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EHR review sites seem to have taken hold. Press releases and announcements galore, they proliferate the web like nearly other consumer review-based site. In the latest round, one of the newest sites, EMR-Matrix, essentially announced its existence and that its staff and leadership would be present at one of healthcare’s largest tradeshows – HIMSS.
What better a place to try to sell its product where the very companies that it will likely hold hostage through its so-called independent review will be present.
According to the company’s release, “The new website offers a way for doctors and health systems to evaluate, test and read reviews of electronic medical record software systems, as well as provide feedback on their own experiences with their existing EMR and practice management systems. Unlike other sites, EMR-Matrix is user content driven and strives to provide the most candid feedback possible about each EMR system.”
I absolutely believe that the (free) market needs dedicated resources that help consumers find the best products at the best prices while exposing a company’s weaknesses and touting its greatest successes, but I’m not in favor of sites bent on trying to manipulate the system.
I may be in the minority, but I don’t believe in review sites, and I don’t use them. Too often, the reviews are skewed toward the negative, the sounds of the blathering loudmouth without a better venue to employ turns to the web and spouts off. They do almost nothing to keep me from experiencing something I want to experience. Certainly, I don’t believe an un-vetted review site about electronic health records is going to do much to sway my opinion one way or another about the quality of a product being professionally produced by a software vendor, but it may sway the opinions of others.
Essentially, the site is taking the business model that Software Advice utilizes and is trying to position itself as another unbiased source of information that also uses aggregated customer reviews to provide the “true” sentiment of a system and its capabilities.
If nothing else, this is just another form of KLAS, which I’ve always been suspect of. Based on my experiences in house at an EHR vendor, I’ve seen the data used to compile the reports and with the conclusions these types of reports drawn, there is a great deal left to the imagination. Companies – Allscripts is an example – that choose not to subscribe to the KLAS and, therefore, forgo receiving the KLAS reports should earn everyone’s respect. They don’t bow to the peer pressure of inclusion and they understand that for the most part, the reports or worth far less than the paper they’re printed on (even though vendors pay upwards of $60,000 to see them). Nevertheless, the data in the reports are suspect and thin, and given the strangle hold KLAS has on vendors, to not subscribe is virtual suicide for the vendor (Allscripts is big enough not to have been too deeply affected, though its products are never anywhere near the top of the rankings in the KLAS reports).
That said, EMR-Matrix and others that come along might do more damage than good. If nothing else, in my opinion, at face value, they seem to be out to capitalize on the market. Let’s hope the consumers of health IT and EHRs see through this thinly veiled attempt, but there’s still some skepticism on my part that this will be the case. My blogger colleagues have agreed with me so I hope those in the market for a new EHR will actually do a little shopping around and testing rather than simply relying on a site such as this.
Unfortunately, some of the collateral damage of a site like this is like that of a “bad” restaurant — once the review hits the web, it pretty much lives there forever. For people like me in PR, and those around me who are actually dedicating their lives to developing what we believe are good, solid, high-quality products to better healthcare, physician’s practices and patients’ lives, we lose because of sites like this. We’re the ones who lose sleep. We’re the ones that lose our jobs. We’re the ones who lose – because of a site that’s pairing the information provided with those seeking it, as relevant.
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If you love drama, there may be no better time than now to be in health IT. Specifically, the CommonWell Health Alliance movement – spearheaded by vendor giants Allscripts, Athenahealth, Cerner, Greenway and McKesson — to promote health information exchange.
However, as we all know, the one giant in the room not to be invited to the dance, Epic, is crying foul.
CommonWell is billed as a nonprofit consortium as a “vehicle to create a shared, centralized standards-based platform for patient and provider identification and authorization, and information exchange,” according to Modern Healthcare.
As one might expect, so far, the effort is little more than PR (as I said recently). It’s yet to be determined that this meeting of the minds will produce anything market ready or will be welcomed by those it was designed to serve.
“The concept is to create a national record locator service that won’t hold patient records, but will contain information about where those records are located. That way, when a provider using a CommonWell member’s EHR wants to obtain copies of those records from another provider of one of his or her patients, that provider will be able to send a query to the record locator, and then directly to that provider for copies,” according to the magazine.
Additionally, the plan also won’t create a national patient identifier. Patient identifiers, such as cellphone numbers, insurance numbers and e-mail addresses, will be used to match patients with their appropriate records.
Finally, CommonWell is being built on an actual business model – or so the leaders of the initiative say — which has been a problem health information exchanges. According to Modern Healthcare, EHR vendors are going to pay for the CommonWell HIE. Vendors will have to pay an annual subscription fee to use the service.
From a pedestrian point of view, this simply makes sense. So where’s the rub?
