Managed Healthcare Executive - November 2008 - (Page 27)

{ TECHNOLOGY } also can be downloaded for free by anyone—including non-members. In addition, BCBSLA promotes its PHR tool through public service announcements when there is a storm approaching the area. Continuity of care, particularly for those who have chronic care needs, is critical for disaster victims, Soonthornsima says. “Readily-available health records, RAISE PUBLIC AWARENESS such as payer-based health records, ll Soonthornsima believes that public a signi cant information gap in faciliawareness is needed, especially in areas tating case management when patients such as the Gulf Coast, the earthquake- are displaced,” he says. prone areas of the California and other vulnerable regions. EXECUTIVE VIEW “BCBSLA has learned how important The federal government has it is to work in cooperation with the meprovided more leadership and dia to get information out to its customers focus on EHRs. statewide,” he says. “Since those storms, we’ve developed even stronger media 90% of Ochsner physicians relationships.” were compliant with the EHR Several days before Hurricane Gustav platform even before Katrina. reached the Gulf of Mexico, when it was As electronic medical record just starting to threaten Louisiana, BCBSLA systems stand today, they do took several measures to remind all Louinot serve the nation as well as siana residents to safeguard their medical they could in an emergency. records and personal health information. Well in advance of Gustav’s landfall, the plan distributed a press release with deBCBSLA can provide case-managetails about its hurricane Web site, its free ment information for displaced members, preparedness brochure and its personal with Blue Health Record’s three-year health record (PHR) service. claims-based snapshot. The Blue Health In addition, its payer-based health re- Record was in the works before Hurcord (Blue Health Record) and personal ricane Katrina, but those in the hardest health record tool have been promoted hit parishes were the rst to gain access near the beginning of each hurricane sea- to their claims records for themselves son since their inception. and their providers. It was made avail“We issue press releases encouraging able shortly thereafter to nearly all of the public to safeguard their health infor- BCBSLA’s customers. mation and remind our customers of the The Blue Health Record can be PHR service available to them,” Soon- printed out by members at home to thornsima says. take to their physician or shared with BCBSLA’s brochure, “Be Safe. Be Pre- a provider online in the o ce setting. pared.” is unique in that it gives mem- Patients and providers may also request bers tips on preparing for a natural disas- a record by phone if they don’t have ter, with an emphasis on collecting and Internet access. Organized by episode safeguarding health information, but it of care, the record lists physician visits, had access to the Internet. Delivered through Availity, CarePro le is currently sourced by claimsbased information from multiple health plans. Humana provides information for the previous 18 months, including prescription history, diagnoses and associated procedures, lab tests performed, radiology tests, immunizations, physician o ce visits and hospitalizations. diagnosis codes, lab tests and prescriptions written for each episode. DATA CENTER Ochsner Health System, based in southeast Louisiana, built its practice support and EHR platform over the last 25 years. Prior to Hurricane Katrina, its EHR was widely deployed in 35 practice sites in southeastern Louisiana, Baton Rouge and the New Orleans region. These services are provided from a central data center in New Orleans and are distributed through Ochsner’s redundant widearea network to all practice locations. In fact, 90% of Ochsner physicians were compliant with the platform even before Katrina. “We made a major e ort prior to Katrina to implement the EHR in variety of ways, including extensive clinical support provided by our informatics nurses and strong support from senior physician leadership,” says Lynn Witherspoon, MD, system vice president and chief information o cer. After Katrina destroyed the paper records—even though electronic analogs of those charts were preserved—Ochsner stopped storing paper records in its practice sites, Dr. Witherspoon says. During large-scale evacuations, such as those declared before major weather developments, patients become displaced and separated from their usual healthcare providers and their medical records for an inde nite period of time. “Based on recent disasters, the evacuated patients will be receiving care from healthcare providers located in the area to which they have been evacuated,” says Steve Gravely, partner and head of the healthcare practice group at law rm Troutman Sanders in Richmond, Va. “It is critical that the patient’s medical information be available to these healthcare providers, and this is where a health information exchange can be valuable.” Information exchange would allow NOVEMBER 2008 27

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Managed Healthcare Executive - November 2008

Managed Healthcare Executive - November 2008 For Your Benefit Editorial Advisors Contents News Analysis State Report Politics &�Policy Letter of the Law Affordable Access Economic Ripple Effect Hospitals &�Providers Technology Managed Care Outlook Desktop Resource Ad/Edit Index

Managed Healthcare Executive - November 2008

For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.