The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, or CMS, has employed this carrot and stick approach to encourage complete adoption of e-prescribing to improve healthcare quality and cut costs.

While e-prescribing has grown dramatically in recent years, local doctors said there continue to be barriers to widespread acceptance of a technology that could save thousands of lives.

In a study released last week the Washington-based health policy think tank the Center for Studying Health System Change found that fewer than one-third of the nation’s office-based physicians were e-prescribing.

The study also revealed that even fewer doctors who were e-prescribing used important components of the program, such as checking for harmful drug interactions and cross-referencing patient insurance formularies to verify health plans will pay for the drug prescribed.

Few doctors using the service actually transmit the prescription electronically, choosing to fax it instead to pharmacies.

According to the Institute of Medicine, about 7,000 Americans die annually due to preventable medication errors, which injure another 1.5 million Americans.

The process has been fraught with glitches, said Munster physician Alex Stemer, M.D., who heads the practice Medical Specialists Inc.

Stemer said his large group practice is e-prescribing now “because the federal government wants us to. But all those theoretical improvements in health care that have been predicted are not yet occurring, though they’ll probably be realized in the future.”

He said e-prescribing eliminates some errors.

“Physicians are notorious for their bad handwriting,” he conceded. “But if a doctor’s prescription cannot be read, the pharmacist will usually call. E-prescribing opens a new type of mistake even more common: the wrong-click error.”

He said when a physician e-prescribes and begins typing in the name of the drug being prescribed, a series of drug names appear on the screen. He’s seen cases of the wrong drug being prescribed for a patient because the physician inadvertently clicked on a similarly spelled drug. But he suspects dosing errors are even more common.

“One click above or below many mean a 50 percent dosage difference in the drug,” he said. “How does a pharmacist catch that?”

He said while future generations of e-prescribing software may be more thorough, many of the current versions don’t offer black box warnings. In addition, many pharmacies only check their e-mail a few times each day, meaning patients sometimes come to the pharmacies hours after they thought their prescriptions had been filled only to discover they have not.

“When President Obama decided everyone should switch to e-prescribing, it was like giving everyone a 500 horsepower car, but no highway to drive it on,” he explained. “Much more needs to be done.”

Rob Jensen, executive director of support services for the Munster-based Hammond Clinic, said most e-prescribing at the 72-physician practice is done voluntarily.

“But we’re in the process of converting to a newer and more complex electronic medical record and we’re going on line Oct. 1,” Jensen said. “We’re trying to stay ahead and meet the government criteria to be eligible for government funding to purchase these robust systems.”

Jensen said searching a patient’s formulary to determine whether insurance will pay for a drug “is now a cumbersome process. “We’re hoping … that by electronically sending prescriptions, it will reduce handwriting misinterpretations. We need to do a whole education process. But once all the local pharmacies are plugged in, it will be a big benefit to them as well.”

Trudy Tieman, practice administrator for Merrillville orthopedic physician John Diveris, M.D., said the solo practitioner switched to e-prescribing 18 months ago.

“We switched when we converted to electronic health records,” said Tieman. “We love it and the patients love it,” she said.

“It’s more convenient for them. Instead of waiting for it to be filled, or dropping it off and driving back, they just go pick it up, although we advise them to call first to make sure it’s ready. The minute Dr. Diveris writes it, it is automatically released.”

Dick Roskam, M.D., the chief medical information officer for the Sisters of St. Francis Health Services in Indianapolis, parent to five Northwest Indiana hospitals, said they believe e-prescribing is an important technological tool to improve patient care.

“And as a result of that belief we have invested in a state-of-the-art electronic health record now featuring e-prescribing that is now employed by 400 physicians across our network,” Roskam said.

He said e-prescribing has been around a while, but is not as widely adopted as people think.

“There are some very reasonable explanations for that,” he said. “The cost of acquiring a system for e-prescribing, while not excessively high, is yet another additional cost of operating practice. It’s a technology that works well when fully embedded in an electronic health record. But many doctors either have standalone e-prescribing program or programs poorly embedded in older electronic health records.”

He said a fairly high percentage of Indiana pharmacies were not ready until recently to do e-prescribing and were unable to accept e-scripts.

Indiana slow to adopt

Indiana has lagged behind other states, ranking 33rd in 2009 in e-prescribing adoption. But parts of Indiana are moving more rapidly than others. Todd Rowland, M.D., director of medical infomatics for Bloomington Hospital, said in 2003 only 3 percent of Bloomington physicians were e-prescribing, a figure that leaped to 60 percent by 2010.