Seemingly, the leader of several successful businesses decided to get together to create a plan, based on a business model that has brought each of the participating vendors a great deal of success, and are developing a plan for bringing that concept to market.
Rather than wait for the government to bring the idea of HIEs to fruition, a few ladies and gentlemen with a tremendous amount of business savvy decided it was time to capitalize on the market. They decided it was time to fill a need and in the process deliver a service. We’ll see if that comes about, but this point is true and can’t be argued.
On the opposite of the table, quite literally, there are others who believe the effort is a ruse to control data and instead of freeing the system, will create more silos.
Given the fact that the market is nothing but silos now, I’m not sure one more is going to make a difference even if CommonWell does lock down the data.
In fact, according to Modern Healthcare, the goal of CommonWell is to improve data liquidity and to respond to customer demand for interoperability for accountable care organizations.
Interoperability. That’s what this game (health IT) seems to be all about. Or, am I wrong?
Judy Faulkner, founder and CEO of Epic, may think so.
She continues to wonder, with some scorn, if CommonWell is a competitive business? Is it a service? “Will it be favoring those who started it and using those who did not start it as the means to feed the business? What components of business will be in it? Will it sell the data? Will there be patents? Those are the sum of the questions I asked myself,” she said.
At the same time, ONC head Dr. Farzad Mostashari seems to have his doubts. But, wouldn’t you too, if a new business set up shop, one likely governed by less regulation, and has plans to compete with your organization? You might wonder if you’re going to in a tight spot shortly, too.
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The market for electronic health and health records (EHRs) is set to experience rapid growth over the coming years, with EMR peer group value estimated to climb from approximately $10.6 billion in 2012 to $17 billion by 2017, at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 9.8 percent, according to research and consulting firm GlobalData.
The company’s new report estimates that McKesson had the largest healthcare information technology software and services revenue in 2012, with $3,300 million, placing it as the EHR market leader. McKesson is followed by Cerner and Allscripts, which achieved revenues of $2,666 million and $1,477 million, respectively.
According to GlobalData, this rapid EHR market growth is because of incentives offered under the American Relief and Recovery Act of 2009, which delivers opportunities for providers to transform unstructured, paper-based data into electronic digitized information that can be shared across the entire care industry.
Adam Dion, GlobalData’s analyst covering industry dynamics, says: “Physicians are selecting and implementing EHRs that meet federal requirements for meaningful use, and which also fit their practices and provide opportunities to enhance productivity, capture profits, and improve clinical outcomes.”
In addition to providing platforms for sharing patient information, GlobalData states that EHR vendors are offering revenue cycle management (RCM) solutions to physician practices to bridge the gap between clinical and financial information.
Dion says: “One of the many RCM solutions is GE Healthcare’s Centricity Business, which supports traditional reimbursement models for greater profitability and efficiency by standardizing all clinical and administrative staff onto the same financial platform.
“With the ever-changing world of healthcare regulations and reimbursement schedules, hospitals and health systems need solutions with the flexibility to handle diverse billing needs,” Dion concludes.
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The following is a list of organizations I’ll personally be visiting with at HIMSS14, along with several others. Each has a compelling story and I’m looking forward to learning more about them.
Any thoughts on who you think I might be missing, or have overlooked?
AirStrip provides a complete, vendor and data source agnostic enterprise-wide clinical mobility solution, which enables clinicians to improve the health of individuals and populations. With deep clinical expertise and strong roots in mobile technology and data integration, AirStrip is empowering the nation’s leading health systems as the industry continues to evolve to new business models, accountable care and shared risk. Based in San Antonio, Texas, AirStrip allows health systems to unlock the full potential of their existing technology investments with a complete mobility solution that provides access to critical patient data across the care continuum. AirStrip is backed by investments from Sequoia Capital, Qualcomm, Inc., Hospital Corporation of America (HCA) and the Wellcome Trust. AirStrip’s customers includes HCA, Texas Health Resources, Vanguard Health Systems (part of Tenet Healthcare Corporation), Dignity Health and Ardent Health Services.
Allscripts delivers the insights that healthcare providers require to generate world-class outcomes. The company’s Electronic Health Record, practice management and other clinical, revenue cycle, connectivity and information solutions create a Connected Community of Health for physicians, hospitals and post-acute organizations.
Axial’s products improve the quality of patient care, and reduce the cost of providing it, by credentialing the most qualified providers, delivering point of care decision support tools, and utilizing a 360-degree cloud-based predictive model to stratify risk and quantify outcomes. Axial furthers the IHI Triple Aim of driving healthcare value by developing cost-effective, quality-based treatment pathways combined with seamless IT and workflow integration.
