Care planning begins with a needs assessment, say the majority of respondents to HIN's 2015 survey on Care Plans.

A majority of respondents—83 percent—incorporate care plans into value-based healthcare delivery systems, according to HIN's December 2015 survey, with more than half of remaining organizations planning to do so in the coming year.

High-risk health indicators derived from health risk assessments or the imminent transition of a patient from one care site to another are the chief triggers of the care planning process, said survey respondents.

Survey Highlights:

Other findings from HIN's Care Plans survey include the following:

• First and foremost in a care plan strategy is an assessment of needs, say 87 percent of respondents.
• The electronic health record is the care plan maintenance and distribution tool of choice for almost two-thirds of respondents, although the retention of paper records is reported by nearly half of responding companies.
• The principal criterion for classifying patients in need of care plans is the data derived from health risk assessments (HRAs), say nearly two-thirds of respondents, but patients transitioning between care sites also are prioritized for care planning, note 61 percent.
• The presence of a behavioral health condition poses the greatest challenge to care planning by a large margin, said 39 percent of respondents, as compared to diagnosis of physical health problems.
• The typical tracking time for care plans ranged from one to two months, said 24 percent, while adherence to care plans is checked monthly by 37 percent of respondents.
• Patient engagement is the most significant barrier to care plan success, say 44 percent of respondents.
• Patients’ healthcare utilization patterns are the most reliable indicators of care plan adherence, say 29 percent.
• About 13 percent report ROI from care planning efforts as between 2:1 and 3:1.

Download a complimentary executive summary of 2016 Care Plan metrics to learn the value of evidence-based care plans in following high-risk patients through health episodes and transitions of care.

Cyber attacks like the recent hack of Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center are on the rise.

Data breaches in 2015 resulted in a massive 113 million leaked records nationwide, up from 12 million in 2014, according to Bitglass’ Healthcare Breach Report. This means that one in three Americans’ personal information was leaked as a result of cyber attacks. The increase suggests that hackers are increasingly targeting medical records, which contain a trove of valuable information including addresses, Social Security numbers, and patients’ medical history. As hackers become more sophisticated, IT must take steps to secure data both in the cloud and across all employee devices.

Given the rising threat of cyber attacks, healthcare organizations must be proactive when it comes to securing corporate data. Here are five ways IT can both protect healthcare data in the cloud and limit the risk of a large-scale breach:

1. Control access.

Cloud applications have made file-sharing and access to data easier than ever, but for all the flexibility these apps offer, there are risks to sharing files with unsecured, unmanaged devices outside the corporate network. Granular access controls are a critical piece of the security puzzle in that organizations need the ability to limit access in certain risky contexts. In the case of the Anthem breach for example—in which phished credentials were used in China, resulting in 78.8 million leaked records—access controls would have limited the damage.

2. Encrypt, track, protect.

The most sensitive data in an organization is often the most valuable to hackers. Files with customer Social Security numbers, addresses, and medical claims information are the targets of large-scale breaches. To secure data, IT needs a means to identify the files that contain sensitive content and apply Data Loss Prevention (DLP) to those files. Contextual DLP solutions enable IT administrators to distinguish between devices and set policies to encrypt, apply watermarks to track data, or even wrap files with digital rights management (DRM).

3. Secure BYOD.

As demand for bring-your-own-device (BYOD) in healthcare rises, organizations need to protect data on unmanaged devices without impeding user privacy. What is critical here is control over data as it travels to the end-user’s device and data that resides on the device itself. With features like selective wipe and native mail access, organizations can encourage adoption of BYOD while still protecting data and maintaining HIPAA compliance on these unmanaged devices.

4. Quickly identify potential breaches.

As healthcare organizations are now more likely to be targeted by hackers than ever before, IT needs the ability to quickly identify suspicious traffic and be alerted to potential risks. Administrators can leverage tools like cloud access security brokers to act on that information and limit sharing using the aforementioned access control capabilities.

5. Improve authentication.

Major breaches like Anthem and Premera, coupled with the low rate of single sign-on adoption across the healthcare industry, highlight the need for a more secure means of authenticating users. With an integrated identity solution, organizations can maintain control over the key access points to their data and can easily manage user account credentials with tools like Active Directory. Industry standards like single sign-on, multi-factor authentication, and single-use passwords can also help minimize risk of breaches due to stolen credentials.

These are just a few of the many ways healthcare organizations can better secure corporate data in public cloud applications like Google Apps, Box, and Office 365. In light of the massive year-on-year increase in breaches, securing healthcare data has never been more critical. Healthcare organizations need a HIPAA-compliant, comprehensive, data-centric solution that provides complete control and visibility over protected health information (PHI), a means of securely authenticating users, and BYOD security.

