Dimensional Insight announced the results of a survey it conducted with HIMSS Analytics of 110 senior healthcare leaders. The survey found that while approximately two-thirds of healthcare organizations (67.9 percent) have an executive dashboard to support strategic decision-making, only one-third of those organizations (35.1 percent) use it on a daily basis. That means that in total, less than one in four healthcare organizations (23.9 percent) leverage their data at an executive level daily.
Survey results also show:
While the majority (92.7 percent) of organizations have an analytics strategy, less than one-third (31.8 percent) have been executing on that strategy for some time.
More than half of organizations (58.6 percent) use the analytics provided through their executive dashboard to facilitate decisions at only a departmental or single-hospital level.
Only 24.3 percent of healthcare organizations are able to leverage analytics throughout an entire multi-hospital system.
In addition, the survey looked at the number of analytics solutions in use. It found that healthcare organizations are using average of nearly four analytics tools. About one in six organizations (16.5 percent) have 10 or more analytics solutions that they are using across their system.
“While many healthcare organizations have the best of intentions when it comes to analytics, they struggle with how to facilitate data-driven decision-making system-wide and on a regular basis,” said Fred Powers, president and CEO of Dimensional Insight. “The sheer number of analytics tools in use means that different departments within an organization will often have different numbers or measures, and it’s hard to reconcile them, leading to a more siloed look at data.”
HIMSS Analytics releases its latest Essentials Brief. The 2014 Patient Portal Study is the first in the HIMSS Analytics series of Essentials Briefs to focus on patient engagement.
In addition to voice of customer (VOC) insight from healthcare IT executives across the country, the 2014 Patient Portal Study incorporates data from the HIMSS Analytics Database to provide a comprehensive view of the market as it pertains to this technology. Topics in the brief include market utilization, vendor market share and trajectory, as well as the relationship between meaningful use Stage 2 and patient engagement.
“Patient engagement is more than just today’s hot topic – it is foundational to the future of healthcare,” said HIMSS Analytics Research Director, Brendan FitzGerald. “The patient portal study is the first in our series of Briefs dedicated to patient engagement, and we wanted to go beyond the statistics and delve into the executive mindset.”
Key findings of the study:
• Show patient portals typically come from the EHR vendor currently used by the organization
• Indicate room for improvement, as IT executives did not display a high level of passion for their organization’s current solution
• Highlight cultural issues within organizations as a major challenge to overall patient engagement initiatives
HIMSS Analytics Essentials Briefs are complimentary for hospitals and health systems, and are available for a fee to all other interested parties. To request a copy, please email consulting@himssanalytics.org from your employer’s email domain.
HIMSS Analytics collects, analyzes and distributes essential health IT data related to products, costs, metrics, trends and purchase decisions, delivering it to healthcare delivery organizations, IT companies, governmental entities, financial, pharmaceutical and consulting companies.
HIMSS Analytics publishes the results of the 3rd Annual HIMSS Analytics Mobile Survey, examining the use of mobile devices in provider patient care improvement initiatives. For the first time this year, the survey questions were modified to closely align with the six areas of the mHIMSS Roadmap, a strategic framework for providers to implement mobile and wireless technologies.
The roadmap sections encompass key areas of consideration healthcare organizations should focus on when developing and implementing a mobile strategy within a healthcare organization: New Care Models, Technology, ROI/Payment, Legal & Policy, Standards & Interoperability and Privacy & Security.
The survey findings offer examples of the progress made and hurdles that providers face when integrating mobile technologies into their facilities to improve patient care. Respondents indicated that the top benefit to having mobile technologies in their facilities was increased access to patient information and the ability to view data from a remote location. Funding limitations topped the list for barriers. Many providers are also still early in their adoption and implementation of mobile technology. For example, 69 percent use a mobile device to view patient information while only a third (36 percent) use mobile technologies to collect data at the bedside.
