Jessica Davis

Even grand visions should begin by soliciting feedback from as many employees as possible, according to Jerry Sobolik, senior business analyst at the famed health system.

Patients with access to their online health information who received timely alerts about gaps in care were more inclined to receive preventative tests and screenings compared with patients who didn't use the service, according to a Kaiser Permanente study published in the American Journal of Preventative Medicine. Rates of preventive health screenings, chronic disease management tasks and vaccinations around the country remain low, according to the study. More than  20-80 percent of adults fail to obtain the health services they need. "Making sure patients receive appropriate tests and screenings is a critical part of providing high-quality healthcare, but it can be challenging and time-consuming to get patients to follow through due to a variety of reasons,” the study’s lead author Shayna L. Henry, Kaiser Permanente Southern California Department of Research & Evaluation, said in a statement. The study found that 8.8 percent of patients who used an online portal were more likely to receive colorectal cancer screenings than those members who didn't, and online users were 11.9 percent more likely to complete their HbA1c testing than non-users. [Also: Patients struggle with sharing health information online] Additionally, 9.1 percent of online users were more likely to visit providers for mammogram screenings, while 6.1 percent were more likely than non-users to receive a Pap smear. However, there was no noticeable difference between online and non-registered members when it came Patient access to health data, appointment reminders improve care gaps and patient engagement to receiving vaccinations. Researchers analyzed the electronic health records of 838,638 Kaiser Permanente members in Southern California. Around 40 percent of these members use the online Patient Action Plan, or oPAP, a Web-based system launched in 2012 that provides access to personalized health information. It also sends emails to members if they're in need of preventative care based on their last appointments for preventative screenings and specific health conditions, such as smoking and diabetes. [Like Healthcare IT News on Facebook]  “Our study demonstrates that by creating a customized and personalized communication to patients about their care needs, healthcare providers can directly engage patients and close important gaps in care, particularly for preventive screenings for cancer,” Henry said. "Although the findings represent only a small segment of the overall KPSC membership and the effect sizes are modest," the study's authors said, "the results of the present study indicate the oPAP has considerable potential to be a model for cost- and resource-effective patient engagement in health maintenance and disease prevention." Twitter: @JessiefDavis

Matthew R. Fisher chairs the Health Law Group within the firm Mirick O'Connell in Worcester, Massachusetts, a fitting role given his passion for understanding the practicality of healthcare regulations in the real world. At the end of this month at HIMSS16 he'll bring this legal background to the Social Media Ambassadors program. [Also: Bill Bunting talks 2016 predictions, patient engagement] Fisher shared insights including understanding the next steps for IT security in healthcare, the microbreweries he cannot wait to visit in Las Vegas, and what he’s most looking forward to at the conference. Q: One health IT prediction for 2016? A: I think the HIPAA audits will finally occur. After the first round we'll likely find widespread noncompliance and that, in turn, will finally spur others to immediately put into place the minimum security measures of HIPAA. But HIPAA is just the ground floor: true security measures need to go above and beyond the regulation. Q: What’s something about you that even your devout followers likely don’t know? A: They don't know how much I love craft beer. I'm definitely a craft brewery fan and try to visit one wherever I go. I even have some planned out in Vegas: Hop Nuts and Camo Brewing. Q: What inspired you to apply for the Social Media Ambassador program? A: Having followed HIMSS through the social media channels and selected social media ambassadors in the past, I wanted to add my voice to that. And hopefully I can bring a different perspective on things coming from the legal side, as opposed to the health IT-side, which is already well represented. See all of our HIMSS16 previews Q: What is the untold benefit of social media in healthcare today? A: The ability to make connections with people you often wouldn’t be able to meet or otherwise interact with. We also can gain access to vast amounts of information and the ability to learn from others. I'm certainly learning from people I wouldn’t have come across in the health law field – and it helps to understand how the laws affect them rather than just stating regulations without knowing the consequences. Q: What are you most looking forward to learning about at HIMSS16? A: Learning more about the current thinking in health IT, in terms of what people are doing regarding security and how they're responding to threats. Unfortunately, healthcare has gotten a lot of bad press lately, in that payers and providers haven’t been focusing on security enough. The world has changed so quickly they haven’t been able to keep up. It will be interesting to learn about the new solutions and options out there. It's always nice to see what's really happening since the legal side only gets a small portion; it’s the tech side that drives the focus. See all of our HIMSS16 previews This story is part of our ongoing coverage of the HIMSS16 conference. Follow our live blog for real-time updates, and visit Destination HIMSS16 for a full rundown of our reporting from the show. For a selection of some of the best social media posts of the show, visit our Trending at #HIMSS16 hub.