ESET, the pioneer of proactive protection and the maker of the award-winning ESET NOD32 technology, is a global provider of security solutions for businesses and consumers. For over 26 years, the Company continues to lead the industry in proactive threat detection. By obtaining the 80th VB100 award in June 2013, ESET NOD32 technology holds the record number of Virus Bulletin “VB100” Awards, and has never missed a single “In-the-Wild” worm or virus since the inception of testing in 1998. In addition, ESET NOD32 technology holds the longest consecutive string of the VB100 awards of any AV vendor. ESET has also received a number of accolades from AV-Comparatives, AV-TEST and other testing organizations and reviews. ESET NOD32 Antivirus, ESET Smart Security, ESET Cyber Security (solution for Mac), ESET Mobile Security and IT Security for Business are trusted by millions of global users and are among the most recommended security solutions in the world. The Company has global headquarters in Bratislava (Slovakia), with regional distribution centers in San Diego (U.S.), Buenos Aires (Argentina), and Singapore; with offices in Jena (Germany), Prague (Czech Republic) and Sao Paulo (Brazil). ESET has malware research centers in Bratislava, San Diego, Buenos Aires, Singapore, Prague, Košice (Slovakia), Krakow (Poland), Montreal (Canada), Moscow (Russia) and an extensive partner network for more than 180 countries.
Founded in 2008, MedSys Group, a full-service HCIT delivery organization, supports today’s technology in large academic medical centers, integrated delivery networks, specialty hospitals, and physician practice organizations. MedSys Group’s vision of “evolving healthcare” is centered on contributing to the success of its clients while providing a supportive culture for its professional consultants and associates. MedSys is able to lend expert guidance and knowledge in Cerner, Epic, Siemens, Meditech, McKesson, and Eclipsys solutions, as well as the Ambulatory and Practice Management arenas. MedSys is frequently featured in A-list publications and was named for two consecutive years on the Dallas 100 list of fastest growing companies in North Texas. MedSys is a recipient of Modern Healthcare’s Best Places to Work in Healthcare and the Inc. 5000 awards.
Extend mobility to the point of care and beyond with healthcare solutions that combine Motorola’s world-class mobility products and critical healthcare applications from partners. Our healthcare industry-focused solutions allow you to securely share real-time information anywhere, inside or outside the facility, for increased patient safety and more attentive care. In an aim to streamline supply chain processes and reduce overall healthcare costs, our healthcare solutions make it possible to automate management systems, track patient progress, and improve responsiveness of healthcare providers. Motorola’s healthcare tools also enhance clinical performance and improve the delivery of care. With our broad range of resources, including solutions for medication administration, specimen collection, and remote patient monitoring, your organization can find the information and security you need anytime and anywhere. Motorola’s healthcare solutions allow medical professionals to attend to patients while technologies and management processes take care of the rest.
Proficio is a leading Managed Security Service Provider (MSSP). We are changing the way organizations meet their IT security and compliance goals by providing the most advanced cloud-based solutions to monitor and scan critical assets without the need for added headcount or costly software and hardware systems. Its customers value its insight, experience and unrelenting passion for defending their networks and applications from cyber attacks. Its founders are industry veterans who have helped companies like RSA, ArcSight, Proofpoint and Ramp Networks achieve success. Proficio partners with industry leaders, like HP ArcSight, Qualys, Palo Alto Networks, and NRI Security, to bring best-in-class solutions to market.
SAS is used at more than 70,000 sites in 139 countries, including 91 of the top 100 companies on the 2013 Fortune Global 500 list. An overwhelming majority of customers choose to continue using SAS every year. CEO Jim Goodnight says it’s because great employees create great software and services. SAS (pronounced “sass”) once stood for “statistical analysis system,” and began at North Carolina State University as a project to analyze agricultural research. As demand for such software grew, SAS was founded in 1976 to help all sorts of customers – from pharmaceutical companies and banks to academic and governmental entities. SAS – both the software and company – thrived throughout the next few decades. Development of the software attained new heights in the industry by being able to run across all platforms, using the multivendor architecture for which it is known today. While the scope of the company spread across the globe, the encouraging and innovative corporate culture remained the same.
Verisk Health is transforming the business of healthcare by providing data services, analytics, and advanced technologies that answer the industry’s most complex challenges. With a focus on reducing risk across all domains of healthcare, Verisk Health’s broad solution suite is designed to help health plans, employers, providers, and other risk-bearing entities improve the quality of healthcare delivery, reduce costs, optimize risk-adjusted revenue, ensure payment accuracy, and support compliance. From effective population health management, quality reporting, revenue accuracy, and chart retrieval to tackling fraud, waste and abuse, Verisk Health is committed to answering the unique challenges of its clients.