Download the Bitglass Healthcare Breach Report for more on the key capabilities necessary to protect healthcare data in the cloud and achieve compliance.

About Bitglass: In a world of cloud applications and mobile devices, IT must secure corporate data that resides on third-party servers and travels over third-party networks to employee-owned mobile devices. Existing security technologies are simply not suited to solving this task, since they were developed to secure the corporate network perimeter. The Bitglass Cloud Access Security Broker solution transcends the network perimeter to deliver total data protection for the enterprise—in the cloud, on mobile devices and anywhere on the Internet. For more information, visit bitglass.com

HIN Disclaimer: The opinions, representations and statements made within this guest article are those of the author and not of the Healthcare Intelligence Network as a whole. Any copyright remains with the author and any liability with regard to infringement of intellectual property rights remain with them. The company accepts no liability for any errors, omissions or representations.

The healthcare industry is under pressure to advance its use of technology to control costs, digitize patient information and streamline operations. But with significant increases in cyber attacks and the sensitive nature of healthcare data, security is a growing concern, according to a new infographic by ESET.

The infographic examines: which threats healthcare organizations fear most; how healthcare breaches affect consumer behavior; and what security solutions are most effective.

Covered Entity Manual is a template-style download manual that can be easily adapted to align with your compliance needs as a covered entity. All content complies with the Omnibus Rule.

Covered Entity-Specific Manual provides you with a generic, comprehensive set of policies and procedures: 33 privacy policies; 30 security policies; 6 policies that address common requirements of both the privacy and security rules; 1 breach notification policy; and 12 forms and templates, including a notice of privacy practices.

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Although provider's electronic health record (EHR) adoption jumped from 42 percent in 2009 to 83 percent in 2014 as a result of the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act of 2009, the broader impact of this transition remained questionable on patient outcomes. While EHRs are expected to improve the quality and accessibility of healthcare, increase patient engagement, and lower care costs, issues of cost, usability, interoperability, and regulatory compliance severely limited the anticipated growth, according to a new infographic by Vigyanix.

With the rise of digital health, however, the EHR landscape is shifting dramatically and the barriers to adoption have started to diminish. The infographic examines how digital health is shaping the future of today's EHRs.

While widespread adoption of electronic health records has generated new streams of actionable patient data, John C. Lincoln has taken data mining to new levels to enhance performance of its accountable care organization (ACO).

Beyond the EMR: Mining Population Health Analytics to Elevate Accountable Care reviews the concentrated data dig undertaken by John C. Lincoln to prepare for participation in the CMS Medicare Shared Savings Program (MSSP).

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Physician practices should position themselves to be paid for volume now and value in the future, McKesson's Eric Levin advised webinar participants.

And while the proposed MACRA rule is still in flux, the bones of the law aren't expected to change, notes Eric Levin, McKesson's director of strategic services. From this point forward, he says, care coordination will be the ticket to success in eventual MACRA value- and performance-based healthcare models.

"As clinical alignment and care coordination increase, if you are not participating in some type of value-based care program, most likely you're not being reimbursed or rewarded for that work," Levin told participants in The New Physician Quality Reporting: Positioning Your Practice for MACRA's Merit-Based Incentive Payment System, a July 2016 webinar now available for replay.

In outlining MACRA's intent, Levin chiefly focused on the Merit-Based Incentive Payment Systems (MIPS) rather than the second reimbursement path, alternative payment systems (APMs), since the majority—88 percent—of physicians is expected to qualify under MIPS rather than APMs.

Zeroing in on MIPS, Levin reviewed eligibility, performance categories and data submission options, among other points. He then detailed the plethora of current and planned technical assistance options from CMS—including eventual practice transformation networks to provide peer-level support to physicians—before offering practical ways physician practices can prepare now for MACRA.

His six immediate action steps for practices included dipping a toe into analytics and data aggregation. "Look at the data. Learn how to risk-stratify. See the gaps in care you currently have and where those can be filled in so you're not just measuring but actually improving quality," Levin advised. The CMS Quality and Resource Use Report is useful for estimating a practice's MIPS score, he added.

In offering six additional tactics to become MACRA-ready, Levin recommended physician practices acquaint themselves with national benchmarks as a primer in quality measurement.

And on Levin's accompanying five-point MACRA implementation checklist is a reminder to stay current on CMS's proposed and final MACRA rulings. Fostering relationships with technology vendors wouldn't hurt either, he added.

His final points covered additional MACRA implementation resources, including education from provider associations, as well as the benefits of Patient-Centered Medical Home recognition and engagement in CMS's Chronic Care Management initiative in MACRA preparation.