Rowland said while most electronic health records systems offer e-prescribing as a feature, they charge doctors to make electronic transmissions.

“The physicians say they can fax the scripts for free or pay electronically and receive no benefit. They don’t want to subsidize those services for insurance companies, so many don’t electronically transmit their prescriptions.”

He said physicians are very time sensitive in their practices and new systems requiring more time or additional steps are often ignored.

Rowland said the drug interaction component of many current e-prescribing programs spurs a series of “annoying pop-up alerts, many of which are unnecessary,” he said. “We want doctors to receive the best possible information that is really meaningful to them at the point of use and doesn’t slow them down.”

Gloria Sachdev, PharmD, a clinical assistant professor at Purdue University’s School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, said the cost of purchasing electronic health records and e-prescribing systems has posed a significant barrier to e-prescribing adoption.

“But with the federal subsidy incentive, cost is no longer the perceived issue. They have to change the way they’re doing things and most doctors don’t know which product to use. There is a fear of change. There are too many systems and too many products and some vendors don’t offer any training or support. If the doctors knew they’d have that support up front, they would be more accepting of change.”

Sachdev said ultimately the solution boils down to process reengineering and education. “We need to make it fit into their work flow.”

Source:  Post-Tribune

WASHINGTON, DC – July 22, 2010 – Today, the eHealth Initiative (eHI) released a new report entitled The State of Health Information Exchange in 2010: Connecting the Nation to Achieve Meaningful Use. The report identifies significant growth in the industry, as well as rising concerns related to new government policies, and an increased focus on patients. The
report was shared with several hundred state and industry leaders during the National Forum on Health Information Exchange in Washington, DC.

The eHealth Initiative has been tracking the progress of health information exchange initiatives for seven years. This year, eHI identified 234 active health information exchange initiatives across the country and 199 organizations responded to the annual survey. Several key findings emerged from the survey results:

Despite recent funding, significant challenges exist to supporting provider attainment of meaningful use.  The survey revealed that despite expanding capabilities, the ability of HIEs to support providers as they become Stage 1 meaningful user will be challenged by the current number of operational exchanges and current capacity of health information exchange initiatives.

“From the results, it is clear that health information exchange initiatives are focused on supplying the services that will help providers reach their targets,” Commented Micky Tripathi,PhD, President and CEO of Massachusetts eHealth Collaborative. “While we’re on the right track with the service offerings, we still haven’t achieved the necessary critical mass of participation.”

More research is needed to determine the key characteristics of sustainable systems.  The report confirms that sustainability remains one the key challenges before the initiatives. The State Designated Entities (SDEs) are new entrants in the field, and it is not clear what will be their impact on the initiatives.

“The State Designated Entities (SDEs) are poised to foster growth across the field of health information exchange,” said Dr. Marc Overhage, Director of Regenstrief Institute and CEO of Indiana Health Information Exchange. “Among other challenges, the SDEs are going to face the question how to keep the doors open once the federal funding ends. Failure to sustain the SDEs may hinder the overall advancement of health information exchange.”

New challenges are rapidly emerging related to federal policy and governance of the health information exchanges. 131 initiatives cited addressing government policy mandates as a major challenge.

More organizations are reporting cost savings through reductions in staff time and redundant testing through the use of health information exchange.  More initiatives reported health information exchange had reduced staff time spent on clerical administration and filing (33); reduced staff time spent on handling lab and radiology results (30); and decreased dollars spent on redundant tests (28).

Health information exchange initiatives have increased their focus on patients.  Initiatives are providing greater access to patients to not only view (44 in 2010 up from 3 in 2009), but to also update their health information (31 in 2010 up from 7 in 2009).

“There is definite progress here, but it doesn’t mean we can rest on our laurels,” noted Jennifer Covich Bordenick, CEO at eHealth Initiative. “More initiatives and providers need to document cost savings, and promote services that involve patients in their healthcare.”

The report and an interactive map of health information exchange activity are available on the eHI website at: http://www.ehealthinitiative.org/

Printing and dissemination of the survey report was supported by: Axolotl, Microsoft, Navinet,Partners HealthCare and Thompson Reuters.

 For more information, visit http://www.ehealthinitiative.org/2010-07-22.html

WASHINGTON – U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius today announced final rules to help improve Americans’ health, increase safety and reduce health care costs through expanded use of electronic health records (EHR). 

