Healthcare IT News - November 2008 - (Page 34)

www.HealthcareITNews.com November 2008 ■ Healthcare IT News 33 NEWSBRIEFS BCBSMA INCENtIvE pRogRAMS to REquIRE E-pRESCRIBINg Beginning in January 2011, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts will require physicians to move to electronic prescribing to qualify for physician incentive programs. BCBSMA plans to help physicians by supporting a number of new licenses in 2009, which will help offset the wait for the e-prescribing incentive payouts from the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services which begin in 2010. BCBSMA’s requirement will apply to both primary care physicians and specialists. Ninety-nine percent of primary care physicians in the HMO Blue Network and 78 percent of specialists participate in BCBSMA incentive plans. N. Dakota Blues to launch medical home PaTTy ENrado, Contributing Editor The concept of patient-centered medical homes is gaining ground, with payers, providers and the Centers folaunch r Medicare and Medicaid piloting initiatives. Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Dakota, however, will be launching the first statewide medical home on Jan. 1 involving all physician practices in the state and all residents. “We have designed this quality improvement program to pay for technology that enables phyFARGO, ND – sicians to improve the health of their entire patient population from birth to death,” said David Hanekom, MD, medical director of BCBSND. This program is the third stage of BCBSND’s Advanced Medical Home, which was piloted in 2005 to focus on diabetes and expanded two years later to include more locations and chronic conditions, he said. BCBSND is deploying MDdatacor’s technology, Care Center, to aggregate and analyze clinical data derived from Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Dakota is set to launch the first statewide medical home at the beginning of 2009. physicians’ medical records. The application, which will be made available to all North Dakota physicians, captures data from existing multiple systems and formats, including unstructured data. “There is a lot of valuable HomE see page 34 AEtNA lAuNChES MICRoSoFt hEAlthvAult FoR phRS Aetna and the Microsoft have announced a collaboration to provide Aetna members access to their personal health information through Microsoft’s HealthVault online platform. Aetna members will soon be able to transfer the information in their Aetna CareEngine-Powered Personal Health Record directly to Microsoft HealthVault, a security-enhanced, Web-based consumer health platform, the companies announced. Information stored in HealthVault will be available to members even if they change jobs or health plans. Number of uninsured, underinsured adults jump from 2003 to 2007 Adults ages 19-64, numbering 172 million in 2003 and 177 million in 2007. Population (millions) 65% Nebraska BCBS puts its ‘skin in the game’ By PaTTy ENrado, Contributing Editor NEW YORK – Engaging stakehold- 58% 26% 28% 9% 14% hEAlth AllIANCE AutoMAtES CoNtRACt MANAgEMENt The Health Alliance Plan has standardized, automated and streamlined its hospital provider contracting with new technology. The health plan purchased McKesson’s Contract Symphony, a suite of collaborative contract risk management tools. The software improves the contracting for the plan’s providers by increasing the transparency of reimbursement terms and boosting the efficiency of the contracting process. e ● Connect: graPHS 1108 Source: c. Schoen, S.r. collinS, j.l. kriSS and m.m. doty, “how many are underinSured? trendS among u.S. adultS, 2003 and 2007, health affairS web excluSive, june 10, 2008. Employers want guidance, partnership from payers By PaTTy ENrado, Contributing Editor ers is a critical step to creating a sustainable, large-scale health information exchange, or HIE, according to industry leaders. Focusing on community betterment and an equitable business model is the best way to involve stakeholders, five panelists told attendees at an Axolotl customer conference in October. A lot of time was spent talking about HIE in Nebraska, said Deb Bass, executive director and president of the Nebraska Health Information Initiative (NeHII). The result was a visionary and project management model that included reaching out to all stakeholders – payers, providers, associations, employers, business and community leaders, government and private foundations, she said. CIOs and CEOs of NeHII’s pilot participants, including major funder Blue Cross Blue Shield of Nebraska, saw a demonstration of the Santa Cruz RHIO, a regional health information organization in California, and the Rochester RHIO in New York State. The visits were highly sucaxoloTl see page 34 KAISER AddS oNlINE toolS FoR ChRoNIC CoNdItIoNS California-based Kaiser Permanente introduced three new online Healthy Lifestyle Programs on the topics of diabetes, depression and insomnia. The new offerings are available to all Kaiser Permanente members and complement the site’s current online health tools and programs on weight management, pain management, smoking cessation and more. As of Sept. 30, “The new programs and existing tools on kp.org make it easy and convenient to connect to caregivers and support services our members need to manage their health,” said Christine Paige, senior vice president, marketing and Internet services at Kaiser. More at HealthcareITNews.com e Connect: PaYerS 1108 ● Employer groups’ expectations of their health insurance carriers are changing, according to a recent report, “What Employers Want from Health Insurers – Now,” released by PricewaterhouseCoopers’ Health Research Institute. Rather than just transaction processing, employers want guidance and a partnership with their health insurers to improve the health of their employees, said Bruce Henderson, director of Health Industries Advisory, Health Research Institute. “There’s clearly an IT component” that payers can leverage to provide a solid understanding of employers’ unique population and their data, and to simplify processes to reduce administrative costs, he said. “This is an opportunity for innovative health plans to look at how they do business and how they can leverage all the information and their partnerships,” he said. BOSTON – “this is an opportunity for innovative health plans to look at hoW thEY do BuSINESS and hoW thEY CAN lEvERAgE all the information and their partnerships.” – Bruce Henderson While the report notes that employers are looking for less customization, Aetna is using data analytics to target customization to meet the needs of employer groups’ diverse employee population, said Pam Kehaly, head of national accounts. Humana redesigned its self-funded large group and small business reporting tools to provide comprehensive, trended employee data to help employers understand their healthcare cost drivers, said Bill Tait, vice president of corporate sales and market operations. “Specially trained analysts study each report and provide customized observations and recommendations that are then shared with the employer,” he said. In addition to its numerous healthcare IT initiatives, BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee introduced its Well + Wise personal health advocacy model, said Tom Uustal, vice president of client management. “Supplying medical information, offering incentives for member engagement and encouraging a cooperative relationship with his or her medical clinician are all part of the new model,” he said. “The anticipated result is improved quality of living and lower healthcare costs.” ■ More at HealthcareITNews.com e Connect: guidaNce 1108 ● http://www.HealthcareITNews.com http://www.HealthcareITNews.com http://www.healthcareitnews.com/story.cms?id=10328 http://www.HealthcareITNews.com http://www.healthcareitnews.com/story.cms?id=10324 http://www.ingenix.com/informationis http://www.ingenix.com/informationis http://www.HealthcareITNews.com http://www.healthcareitnews.com/story.cms?id=10325 http://www.healthcareitnews.com/eConnect.cms?id=10361

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Healthcare IT News - November 2008

Healthcare IT News - November 2008 Contents $700M Strong PHR Power Stepping It Up Geo IT EMRs Go Rural HiMSS Insider: Making a Difference Home for the Blues Merge Amnesty Management Solutions: Outsourcing Appeal Clinical Toolkit: Enterprise PACS

Healthcare IT News - November 2008

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