In an era that challenges us to do more, better, faster, cheaper, and with fewer resources, patient experience is often considered an add-on for hospitals and health systems. Yet, thankfully, there are many organizations that seek to set themselves apart from their competitors and to be bold leaders in the industry. For these pioneers, the experience innovation network offers a national research collaborative that is putting the science behind the human experience of care. Together, members of the experience innovation network are developing and sharing proven strategies and sustainable solutions that are shaping the next scientific agenda and hardwiring human-centered care models and technologies that are bridging communication gaps, safeguarding the patient journey, and improving experience and outcomes.
Founded in 1999, ZirMed is one of healthcare’s premier health information connectivity and management solutions companies. ZirMed combines innovative software development with the industry’s most advanced transactional network and business analytics platform to give organizations a clearer view of their financial and operational performance. Top-tier rated by our clients using KLAS criteria, ZirMed’s industry-leading technology and client support are modernizing critical connections between providers, patients, and payers to improve the business and process of healthcare. Our nationwide network facilitates, manages, and analyzes billions of healthcare transactions, driving bottom-line performance with clinical communications, comprehensive analytics, eligibility, claims management, coding compliance, reimbursement management, and patient payment services—including credit card processing, online payments, statements, estimation, and payment plan management.
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Day 2 at HIMSS14 was much the same as day 1: Lots of walking, talking and great meetings with great organizations. I can’t thank enough vendors like Verisk Health, Omnicell, Amazing Charts and SAS for the great information they’ve shared, and for the perspectives about the market, trends and what’s ahead (and what’s behind).
Electronic health records are now foundational, and in many cases, they’ve lost their sex appeal. Though there’s an obvious and huge presence by them here, this year’s HIMSS doesn’t seem to have the same energy around the technology, from my point-of-view, that they did two or three years ago, for obvious reasons. Though their importance is still great, as we all know, other issues are taking center stage. ICD-10 is the obvious elephant in the room.
“Risk” is the biggest buzz word I’ve heard here in Orlando. I’ve heard it dozens of times. “Patient engagement” seems overcooked, according to those I’ve spoken to; an aspirational concept, yes, but actionable in an an entirely different story. Lofty goals and strategy, fewer practical best practices approaches for proceeding.
Patient engagement has only just begun, or at least is just developing past its infancy, and I look forward to seeing how it matures as a concept. Remember, just a couple years ago, those with vested interest claim patient portals would solve the ever elusive patient engagement issue. Portals clearly have not done so. Why would they? I remain skeptical that the actual patient is at the heart of this conversation rather how a systems can implement “best practices.” We’ll see, I suppose.
That said, HIMSS14 remains a wonderful experience and I’m glad to be here and meeting some wonderful people. I look forward to what today brings. Likely, more walking!
Here are some images I captured from Day 2.
OnBase has my favorite booth at the show. I always love their bar. (An invite would be nice).
Center alley, a little thin of a crowd here, but the tradeshow floor was packed most of the day:
My nomination for best event at HIMSS this year was the food packing event hosted by Verisk Health for the Central Florida Food Bank backpack program for homeless school children. I’m biased, though, as my wife and I serve a similar organization back home. More than 4,000 lunches were packed last night by a couple hundred HIMSSers.
Finally, I look forward to my final day here. Looking forward to some great meetings with ZirMed, Vocera, AirStrip, Allscripts and CloudPath.
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CSC announces that it is pursuing the anticipated multi-billion dollar U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) Healthcare Management System Modernization (DHMSM) contract with Allscripts and HP. The CSC-led team intends to deliver a secure, enterprise-wide information technology (IT) solution that joins multiple disparate military health information systems into a single, open, interoperable and extensible platform that seamlessly connects patients and providers.
“As a practicing physician in the Navy and civilian sector, I personally understand the importance of this initiative and am honored for the opportunity to extend my experience and expertise in DoD mission and medical knowledge to this team,” said Dr. Robert M. Wah, CSC chief medical officer and current American Medical Association president. “CSC is the world’s largest health systems integrator. As such, we know that secure access to actionable data, system usability and agility will be critical to the program’s success. Together with our teammates, we will deliver a solution that improves care of military beneficiaries and keeps our fighting force strong and fit. We intend to provide to military members and their families the same outstanding service that they deliver to our nation on a regular basis.”
CSC will apply its leading commercial, government and global health technology experience to quickly and successfully deliver next-generation solutions that improve health outcomes. Allscripts, with one of the largest client bases in healthcare, will provide its comprehensive, integrated and interoperable electronic health record solution. Allscripts’ open architecture will enable DoD to innovate care anywhere while easily maximizing the reuse of systems and data as well as leveraging the full spectrum of future technological advancements. Allscripts clients are among the largest and most advanced healthcare organizations in the world including The University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, North Shore-LIJ Health System, New York-Presbyterian Hospital and the National Institutes of Health Clinical Center.
