Healthcare IT News - August 2007 - (Page 11)

www.HealthcareITNews.com August 2007 n Healthcare iT News 11 o M M n T R y Wal-Mart’s It likely to change healthcare By Mike Tressler, HIMSS Fellow been making a lot of noise in the healthcare space. The retailer’s attention to the industry is going to be a driving factor in sweeping changes because of its focus on launching in-store clinics and their partnership to establish The Center for Innovation in Health Care Logistics. Wal-Mart is forecasting more than 6,600 instore medical clinics will open in the next five years in retailers nationwide. With 75 clinics in Wal-Mart stores in 12 states, the company has ended its pilot program and is planning an aggressive rollout of more clinics. As an organization with a large reach and a reputation of competing aggressively with smaller retail organizations, this has raised eyebrows across the national healthcare system. The in-store medical clinics will offer patients fast access to routine medical services such as strepthroat tests, sports physicals and flu shots. The clinics do not require an appointment and are open during pharmacy hours including evenings and weekends. To keep costs down, they are staffed by nurse practitioners. al-Mart has recently W The vision is that for routine cases the donate $1 million over the next five years to patient will get treated fast and have the create and fund The Center for Innovation convenience of picking up a prescription in Health Care Logistics, a research center at the pharmacy at the same facility, all at dedicated to improving healthcare delivdiscount prices. In “These IT capabilities will be cases where patients require routine care, WORTH WATCHING as innovative this cheap and concapabilities develop that don’t venient solution will yet exist.” be attractive. High– Mike Tressler acuity and complex cases will still need ery using information to be referred to specialists. This new model will drive consumers of technology. Arkansas Blue Cross and Blue Shield has healthcare to take more responsibility for managing the decision of where to be treated pledged $500,000, and BCBS of Alabama – do they want cost-effective convenience or and Illinois will bring in a combined $500,000 for a total of $1 million over the expensive, deep experience and capabilities? The clinics will need new IT next five years toward the cost of research. Wal-Mart will be able to leverage health capabilities to support scheduling and billing, and a clinical plans’ expertise in medical claims and inforEMR. The functionality can mation as it takes IT into the healthcare be integrated with Wal-Mart’s industry. These IT capabilities will be worth pharmacy systems to seamlessly route pre- watching as innovative capabilities develop scriptions from the clinic to the pharmacy to that don’t yet exist. The effect of Wal-Mart entering the healthensure the patients can fill their prescription care delivery space will have a large impact on in a convenient manner. Wal-Mart recently announced it would the U.S. healthcare industry. It will change the way patients evaluate where to go for care, when cheap, convenient healthcare makes sense and when to pursue high-cost specialty treatment. Primary care clinics will feel the largest impact and need to compete on cost and convenience for routine cases. Specialty care will likely experience little to no impact. The IT capabilities required for Wal-Mart will be unique and likely internally developed to integrate seamlessly with the retailer’s pharmacy systems. This new business model’s effects on how patients evaluate where to go for care, the effect it will have on the healthcare system and the IT capabilities to support it are all new and likely to result in a level of transformation in our national healthcare system. I believe that in the end it will be a change for the better. n More at HealthcareiTNews.com e Connect: tressler 0807 ● Mike Tressler, FHiMss, is chief operating officer at Healthia Consulting, where he is responsible for the company’s growth strategies, business development, engagement management and staff management. He can be contacted at mike.tressler@ healthiaconsulting.com. oMMunities sMall and large are in a quandary about where to begin to accomplish health information exchange (HIE). And with a multitude of issues to overcome, like limited financial resources, politics and even human nature, it is important to make wise choices. For example, a community might begin with the questions, “What information and functionality is needed to improve patient safety and quality of care, and how can this be achieved?” While these issues are at the heart of health information exchange, there is an additional consideration that cannot be ignored: “What value will the exchange of information create, and who will be willing to pay for this value now and in the future?” one way to think about the value of health information exchange is to consider a business decision made by the fast food restaurant industry. Prior to the 1980s, fast food restaurants didn’t serve breakfast. What changed this business decision? Companies realized they could use the same infrastructure, employees and processes to create something people wanted and would be willing to pay for. The same thing is