"These programs will really help you begin the value-based journey if you have not started."

Levin emphasized providers should not wait for the final rule. Rather, physician practices should "learn how to focus on quality outcomes and costs, helping focus on the patient as well as that patient-provider relationship. Look at how you can identify ways to increase inexpensive patient encounters."

Before concluding, Levin answered participants' questions on how MACRA and MIPS will impact specialty providers; lessons practices can take from participation in the Physician Quality Reporting System, Meaningful Use and other value-based initiatives to enhance MACRA success; recommendations for small and solo practices; and other key concerns.

Learn more about Levin's presentation.

St. Vincent's Health Partners best practices care transitions playbook documents more than 140 patient transfer protocols.

The playbook is made up of several sections, including one with current expectations, based on the Michigan Quality Improvement Consortium, which we can review online. From an evidence-based point of view, they’ve listed the evidence for many common conditions patients are seen for in medical management. This is kept up to date. This is an electronic document stored on our Web site that can only be accessed by individuals subscribed to the network. We’ve also put this on flash drives for various partners.

A second section contains actual metrics for any network contracts. The metrics appear in such a way that the highest standard is included. For example, physician providers, as long as they provide the highest level of care in the metric, can be sure they’re meeting all the metrics. Those metrics are based on HEDIS® standards.

The third section is the transition section, laid out in two to three pages. For example, a patient moves from the hospital inpatient setting to a skilled nursing facility, such as Jewish Senior Services. For that transition, the playbook documents all the necessary tools for that patient: a personal health record, a medication list, whatever is needed. Also included is any communication with the primary care physician, if that provider has been identified. Finally, this section identifies the responsibility of the sending setting—in this case, the hospital inpatient staff. What do they need to organize and make sure they’ve done before the patient leaves and starts that transition, and what is the responsibility of the receiving organization?

That framework is the same for every transition: the content and tools change according to the particular transition. A final section of the playbook details all of the tools used for care transitions. For example, in our network, we’re just now working on the use of reviews for acute care transfers, which is an INTERACT (Interventions to Reduce Acute Care Transfers) tool. In fact, many settings, including all of our SNFs, as it turns out historically, have used that tool. This tool is in the playbook, along with the reference and expectation of when that tool would be used.

Source: Post-Acute Care Trends: Cross-Setting Collaborations to Align Clinical Standards and Provider Demands

Post-Acute Care Trends: Cross-Setting Collaborations to Align Clinical Standards and Provider Demands examines a collaboration between the first URAC-accredited clinically integrated network in the country and one of its partnering PAC providers to map out and enhance a patient's journey through the network continuum—drilling down to improve the quality of the transition from acute to post-acute care.

The 10 largest healthcare cyber attacks of 2015 affected over 100 million records, valued at up to $154 per record breached, according to a new infographic by FireEye.

The infographic examines the depth of the healthcare cyber security threat, why the healthcare industry is a top target for cyber crime and the potential cost to healthcare organizations of a security breach.

From cost pressures, consumerism and consolidation to a proliferation of patient-centered, value-based delivery and payment models, the state of healthcare continues to challenge organizations in the industry.

Healthcare Trends & Forecasts in 2016: Performance Expectations for the Healthcare Industry, HIN's 12th annual business forecast, pins down the trends destined to impact the industry in the year to come and proposes tactics C-suite executives can employ to distinguish their operations in a dynamic marketplace. Click here for more information.

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Assuring data integrity is the top challenge to health risk stratification, according to a July 2016 healthcare benchmarks survey.

As one survey respondent noted, “A key element [of stratifying high-risk patients] is building a trusting face-to-face relationship with each patient, knowing what they want to work on, coaching them and activating them.”

The first learning gleaned from the survey's 112 respondents is that, despite the prevalence of high-end risk predictors, algorithms and monitoring tools, clinicians must occasionally step into the patient’s world—that is, literally enter their home—in order to capture the individual’s total health picture.

Fifty-six percent of respondents make home visits to risk-stratified patients; a half dozen identified the home visit as its most successful intervention for risk-stratified populations.

That inside look at the patient environment illuminates data points an electronic health records (EHRs) might never bring to light, including socioeconomic factors like limited mobility that could prevent a patient from keeping a follow-up appointment.

“I never know until the moment I enter the home and actually see what the environment is like whether we correctly predicted the need for high intervention (and get a return on it),” commented one respondent.

The second trend in risk stratification is the emerging laser focus on ‘rising risk’ patients, an activity reported by 72 percent of respondents. This scrutiny of rising risk populations helps to prevention their migration to high-risk status, where complex and costly health episodes prevail.