HP brings domain expertise in healthcare IT, developed from its 50-year history of providing innovative solutions for Military Health, VA, Health and Human Services (HHS), commercial healthcare organizations and state government health agencies. Each year, HP technology and services touch more than 200 million patient lives and are used to perform 2.8 billion healthcare transactions that deliver quality care around the globe. Its world-class IT will provide DoD with industry-leading products and services designed for the future.
Paul M. Black, president and chief executive officer of Allscripts, issued the following:
“We are very pleased to partner with CSC and HP, organizations that share our commitment to innovation, interoperability and connectivity and our dedication to improve the quality of patient care. The CSC-led team will bring unparalleled expertise and experience to maximize the power, breadth and flexibility of Allscripts Sunrise and Allscripts population health management solutions.”
Allscripts Sunrise comprehensive, integrated and interoperable EHR solution will be a key foundation of the CSC-led team’s bid. Allscripts Sunrise is an open and intelligent platform built with advanced decision support and medical logic modules (MLMs), which provide automated, real-time monitoring of patient care. Recognized as a true open platform, Allscripts Sunrise will enable the United States military to maximize reuse of its existing systems and to leverage future technological advancements. Allscripts Sunrise manages the complex medical needs of patients irrespective of care setting, from outpatient to critical care. Black Book Rankings named Allscripts Sunrise “Top Inpatient Electronic Health Record Vendor” for hospitals over 300 beds in their 2014 survey of acute care EHRs.
As a leader in population health management, Allscripts has enabled thousands of diverse organizations to coordinate more effective care. Allscripts dbMotion aggregates and harmonizes patient information from disparate clinical systems, and delivers a comprehensive view of the patient record into the provider’s native workflow. Access to a single source of information can help facilitate clinical decisions in real time and at the point-of-care, and provide a cohesive data set for population health analytics to improve care quality and patient outcomes. These capabilities will be critical to significantly improving coordination and cost across all venues of care, including the private sector, the DoD and the VA.
Allscripts continues to be an industry leader in meeting regulatory requirements, with the second-most Meaningful Use attestations among healthcare IT vendors from 2011-2013 according to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). With one of the largest footprints in the HIT industry, supporting approximately 1 in 4 hospitals and 180,000 physicians in 50,000 practices, Allscripts can connect providers and patients anywhere care is delivered or needed.
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The term “patient engagement” has emerged as this year’s buzz phrase much the same way “patient portals” were a couple years ago and even similar to “electronic health records” and “meaningful use” before that. Volumes of articles, case studies, white papers and educational sessions have been dedicated to the topic of patient engagement and even at this years’ annual HIMSS conference patient engagement as a topic discussed was the rule and not the exception. With every step through the maze of booths in Orlando it seemed as if the words – “patient engagement” — were whispered and shouted from every direction.
Patient engagement is now synonymous with health IT, yet the topic is proving to be one of healthcare’s stickiest wickets because no matter whom or how many people you ask there seems to be a different response or definition to the term and how it is achieved.
With all of this uncertainty and confusion about patient engagement, I set out to see if I could define the term by asking a number of health IT insiders what they thought “patient engagement” meant, or what it meant to them. Their insightful and educational responses are what follow.
Chris Cashwell
Chris Cashwell, senior vice president of global marketing and strategy, Lincor Solutions
The interest in patient engagement is because of countless studies and empirical data that have confirmed what our common sense has known for years — when people are empowered and have a voice, you have better outcomes. It matters because as fewer dollars chase more patients you have to improve outcomes while doing it more cost effectively. How do you do that? You do that by asking the patient and their care givers to be more involved, educated and empowered.
The second reason patient engagement matters is because of data. It’s everywhere and growing everyday — generated by patients and by healthcare organizations. How is that data accessed? Can it make a difference in care, outcomes, quality and safety? Giving point-of-care access to data for physicians and patients is critical in today’s environment.
Thirdly, and most transcending, is that we now live in a connected, engaged society. Twitter, Facebook, Google, Netflix, etc., all allow us to have what we want on demand in real time. We do not leave those expectations in the “parking lot” of the healthcare facility. We expect to Skype with a grandmother, to research therapy options, to see a movie on demand.
All of these affect our health, our happiness and our wellbeing. If we can do that with technology and improve outcomes at a lower cost — it is a win, win, win.”
Patient engagement comes from several forces pushing for improvement in healthcare (e.g., Triple Aim, PCMH, volume to value) that arguably reflect consumerization of healthcare. Health IT must provide a new experience for patients (and providers) to engage them (e.g., portal, smartphone apps, gamification, care coordination, etc.). This certainly presents an opportunity to develop and sell new products. However, repackaging the same patient experience in a new app or wearable will fail. Patients (whether ambulatory or otherwise) are acting more as consumers and looking for a wellness experience and not simply a volume of treatments that are now better measured and reported. This requires much more than a patient portal and after-visit satisfaction surveys.