seen with health information exchange. once a community has invested in the hard costs and built the necessary “political capital” to begin exchanging data, the same data, interfaces and established physician relationships can be used to create additional value. In Indiana, for example, our foundation is a messaging service that delivers clinical reports (including labs, transcription and radiology) to physicians electronically. It was a way to engage our hospital systems, clinicians and other stakeholders and deliver information and operational value. Immediately, our customers saw how it impacted the bottom line while improving patient care. Upon that sustainable foundation, we are adding – like layers – information services that have value. once a foundational service like this is in place, communities can begin to expand the types of data provided. Two such opportunities are medication history information and quality reporting services. Both of these examples build on existing infrastructures and have a value proposition that is clear for a number of stakeholders, including healthcare and insurance providers. Value, relevance key to HIE success C By JoHN kaNsky, HIMSS Fellow leTTers Continued from page 10 For medication history, let’s use the specific example of medication reconciliation in the inpatient setting, where a patient’s current medication list must be documented and compared against a physician’s admission, transfer and/or discharge orders. For most hospitals, this is a highly manual process. Medication history information gathered from mul“Quality tiple sources reporting, an can provide a important but often reliable startproblematic issue, is ing point to accelerate another example of the medicahow HIEs can tion reconciliation proJohn Kansky provide VALUE.” cess, potentially saving money in employee costs while positively impacting patient safety. Quality reporting, an important but often problematic issue, is another example of how HIEs can provide value. It can perform the analysis and reporting of information to providers and payers to enable a fair and accurate quality program. Additional value from the HIE could include standardized measures used by both physicians and health insurers, alerts, reminders and follow-up treatment information. A recent eHealth Initiative Foundation study that evaluated a handful of thriving HIEs revealed that sustainable HIEs are possible, but there is no “one size fits all” solution. Keeping in mind the questions above, it is important to start with a small, solid foundation – one that creates immediate value and relevancy in day-today operations. Building the infrastructure necessary for a health information exchange based on one “value vehicle” is potentially a recipe for failure. n More at HealthcareiTNews.com e Connect: kaNsky 0807 expect the masterpiece to emerge. Changing healthcare, really improving it and making it better, isn’t like launching a rocket. you can’t just push a button and watch it take off. It’s more like building the rocket, where hundreds of thousands of innovative ideas are constantly revised and refined until each works in its own way to form the whole of something that will actually fly. David St.Clair MEDecision Chairman and CEO W ● John kansky is vice president of business development for the indiana Health information exchange. He has worked in the healthcare technology field for 20 years, with experience in healthcare information technology, biomedical technology and iT strategic planning. or are completely indifferent to Michael Moore, his SiCKO movie has really brought the health care debate back to the forefront of the American consciousness. And that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Aside from striking me as typically Mooreesque in its one-sidedness, I thought the film illustrated at least one important point: The system really has become pretty cumbersome and inefficient. For everyone. And this presents an opportunity for the health information technology industry. We have the means at our disposal right now to reverse the trend and make things more efficient and cost-effective. The technologies and innovations we’ve perfected and have in development can make a genuine, significant difference. It might not be the “big bang” or magic bullet solution Mr. Moore seems to be looking for, but it’s certainly a start — a very promising start that will eventually snowball into the larger, systemwide reforms we need. If only we could think of a way to turn that concept into a screenplay…” n John Capobianco President and COO of MEDecision hether you love, hate An IT movie? More at HealthcareiTNews.com e Connect: letters 0807 ● http://www.HealthcareITNews.com http://www.HealthcareITNews.com http://www.healthcareitnews.com/story.cms?id=7513 http://www.HealthcareITNews.com http://www.healthcareitnews.com/story.cms?id=7514 http://www.HealthcareITNews.com http://www.healthcareitnews.com/story.cms?id=7512

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Healthcare IT News - August 2007

Contents AHIC Redux IT Saving Lives IT, Wal-Mart Style OR Workflow Counting on Quality PHR Position Tapping Talent Slimming Down E-Prescribing Claims Processing

Healthcare IT News - August 2007

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