Healthcare It News - February 2008 - (Page 58)

58 Healthcare IT News ■ February 2008 PAyERS University Hospitals and HIMSS PHR Steering Committee chairwoman. “This is where the interoperability piece comes in,” she said. Miller predicts the industry will move toward a model in which the patient is in control of where all data goes, all healthcare constituents are connected to the data and it supports all separate healthcare workflows. “That’s true value add,” she said. Amid industry focus on interoperability and standards, Heimes www.HealthcareITNews.com emphasized, “the most important value of a PHR comes from the tools that surround it and give an individual ongoing access to valuable information that can prevent duplicate testing, improve care coordination and enhance patient safety by reducing the possibility of medication errors.” Despite PHRs not being interoperable today, the bottom line is they’re providing great value with next-generation functionality. ■ More at HealthcareITNews.com e Connect: oPtuM 0208 oPTum Continued from page 53 vice president of OptumHealth Consumer Solutions, a division of UnitedHealth Group. Standards and operating rules are still new, requiring health plans to gain operational experience implementing the operating rules for health-plan-tohealth-plan transfer of PHR data, explained Joel Slackman, BCBSA’s managing director. Like many health plans, BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee and with ones to come. That said, (BCBST) offers its members PHRs, BCBST is actively pursing and but its focus is on the point-of-care- helping to develop an industry delivered Clinical standard to sup“The MOST Health Record, port portability.” offered by Shared At some point, IMPORTANT value of Health. a PHR comes from the where the data BCBST’s Paul comes from, how tools that Kulpa said that it’s being pushed surround it ” while BCBST recand where the ognizes the need patients want – Steve Heimes for portable PHRs, the it to go are “true portability is dependent on critical issues to address, said Holly the interoperability of the various Miller, MD, chief medical inforPHR systems currently in place mation officer at Cleveland-based ● When it comes to patient care, every employee counts. BCBS and Zix launch chronic disease pilot By dIaNa maNos, Senior Editor VIsIT us AT HIMss BOOTH #3849 At API, we understand patients are the driving force behind everything you do. From IT to human resources and every department in between, your employees are all working toward the same goal – the safe and effective delivery of care. Our suite of labor resource management tools is designed exclusively for the healthcare market. Each application empowers employees to get the job done quickly and cost-effectively so everyone can focus on what matters most. Learn more by calling 262-670-2784 or visiting www.apisoftwareinc.com/hcitn to request a case study highlighting one organization’s use of API’s labor resource management tools. e ● Connect: aPI 0208 – Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts (BCBSMA) and the Dallasbased Zix Corporation will jointly conduct a pilot to enroll eligible patients in chronic care through e-prescribing alerts. The pilot will use ZixCorp’s PocketScript e-prescribing service to alert physicians at the point of care that a patient may be eligible for enrollment in BCBSMA’s disease management program. Rick Spurr, chief executive officer of ZixCorp, said PocketScript’s new alert application will allow a more timely intervention in chronic care cases. It also allows patients to enroll while they are most likely to be willing and can discuss the matter with their physician. “We believe that the country’s largest e-prescribing network can be leveraged to further increase patient safety and reduce overall healthcare costs to payors, physicians and patients,” Spurr said. “The disease management feature is an example of how e-prescribing can be the platform for introducing the benefits of healthcare IT to physicians, especially those in practices that otherwise don’t have access to such technology.” Spurr said ZixCorp has had success in getting smaller practices to adopt e-prescribing. BCBSMA, headquartered in Boston and providing care to more than 3 million members, reports it reduced pharmacy costs by roughly 3 percent due to switching high-volume eprescribers to more cost-effective drugs. The BCBSMA and ZixCorp pilot brings together two currently hot issues – the adoption of e-prescribing and the effective management of chronic diseases to lower healthcare costs. BOSTON More at HealthcareITNews.com e Connect: BCBSMa 0208 ● ONLY HEALTHCARE | ONLY API http://www.HealthcareITNews.com http://www.HealthcareITNews.com http://www.healthcareitnews.com/story.cms?id=8629 http://www.apisoftwareinc.com/hcitn http://www.apisoftwareinc.com/hcitn http://www.HealthcareITNews.com http://www.healthcareitnews.com/eConnect.cms?id=8710 http://www.healthcareitnews.com/story.cms?id=8634

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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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