More on Stage 2: Quality, Standards and Certification

Erica Drazen, Managing Director for Emerging Practices, CSC. While the focus is on NPRM from CMS for Stage 2 of Meaningful Use, in the accompanying NPRM from ONC there are new standards for data and security and important changes to certification that provide more flexibility for systems certification.

Spending Trends Relevant for Successful ACOs

William D. Marder, SVP Analytic Consulting and Research Services, Thomson Reuters, describes an analytical approach to understanding spending trends across areas that impact accountable care organizations. Bill highlights how the degree of illness in a population, combined with the geographic variation in the number of commercially insured, can create a financial burden for providers. He […]

SI-Cerner Users Collaborative No. 41: Seek and You Will Find: NLP and Chart Search

Karl M. Kochendorfer, MD, FAAFP, Assistant Professor of Clinical Family and Community Medicine at the University of Missouri's School of Medicine, Director of Clinical Informatics in the Department of Family and Community Medicine, and Adjunct faculty member of the MU Informatics Institute and the Department of Health Management and Informatics. This session provides an update […]

A Successful Micro ACO as Model for Reform

William G. Bithoney, MD, National Medical Leader, Thomson Reuters Healthcare, and former interim president and CEO, COO and CMO at Sisters of Providence Health System/Mercy Medical Center, Springfield, MA, discusses his team's work in managing a full risk Medicare Advantage Accountable Care Organization. This work resulted in marked decreases in hospital admissions (from 380/1000 per […]

Downtime Procedure Survey Results

Dean F. Sittig, PhD, and Daniel A. Gonzalez Carrero, University of Texas - Memorial Hermann Center for Healthcare Quality & Safety. A recent report by the Institute of Medicine, "Health IT and Patient Safety: Building Safer Systems for Better Care" recommends that healthcare organizations have contingency plans in place to mitigate any potential issues related […]

Specific IT Requirements of ACOs

Patrick Rossignol, Principal, Deloitte Consulting LLP. Patrick summarizes the IT capability needed to support an ACO, making a distinction between core/base capabilities and advanced ones. He outlines known IT issues/current limitations, and some remediation strategies. He also defines a phased ACO IT deployment model and high-level budget projections.

Evolution of a Mature PMO

Rich Pollack, MS CPHIMS, FHIMSS, VP and CIO, Sallie Lewis, PMO Director, and Jack Koller, Sr. Project Manager, VCU Health System. Rich and Sallie discuss VCU's evolution of a mature and effective PMO that began five years ago as a complement to a longstanding and solid IT governance. They describe the embedded prioritization part of […]

Aligning Meaningful Use with Healthcare Reform

Jane Metzger, Research Principal in Emerging Practices, CSC. Between the demands of health reform, payment reforms and the meaningful use requirements of the HITECH act, there's no shortage of resource-intensive, mission critical initiatives facing health care organizations. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to predict that pursuing them separately will result in duplicated work and […]

SI-Cerner Users Collaborative No. 42: Adventist Health System CDS Update

Philip A. Smith, MD, VP, Chief Medical Information Officer, and Matthew Lord, Pharm.D., PharmNet Application Manager, Adventist Health System and AHS Information Services. AHS worked with Cerner in 2011 to develop mCDS, a new offering for filtering and enhancing Multum alerts. Dr. Smith and Matthew discuss the mCDS journey and how it has transformed clinical […]

Hospitals as Employers: Developing a Culture of Health

William G. Bithoney, MD, National Medical Leader, Thomson Reuters Healthcare, and former interim president and CEO, COO and CMO at Sisters of Providence Health System/Mercy Medical Center, Springfield, MA. Hospital employees are at higher risk for illness than other workers. They utilize 18% more hospital days and have 22% more ED visits. Overall they incur […]

The Complex and Critical Role of BioMed

Rich Pollack, MS CPHIMS, FHIMSS, VP and CIO, Harold Harris, Manager of Service Delivery, and Jamie Trull, Lead Nurse Informaticist, VCU Health System. While not under IT at VCU, BioMed is playing an increasingly complex but critical role in bedside data integration. In an effort to bring some sanity to this complexity, three-party SLAs were […]

Meaningful Use Attestation 2012: Early Birds Take Flight

Colin Buckley, Strategic Operations Manager, KLAS, Orem, Utah. Meaningful use is one of the most focused-on initiatives currently in American healthcare. As of November 2011, 833 (or roughly 14%) of U.S. hospitals have attested to meeting Stage 1 requirements, with many more lining up to follow. CMS data shows that both large and small hospital […]

Comparative Effectiveness Research in the U.S.: Update and Implications

Marianne Laouri, Specialist Leader, Deloitte Consulting LLP. Marianne focuses on definitions of Comparative Effectiveness Research (CER) and its drivers in the current health care marketplace. She addresses when and how life sciences can engage in CER and comparative evidence generation to inform their business questions and develop competitive advantages. Resource requirements and communication of CE […]

Ten Things to Help Ensure Success in Negotiating IT Consulting Agreements

Ray R. Bonnabeau, Attorney at Law, Hellmuth & Johnson, PLLC. IT consulting agreements govern a wide variety of engagements, from development efforts to project management and staff augmentation. The issues within IT consulting agreements are equally varied as well, spanning from ownership, rights to use, payment terms, residual clauses and termination rights. Learn what to […]