One of the main factors of health care reform was transitioning the industry to focus more on value-based outcomes than volume. Rather than continue to order potentially expensive exams for patients, radiologists and other physicians are being guided by improved decision-making to enhance their services.
As a result, clinical informatics play an important role in advancing health care into the new Digital Age.
Aligning workflow to focus on patients
Throughout the Meaningful Use program, the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has stressed the importance of collecting crucial medical data from patients. These insights can help providers identify clinical trends in their regions and alert CMS and other organizations to rising health issues around the country. According to HealthcareITNews, new policies from the agency will continue to push providers toward value-based care.
This shift is evidenced by CMS levying financial penalties against facilities that fail to reduce readmissions. As such, providers have to figure out how to optimize workflows and health IT to put patients at the center of care and decrease their total costs. To help with this mission, the Health Information and Management Systems Society has established the Clinical Informatics Institute educational program.
The event will bring health IT experts together to share their experiences regarding the implementation of digital systems, such as electronic health records, and how informatics can help reshape internal processes to improve patient safety. They aim to place considerable emphasis on solving challenges with interoperability and meeting objectives for providing accountable care.
In addition, some of the speakers are expected to address the rising popularity of telehealth and the benefits it can bring to facilities around the U.S. The program provides further support to the advantages that clinical technology have provided doctors, but recent research showed that patients may also be an untapped resource for informatics.
Sharing clinical notes to improve relationships
As part of Meaningful Use, doctors have to engage patients using EHR software and other platforms to promote shared decision-making and enhance relationships. However, the patient engagement statute from CMS has been challenging for physicians to meet.
According to an article published online in the BMJ, researchers from Harvard Medical School developed the OpenNotes program, which allows patients to review clinician notes on their EHRs. Led by Jan Walker, R.N, assistant professor of medicine in the Division of General Medicine and Primary Care at the institution, the team evaluated studies on OpenNotes and reviewed comments from participating physicians.
After its initial launch in 2009 at a number of health systems, including Boston-based Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, the program now covers more than 5 million people around the country. Overall, patients have embraced OpenNotes and the freedom it grants them to share clinical information with family, friends or other caregivers. There are also plans to extend the program to be more interactive, providing participants with opportunities to contribute their own data from home.
With programs like OpenNotes delivering integral data to the care process, providers can use clinical informatics to enhance patient safety and trim costs.
Contact Viztek for more information.
Ronny Bachrach
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