In This Issue
Meaningful Use
Recap of 2014 HIT Trends
Coastal Consultants

   

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     Amy Noel  206-321-9840 
    

 
Fall 2014

Wow, the year has flown.  I thought it would be interesting to recap the outcomes of the HIT Trends identified in the February newsletter. I also wanted to highlight the service offerings for our Meaningful Use practice as well as new employees.


Feel free to contact me at 206-324-6540. 
 
Sincerely,
 
Amy B. Noel
CEO
Coastal Healthcare Consulting, Inc
Meaningful Use
Gena Fouke RHIT, BSBA
Director of Meaningful Use
 

We hired Gena Fouke  to lead our Sentinel Meaningful Use practice.  Gena has a Medical Records background and fourteen years of IT experience.  She most recently served as a EHR Compliance Manager where she was responsible for developing and implementing an organizational-wide Meaningful Use program.

 

The Meaningful Use (MU) environment is challenging in both inpatient and ambulatory settings.  Most organizations have successfully adopted CEHRT and attested to Stage 1. Achievement of meaningful use is a major organization-wide transformational initiative and associated challenges must be effectively managed. Simply understanding the requirements involved in demonstrating meaningful use was cited by organizations as the biggest MU challenge. Adding to the challenge is the continuing development of the regulations themselves.

 

Coastal Healthcare Consulting developed Sentinel to help organizations leverage best practices and manage compliance requirements. The Sentinel services include:
 
 

Meaningful Use Advisor

The Sentinel MU Advisor is available to help meet specific MU needs. Subject matter experts will offer potential strategies to help alleviate MU roadblocks while addressing some of the major MU changes beyond Stage 1 criteria.  In addition, MU Advisor offers resources, tools, guidance, and the practical know-how to continue on a successful path towards achieving MU.

Meaningful Use Assessment

The Sentinel Meaningful Use Assessment allows healthcare organizations to gain a snapshot of their current level of MU readiness and provides recommendations, specific steps and an MU Roadmap. Organizations will also gain insight into potential barriers and roadblocks and will be able to leverage MU best practices.

Meaningful Use Mock Audit

The Sentinel Meaningful Use Mock Audit is an independent expert assessment designed to strengthen organizational readiness for audit requests by identifying risks to the incentive attestation and implementing mitigation strategies.

Meaningful Use Project Management

Sentinel Project Management allows healthcare organizations to leverage best practices and take advantage of MU experts who can help navigate program complexities and manage the compliance requirements.     
  

 

HIT 2014 Trends

Back in February 2014, I shared my perspectives for the HIT space. 
The outcomes for 2014 are highlighted below in blue.  

 

Trend #1 - Vendor Mergers and Acquisitions

Many industry experts are predicting that there will be major merger and acquisition activity in the vendor community. This, coupled with the vendors who are unable to certify for MU 2 will significantly reduce the number of EMR vendors.
 

Outcome: Cerner announced the acquisition of Siemens healthcare in August 2014 for $1.3B.  The acquisition is targeted to be finalized in February 2015. 

 

Trend #2 - HIT Job Growth

HITECH Act - Job growth and consulting opportunities should still be strong in 2014 for skills related to software installation, customization, building, and support as well as user training.

ICD-10 - The October 2014 deadline for transition from ICD-9 to ICD-10 will mean continued employment opportunities for skilled ICD-10 coders and trainers and IT professionals familiar with coding systems and data.

Revenue Cycle Management - Research says that 86 percent of hospital C-level executives expect new RCM consulting engagements to be underway through the end of 2014. 

Mobility - Global wireless health spending will more than double by 2018 to $59.7 billion, according to a report cited in Healthcare IT News. Remote patient monitoring applications and mobile health apps are two growth areas that should promote IT hiring.

Analytics - Health analytics spending is showing double-digit growth  fueled by the needs of insurers and providers. In large health systems, as EHR implementations are completed, hospitals will transition their IT needs from data collection to actionable data analysis.

Outcome: Apple Health was released with iOS 8.  Many new mobile health monitors and applications have hit the market. The ICD-10 delay to October 2015 was a welcome announcement to some and a costly delay for those who were ready. The Meaningful Use attestation timeline and requirements has generated frustration between CMS providers and healthcare organizations. MU Audit readiness is a significant risk factor for many organizations.

Trend #3 - Big Data

There is enormous enthusiasm for how "big data" can address persistent costs as well as quality deficiencies in the healthcare system. There are challenges that are specific to healthcare such as privacy and security. These are being addressed by new authentication approaches and policies that better safeguard patient-identifiable data. The challenge that demands significant attention is ensuring that the data quality is good. 
 

Outcome: Data analytics has been a strong trend especially in the areas of population management.  I see this continuing for the next 3-4 years  

 

Trend #4 - Enterprise MPI

Maintaining accurate, consistent, and up-to-date patient demographics is a constant challenge. The number of application systems that store and share patient data, combined with variances in data quality, lead to duplicate, incomplete, or corrupted patient records. Many healthcare organizations are beginning to address this issue by implementing Enterprise MPI software.
 

Outcome: I believe that there has not been the time to take on these projects or to really understand the ROI.  Many organizations are relying on their EMR vendors not 3rd party vendors to manage the patient duplication problem. I believe that data analytics and patient engagement will be the catalyst for the use of more sophisticated products. 

 

Coastal Consultants

  
Wayne Gray, BSIOE, MBA, FACHE, FHIMSS
Senior Consultant

 

What is your area of consulting expertise? 

I have expertise in Surgery Management - program governance, process improvement, scheduling and supply management as well as Perioperative Information Systems - selection, implementation and optimization.  I have worked with various vendor systems including Cerner SurgiNet, Epic OpTime, McKesson, GE, SIS, and Picis. I have served as an engagement director, project manager and subject matter expert.  I enjoy working with nurses and physicians on change management and helping them adopt new processes enabled by technology.

 

What do you bring to the job?

I bring over thirty years of experience in hospital wide operations improvement and information systems management. I have served over 200 hospital clients throughout the US, Canada and China. I bring a collaborative style to my projects working closely with the client leaders and staff, as well as my consulting project team. I am certified as a Fellow with the American College of Health Care Executives (ACHE) and the Healthcare Information Management Systems Society (HIMSS) and a Senior Member of the Healthcare Financial Management Association (HFMA). My passion is to effect lasting improvements in health care delivery through the systems, processes and policies we leave at our clients. 

What is most important to you about service to your clients?

Listening and coaching is critical to effecting change. Early in my career I focused on the correct answer and telling the client what they should do. Now I ask the client questions that will bring them to discover the best solution for them. This is especially effective for physicians and senior executives. At times what worked best for a past client isn't going to necessarily work for a new client.

 

Why did you join Coastal? 

I joined Coastal because the management and staff are genuine and share my values and commitment to client service. The project at Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium is a unique and challenging project with a great client group. I hope to get the opportunity to work with other members of the Coastal consulting team soon.