“For years, health policy leaders on both sides of the aisle have urged adoption of electronic health records throughout our health care system to improve quality of care and ultimately lower costs,” Secretary Sebelius said.  “Today, with the leadership of the President and the Congress, we are making that goal a reality.” 

Under the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act of 2009, eligible health care professionals and hospitals can qualify for Medicare and Medicaid incentive payments when they adopt certified EHR technology and use it to achieve specified objectives.  One of the two regulations announced today defines the “meaningful use” objectives that providers must meet to qualify for the bonus payments, and the other regulation identifies the technical capabilities required for certified EHR technology. 

Announcement of today’s regulations marks the completion of multiple steps laying the groundwork for the incentive payments program.  With “meaningful use” definitions in place, EHR system vendors can ensure that their systems deliver the required capabilities, providers can be assured that the system they acquire will support achievement of “meaningful use” objectives, and a concentrated five-year national initiative to adopt and use electronic records in health care can begin. 

“This is a turning point for electronic health records in America, and for improved quality and effectiveness in health care,” said David Blumenthal, M.D., National Coordinator for Health Information Technology.  “In delivering on the goals that Congress called for, we have sought to provide the leadership and coordination that are essential for a large, technology-based enterprise.  At the same time, we have sought and received extensive input from the health care community, and we have drawn on their experience and wisdom to produce objectives that are both ambitious and achievable.” 

Two companion final rules were announced today.  One regulation, issued by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), defines the minimum requirements that providers must meet through their use of certified EHR technology in order to qualify for the payments.  The other rule, issued by the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC), identifies the standards and certification criteria for the certification of EHR technology, so eligible professionals and hospitals may be assured that the systems they adopt are capable of performing the required functions. 

As much as $27 billion may be expended in incentive payments over ten years.  Eligible professionals may receive as much as $44,000 under Medicare and $63,750 under Medicaid, and hospitals may receive millions of dollars for implementation and meaningful use of certified EHRs under both Medicare and Medicaid. 

The CMS rule announced today makes final a proposed rule issued on Jan, 13, 2010.  The final rule includes modifications that address stakeholder concerns while retaining the intent and structure of the incentive programs.  In particular, while the proposed rule called on eligible professionals to meet 25 requirements (23 for hospitals) in their use of EHRs, the final rules divides the requirements into a “core” group of requirements that must be met, plus an additional “menu” of procedures from which providers may choose.  This “two track” approach ensures that the most basic elements of meaningful EHR use will be met by all providers qualifying for incentive payments, while at the same time allowing latitude in other areas to reflect providers’ needs and their individual path to full EHR use. 

“CMS received more than 2,000 comments on our proposed rule,” said Marilyn Tavenner, Principal Deputy Administrator of CMS.  “Many comments were from those who will be most immediately affected by EHR technology – health care providers and patients.  We carefully considered every comment and the final meaningful use rules incorporate changes that are designed to make the requirements achievable while meeting the goals of the HITECH Act.” 

Requirements for meaningful use incentive payments will be implemented over a multi-year period, phasing in additional requirements that will raise the bar for performance on IT and quality objectives in later years.  The final CMS rule specifies initial criteria that eligible professionals (EPs) and eligible hospitals, including critical access hospitals (CAHs), must meet.  The rule also includes the formula for the calculation of the incentive payment amounts; a schedule for payment adjustments under Medicare for covered professional services and inpatient hospital services provided by EPs, eligible hospitals and CAHs that fail to demonstrate meaningful use of certified EHR technology by 2015; and other program participation requirements. 

Key changes in the final CMS rule include: 

• Greater flexibility with respect to eligible professionals and hospitals in meeting and reporting certain objectives for demonstrating meaningful use.  The final rule divides the objectives into a “core” group of required objectives and a “menu set” of procedures from which providers may choose any five to defer in 2011-2012.  This gives providers latitude to pick their own path toward full EHR implementation and meaningful use.
• An objective of providing condition-specific patient education resources for both EPs and eligible hospitals and the objective of recording advance directives for eligible hospitals, in line with recommendations from the Health Information Technology Policy Committee.
• A definition of a hospital-based EP as one who performs substantially all of his or her services in an inpatient hospital setting or emergency room only, which  conforms to the Continuing Extension Act of 2010
• CAHs within the definition of acute care hospital for the purpose of incentive program eligibility under Medicaid.
   

