Healthcare IT News - December 2007 - (Page 20)

20 Healthcare IT News ■ December 2007 newsmakers www.HealthcareITNews.com The Peo Ple , S Tor ieS a nd i n n ovaT i o n S of 2 0 07 year In revIew Continued from page 19 i soainitiativestopofimplementationlist Partners HealthCare System and UPMC blaze trail for others to follow. Patty eNrado, Contributing Editor More at HealthcareITnews.com e Connect: reVieW 1207 rsrulingseenasspurtohealthCareit A two-page memorandum from the Internal Revenue Service issued in May is expected to give a nudge to not-for-profit hospitals that have considered providing healthcare information technology to medical staff physicians. The IRS indicated it would not consider donations of IT and supporting services as kickbacks that would jeopardize healthcare providers’ not-for-profit status. .s.rankslastinstudyofsixnations’healthsystems Things aren’t looking any better for the United States healthcare system since the last time it was compared with those of other industrialized nations. An update to an ongoing study of nations’ performances in several areas of healthcare - including implementations of information technology - again has ranked the United States dead last among Australia, New Zealand, Germany, the United Kingdom and Canada. ol’sCasestartsanew‘revolution’ Steve Case launched Revolution Health in April 2007, bringing in a flock of well-known partners in healthcare and elsewhere. He wants to make Revolution Health the place to manage one’s health and put $100 million of his own money into the project. The Revolution Health Web site offers health information, treatment advice and more than 125 online tools. ealthCareitChieftostay Robert M. Kolodner, MD, moved from interim to permanent capacity as the head of the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology. And with the appointment comes a change in the way the position is structured - ensuring continuity beyond the current administration. nsidersweighimpaCtofsantabarbarahieshutdown The Santa Barbara Co. Care Data Exchange was the oldest regional health information organization in the country until it ended its efforts in March. Some in the industry see the shutdown as having a major effect on future development of exchanges. u NEW GLOUCESTER, ME – Service-oriented architecture, or SOA, implementations accounted for nearly 47 percent of reader votes for hospital system implementation announced or begun in 2007 that will have the greatest impact on healthcare IT. Helping the vote was the fact that Partners HealthCare System and the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, or UPMC, are wellknown, top-tier organizations. Launched in July, the Partners HealthCare System SOA platform developed by Siemens Medical Solutions is expected to enhance interoperability and enable repurposing of software components to create new IT-based services. “At Partners we are committed to being as effective and innovative as possible in applying information technology to improve the quality, safety and efficiency of care for our patients, enhance the work lives of our clinicians, staff and researchers and elevate the efficiency and effectiveness of our operations,” said John Glaser, CIO. “We hope that the work that we do is helpful to others in our collective endeavor to improve healthcare in this country.” Readers are watching SOA implementations closely, including UPMC’s integration project using dbMotion’s SOA platform. “I think the SOA platform will have the most influence on those healthcare systems that need nHin’s nine Hies: will one become THe naTional model? WASHINGTON, D.C. – In September 2008, nine health information exchanges, or HIEs, awarded HHS contracts to begin the base implementation of the Nationwide Health Information Network, or NHIN, will showcase their results. Our readers were asked which of these HIEs – comprising nationally recognized and lesser-known entities – will serve as models for future healthcare IT developments. The New York eHealth Collaborative, founded by statewide healthcare leaders and supported by the New York State Department of Health, was the runaway favorite with 47.2 percent of the vote. Indiana University was a distant second with 23.6 percent. Still, Karen Scoles, MD, medical director of information systems for Chester, Penn.-based Crozer-Keystone Health System, said that Indiana University’s track record speaks for itself. “Indiana has the benefit of working with the Regenstrief Institute, which houses some of the most brilliant minds around as far as HIT is concerned,” said Evan Carter of Booz Allen Hamilton. North Carolina Healthcare Information and Communications Alliance, another statewide organization, garnered 22.7 percent of the vote. “North Carolina has the support needed to be successful,” said Sheila Green-Shook, director of health information management at Kirkland, Wash.