NewYork-Presbyterian has deployed its Patient Placement Operations Center, designed to support the hospital's existing patient teletracking systems. PPOC integrates NYP's advanced teletracking system with automated patient flow data and real-time patient information to efficiently place patients in the right departments for a smoother admission and placement process. Teletracking was in place within NYP for about five years and was built by senior leadership to combat issues with patient flow among its campuses, which include six main campuses in Manhattan, one behavioral health center in Westchester and two medical centers, among others. [Also: NewYork-Presbyterian says hospital integration not without hurdles] NYP also created the position of vice president of patient access, to focus on teletracking and patient flow, with the hiring of Holly Meisner this past year. Meisner says that although teletracking was in place, it wasn't fully utilized. Her task was to streamline patient flow in all of its campuses. But she soon realized although "the opportunities were present many different processes, we didn't know what the left hand was doing from the right hand." Back in October, NYP relaunched the teletracking initiative on the Columbia campus. It eventually will incorporate Allen, Morgan Stanley, and Cornell campuses into the teletracking system. Construction began in November and was completed in two months. PPOC is the centralized location for the project and is just the first of other projects to be implemented this year at NewYork-Presbyterian. Its Weill Cornell campus is next in line to have a PPOC constructed. [Like Healthcare IT News on Facebook] "Teletracking is a great tool for patient flow software," Meisner said. "I think some of the challenges in health IT is a lot of the large organizations want to create a single platform to integrate the revenue cycle, as well as EMR. That is ideal state." However, it's difficult to access all of the data. "Teletracking does a good job of pulling the data in real-time minutes," she added. "The downside is you're bringing in another system – especially in a world where we're trying to streamline. But the amount of data is worth it to drive results." Twitter: @JessiefDavis

The Department of Health and Human Services has proposed new rules on patient record disclosures to ensure substance use disorder patients can participate in new integrated healthcare models without risk of having their records shared inappropriately. The revisions on the Confidentiality of Alcohol and Drug Abuse Patient Records would also facilitate health information exchange and to address legitimate privacy concerns of patients seeking treatment for substance use, HHS said. [Also: eRx of controlled substances now legal in 50 states] “This proposal will help patients with substance use disorders fully participate and benefit from a healthcare delivery system that’s better, smarter and healthier, while protecting their privacy,” HHS Secretary Sylvia Burwell said in a statement. The proposal reflects the changing healthcare landscape, including the development of an electronic infrastructure that focuses on managing and exchanging patient data and an increased focus on performance measurement and quality improvement. The current rules, sometimes referred to as 'Part 2', were created in 1975 amid concerns that potential substance use disorder treatment information used in criminal prosecutions would deter individuals from seeking necessary treatment. It was last updated in 1987. Part 2 rules are more stringent than other federal protections, including the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, due to its targeted population. [Like Healthcare IT News on Facebook] “We're moving Medicare and the healthcare system as a whole toward new integrated care models that incentivize providers to coordinate and put the patient at the center of their care, and we're modernizing our rules to protect patients,” Burwell said. The public comment session on this proposal is open until 5 p.m. Eastern on April 11. Twitter: @JessiefDavis

As the industry moves toward data-driven medicine clinicians are going to need more decision support tools than in the past. "Medicine has always strived to be data driven," said Gaurav Singal, MD, a physician at Massachusetts General Hospital and director of the Innovations Unit of Foundation Medicine. “But now there's a shift happening between what we call data and what we call evidence.” Although healthcare won't get to a point that a patient is 100 percent unique, Singal said, historic information is crucial to ensuring providers aren't flying blind. See all of our HIMSS16 previews "I don’t think randomized control trials are going to be less effective," he said. "But in an evidence-based world, it won't be the whole picture. Random isn't enough … patients are just too precisely defined and unique." Singal leads technology and data-centric product development at Foundation Medicine. He helped launch its Interactive Cancer Explorer, otherwise known as ICE, a physician-facing clinical decision support and patient management platform that uses data collection and aggregation to aid physicians with clinical decision-making. He said it's these types of Web-based technologies and digital innovations that can improve therapeutic decision making at the point-of-care. In his talk titled, “Precision Medicine in the Information Age,”  Singal will discuss how physicians and insurers are embracing actionable molecular information to positively impact care delivery. Singal's work at Foundation Medicine is focused on molecular oncology, using genomic information to produce and analyze tumors or genomes where the cancer has mutated. These molecular characteristics of tumors can actually guide cancer treatments. His work in both medicinal and engineering fields creates a unique duality in his perspective, he said. He's always looking for ways to combine health and technology with data-centric solutions that are clinically relevant to impact both patients and providers. Singal’s team designs and builds tools for physicians to determine the best course of action for their patient. They built ICE with this goal in mind, to connect with doctors from a scientific standpoint to see what works and what doesn't. [Like Healthcare IT News on Facebook] It's no longer about generic treatments for these patients but, instead, about treating patients based on their molecular data to offer more precise care. "Providers have been interested in clinical decision support for a long time," Singal said. "I think there's a cultural shift happening, with the data that drives these decisions. And more doctors are seeing this shift." Singal’s session, “Precision Medicine in the Information Age,” is scheduled for March 2 from 8:30 to 9:30 a.m. in the Sands Expo Convention Center Sands Showroom. Twitter: @JessiefDavis This story is part of our ongoing coverage of the HIMSS16 conference. Follow our live blog for real-time updates, and visit Destination HIMSS16 for a full rundown of our reporting from the show. For a selection of some of the best social media posts of the show, visit our Trending at #HIMSS16 hub.