CMS’ and ONC’s final rules complement two other recently issued HHS rules.  On June 24, 2010, ONC published a final rule establishing a temporary certification program for health information technology. And on July 8, 2010 the Office for Civil Rights announced a proposed rule that would strengthen and expand privacy, security, and enforcement protections under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996. 

As part of this process, HHS is establishing a nationwide network of Regional Extension Centers to assist providers in adopting and using in a meaningful way certified EHR technology. 

“Health care is finally making the technology advances that other sectors of our economy began to undertake years ago,” Dr. Blumenthal said.  “These changes will be challenging for clinicians and hospitals, but the time has come to act.  Adoption and meaningful use of EHRs will help providers deliver better and more effective care, and the benefits for patients and providers alike will grow rapidly over time.” 

A CMS/ONC fact sheet on the rules is available at http://www.cms.gov/EHRIncentivePrograms/

Technical fact sheets on CMS’s final rule are available at http://www.cms.gov/EHRIncentivePrograms/

A technical fact sheet on ONC’s standards and certification criteria final rule is available at http://healthit.hhs.gov/standardsandcertification.

The survey recognizes organizations for their achievements in four focus areas: infrastructure, business and administrative management, clinical quality and safety and the care continuum. Hospitals were awarded under the categories of “25 Most Improved,” the “25 Most Wireless” and the “25 Most Wired – Small and Rural” hospitals.

Officials say this year’s survey, conducted in cooperation with the American Hospital Association, McKesson Corp. and the College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (CHIME), included new and revised questions based on concepts of  meaningful use. Other changes included increased CIO involvement in survey development and use of a transparent scoring methodology, said officials.

According to this year’s survey of nearly 1,280 hospitals, represented in 555 submitted surveys, the importance of health information technology and the benefits of its widespread adoption are understood by hospitals, but they still face significant barriers to implementation.

Continued progress for hospitals in patient safety initiatives include:

• Fifty-one percent of medication orders were done electronically by physicians at Most Wired hospitals, up from 49 percent last year.
• Over half (55 percent) of Most Wired hospitals match medication orders at the bedside through bar coding or radio-frequency identification, up from 49 percent in 2009 and from 23 percent five years ago.
• Additionally, Most Wired hospitals have made improvements when it comes to sharing information during care transitions.  For example, new medication lists are electronically delivered to caregivers and patients 94 percent of the time when a patient is transferred within the hospital, 98 percent at discharge and 86 percent when transferred to another care setting.

The survey shows the use of electronic medical record functions is still not widespread, even with independent physicians who practice within hospitals.  For Most Wired hospitals, only 43 percent of independent physician practices have the ability to electronically document medical records, 41 percent have computerized physician order entry and 44 percent have decision support.

“The survey results highlight that continued progress is being made but the full potential of health IT has not been met,” says Rich Umbdenstock, president and CEO of the American Hospital Association (AHA).  “Hospitals embrace health IT and recognize the many benefits it can provide to patients, but even Most Wired hospitals face barriers to adoption.  We have asked that the federal government stimulate greater adoption by making Medicare and Medicaid incentive payments more widely available to hospitals and physicians so more hospitals can move in this direction.”

Gerry McCarthy, vice president of physician solutions at McKesson Corp. says providers need to be strategic about IT deployments. “You can’t just start with CPOE as a first step,” he says. “The best way to garner physician adoption of CPOE is to ensure that it adds immediate value to their workflow, which involves automating information across foundational care processes first, such as nursing documentation and bar-code medication administration, clinical monitoring and other features.” The same type of thoughtful planning should be applied to information exchange, both with physicians and patients, he adds.

The 2010 Winners In Indiana:

• Bloomington Hospital: Most Improved
• Clarian Health, Indianapolis: Most Wired
• Community Health Network, Indianapolis: Most Wired
• Reid Hospital and Health Care Services, Richmond: Most Wired-Small & Rural
• Richard L. Roudebush VA Medical Center, Indianapolis: Most Wired
• Union Hospital Clinton: Most Wireless
• Union Hospital Terre Haute: Most Wireless

For Complete List Click Here

HealthcareIT News.com

July 09, 2010 | Molly Merrill, Associate Editor

“I call it medical minutes,” says Dr. Richard Katz of George Washington University Hospital in the nation’s capital.

He’s testing whether inner-city diabetics, an especially hard-to-treat population, might better control their blood sugar – and thus save Medicaid dollars – by tracking their disease using Internet-connected cell phones, provided with reduced monthly rates as long as they regularly comply.

