Healthcare IT News - March 2009 - (Page 17) www.HealthcareITNews.com March 2009 ■ Healthcare IT News 17 NEWSBRIEFS ARIzoNA phuSIcIAN gRoupS to lAuNch mEdIcAl homE modEl UnitedHealthcare, a UnitedHealth Group company, and IBM are collaborating with select primary care physician practices in Arizona to launch the PatientCentered Medical Home (PCMH) model. UnitedHealthcare will provide selected primary care practices with technology, infrastructure support and care coordination for the program. The program, open to UnitedHealthcare’s employer-sponsored Medicare Advantage and Medicaid health plan customers, will include four to six primary-care practices from UnitedHealthcare’s physician network in Phoenix and Tucson. IT helps babies stay put By Molly MerrIll, Associate Editor CHILLICOTHE, OH mARShFIEld clINIc BooStS BuSINESS opERAtIoNS The Marshfield Clinic will roll out new business intelligence software to boost operations not only in the business centers, but also to improve care with better data. The clinic employs 792 physicians in 80 medical specialties and subspecialties at more than 40 centers across Wisconsin. Clinic executives selected the SAP Business Objects XI platform to replace its existing business intelligence system. The technology will make it possible to more fully use vast amounts of historical patient data, executives said. – Babies born with complications at Adena Health System, a 253-bed hospital in rural Chillicothe, Ohio, are facing fewer transfers these days thanks to a telemedicine project that links the hospital with neonatal specialists. Adena is an entry level Neonatal Intensive Care Unit that is staffed by pediatric doctors unequipped to deal with complications such as respiratory problems. More than two years ago Adena was asked to participate in a telemedicine project with Columbus-based Nationwide Children’s Hospital, a Level III NICU. A high definition video conferencing system from Austin, Tex.-based LifeSize Communications connects Adena with neonatal specialists. The HD technology relies on a dedicated 1,600-mile high-speed, Patients top priority at oregon clinic By erIC WICkluNd, Managing Editor PORTLAND, OR – In Jill Arena’s opinion, medical offices can sometimes get too … medical. Arena, COO of Greenfield Health in Portland, Ore., sees the nine-physician, two-office practice as an example of patient-centered healthcare. Founded in 2000, the practice is designed – both physically and operationally – with the patient experience in mind. “What do we think patients Stephen Welty, MD, chief of Neonatology at Nationwide Children’s, and Rachel Brown, MD, a neonatologist at Nationwide Children’s, are using LifeSize technology for a consult. fiber-optic network maintained by the Ohio Supercomputer Center, a network that serves as the “backbone” for almost 100 educational institutions in Ohio. It was the center that first suggested the hospital switch from technology provided by Andover, Mass.-based Polycom to the LifeSize system, says Marcus Bost, CIO of Adena. From a price point it was a “no-brainer,” Bost says. NeoNaTal see page 19 “We need to take apart how WE thINK we’re doing business.” – Jill Arena really want?” asked Arena. “How do patients experience the physician’s office? We need to take apart how we think we’re doing business.” Arena was a featured speaker at last month’s Towards the Electronic Patient Record (TEPR+) conference and show in Palm Springs, Calif. The conference, presented by the Bostonbased Medical Records Institute, attracted roughly 750 attendees and focused on, among other things, the emerging concept of “participatory medicine.” Arena sees Greenfield Health as a beta test of that concept. The practice, she said, was designed so that the patient can walk right in and see a physician or staff member without having to waste time in a waiting room. oregoN see page 18 Wearable It aids bipolar treatment By Molly MerrIll, Associate Editor SAN dIEgo gRoup uSES It to dRIvE hEAlth INItIAtIvE Scripps Mercy Physician Partners, a physician business organization and medical group based in San Diego, is leveraging IT to boost member collaboration in its health initiative. SMPP’s VIP Health Initiative offers an e-prescribing system and a platform for electronic connectivity. SMPP will use technology from Detroit-based Covisint to provide the VIP Health Initiative with a secure single point of access from any Web browser to clinical, administrative and insurance information. FEdERAlly QuAlIFIEd hEAlth cENtERS REAdy FoR EmR Crusader Community Health, one of the largest Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs) in Illinois, is preparing to implement an electronic medical record and practice management system for its 54 providers and four locations. The FQHCs will be deploying an EMR/PM system from Westborough, Mass.-based eClinicalWorks. Center officials say using eClinicalWorks EMR/PM will streamline processes between practice locations and promote patient safety while reducing costs. HealthcareITNews.com e ●Connect: PHYSICIaNS 0309 More at – A wearable technology that measures physiological signs is poised to help doctors better understand and treat mental illness such as bipolar disorder. The National Institutes of Mental Health is funding a fiveyear study on bipolar disorder, which is being led by William Perry, professor of psychiatry at the University of California San Diego and co-investigators Mark Geyer and Martin Paulus, MD, who are also UC San Diego professors of psychiatry. The study uses a device called VENTURA, CA LifeShirt is used to monitor patients with heart conditions, respiratory probelms, sleep conditions and mental illnesses. the LifeShirt, designed by Ventura, Calif.-based VivoMetrics, Inc., to research movements in subjects with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. “When patients are highly symptomatic, it is sometimes difficult for physicians to diagnose whether an individual is exhibiting signs of schizophrenia or bipolar disorder,” said Perry. LifeShirt provides continuous ambulatory monitoring on pulmonary, cardiac and other physiologic data and correlates them over time. UC San Diego researchers lIfeSHIrT see page 19 Michican IPa joins data exchange – Huron Valley Physicians Association, an independent physician association located in Ann Arbor, Mich., is joining My One Health Information Exchange (my1HIE), an HIE formed by physician organizations in Southeast Michigan. HVPA officials say participation in the HIE will improve the care they offer their patients and reduce healthcare costs. ANN ARBOR, MI my1HIE was developed by United Physicians PC, Olympia Medical Services and Continuum Management Services and uses technology from Detroit-based Covisint. The HIE allows physicians to share patient information and collaborate on patient care with other physicians and healthcare providers. ■ HealthcareITNews.com e ●Connect: HIe 0309 More at Status of EHR implementation among AAFP members Fully Implemented 37% 13% 26% 25% SOURCE: AAFP 2007 EHR MEMBER SURVEy Currently Implementing Plan to Purchase Do not plan to Implement e ● Connect: GraPHS 0309 http://www.HealthcareITNews.com http://www.HealthcareITNews.com http://www.HealthcareITNews.com http://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/michican-ipa-joins-data-exchange
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