Other data points identified by the 2016 Stratifying High-Risk Patients survey include the following:

• Almost four-fifths of 2016 respondents have programs to stratify high-risk patients, and the infrastructures of more than half of these initiatives utilize clinical analytics, predictive algorithms, EHRs and other IT tools to manage care for high-risk patients.
• The reigning health risk calculator continues to be the LACE tool (Length of stay, Acute admission, Charleston Comorbidity score, ED visits), used by 45 percent in 2016, versus 33 percent two years ago.
• For more than a quarter of 2016 respondents, assuring data integrity remains a key challenge to risk prediction.
• A case manager typically has primary responsibility for risk stratification, say 52 percent of respondents.
• Diabetes is the most prevalent clinical condition among high-risk patients, say 47 percent.
• At least 70 percent report reductions in hospitalizations and ER visits related to risk stratification efforts.
• Improvement in the highly desirable metric of patient engagement is reported by 74 percent of respondents.

Click here to download an executive summary of survey results: Stratifying High-Risk Patients in 2016: As Risk Prediction Prevails, Industry Eyes Social Determinants, Rising Risk.

In a nod to the wide diversity of physician practices, the recent "Pick Your Pace" announcement by the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) clarifies the timing of reporting for year one of the Quality Payment Program and offers eligible physicians and other clinicians multiple options for participation.

But whatever participation level a practice elects for 2017, there are many ways eligible providers can proactively prepare for MACRA's ultimate impact on physician quality reporting and reimbursement prior to November 1, 2016, the date by which CMS has said it will issue the MACRA final rule.

Eric Levin, director of strategic services, McKesson, offered this advice for physician practices to prepare for Medicare's Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS), one of two payment paths CMS will offer to practices.

• First, make certain you are successfully participating in any Medicare Quality and electronic health record (EHR) programs, which would include the Physician Quality Reporting System (PQRS), Meaningful Use, and the Patient-Centered Medical Home.
• Next, try and factor the alternative payment model (APM) participation bonus into your risk-based payment model adoption strategy to see if that might be something you can qualify for, as the rewards can be significantly higher under the APM track.
• Third, make sure you know which track your organization is going to seek. Explore APMs; if you can do one, great. If not, then MIPS can still provide a relatively high incentive.
• Next, start educating providers, employers, nurses, staff members, on what the payment track is going to be, what’s going to be measured, and what the outcomes will be like as well.
• Finally, stay very close to CMS. Check their Web site, subscribe for e-mail updates and check their Twitter feed for anything that’s changed, for any proposed MACRA rules that might become final, so that you are aware of and can make any changes as needed.

Source: MACRA Physician Quality Reporting: Positioning Your Practice for the MIPS Merit-Based Incentive Payment System

MACRA Physician Quality Reporting: Positioning Your Practice for the MIPS Merit-Based Incentive Payment System delivers a veritable MACRA toolkit for physician practices, with dozens of tips and strategies that lay the groundwork for reimbursement under Medicare's Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS), expected to begin in 2017 and one of two payment paths Medicare will offer to practices.

All of Maryland's acute care hospitals use a certified electronic health record (EHR), according to a new infographic by the Maryland Health Care Commission.

The infographic examines the top three EHR vendors in use in Maryland, as well as the use of patient portals, IT for population health management and telehealth and the number of hospitals participating in health information exchanges.

While widespread adoption of electronic health records has generated new streams of actionable patient data, John C. Lincoln has taken data mining to new levels to enhance performance of its accountable care organization (ACO).

Beyond the EMR: Mining Population Health Analytics to Elevate Accountable Care reviews the concentrated data dig undertaken by John C. Lincoln to prepare for participation in the CMS Medicare Shared Savings Program (MSSP).

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The role of IT in healthcare delivery has expanded dramatically in just the last few years—and so has the threat from data thieves. A single, stolen healthcare record is worth hundreds of dollars on the black market—creating an estimated $6 billion cybersecurity problem for the industry as a whole, according to a new infographic by NaviSite.

The infographic examines the latest data on the healthcare security problem and a seven-step plan for protection.

Person-centric health management is slowly acknowledging the device-driven lives of patients and health plan members and incorporating these tools into care delivery and management efforts.

2016 Healthcare Benchmarks: Digital Health examines program goals, platforms, components, development strategies, target populations and health conditions, patient engagement metrics, results and challenges reported by healthcare organizations responding to the February 2016 Digital Health survey by the Healthcare Intelligence Network.

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The newly finalized 2017 Physician Fee Schedule expands Chronic Care Management codes to complex patients with multiple chronic illnesses.