The vast majority of Americans say they would welcome using technology and mobile devices to monitor their health, according to a recent study by the Society for Participatory Medicine, a nonprofit membership organization focused on patient engagement. The study found 84 percent of survey respondents felt tracking blood pressure, heart rate, respiratory rate, physical activity and other data with a user-friendly mobile device between provider visits would help to better manage their health. [Also: Remote patient monitoring market booming amid readmission fines] "The important findings from the survey show patients really want to partner with physicians," said Daniel Z. Sands, MD, co-founder, co-chair of the Society for Participatory Medicine. "It's not a typical service industry, like the car wash model of healthcare where the patient cruises through the system," he added. "Providers need to engage patients, and patients want it." In fact, 77 percent of survey respondents felt it was both important for themselves and their healthcare provider. ORC International interviewed more than 1,000 Americans on behalf of the Society for Participatory Medicine and found 76 percent of respondents would use a clinically accurate and easy-to-use monitoring device; 81 percent would be more likely to use a device if their provider recommended it, and 57 percent would like to use the device and share the information with their provider. "I think many physicians believe patients just want to come in for their visits, but don't really want to engage in their healthcare," said Sands. "The participatory method is really important, but the question is, do physicians want to have a partnership?" "If we get it right, we have the opportunity to leverage technology to help patients contribute to their health information without coming into the office," he added. "This information is valuable to patients and to providers. It's an important tool to get healthcare outside of the office." According to Sands, it's a change in mindset for many providers that medical schools are attempting to combat. But it's challenging in the constraints of a medical practice to transition to this type of care. Further research must be done on physicians to determine their issues and thoughts. Twitter: @JessiefDavis

More than one-third of hospitals aren't meeting National Database of Nursing Quality Indicators performance metrics, a new Ohio State University study on chief nurse executives finds. At the same time, it showed that evidence-based practice – a care-delivery approach that integrates problem solving, best practices, clinician expertise and patient preferences – is a low priority across the United States. Although multiple studies show evidence-based practice results in high-quality care, improved patient outcomes and lower costs, and nurse executives recognize its effectiveness, implementation is relatively low. [Also: IBM Watson to help tackle heart disease] "EBP isn’t being implemented to the state that it really needs to be to accomplish high quality healthcare safety and cost," said Bernadette Melnyk, MD, dean of Ohio State University's College of Nursing. "There's a major disconnect between the priorities of chief nurses and evidence-based practice." While the majority of surveyed nurses placed quality and safety as top priorities, EBP was ranked at the bottom. Melnyk said this suggested that nurses "don’t truly understand that EBP is a direct path to get their hospitals to quality safety and reduce costs." A lack in budget allocations is one of the major reasons for this gap, the survey found. Hospitals and CNEs aren't investing resources into this evidence-based culture to help implement EBP measures for a care foundation. [Also: Clinical decision support: It's about more than technology] "Hospitals need to invest in getting all providers and clinicians, really up to scale in EBP," Melnyk said. "Then create a culture and environment that support their clinicians to consistently practice this way. "There are a lot of barriers that exist in the healthcare system; there are misconceptions, politics and the tradition of 'that's the way we do it' that's alive and well in many institutions across the U.S," she added. When most Americans head to the hospital, they assume they're getting evidence-based care, but that's not the reality, the report suggests. Nurse executives need EBP education and skill-building to implement the practice, the survey found. But furthermore healthcare systems need to support staff to utilize EBP. [Like Healthcare IT News on Facebook] Research shows EBP teamwork leads to better care quality and outcomes, but hospital must promote the practice as essential and expect clinicians to implement them. "We also need to get academia up, where they're creating students steeped in EBP and they come into a healthcare environment where that is expected," Melnyk said. Twitter: @JessiefDavis