Consider Tyrone Harvey, 43, who learned he had diabetes seven years ago only after getting so sick he was hospitalized for a week, and who has struggled to lower his blood sugar ever since. In May, through a study Katz began with nearby Howard University Hospital’s diabetes clinic, Harvey received a Web-based personal health record that he clicks onto using his cell phone, to record his daily blood sugar measurements.

If Harvey enters a reading higher or lower than pre-set danger thresholds, a text message automatically pings a warning, telling him what to do. And at checkups, doctors will use the personal health record, created by Indiana-based NoMoreClipboard.com, to track all his fluctations and decide what next steps to advise.

“Hopefully you’re paying more attention to your numbers, too,” says Howard’s Dr. Gail Nunlee-Bland, whose clinic uses an electronic health record – your official medical history – that can automatically link to NoMoreClipboard’s consumer version and update it with things like medication changes.

The trend is called mobile health or, to use tech-speak, mHealth. If you’re a savvy smartphone user, you’ve probably seen lots of apps that claim to help your health or fitness goals – using your phone like a pedometer or an alarm clock to signal when it’s time to take your medicine.

Katz and other researchers are going a step further, scientifically testing whether more personalized cell phone-based programs can link patients’ own care with their doctors’ disease-management efforts in ways that might provide lasting health improvement.

“Mobile phones provide that opportunity for persons to get the feedback they need when they need it,” explains Charlene Quinn, an assistant professor at the University of Maryland medical school, who is testing a competing cell phone diabetes system from Baltimore-based Welldoc Inc.

After all, most of the population now carries a cell phone. Accessing the Internet with them is on the rise, too – nearly 40 percent of cell callers do, the Pew Internet & American Life Project reported last week – allowing more sophisticated digital health contact.

On the other hand, older adults are less likely to use smartphones. So are people who are sicker, with multiple chronic diseases, says Dr. Joseph Kvedar, director of the Center for Connected Health, a division of Boston’s Partners Healthcare.

Kvedar notes that nearly any phone can handle simpler text-messaging programs. Among the biggest offered to date is the free text4baby, where government-vetted health tips timed to pregnant women’s due dates are texted weekly to about 50,000 participants so far.

Do these kinds of technologies work? There’s some short-term evidence, although no one knows if people stick with it once the novelty wears off:

-In a study of 70 Boston residents to improve cancer-preventing use of sunscreen, Kvedar found daily texts with reminders hooked to the weather forecast for six weeks increased sunscreen use by 40 percent.

-Researchers at New York’s Mount Sinai Medical Center found episodes of rejection dropped when they texted take-your-medicine reminders to 41 pediatric liver transplant recipients or their caregivers, adding another text nag to the parent if teen patients didn’t quickly respond that they’d taken their dose.

-The University of California, San Diego, went a step further, designing a text-message program to encourage weight loss where participants texted back answers to such questions as “Did you buy fresh raw vegetables to snack on this week?” Answering allowed more customized texted diet tips. In a pilot study of 75 people, text-message recipients lost about four more pounds in four months than those given printed dieting advice.

-The Internet-based approach offers even more two-way interaction. This fall, Quinn will report results of a 260-patient study using a range of Welldoc phone features, including more real-time monitoring of the blood sugar fluctuations users enter. A small Welldoc pilot study found users’ average blood sugar dropped over three months.

“What systems work best with patients has yet to be figured out,” says George Washington’s Katz, who is testing a version of that program, too – and worries not just about affordability when his study is over but whether interest will wane. “Otherwise, they find it’s a nice toy to start with, and forget about it.”

By LAURAN NEERGAARD
The Associated Press
 The Washington Post.com

Bloomington, Ind. and Nashville, TN. – Centerstone Research Institute (CRI), a unique notfor-profit organization dedicated to improving mental healthcare through research and information technology, has been recognized as a 2010 Best Practices Award Winner by The Data Warehousing Institute (TDWI). Honored for its innovative data warehouse, CRI is the first behavioral health organization ever to be recognized by TDWI.

“We are thrilled to receive the TDWI Best Practices Award,” said Dennis Morrison, PhD, Chief Executive Officer of CRI. “This is a significant validation of CRI’s data warehouse, which was launched only two years ago. This data warehouse provides critical operational and management tools that can improve the quality of patient care and prevent clinician errors, while saving time and resources.”