"Depending on the manner in which you're managing your Medicare Part B demographic, you have an opportunity to generate from 100 to 120 percent of the Medicare fee schedule under MACRA," noted Barry Allison, chief information officer, the Center for Primary Care, during Physician Chronic Care Management Reimbursement: Setting MACRA's MIPS Path for 2017.

During this October 2016 webinar now available for replay, Allison described how early adoption of Medicare's Chronic Care Management (CCM) Reimbursement program enhanced the Center's MACRA-readiness under the Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) path. By identifying the more than three-quarters of its 24,000 active Medicare beneficiaries that met CMS's CCM requirements, the Center had a ready pool of patients on which to overlay CMS's care coordination best practices and begin earning crucial CCM revenue.

"CMS recognizes that care management is a critical component of primary care. It contributes to better health and care for individuals, as well as reduced spending," said Allison, who estimates his 40-provider organization is the largest chronic care management initiative in the Southeast.

Using the value-based modifier data available within CMS's Quality Use and Resource Report (QRUR), The Center for Primary Care further identified its percentage of high-risk Medicare patients for more focused care management.

Accessing and reviewing QRUR reports, available from the CMS Enterprise Identity Management (EIDM) desk, is an essential prerequisite to MACRA participation, advised Allison, who also detailed the type of reports and data available from the QRUR. "Procure that data as soon as possible, because you can learn a lot about what CMS will be looking for in the future, and how the value-based modifier will actually become a part of that MACRA multi-pronged approach."

While his organization's CCM program utilized ENLI software to identify 'hot-spotter' data elements such as unfilled prescriptions or ER visits for specific conditions, physician practices that lack this technology still have many tools at their disposal—even appointment scheduling software—to identify high-risk patients.

"Open up consistent lines of dialogue and engage your providers. Sit down with them and say, 'You know your patients better than anyone else. Tell us who to reach out to.'" With or without CCM software, practices should "document, document, document" the amount of time devoted to CCM, as well as how that time benefited patients.

Long-term planning rather than a reactive view will better position physician practices for success under MACRA's Quality Payment Program, Allison concluded. The Center is already estimating how it will fare under Medicare's newly finalized 2017 Physician Fee Schedule (PFS). Next year's PFS significantly updates CCM, offering new codes for complex chronic care management and for extra care management furnished by a physician or practitioner following the initiating visit for patients with multiple chronic conditions.

"For us, CCM is not really focused on the near term revenue as much as it is about the long term action-reaction we can have in the patient's life, and how our physicians are paid over the next three years."

Click here for an interview with Barry Allison on the MACRA Prerequisite of Procuring QRUR Performance Data to Maximize MIPS Success.

Healthcare organizations are increasingly targeted by cyber criminals seeking to steal electronic protected health information, electronic health records, personally identifiable information and other confidential patient data, according to a new infographic by A10.

The infographic examines the healthcare cyber threat, the need for SSL, why healthcare organizations have been slow to adopt SSL and the top SSL decryption tools.

Person-centric health management is slowly acknowledging the device-driven lives of patients and health plan members and incorporating these tools into care delivery and management efforts.

2016 Healthcare Benchmarks: Digital Health examines program goals, platforms, components, development strategies, target populations and health conditions, patient engagement metrics, results and challenges reported by healthcare organizations responding to the February 2016 Digital Health survey by the Healthcare Intelligence Network.

Get the latest healthcare infographics delivered to your e-inbox with Eye on Infographics, a bi-weekly, e-newsletter digest of visual healthcare data. Click here to sign up today.

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Collaborative Health Systems believes the health data it distributes to its physicians should speak to the challenges providers see in the market.

As the largest sponsor of Medicare Shared Savings Program (MSSP) accountable care organizations (ACOs), Collaborative Health Systems (CHS) has learned a number of lessons about the integration of data analytics and technology. Here, Elena Tkachev, CHS director of ACO analytics, outlines three challenges her organization has faced in the rollout of health analytics to its provider base, and some CHS approaches to these hurdles.

What are some of the challenges we have identified, and some solutions? Number one is the availability and access to timely and accurate data. This has been a challenge for us. As an insurance company, we have a very strong expertise and access to the claims information Medicare provides to us, but we did face the challenge of incorporating electronic medical records (EMRs) into our data. We have been taking a phased approach, where we continue only adding and enhancing our data. If you are not at a point where you’re ready to consume everything, it doesn’t mean you should not do it until you have all the pieces together. It’s better to start with something and then you can grow from that point and improve it.

The second is related to the technology and capability—the ability to aggregate all this different data from different resources and have it be meaningful. For us, it’s really an investment in having strong technology data architect subject matter experts as well as the tools that can help us with that.