What does patient engagement mean for health IT? The bottom line is that health IT skill sets will need to evolve and expand. Effective digital patient engagement requires a new approach to technology platforms, including:
communications experience and a deep understanding of patient audiences and behaviors to understand how to drive key digital actions
a specialized focus on front-end development and process
the ability to craft digital engagement strategy that actually drives
results and outcomes.
It also means that IT professionals will need to embrace a leaner and more nimble approach to healthcare technology, and be comfortable with adapting strategy in light of testing and analytics data and results.
There is a new model of care emerging — one driven by economic factors and quality of care. Industry regulations are shifting financial compensation for healthcare providers from a fee-for-service model to one based on population health and quality of care.
With these massive shifts in how providers treat patients and manage their businesses, there is no question that patient engagement will become a major priority. When contemplating how they care for their patients, providers must think beyond the four walls of their facilities in order to engage their patients, provide value and build loyalty and retention. It is no longer about an “in and out” approach to procedures and in-patient treatment. Establishing and maintaining long-term relationships is now crucial to providing quality care and maintaining population health – and keeping the lights on.
All of this definitely matters to patients. Providers can deliver a positive patient experience using ongoing care communications and tools that range from pre-care functions like appointment scheduling and procedure preparation through to post-care health management via regular medication reminders and rehab plans. And all of these can be provided using digital platforms to ensure efficiency, customization and real-time monitoring. When done right, these health management solutions can help patients be better prepared for their point of care experiences and increase their recovery and rehab time.
I don’t represent health IT experts; I represent people with chronic conditions. For them, patient engagement is a major issue and one that the National Health Council has championed for years. The NHC believes strongly that only when the patient community is truly engaged throughout the continuum of the health care delivery system will that system meet the needs of patients. Too often, one patient is interviewed or put on a review panel and the “patient engagement” box is checked off the to-do list. Just as a human being needs multiple dating encounters to understand a mate before committing to marriage, the patient community needs multiple touch points to be an active and involved participant in molding the health care system.
The NHC did focus group work on patient attitudes toward the use of electronic health records and, as you probably know, people with chronic conditions are willing to have their data shared with the research community in order to develop new treatments and cures – if not during their lifetime, then for their children and grandchildren. Because people with chronic diseases and disabilities have a different perspective on health care, their voices need to factored into the decision making process.
Stephen Dart, chief product manager for the clinical center of excellence, ADP AdvancedMD
The accelerating pace at which healthcare costs are shifting from the employer to the employee have placed the patient, or more appropriately the “consumer,” at the forefront of health IT. Consumers have gained significant control and leverage of the buying process via the explosion of e-commerce over the past decade. Much of healthcare costs today are because of lifestyle related health challenges. By engaging the patient on their terms via portals, personal health records, personal health devices, and embracing “their” technology, we open the opportunity to change the outcomes of healthcare and reduce costs in a way that the industry can’t affect any other way.
When the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act was signed into law in 2010, the healthcare industry began shifting the focus away from primarily treating illness to a more holistic approach aimed at keeping people healthy. As a result, patient engagement is here to stay as evidenced by healthcare professionals beginning to embrace a more interactive approach for treating patients. According to a TeleVox Healthy World Report, one in four (26 percent) healthcare practitioners believe it’s their job to keep patients on track with their treatment programs between office visits by sending them ongoing reminders and alerts to take medication, check blood sugars, eat right and exercise. And, although more than half (55 percent) of healthcare practices say they don’t currently communicate with patients between visits to provide care, they want to move in this direction. In fact, two out of five healthcare practices (38 percent) would like to begin providing this level of patient care between visits in the near future.
Today, sadly, only five percent of healthcare professionals gave those in their care “A” grades for adherence to their directions about becoming healthier, which jeopardizes the entire premise of outcome-based care. To achieve success in today’s performance-driven healthcare, physicians must engage patients between visits with information that will help them understand the state of their health and their personal role in becoming healthier. Regular communications offering information, encouragement and ‘just-in-time’ reminders help patients stick with treatment plans between appointments. By scheduling a series of personalized, automated emails, voicemails or text messages that serve to remind, educate and motivate their patients in making the necessary changes to become healthier, doctors are engaging and supporting patients as they form new habits and work to become healthier individuals.
