Healthcare It News - February 2008 - (Page 56)

56 Healthcare IT News ■ February 2008 PAyERS www.HealthcareITNews.com Idaho selects vendor for Medicaid modernization initiative By rICHard PIZZI, Associate Editor BOISE, ID – The state of Idaho has awarded Thomson Healthcare a multi-year contract to provide a healthcare decision support system and data warehouse for the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare, as part of the state’s efforts to modernize its Medicaid Management Information System. The Idaho DHW intends to use Thomson’s DSS/DW system to manage and mine data from 9 million healthcare claims submitted to the state Medicaid program each year. “We’re very pleased to be working with the state of Idaho, and we’re looking forward to supporting the state’s efforts to increase quality, manage costs, and fight fraud in its Medicaid program,” said Pate McCartney, Thomson Healthcare’s vice president and general manager. The Idaho DHW will use the new DSS/DW system to strengthen management of Medicaid programs, measure cost effectiveness and quality of care, forecast budgets and fulfill federal Management and Administrative Reporting requirements. DHW officials say the system will generate information that supports program planning and evaluation, financial reporting, utilization management, Medicaid eligibility analysis and actuarial rate setting. It will also serve as the department’s Surveillance and Utilization Review System, which is mandated for every state Medicaid program by the federal government to help detect healthcare fraud. McCartney says the Thomson system will be configured to meet the unique needs of the Idaho Medicaid program and will replace the program’s existing information system. More at HealthcareITNews.com e Connect: IdaHo 0208 ● rxHuB Continued from page 53 said while a number of ROI studies emanating from CMS-funded e-prescribing pilots have validated prior studies, payers supporting Medicare Part D are adopting as part of the upcoming CMS requirements around using e-prescribing standards. For Prime Therapeutics, e-prescribing helps strengthen relationships between the PBM and the health plans it serves and physicians and members, said John Beardsley, vice president of marketing and product development. “As we respond to RFPs and RFIs from national consultancies and the largest employer groups, it is clear that e-prescribing is becoming a required component of a growing number of programs to stay in consideration for the business,” Beardsley added. Additionally, eprescribing is an ideal application for a payer’s qual- Tom Groom ity measure initiatives and pay-for-performance programs, said Groom. It is also a stepping stone to adoption of EMRs and EHRs. Aetna’s e-prescribing agenda is part of its broader strategy to bring electronic connectedness to the physician office, said Ed Pezalla, national medical director for pharmacy management. Charles Kennedy, MD, vice president of health IT for WellPoint, said e-prescribing can also serve as a gateway to greater adoption of additional healthcare IT tools. With more healthcare IT tools in place, data can Charles be measured for Kennedy, MD quality initiatives. Groom anticipates even greater adoption in the market this year, with activity such as states’ use of CMS’ Medicaid Transformation Grants to implement e-prescribing. While there is still work to be done, Schueth says the industry could see double growth in 2008. ■ sEE us aT HImss08 BooTH #3741 e ● Connect: SSI 0208 More at HealthcareITNews.com e Connect: rXHuB 0208 ● http://www.HealthcareITNews.com http://www.HealthcareITNews.com http://www.healthcareitnews.com/story.cms?id=8633 http://www.thessigroup.com http://www.thessigroup.com http://www.HealthcareITNews.com http://www.healthcareitnews.com/story.cms?id=8626 http://www.healthcareitnews.com/eConnect.cms?id=8708

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Healthcare It News - February 2008 Contents Hot Potato Wal-Mart Focus CIO Role Wasteland Linking Docs Katrina Work P4P Team Fire Sale? Emergency Systems Beyond Business

Healthcare It News - February 2008

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