The third is display of meaningful results. This has been a challenge and we’ve reiterated it. Since I first started at CHS, the reports have drastically changed, because we learned from our providers that too much information is not helpful; just giving someone a spreadsheet with a lot of columns is not very useful.

Providers would rather see information summarized, and less is more. It’s really important to have information be very clear. The data needs to speak to the challenges the providers see in the market.

Source: Health Analytics in Accountable Care: Leveraging Data to Transform ACO Performance and Results

Health Analytics in Accountable Care: Leveraging Data to Transform ACO Performance and Results documents the accomplishments of CHS's 24 ACOs under the MSSP program, the crucial role of data analytics in CHS operations, and the many lessons learned as an early trailblazer in value-based care delivery.

Healthcare organizations with access to electronic healthcare record, claims, socio-demographic and administrative data, have to apply that data through all available lenses to act properly on the data to improve health, according to new infographic by Optum.

The infographic details three possible lenses through which healthcare data should be examined, as well as finding opportunities for intervention and measuring intervention success.

The move from fee-for-service to value-based healthcare is driving the need for increased capabilities in population health management, including addressing all of the areas that may impact a person's health. There is growing recognition that a broad range of social, economic and environmental factors shape an individual's health, according to the New England Journal of Medicine. In fact, 60 percent of premature deaths are due to either individual behaviors or social and environmental factors. Healthcare providers who adopt value-based reimbursement models have an economic interest in all of the factors that impact a person's health and providers must develop new skills and data gathering capabilities and forge community partnerships to understand and impact these factors.

During Social Determinants and Population Health: Moving Beyond Clinical Data in a Value-Based Healthcare System, a December 8th webinar, now available for replay, Dr. Randall Williams, chief executive officer, Pharos Innovations, shares his insight on the opportunity available to providers to impact population health beyond traditional clinical factors.

Get the latest healthcare infographics delivered to your e-inbox with Eye on Infographics, a bi-weekly, e-newsletter digest of visual healthcare data. Click here to sign up today. Have an infographic you'd like featured on our site? Click here for submission guidelines.

U.S. hospitals that provide superior patient experiences generate 50 percent higher financial performance than average providers…key in today's shift from volume- to value-based healthcare, according to a new infographic by Evariant. True patient engagement is about creating trust between the patient and health system, nurturing a relationship over the course of a patient's lifetime.

This understanding is possible by integrating healthcare CRM software and EHR systems. Combined, these two systems weave together patient data from a variety of sources, including demographic, social, behavioral, and clinical data.

The infographic examines how a combined EHR and CRM can bridge the patient engagement gap and extend the EHR investment.

Patient-centric interventions like population health management, health coaching, home visits and telephonic outreach are designed to engage individuals in health self-management—contributing to healthier clinical and financial results in healthcare's value-based reimbursement climate.

But when organizations consistently rank patient engagement as their most critical care challenge, as hundreds have in response to HIN benchmark surveys, which strategies will help to bring about the desired health behavior change in high-risk populations?

9 Protocols to Promote Patient Engagement in High-Risk, High-Cost Populations presents a collection of tactics that are successfully activating the most resistant, hard-to-engage patients and health plan members in chronic condition management. Whether an organization refers to this population segment as high-risk, high-cost, clinically complex, high-utilizer or simply top-of-the-pyramid 'VIPs,' the touch points and technologies in this resource will recharge their care coordination approach.

Get the latest healthcare infographics delivered to your e-inbox with Eye on Infographics, a bi-weekly, e-newsletter digest of visual healthcare data. Click here to sign up today. Have an infographic you'd like featured on our site? Click here for submission guidelines.

Healthcare providers across the globe are recognizing the need for digital technology in their hospitals and practices. But with ever-tightening budgets and numerous priorities, where exactly should they focus their investments? What will really drive the most value? The biggest impact comes from digitizing the ways clinicians, healthcare workers, and administrators do their jobs, according to a new report by Cisco.

A new infographic from Cisco highlights the report's findings and details potential digital health cost savings.

Digital health, also referred to as 'connected health,' leverages technology to help identify, track and manage health problems and challenges faced by patients. Person-centric health management is slowly acknowledging the device-driven lives of patients and health plan members and incorporating these tools into care delivery and management efforts.

2016 Healthcare Benchmarks: Digital Health examines program goals, platforms, components, development strategies, target populations and health conditions, patient engagement metrics, results and challenges reported by more than 100 healthcare organizations responding to the February 2016 Digital Health survey by the Healthcare Intelligence Network.