By the time the majority (two-thirds) of baby boomers turn 65 and qualify for Medicare, they are expected to have five or more chronic diseases, see 15 physicians and average more than 40 doctor visits a year. The increase in doctor visits, combined with the industry’s shortage of physicians, has led to medical practices incorporating “virtual” patient interactions involving phone calls, e-mails, text messages and communications through online patient portals to enable physicians to provide care to exponentially more patients. And, boomers want this kind of care. According to a TeleVox Healthy World Report, 82 percent Baby Boomers say communication from a healthcare professional via text message, email or voicemail is as helpful, if not more helpful than in-person or phone conversations, a sign patient engagement is here to stay.
Nearly three in four Americans do not follow doctor’s orders for taking prescription drugs, a problem that is associated with 125,000 patient deaths each year. This is an area where patient engagement truly makes a difference. According to a TeleVox Healthy World Report, more than one-third (35 percent) of Americans who think they could improve their routine of following doctors’ instructions believe they would do so if they received reminders from their doctors via email, voicemail or text telling them to do something specific, like take medication or check blood sugar levels. Consumer demand for patient engagement means it’s a trend that will stand the test of time.
Marty McKenna, vice president of the population health business unit, Allscripts
Marty McKenna
The future of healthcare is being shaped largely by the patient engagement evolution. Patients are front and center, with providers giving them an increasingly active role in in the management of their own care and treatment. As patients get more involved in their own care, we need to develop innovative solutions that can help them set goals, monitor their progress and become successful contributors. We need intuitive and open technologies that can connect patients more effectively to providers. But as we develop these tools and solutions, it is also important to remember that the patient engagement evolution will require a shift in patient mindset. It becomes impossible to manage chronic conditions without facilitating behavior changes with patients. You can’t have “patient engagement” without engaged patients.
Patient engagement is generally understood to mean the actions taken by patients to gain benefit from their healthcare services. It is an essential component of quality healthcare. To be effective, patient engagement must incorporate patients’ unique health beliefs and preferences. Research has demonstrated this leads to improved outcomes and enables effective self-management, the cornerstone of population health. The health system has finally acknowledged that a paternalistic, provider-centered approach to healthcare is not effective and the secret to changing the system is tapping into the natural human desire for mastery and control. Patient engagement IT, like all IT, offers a variety of tools to efficiently reach more patients using their preferred communication method. However, technology alone will not achieve the desired results and can get lost among all the other technology noise. Effective patient engagement requires patients’ trust that their needs will be considered and confidence in their ability to manage their own health.
The sudden attention to patient engagement is less of a fad and more of the field of medicine catching-up to the rest of the business world and recognizing that being a doctor/practitioner/provider isn’t enough to grow a sustainable business. People and patients want and need more and want more from their health provider in the way of information, access and accountability. Providers that don’t deliver will be put out of business by those that meet this demand.
In this series, we are featuring some of the thousands of vendors who will be participating in the HIMSS15 conference and trade show. Through it, we hope to offer readers a closer look at some of the solution providers who will either be in attendance – with a booth showcasing and displaying key products and offerings – or that will have a presence of some kind at the show – key executives in attendance or presenting, for example.
Hopefully this series will give you a bit more useful information about the companies that help make this event, and the industry as a whole, so exciting.
Elevator Pitch Allscripts is a leader in healthcare information technology solutions that advance clinical, financial and operational results. Our innovative solutions connect people, places and data across an Open, Connected Community of Health. Connectivity empowers caregivers to make better decisions and deliver better care for healthier populations.
Market Opportunity
Allscripts is one of the largest public companies focused exclusively on healthcare information technology and does business in eleven countries. Our full suite of population health solutions build on the power of our robust suite of Clinical and Revenue Cycle core products. We deliver the portfolio flexibility to work with all major EHR applications in the market today and enable our clients to deliver better outcomes. Allscripts differentiates itself through a comprehensive focus on connectivity, collaboration and innovation.
Services Offered
With our extensive community-powered network of caregivers and organizations, our unique Open architecture connects both clinical and financial data across every setting: from the provider to the hospital to post-acute settings and even the patient’s home. Our healthcare technology innovations connect caregivers across the spectrum with information and insights, resulting in better outcomes.
Problems Solved
Allscripts inspires healthy, connected communities. Allscripts is dedicated to making people healthier. We do that with innovative solutions for people—including patients, caregivers and healthcare providers. We enable better clinical, financial, and operational outcomes by:
Delivering the right information at the right time and the right place—across any care setting—to inform clinical decision support
Engaging patients—and consumers—in their own wellness and care
Aggregating and analyzing insights from all care settings to improve patient outcomes.
The result? Healthy populations where every person counts.
Booth Number
#3521
Key Executives at Conference
Paul Black
Several members of the Allscripts executive team will be in attendance, including CEO and president Paul Black.