A bipartisan group of Senators this week unveiled legislation to remove Medicare barriers to telemedicine use in a bill that proponents say can generate $1.8 billion in savings over 10 years. Led by Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, and Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., the CONNECT for Health Act seeks to create an opening for more providers to incorporate telemedicine into their practices. The Senate group hopes to use the platform to further study its effects on healthcare. [Also: Doctor on Demand expands telehealth services to include psychiatry] Currently, many providers are restricted in telemedicine use by geography, strict rules around originating sites, restrictions on store-and-forward technologies, limitations on reimbursable codes and more. Under the CONNECT act, the Senators propose a bridge program to assist providers in the transition to the new Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act, with its the Merit-Based Incentive Payment System, by removing many restrictions to telehealth and remote patient monitoring under Medicare. Qualifying providers participating in MACRA's alternative payment models, for example, will be allowed to use patient monitoring for patients with chronic conditions. In addition, it would allow new originating sites – dialysis facilities, telestroke evaluation and management sites and Native American health service facilities – and permit further telehealth and remote patient monitoring in community health centers  and rural health clinics. The bill would also allow telehealth and RPM to be basic benefits in Medicare Advantage. That optimism will be scrutinized by the Congressional Budget Office, which has been skeptical of telehealth's ability to reduce government spending. The act is endorsed by a long list of organizations including American Medical Association, Kaiser Permanente, Cerner, AARP, Anthem, Telecommunications Industry Association, American Academy of Physicians and National Association of ACOs, amongst others. Twitter: @JessiefDavis

Digitizing clinical quality measures, also known as eCQM, isn’t just about meeting government requirements. It’s also about healthcare organizations smartly using electronic data to drive decisions, said Keith Woeltje, MD, director of healthcare informatics at the Center for Clinical Excellence at BJC HealthCare. “It’s not just about the government, but what we choose to do ourselves,” he added. Woeltje is responsible for informatics, analytics and reporting at BJC HealthCare, in addition to leading its clinical quality measurement group. He will deliver a presentation on eCQM at HIMSS16. See all of our HIMSS16 previews Woeltje said his team found electronic measures easy to use on patient adverse events and other subsequent events. However, while BJC HealthCare met the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services meaningful use requirements, there were “enormous discrepancies” with the health system’s EHR data. Woeltje will present on eCQM and BJC HealthCare’s successful implementation at HIMSS16 in Las Vegas. In his session, “Reconciling Abstracted to Electronic Quality Measures,” Woeltje will discuss BJC HealthCare’s integrated transition to electronic quality measures and his findings and recommendations, using abstracted measures. [Also: CMS makes annual update to 2016 eCQMs] It was the aforementioned discrepancies that led BJC HealthCare to partner with Encore, a healthcare IT consultancy, to analyze these gaps and manage workflows and EHR data. “We wanted to tease those out,” Woeltje said. “We met the requirements, but given that this will be the way we report clinical quality in the future, we needed to it reflect our actual quality of care,” Woeltje said. Going through the audit and discrepancy process was enormously helpful for successfully implementing eCQM. But there’s no tool that can fix these gaps, Woeltje said. While BJC HealthCare could have continued to use certified EHRs and forced the workflows to capture data to reduce gaps and improve the quality of care, the health system turned to the physicians to discover what was needed to “use electronic data to focus on internal issues for electronic surveillances,” Woeltje said. “No health system is thinking about adding more projects,” Woeltje said. “Hospitals want to focus on solutions to reduce errors and become as efficient as possible.” [Like Healthcare IT News on Facebook] Woeltje and his team at BJC HealthCare planned the integrated approach when they noticed more quality programs were moving into eMeasures. The results from BJC HealthCare’s transition can prove helpful for those organizations considering similar changes. The session “Reconciling Abstracted to Electronic Quality Measures” is scheduled for Tuesday, March 1, 2016, at the Sands Expo Convention Center in Palazzo D. HIMSS16 runs from Feb. 29-Mar. 4. Twitter: @JessiefDavis This story is part of our ongoing coverage of the HIMSS16 conference. Follow our live blog for real-time updates, and visit Destination HIMSS16 for a full rundown of our reporting from the show. For a selection of some of the best social media posts of the show, visit our Trending at #HIMSS16 hub.