Get the latest healthcare infographics delivered to your e-inbox with Eye on Infographics, a bi-weekly, e-newsletter digest of visual healthcare data. Click here to sign up today. Have an infographic you'd like featured on our site? Click here for submission guidelines.

Information technology and healthcare leaders are looking at ways to improve electronic health record (EHR) and clinical documentation effectiveness, according to a new infographic by Nuance Communications, Inc.

The infographic examines the strategies healthcare organizations are implementing to improve clinician satisfaction with EHRs and how organizations are optimizing EHRs this year.

Between Medicare's aggressive migration to value-based payment models and MACRA's 2017 Quality Payment Program rollout, healthcare providers must accept the inevitability of participation in fee-for-quality reimbursement design—as well as cultivating a grounding in health data analytics to enhance success.

As an early adopter of the Medicare Shared Savings Program (MSSP) and the largest sponsor of MSSP accountable care organizations (ACOs), Collaborative Health Systems (CHS) is uniquely positioned to advise providers on the benefits of data analytics and technology, which CHS views as a major driver in its achievements in the MSSP arena. In performance year 2014, nine of CHS's 24 MSSP ACOs generated savings and received payments of almost $27 million.

Health Analytics in Accountable Care: Leveraging Data to Transform ACO Performance and Results examines program goals, platforms, components, development strategies, target populations and health conditions, patient engagement metrics, results and challenges reported by more than 100 healthcare organizations responding to the February 2016 Digital Health survey by the Healthcare Intelligence Network.

Get the latest healthcare infographics delivered to your e-inbox with Eye on Infographics, a bi-weekly, e-newsletter digest of visual healthcare data. Click here to sign up today. Have an infographic you'd like featured on our site? Click here for submission guidelines.

The traditional clinician's medicine bag is now a thing of the past, but its replacement promises to be even more useful as a means of facilitating better patient care, according to a new infographic by Transcend Insight. Now, a doctor's visit is facilitated via laptop or with a smartphone -- technologies and products of healthcare innovation.

Healthcare innovation, in fact, is transforming everything from how physicians diagnose and treat their patients to how healthcare systems are reimbursed for their services. Here’s a quick look at how that transformation is unfolding, and how four key technologies in particular have become critical components of modern-day medicine.

Encouraged by early success in coaching 23 patients to wellness at home via remote monitoring, CHRISTUS Health expanded its remote patient monitoring (RPM) enrollment to 170 high-risk, high-cost patients. At that scaling-up juncture, the challenge for CHRISTUS shifted to balancing its mission of keeping patients healthy and in their homes with maintaining revenue streams sufficient to keep its doors open in a largely fee-for-service environment.

Remote Patient Monitoring for Chronic Condition Management: Leveraging Technology in a Value-Based System chronicles the evolution of the CHRISTUS RPM pilot, which is framed around a Bluetooth®-enabled monitoring kit sent home with patients at hospital discharge.

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Can melding the best of electronic health records (EHRs) and artificial intelligence foster greater empathy among healthcare providers? Basil Hayek, Director of Business Consulting, Sapient Health, and Paul Penta, Manager of Business Consulting, Sapient Health, examine that possibility in this guest post.

EHRs, artificial intelligence, and empathy: If this were a Sesame Street segment, it would be easy to pick the one that is not like the others. But could combining the first two actually enable greater empathy?

First, let's set some context. Industry-wide, there is a high degree of dissatisfaction amongst physicians with EHRs. This can result from the increased clerical burden, poor user interfaces, and feeling of cookbook medicine. These challenges add to the burden already faced by physicians, and contribute to burnout, sub-optimal prescribing and referral behaviors, and erosion of clinician empathy.

As empathy diminishes, so do outcomes. Studies across multiple conditions, including diabetes, cancer, and the common cold, found evidence supporting this hypothesis. In addition, a broad evidence review saw a consistent positive association between patient experience, patient safety and clinical effectiveness. As clinician empathy can dramatically influence a patient’s experience, it can be surmised that empathy is a contributing factor.

There are various approaches to addressing EHR challenges. Healthcare organizations are deploying scribes, tablets and optimization programs. Legislative and policy changes are in the works. Although not enacted before the end of the congressional session, the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee introduced a bill last year to help improve EHR usability. In addition, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality within the Department of Health & Human Services has called for certification requirements on EHR usability.

Ultimately, healthcare provider satisfaction with EHRs will improve through these tactics. That's not to say that EHRs cannot move from simply meeting a HCP’s expectations to exceeding them. This is where artificial intelligence (AI) will play a role.