TDWI’s Best Practices Awards program honors companies that have demonstrated excellence in developing, deploying and maintaining business intelligence (BI) and data warehousing (DW) applications. CRI was selected as one of two winners in the Government and Non-Profit category along with the Transportation and Security Administration (TSA) and Solution Sponsor:MicroStrategy.

CRI’s data warehouse is a collection of anonymous data that is designed to help implement research-based practices at mental health centers. An electronic clearing house, it empowers end users with actionable information to improve their business management and clinical practices. End users can explore vital information related to service quality, financial viability,and client outcomes, as well as predictive models that can better inform decisions that would most likely result in positive clinical outcomes. CRI’s system has helped produce a 30 percent increase in annual revenues in one year with staff productivity also rising 30 percent.

“Business intelligence is a key tool for any organization’s success,” said Richard Zbylut, president of TDWI. “Year after year our awards showcase forward thinking organizations for developing and implementing world-class solutions. We are pleased to recognize this year’s Best Practices Award winners on their innovative implementations. We hope that our program and the winning solutions serve as a powerful educational tool for technical and business professionals as they implement BI and DW strategies.”

Best Practices Award nominations were evaluated on business impact, maturity, innovation and relevance. Companies and sponsoring solution providers from diverse industries submitted entries that were judged in a variety of categories. Award winners were chosen by a panel of independent judges who have expertise in business intelligence and data warehousing.

Best Practices Awards winners will be honored at the TDWI World Conference, which will take place August 15-20, 2010, at the Manchester Grand Hyatt San Diego Hotel.

Previous Best Practices winners include organizations such as Boeing, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, eBay, IBM, Union Pacific, Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina, National Basketball Association and Louisiana-Pacific Corporation.

About Centerstone Research Institute
Centerstone Research Institute (CRI) is a unique not-for-profit organization dedicated to improving mental healthcare through research, information technology and clinical informatics. CRI conducts service and clinical studies and partners with leading research institutions to advance knowledge of mental health and addiction disorders and discover innovative treatments. The organization maintains an Institutional Review Board and manages the Knowledge Network, a technology-based, partner-driven alliance to facilitate the translation of research to practice. CRI also offers Behavioral Pathway Systems, a best practices benchmarking service. CRI is a recipient of the National Council for Community Behavioral Healthcare’s Innovation Award. For more information about CRI, please visit
www.centerstoneresearch.org.

About TDWI
The Data Warehousing Institute™ (TDWI), a division of 1105 Media, Inc., is the premier provider of in-depth, high-quality education and research in the business intelligence and data warehousing industry. TDWI is dedicated to educating business and information technology professionals about the strategies, techniques, and tools required to successfully design, build,and maintain business intelligence and data warehousing solutions. It also fosters the advancement of business intelligence and data warehousing research and contributes to knowledge transfer and professional development of its Members. TDWI sponsors and promotes a worldwide Membership program, quarterly educational conferences, regional educational seminars, role-based training, onsite courses, certification, solution provider partnerships, an awards program for best practices, resourceful publications, an in-depth research program, and a comprehensive Web site (www.tdwi.org).

Cincinnati, OH – HealthBridge, a not-for-profit health information organization serving the Greater Cincinnati tri-state area, has launched its new Tri-State Regional Extension Center (REC).  The Tri-State REC will help physicians and other medical professionals switch from paper records to using cutting-edge information technology to improve patient care.

“This program is fundamentally about improving patient care,” said David Groves, Executive Director of the Tri-State REC.  “The Tri-State REC will be a vital source of information for physicians and other health care professionals who are interested in using technology to provide high quality, cost-effective care.“

The Tri-State REC was founded through a $9.7 million federal grant. The goal of this new initiative is to help more than 1,700 physicians with the switch to electronic health records.

The launch of this new initiative was part of a Meaningful Use Conference hosted by HealthBridge that had roughly 300 people in attendance. The conference provided valuable information to physicians and practice staff about new federal funding under the economic stimulus bill for physicians who use health IT to improve patient care.  Overall federal incentive payments could bring in as much as $75 million in additional federal funding for the tri-state region.

The kickoff was attended by state and regional leaders who were supportive in bringing this new initiative to the tri-state area, including state officials from the Ohio Governor’s Office, the Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services, and the Indiana Family and Social Services Administration.

“This new program is another example of our region’s national leadership in the use of health information technology and exchange,” said Bob Steffel, Executive Director of HealthBridge.