-based Evergreen Healthcare. While CareSpark, which boasts numerous healthcare IT partners and regional public and private partners, ranked last of the nine HIEs, it garnered passionate responses. “Much of our country is rural and borders state lines. These are the ones to watch. Healthcare is not delivered along state lines but along geographical areas,” said Kara Donoghue of Sinai Health Systems, in advocating for CareSpark. h i to proceed with caution and find solutions that need to be sculpted to their needs,” wrote in one reader. “This will also give them the most flexibility to ask for and receive exactly what they want. The create-as-you-go approach has its flaws, but better for input into the final solutions.” Begun in 2007, UPMC’s $84 million initiative will integrate data from disparate IT systems across the network’s hospitals and ambulatory care sites, and allow health information exchange with other western Pennsylvania healthcare providers. The pilot rollout is scheduled for early next year, according to Jay Srini, vice president of emerging technologies. “UPMC is targeting several areas to drive innovation through process improvement, innovative ways for care delivery and leveraging the relationship between our health plan, our hospital division and provider division of the business. Partnership with both small and large companies are forged depending on the unique solution being targeted,” she said. Nearly 19 percent of the readers thought that Catholic Healthcare West’s plans to invest $900 million annually in computerized physician order entry, or CPOE, and other IT investments were significant. “Big money and wide-reaching, but with a narrow technical scope and a simple, tangible ROI,” wrote Evan Carter of Booz Allen Hamilton. “This is a recipe for success.” Caritas Christi Health Care’s distribution of eClinicalWorks’ electronic medical records, or EMRs, to physicians garnered 14.2 percent of the vote. Begun in January, the program now has approximately 100 physicians, in 25 to 35 physician offices, set up with EMRs. More at HealthcareITnews.com e Connect: iMPleMeNtatioN 1207 ● ● Top sTorIes Compute the value Of Preventing Medical Errors Of Killing Bugs and Stopping Viruses Of Improving Patient Safety Continued from page 19 IT saves lives at John Muir Health IT Group We have long been a leader in integrated information systems and preservation of the integrity of patient data. Now, we are leading the transition to mobile and wireless information systems that will directly impact patient care. Wouldn’t you like to use your skills to make that kind of difference? John Muir Medical Center was ranked by U.S.News & World Report as one of America’s Best Hospitals in 2007 for orthopedics and digestive disorders. We are an Equal Opportunity Employer. johnmuirhealth.com/it e ● Connect: JoHN Muir 1207 “This is crucial for setting the background for hospitals and physicians to integrate their systems,” noted Kara Donoghue, Sinai Health Systems. “Many physician offices cannot afford or have the skills to support a sophisticated system [and] this opens the doors for hospitals with the experts to help.” The healthcare information technology effort, adds Evan Carter of Booz Allen Hamilton, “is still all about making it easier and financially sustainable to get EHRs into the smaller provider practices. Until RHIOs are funded by those with the most to gain (private payers), then those with the most money (i.e. hospitals) that are willing to fund are the next best things.” Others predicted CMS’ P4P program would have an even greater impact on adoption. Late last year, CMS announced that doctors who measure and report their performance from July 1 to December 31 of this year will receive a bonus payment of 1.5 percent of their total allowed charges under Medicare. In April, the agency released 74 performance measures on which progress could be marked. “This is a decision forcing many physicians who have been indifferent about IT to buy in or get left out!” said Barry W. Brasfield, M.D., CEO Anesthesia Business Management. More at HealthcareITnews.com e Connect: stories 1207 ● http://www.HealthcareITNews.com http://www.HealthcareITNews.com http://www.HealthcareITNews.com http://www.healthcareitnews.com/story.cms?id=8207 http://www.healthcareitnews.com/story.cms?id=8204 http://www.johnmuirhealth.com/it http://www.johnmuirhealth.com/it http://www.HealthcareITNews.com http://www.healthcareitnews.com/story.cms?id=8206 http://www.healthcareitnews.com/eConnect.cms?id=8249

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

Healthcare IT News - December 2007 Contents Paying Docs Seal of Approval Key to Success Stage 4 Stark Payoff New Kids on the Block Real-time Trend On the Block Picture Perfect Head of the Class

Healthcare IT News - December 2007

For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.