expected to revolutionize healthcare practices, making them more efficient, reducing costs and enabling them to provide more coordinated care.
But ask healthcare providers about the EHRs they’ve deployed, and the results are far from what was expected.
In fact, more than 60 percent of healthcare professionals rank their return on investment (ROI) for EHR systems as “terrible” or “poor,” according to a recent survey from Health Catalyst. Another study, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, estimated the costs of billing and insurance-related activities using EHRs ranged from $20 for each primary care visit to $215 for inpatient surgery, totaling 3 percent to 25 percent of professional revenue.
So, why aren’t EHRs living up to the hype and delivering the promised investment? In many cases, it has to do with these systems not being used to their highest potential.
Here’s a look at five steps healthcare practices can take to address challenges resulting from EHR implementation and maximize their ROI.
Get Buy-In Across the Board — from IT to Finance to Front Office Staff
Adopting EHRs to manage clinical activities impacts many revenue cycle-related functions, such as patient registration, insurance eligibility, scheduling and the services/treatments a patient received during each clinical encounter. To achieve ROI, EHRs must be able to improve several operations of a practice and streamline the workflows of different departments. It’s best practice for all clinicians and staff to weigh in before installing new systems or technologies.
Provide Strong Leadership, Communication and Training
Changes in common practices during EHR implementation can result in significant resistance from users or a longer learning curve that hampers efficiency and adds to the cost of the system. To achieve results, healthcare leaders should clearly articulate the EHR implementation plan, prepare themselves for a transition period and develop a training protocol so all users understand their roles in using the system. In addition, users should have a solid background and understanding on how their roles factor into the overall success of the system and the practice at large.
Improve Staffing Efficiency While Improving Operating Margins
Labor costs can account for nearly half of a healthcare provider’s operating costs. But providers often fail to take a strategic look at how adjusting staffing can improve the bottom line. Often, providers use historical averages to determine staffing levels at their practices, resulting in an outlay of overtime pay outside the planned budget when unexpected staffing demands occur. Data from EHR solutions, as well as enterprise resource planning (ERP) sources, can be analyzed to gain a better understanding of historical staffing trends. Accenture estimates that by getting insights from EHR and ERP data, U.S. healthcare providers could save more than $77 billion over the next five years by reducing overtime and overall labor costs.
PricewaterhouseCoopers released its 2013 third quarter healthcare mergers and acquisitions report and there a small uptick over the first two quarters in the number of healthcare deals with 138 total transactions so far. The value of the deals announced is $15.8 billion, up 35 percent over the second quarter, but 2013 is still behind 2012 with volume down 4.6 percent and value down a whopping 25 percent.
For-profit deals were up, continuing the serge from the second quarter, marked by Tenet Healthcare Corporation’s proposed acquisition of Vanguard Health Systems for $4.3 billion, and the third quarter opened with the announcement of Community Health System’s $3.9 billion offer to purchase Health Management Associates (HMA).
Hospital Deals
During Q3 2013, deal volume and value were up when compared to Q3 2012 with the total volume of hospital transactions increased 59 percent from 12 in Q3 2012 to 19 in Q3 2013. Overall deal value increased significantly from $38 million in Q3 2012 to $12.3 billion in Q3 2013. This is largely the result of two $1+ billion transactions in Q3 2013.
The two $1+ billion transactions announced in Q3 2013 were responsible for the significant increase in total deal value.
If you love drama, there may be no better time than now to be in health IT. Specifically, the CommonWell Health Alliance movement – spearheaded by vendor giants Allscripts, Athenahealth, Cerner, Greenway and McKesson — to promote health information exchange.
However, as we all know, the one giant in the room not to be invited to the dance, Epic, is crying foul.