The Tri-State REC will serve southwestern Ohio, northern and northeastern Kentucky and southeastern Indiana.  HealthBridge has partnered with other health information technology leaders to implement the program, including  the University of Kentucky, Northern Kentucky University, Collaborating Communities Health Information Exchange, HealthLINC, Northeast Kentucky Regional Health Information Organization, Health Care Excel and Ohio KePRO as well as a variety of other supporting organizations from across the region.

View Detailed Agenda at www.heatlhbridge.org

The nation’s healthcare system is undergoing a transformation in an effort to improve quality, safety and efficiency of care from the upgrade to ICD-10 to information exchanges of EHR technology. The Medicare and Medicaid EHR incentive programs are designed to support providers in this period of transition, but the impact of this historic change on both providers and patients will stretch far beyond the duration of these programs.

The Medicare and Medicaid EHR incentive programs provide a financial reward for the meaningful use of qualified, certified EHRs to achieve health and efficiency goals. By implementing and meaningfully using an EHR system, providers will reap benefits beyond financial incentives – like reduction in errors, availability of records and data, reminders and alerts, clinical decision support and e-Prescribing/refill automation.

To qualify for incentive payments, meaningful use requirements must be met in the following ways:

• Medicare EHR incentive program – Eligible professionals and hospitals must successfully demonstrate meaningful use of certified electronic health record technology every year they participate in the program.
• Medicaid EHR incentive program – Eligible professionals and hospitals may qualify for incentive payments for the adoption, implementation, upgrade or the demonstration of meaningful use in their first year of participation. They must successfully demonstrate meaningful use for the remaining years they participate in the program..

The Definition of Meaningful Use Requirements
The requirements of meaningful use to qualify for incentive payments will be defined in the final EHR incentive program rule expected for release in late spring/early summer 2010. The final rule will definitively outline all the specifics of Stage 1 meaningful use and clinical quality measure reporting to receive the incentive payments in 2011 and 2012

The Recovery Act specifies three main components of Meaningful Use:

• The use of a certified EHR in a meaningful manner (e.g.: e-Prescribing);
• The use of certified EHR technology for electronic exchange of health information to improve quality of health care; and
• The use of certified EHR technology to submit clinical quality and other measures.

The definition of meaningful use will harmonize criteria across CMS programs as much as possible and coordinate with existing CMS quality initiatives. It also closely links to the certification standards criteria in development by the Office of the National Coordinator (ONC) and provides a platform for a staged implementation over time.

To realize improved health care quality, efficiency and patient safety, the criteria for meaningful use will be staged in three steps over the course of the next five years. Stage 1 will set the baseline for electronic data capture and information sharing. Stage 2 (est. 2013) and State 3 (est. 2015) will continue to expand on this baseline and be developed through future rule making.

Learn More at www.cms.gov

 
San Jose, CA June 9, 2010 – Axolotl Corp., the nationwide leader in health information exchange (HIE) services and solutions, today announced with Beacon Community Award winners HEALTHeLINK, the Western New York clinical information exchange, Quality Health Network (QHN), a supporting organization of the Colorado Beacon Consortium (CBC), and the Utah Health Information Network (UHIN), a sub-recipient of the Utah Beacon Community grant, the expansion of their HIEs using Axolotl’s Elysium® Exchange suite of applications. The awards are three of 15 health IT pilot communities receiving grants totaling $220 million, funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.

As part of the Beacon Community Cooperative Agreement Program for a national electronic health records (EHRs) initiative, HEALTHeLINK received a $16.1 million award, the largest award in the United States, the Colorado Beacon Consortium was awarded $11,878,279, and HealthInsight, the awardee of the Utah Beacon Community grant received $15,790,181 to implement health information technology pilot projects in their regions. The awards are part of a $2 billion effort to achieve widespread meaningful use of health IT and provide for the use of EHRs for each person in the United States by 2014.

Powered by Axolotl’s Elysium Exchange platform, the HEALTHeLINK HIE provides physicians and health care providers throughout Western New York with a community-based system to electronically share important medical and clinical information more efficiently.