Clients Served
Allscripts is one of the most trusted healthcare technology providers in the industry. Our solutions help to connect:
180,000 physician users (nearly one in four US physicians use an Allscripts solution)
45,000 physician offices (nearly 20 percent of US physician offices use an Allscripts solution)
2,500 hospitals
13,000 post-acute facilities (including home health, rehabilitation and hospice facilities)
100,000 prescribing physicians
Allscripts is proud to tout that 100 percent of US News & World Reports “Honor Roll” Hospitals in 2014 are Allscripts clients.
Selling Proposition
Allscripts deliver the right info at the right time and the right place for the right patient throughout all care settings, engaging patients and consumers – in their own wellness and care.
Allscripts suite of solutions includes:
Healthy Core: The power of an integrated EHR solution
Clinical and financial decision support
Achieve Value-Based Care
Open platform
Care Coordination: The power of precision-driven care coordination
Performance
Precise control
System-wide connectivity
Above the EMR
Patient Engagement: The power of personalized patient engagement
Monitor
Initiate intervention
Increase “touches”
Impact & change behavior
Analytics: The power of clinical and financial prediction
Harmonize data
Improve performance
Manage populations
Measure outcomes
Founded
1986
Number of full-time employees
Allscripts has more than 6,000 employees in 20 locations worldwide.
Headquarters
Chicago
Number of Previous HIMSS Conference Appearances
10
Specific Reason for Attendance
As a diamond-level sponsor, Allscripts attends the HIMSS Annual Conference to showcase our industry leadership and engage with key decision makers and influencers in our target markets.
James Smith is a blogger with Centra Care, an urgent care center in Tampa. Healthcare services from across the world are teaming to create better facilities for patients. This is leading to the better and faster provision of seamless patient care with fewer medical errors and improved quality of healthcare while allowing for lower costs. […]
EHR review sites seem to have taken hold. Press releases and announcements galore, they proliferate the web like nearly other consumer review-based site. In the latest round, one of the newest sites, EMR-Matrix, essentially announced its existence and that its staff and leadership would be present at one of healthcare’s largest tradeshows – HIMSS. What […]
If you love drama, there may be no better time than now to be in health IT. Specifically, the CommonWell Health Alliance movement – spearheaded by vendor giants Allscripts, Athenahealth, Cerner, Greenway and McKesson — to promote health information exchange. However, as we all know, the one giant in the room not to be invited […]
The market for electronic health and health records (EHRs) is set to experience rapid growth over the coming years, with EMR peer group value estimated to climb from approximately $10.6 billion in 2012 to $17 billion by 2017, at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 9.8 percent, according to research and consulting firm GlobalData. […]
The following is a list of organizations I’ll personally be visiting with at HIMSS14, along with several others. Each has a compelling story and I’m looking forward to learning more about them. Any thoughts on who you think I might be missing, or have overlooked? AirStrip AirStrip provides a complete, vendor and data source agnostic […]
Day 2 at HIMSS14 was much the same as day 1: Lots of walking, talking and great meetings with great organizations. I can’t thank enough vendors like Verisk Health, Omnicell, Amazing Charts and SAS for the great information they’ve shared, and for the perspectives about the market, trends and what’s ahead (and what’s behind). Electronic […]
CSC announces that it is pursuing the anticipated multi-billion dollar U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) Healthcare Management System Modernization (DHMSM) contract with Allscripts and HP. The CSC-led team intends to deliver a secure, enterprise-wide information technology (IT) solution that joins multiple disparate military health information systems into a single, open, interoperable and extensible platform that […]
The term “patient engagement” has emerged as this year’s buzz phrase much the same way “patient portals” were a couple years ago and even similar to “electronic health records” and “meaningful use” before that. Volumes of articles, case studies, white papers and educational sessions have been dedicated to the topic of patient engagement and even […]
In this series, we are featuring some of the thousands of vendors who will be participating in the HIMSS15 conference and trade show. Through it, we hope to offer readers a closer look at some of the solution providers who will either be in attendance – with a booth showcasing and displaying key products and […]
James Smith is a blogger with Centra Care, an urgent care center in Tampa. Healthcare services from across the world are teaming to create better facilities for patients. This is leading to the better and faster provision of seamless patient care with fewer medical errors and improved quality of healthcare while allowing for lower costs. […]
By Dr. Michael Blackman, medical director, population health and analytics, Allscripts. As healthcare delivery continues to evolve, healthcare technology needs to be there to support it. But, how will technology facilitate healthcare as we move forward? Healthcare accessibility, especially for certain populations, continues to be problematic. The expansion of telemedicine has the potential to improve […]
Allscripts is a leader in healthcare information technology solutions that advance clinical, financial and operational results. Our innovative solutions connect people, places and data across an Open, Connected Community of Health. Connectivity empowers caregivers to make better decisions and deliver better care for healthier populations.