When AI is mentioned, the first thing that comes to mind is probably IBM's Watson. Watson, which gained fame for winning Jeopardy against two former champions in 2011, has dramatically evolved its cognitive capability and reach to make an impact in various industries, including healthcare. Healthcare providers can use Watson to analyze medical records, assist in diagnosis, and help find evidence-based treatments, and its capabilities continue to grow. These developments are exciting, but only hint at what is achievable, which includes helping to achieve the Quadruple Aim of an improved patient experience, improved population health, reduced costs, and an improved clinician experience.

AI can contribute in realizing the Quadruple Aim due to its ability to efficiently analyze large volumes of data, discover patterns, and make logical inferences. The potential population health and cost implications resulting from AI are fairly self-evident. What is intriguing is how AI can play a role in helping improve the provider and patient experience. How this could come together is better told through two scenarios.

Scenario 1:

Consider 47-year-old Gary, recently diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. He is due for a follow-up with his doctor to review his treatment after completing blood work. In the first scenario, Gary is trying to navigate his diagnosis in the current state environment.

Because of a lab location that requires him to drive instead of taking public transit, Gary misses three scheduled lab appointments and is forced to reschedule his follow-up. When he finally completes his labs and meets with his doctor, she seems hurried and spends most of the time looking at her laptop as she updates Gary’s chart. Although she notes his A1Cs have risen, she opts to continue the same regimen until his next appointment. Gary leaves feeling uncertain about the effectiveness of his medication, and has doubts on whether the side effects of heartburn and indigestion are worth it.

Now, let’s look at a version of this same narrative where AI enables a better all-around experience.

Scenario 2:

After Gary misses his first lab appointment, the AI-enhanced EHR offers to reschedule at a location one stop away from his house. He attends that appointment and keeps his follow-up with his doctor. Prior to this appointment, his doctor reviews an AI-generated clinical summary, which highlights key factors to consider for Gary’s treatment and confirms that she has reviewed the latest research relevant to Gary’s condition and history.

She greets Gary when he arrives and asks how he’s doing with the medication. When he mentions heartburn and indigestion, she acknowledges they’re common side effects, and recommends that he be diligent about taking it with food and using an antacid until the side effects diminish.

She turns Gary’s attention to a large wall-mounted screen showing a patient-optimized view of his health record. She uses a tablet as a second screen to direct the conversation via a physician view. Gary sees his blood glucose trends and notices that the side effects he just mentioned are in his record. As they discuss additional medication to help control Gary’s rising A1Cs, the doctor asks Gary to confirm the accuracy of the displayed list of medications and supplements. Gary mentions he has also started taking low dose aspirin.

Shortly after he says this, aspirin appears on the screen. The physician view on her tablet alerts her of new research indicating an interaction between aspirin and a candidate medication. With this information, she recommends an alternative combination drug, and Gary walks out with a new prescription and confidence in managing his diabetes.

Conclusion:

In the second scenario, AI enabled the following technologies and associated benefits to provide an alternate and improved experience:

• Prescriptive analytics based on clinical and socio-demographic perspectives of EHR data: offloads intent from the patient and reduce barriers to care;
• Context-aware clinical natural language processing: offloads data entry from the physician, and allows the patient to more naturally participate in the treatment conversation;
• Cognitive computing to assess medical evidence: allows physicians to more easily review information relevant to a specific patient.

These enablers are neither new nor novel. However, combined they provide unobtrusive interventions that reduce the clerical and cognitive burden on physicians and provide improved opportunities for patient engagement. With time to think and a renewed focus on the person sitting in front of them, physicians can return to an empathy-driven encounter, and everyone wins.

About the Authors:

Basil Hayek, Director of Business Consulting, Sapient Health

Basil Hayek is responsible for digital strategy and delivery for Sapient Health. He supports a broad portfolio of clients, with a focus on health plans, pharmacy, and retail health. He gets excited about bringing together his technology, data, and product background to drive engagement and deliver business results for companies and better health outcomes for individuals. Basil graduated from Cornell University with a BS in Computer Science.

Paul Penta, Manager of Business Consulting, Sapient Health

As a Manager of Business Consulting at Sapient Health, Paul Penta draws on his experience building technology for patients in a clinical chronic care environment to enable digital change in healthcare organizations. With a focus on digital and technology strategy, Paul always keeps the patient at the center of the experience. Often taking on a cross-functional role, Paul excels in leading the strategic merger of process and product to achieve impactful metrics. Paul received an MBA from Boston University.

HIN Disclaimer: The opinions, representations and statements made within this guest article are those of the author and not of the Healthcare Intelligence Network as a whole. Any copyright remains with the author and any liability with regard to infringement of intellectual property rights remain with them. The company accepts no liability for any errors, omissions or representations.