“The mobile health market is one of the fastest growing areas in the health IT space. We recognize the growing importance of mobile technologies and its impact to transform the delivery of patient care,” said David Collins, senior director of mHIMSS. “The survey reflects mobile technology as a transformational tool, as demonstrated by nearly all of the respondents supplying mobile technology to clinicians. This is a great example of how providers are integrating mHealth into today’s healthcare workflows. There is still work to be done by formally embracing mobile implementation strategies and measuring ROI.”
One of the greatest sources of information that depicts the changes in health IT trends across the industry landscape is from Michael Lake, healthcare technology strategist. Through his monthly reports on the state of health technology, published by his company Circle Square, he provides succinct highlights from throughout the last month. Possibly, what’s best about these reports is that they cover such a diverse segment of the ecosphere.
For example, in one of his most recent reports, the focus was the EHR vendor sphere, cloud EHRs and their importance to independent practices, the use of faxes in hospitals, vendor news and transactions and practice portal insight, among other news.
According to his most recent report, cloud-based EHRs with integrated billing are quickly becoming a key to a practice’s future success as an independent practice. In his report, he cites Black Book as ranking solutions that seamlessly integrate electronic health records (EHR), revenue cycle management (RCM) and practice management (PM). Kareo tops on the list, per KLAS.
However, most practices feel that billing and collections systems and processes need upgrading (87%) and more than 40 percent (42%) are considering an upgrade to RCM software in in the next year . Most practices (71%) are considering a combo of new software and outsourcing services for improvement.
HIMSS Analytics recently released a new report on the barriers, challenges and opportunities of healthcare information exchange (HIE). The report, sponsored by ASG, examines the current state of information exchange among U.S. hospitals and explores the opportunities for improving the collection and exchange of patient data.
Survey respondents – 157 senior hospital information technology (IT) executives – indicated that there are two major challenges in the collection and sharing of patient information despite high levels of HIE participation:
Healthcare facilities that are participating in some form of health information exchange organization (HIO) reported difficulties in exchanging patient information in robust, meaningful ways.
Additionally, respondents indicated sharing information outside of HIOs is constrained by budget limitations and staffing resources.
More than 70 percent of respondents reported that their organization was part of a HIO, meaning that they participate in HIE with other hospitals and health systems. Approximately half of those respondents also reported improved access to patient information. However, the benefit did not result in robust data sharing, as 49 percent of the respondents cited this as the primary challenge to sharing patient information.
HIMSS Analytics released the results of the first HIMSS workforce survey, sponsored by Medix IT, which examines hiring trends and barriers for healthcare provider organizations and IT vendors. The report, based on a survey of 224 executives working for hospital/healthcare system IT and vendor organizations, provides human resource leaders insights into the current hiring environment, recruitment and retention tactics, hiring plans for 2013 and resources currently employed by health IT providers and vendors.
“As healthcare organizations become increasingly sophisticated with their IT initiatives, human resource leaders are experiencing a new set of hiring challenges,” said Jennifer Horowitz, senior director of research for HIMSS Analytics. “By identifying those challenges and hiring trends, we hope this new report will be considered a resource for career development professionals as they plan their strategic personnel efforts.”
More than 85 percent of survey respondents indicated that their organization hired at least one employee in 2012. Only 13 percent reported implementing layoffs during the same time frame. While the health IT hiring environment has been very positive for both healthcare provider organizations and vendors, vendors were more likely to report hiring staff than were healthcare providers. Looking ahead, 79 percent of organizations also plan to hire additional staff in the coming year.
A straightforward piece of news from TEKsystems Healthcare Services, a provider of workforce planning, human capital management and IT services to the healthcare industry, showing the following results a joint survey with HIMSS Analytics regarding health organizations’ readiness pertaining to the implementation of electronic health record (EHR) systems.
According to TEKsystems, the survey shows insights into the status of EHR implementations, the challenges healthcare organizations face and areas of improvement; TEKsystems and HIMSS Analytics surveyed 300 single and multi-hospital organizations and health professionals throughout the United States. Key findings include:
Current State of EHR Implementations
Nearly 39 percent of hospitals have surpassed Stage 4 of the HIMSS Analytics Electronic Medical Record Adoption Model (EMRAM).
Currently less than half (43 percent) of integrated delivery systems or single hospital systems have completed their EHR implementation.
