Do Electronic Medical Records Reduce Unnecessary Testing? The Balance of Evidence

Alexander Turchin, MD, MS, Senior Medical Informatician, Quality Performance Management, Partners HealthCare. The presentation combines a review of the existing literature and the presentation of his study: "Bridging the Chasm: Effect of Health Information Exchange on Volume of Laboratory Testing" published in the March 26, 2012, issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine, which examined […]

Clinical Engineering and Information Technology Convergence at Spectrum Health

Robert Rinck, IT Director, Tom O'Keefe, IT Manager, and Aaron Predum, Biomedical Electronics Manager, Spectrum Health. Spectrum Health in Grand Rapids, MI, has been voted by Reuters as a Top-10 Healthcare System in 2010 and 2011. In 2007, Spectrum Health integrated Clinical Engineering and Information Technology teams into a single organization. In a five-year retrospective […]

Using the Voluntary Universal Patient Identifier System

Barry Hieb, M.D., Chief Scientist, Global Patient Identifiers, Inc., Sponsor of the Voluntary Universal Healthcare Identifier Project. Accurate patient identification is a prerequisite for the information exchange envisioned as part of the Nationwide Health Information Network. Support for various patient consent and privacy paradigms is also a necessity. Join us for a discussion about how […]

Inaugural HCCI Health Care Cost and Utilization Report

Carolina Herrera, Research Director, Health Care Cost Institute (HCCI). Carolina reviews the first-ever report using health plans' claims data from HCCI: the nation's largest private insurers show that prices, not utilization, are driving health spending growth.

Benchmarking Shared Services for Hospitals – 2012

Jeff Christoff, Principal, Tom Foley, Principal, and Michael Janis, Senior Manager, Benchmarking Center, Deloitte Consulting LLP. Consolidating operations into a shared services model has been popular in many industries for many years. Healthcare providers are becoming more interested in shared services and many have already incorporated aspects of their operations into a shared services model. […]

Natural Language Processing – Today and Tomorrow

Melissa Rubel, RHIA, Product Manager, OptumInsight, describes how NLP is helping hospitals overcome the challenges they face today - fragmented healthcare, labor shortages and diversity in clinical documentation - while preparing them for tomorrow's challenges, including ICD-10. Learn Melissa's experience with a leading academic medical center to adapt computer-assisted coding (CAC) and the NLP engine […]

Getting it Right on Privacy and Security

Jared Rhoads, Senior Researcher, and Owen Pate, Healthcare Risk and Compliance Executive, CSC's Global Institute for Emerging Practices. Achieving excellence in privacy and security is essential to care delivery, yet for many hospital executives this can seem like a continuously moving target. New technologies, an increasing reliance upon data, and changing regulations make now the […]

ONC Online Guide: Unintended Consequences of EHRs

Michael I. Harrison, PhD, Sr. Social Scientist, Organizations & Systems Center for Delivery, Organization, and Markets, Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, and Spencer S. Jones, PhD, Associate Information Scientist at the RAND Corporation. The AHRQ "Guide to Reducing Unintended Consequences of Electronic Health Records", available at , is an online resource providing practical, troubleshooting […]

Meaningful Use Reporting: Maximizing Utility, Efficiency, and Engagement

Sean Gaskie, MD, Physician Director, Sutter Health, and Laura Kreofsky, Impact Advisors and Program Director for Sutter Health's Meaningful Use Program. Dr. Gaskie and Laura describe the approach taken to ensuring maximum value and utility in the organization's Meaningful Use reporting toolset - including the reports from Epic and those internally developed. With a focus […]

Business Intelligence: A Wave is Coming

Joe Van De Graaff, Research Director, Business Intelligence, KLAS. More than half of the providers KLAS recently spoke with said that they plan to replace or purchase a business intelligence (BI) solution. A wide variety of vendors offer tools to collect, aggregate, and report data -leaving many providers wondering which vendor tools provide predictive analytics, […]

Innovative Approaches to Sepsis at The University of Kansas Hospital

Steven Simpson, MD, and Amanda Gartner, RN, The University of Kansas Hospital, and Bryan Eckert, Healthcare Group, CSC. The University of Kansas Hospital (KUMED) has made great strides in improving outcomes for sepsis patients using an "early warning system" supported by seasoned critical care nurses acting as a special team of clinical surveillance and triage […]

Impacts from the Election

Paul Keckley, Ph.D., Executive Director, Deloitte Center for Health Solutions, Deloitte Consulting LLP. Dr. Keckley examines the Affordable Care Act's implementation status, what to expect regarding the 2012 elections, why the lame duck session is not so lame, and what to watch for in 2013.

SI-Cerner Users Collaborative No. 46: Revenue Cycle Transformation

Tim Reiner, VP Revenue Management, Adventist Health System. Second only to Meaningful Use, Revenue Cycle Management (RCM) is essential. About 60% of Registration and Patient Accounting applications were purchased prior to 1999, and HIMSS estimates 40% will replace RCM solutions in next 4-5 years. Your current EMR supplier will have a high impact on the […]

Bundled Payment Strategy Development: Incorporating Physician Variation Insights

David Jackson, Senior Consulting Manager, Analytic Consulting and Research Services, Truven Health Analytics, formerly the Healthcare Business of Thomson Reuters. Building on the momentum created by PPACA legislation and commercial market payment innovation, new tactics for bundled payment are beginning to gain traction. David describes approaches used to support health systems in developing a bundled […]

Leadership Lessons of Kilimanjaro

Ed Marx, SVP and CIO, and Elizabeth Ransom, MD, Chief Clinical Leader - North Zone, Texas Health Resources. After scaling smaller mountains, a team of officers and doctors at Texas Health Resources fixed their eyes on summiting Mt. Kilimanjaro. The planning progressed, and this seed of an idea grew into a mission that would encompass […]