Through the Beacon Community initiative, HEALTHeLINK, the P2 Collaborative of Western New York (NYeC ONC pending regional extension agent) and 40 community partners will advance and leverage resources as well as areas of excellence. Over the next 36 months, HEALTHeLINK will engage its stakeholders, including hospitals, providers, consumers, and payers to implement clinical decision support tools such as electronic diabetes guidelines (EHR prompts and alerts), to aggregate quality improvement reporting, medication management (including Beer’s Criteria) and hospital provider reconciliation. Other activities include implementing registries and point-of-care alerts and reminders and innovative telemedicine solutions to improve primary and specialty care for diabetic patients, decrease preventable emergency room visits, hospitalizations and re-admissions for patients with diabetes and congestive heart failure or pneumonia, and improve immunization rates among diabetic patients.

“We are grateful for the recognition and excited about the opportunity to continue our work with Axolotl in order to improve care for our patient community,” said Daniel E. Porreca, executive director of HEALTHeLINK, the Western New York Clinical Information Exchange.  “Using  Elysium Exchange is one area where we will be able to assist achievement of meaningful use and optimize diabetes control for primary care providers and specialists relevant to Western New York’s health care goals for diabetes.”

The Colorado Beacon Consortium, made up of executive-level representation from four mission driven, not-for-profit, Western Colorado-based organizations, includes Mesa County Independent Physicians’ Practice Association, Quality Health Network, Rocky Mountain Health Plans and St. Mary’s Regional Medical Center as well as a private citizen/consumer representative.  Steve Reynolds represents consumers, private businesses, and is a member of various Western Colorado community and business associations including Club Twenty.   Funds from the Beacon Grant will be used to strengthen the robust infrastructure already in place for clinical data exchange; integrate data more effectively at the practice level; achieve specific cost, quality and population outcomes; and demonstrate sustainability as a model for other communities.  Beacon funds will leverage other funding provided by the federal Regional Extension Center (REC) program as well as nearly $4 million in private philanthropy provided by The Colorado Health Foundation for use by QHN participants.

“The Colorado Beacon Consortium’s mission is to optimize the health and quality of life for all members of the community through the meaningful use of health information technology, and improve the cost-effectiveness and quality of their health care regardless of personal means or coverage status,” said Dick Thompson, CEO of Quality Health Network. “With this grant and with support from Axolotl and our Beacon Consortium’s many area participants, we will be able to positively impact health and health care throughout the seven county Beacon Consortium area.  The project’s impacts will also help providers and patients throughout Western Colorado as well as provide a model for others in our country.”

The Grand Junction community has been repeatedly recognized on a national level for its low costs and high quality of care.  In 2005, the community created Quality Health Network to improve care coordination and care transitions through the use of Axolotl’s clinical messaging and health information exchange platforms. Using Axolotl’s Elysium Exchange, Quality Health Network (QHN) is expanding its network to include more than 20 hospitals and attendant physicians in the 40,000 square miles of Western Colorado.  Participants will access QHN to securely share clinical information, improve patient outcomes, and reduce costs.

HealthInsight, a non-profit organization dedicated to improving the health care systems of Nevada and Utah, will lead the pilot in Utah and a team that includes the Department of Health, University of Utah, Intermountain Healthcare, and the Utah Health Information Network. Through the Beacon Community funding, the Utah Beacon Community will work to achieve better outcomes for patients at lower costs overall by monitoring performance measures and by increasing availability, accuracy and transparency of quality reporting, leveraging existing infrastructures to improve care coordination and reduce health systems costs throughout the region, and improving public health reporting.

Furthermore, the Utah Beacon Community will tap into other federal programs that aim to extend the use of health IT, including the Regional Extension Center (REC) Program, also led by HealthInsight to assist Utah physicians in fully using their electronic health record (EHR) systems, and the Utah Health Information Network’s secure HIE, the state-designated health information exchange.

Using Axolotl’s Elysium Exchange, UHIN will be focused on engaging providers to adopt and use EHRs, and securely share information among physicians, to improve the care of their patients and to reduce disparities among underserved populations. Over the next 30 months, the Utah Beacon Community will begin work in Salt Lake, Summit and Tooele Counties. UHIN currently serves all the hospitals, ambulatory surgery centers, national laboratories and approximately 90% of the medical providers in Utah.

“Utah has been a leader in health information technology and we are honored for this recognition. With the Beacon Community grant and utilizing Axolotl’s solutions, Utah will be able to further extend health information exchange throughout the state,” said Jan Root, President of the Utah Health Information Network.

“We congratulate HEALTHeLINK, QHN and UHIN on recognition by ONC of their already significant achievements in improving patient health in their communities via HIE, and look forward to their Beacon consortia leveraging the awards to lead the nation to better health outcomes,” Glenn Keet, President of Axolotl.

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