Achieving end user adoption
Nearly two-thirds of healthcare professionals (64 percent) believe achieving adoption is a roadblock to a successful EHR implementation.
“Achieving meaningful use and truly improving the quality of patient care can only happen if end users fully adopt a new EHR system in an acceptable timeframe. Organizations expect their people to adapt quickly, yet many do not plan for end user training until late in the effort,” says , TEKsystems vice president of healthcare services. “Upfront training strategy development would allow for the identification of key competencies and performance indicators. As organizations transition from implementation to day-to-day operations, any deficiencies in the ability to meet the targets can be pinpointed to either a specific user group, department or globally as indicated by analytics and aligning remediation accordingly. Developing an effective adoption strategy is a critical step that needs to be detailed earlier in the process and carried throughout the life of the initiative. That includes finding the appropriate resources necessary for building, integrating and conducting the training.”
Bringing in the right people and skills
Sixty-six percent of respondents cite the challenge of finding the right workers with the right skills for the implementation. More than half struggle with finding the right people to build a training program (57 percent) or lead the classroom discussions (53 percent).
“The supply of HIT talent is not keeping pace with the demand – from clinical trainers, builders and consultants to project and program managers. Finding the necessary resources can be a daunting task for many organizations, but one that is essential to achieving a successful EHR implementation,” continues Kriete. “That includes finding the right principal trainers and scaling to meet the overall training and adoption needs.
Conducting an impactful training experience for the end users
According to more than three-quarters of healthcare professionals, results of poor EHR training implementation include: rework (85 percent), lack of applicability to real-world scenarios (84 percent), low levels of user adoption (84 percent), long learning curves (82%) and inability to leverage the system for meaningful use (77 percent).
“The importance of effective training cannot be overlooked. To avoid these outcomes, organizations must proactively build a customized training program that is led by educators with clinical and technical EHR experience. The training cannot simply be ‘off-the-shelf.’ It should align with the overall organizational goals, workflows, technical requirements and end-user job roles” states Kriete. “One method for ensuring a training program is effective and builds confidence within an organization is to engage end users, those using the system on a day-to-day basis, in the development of the curriculum.”
“In addition to leveraging end users in this process, efforts should be taken to combine synchronous and asynchronous learning methods to foster a learning environment that meets the needs of the adult learner and their hectic schedules and a learning environment that is not bound by space or time” says Von Baker, TEKsystems healthcare practice director.
Including end users in the process
Overall, less than half of clinical end-user stakeholders are deemed completely engaged in the program; even the trainers for the new system are not fully engaged, with only 59 percent reporting their trainers are completely engaged in the process.
“This study shows the majority of executives and decision makers are engaged in the implementation process, but unfortunately, this is not the case with end users. Giving end users the opportunity to provide feedback during the development of and during the training boosts their sense of ownership and increases their confidence in the system post-implementation,” comments Baker.
Continuing to support end users after go-live
More than 50 percent of healthcare organizations anticipate end users will need more than six months to adapt to the new system.
“The work does not stop once the implementation is complete. Providing post go-live support is critical to ensure the end users fully adopt the system. Best practice is to create performance support tools for end users to have ready access to how-to reference guides when the needs arise – self service. The right blend of performance support tools depends on the organizations culture, internal drivers (i.e. varied workflows, varied specialties, and geographically dispersed facilities), and available technology. Underestimating the amount and degree of post go-live support can cause a decrease in productivity and performance and increase end-user frustration,” concludes Baker.
About TEKsystems Healthcare Services
TEKsystems Healthcare Services is dedicated to providing workforce planning, human capital management and IT services to the healthcare industry. Utilizing its suite of services, including EHR Implementation Support, ICD-10 Support and Data Services for BI, Reporting and Data Warehousing, they help healthcare organizations accomplish critical initiatives related to meaningful use, compliance, analytics, network transformation and revenue cycle management.
HIMSS Analytics releases its latest Essentials Brief. The 2014 Patient Portal Study is the first in the HIMSS Analytics series of Essentials Briefs to focus on patient engagement.
