CHICAGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- The American College of Healthcare Executives’ 2012 Congress on Healthcare Leadership will present a session called “Using Technology to Increase Patient Engagement and Improve Efficiency,” which will be led jointly by Jordan R. Dolin, a founder of Emmi Solutions; John P. Hoyt, FACHE, FHIMMS, executive vice president, organizational services, HIMSS Analytics, and Peggy King, R.N., assistant vice president, Risk Management & Legal Affairs, NorthShore University HealthSystem on Thursday, March 22 in Chicago.
The session will explore how healthcare systems can use technology to engage patients and enhance the patient experience in ways that meet the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) EHR Incentive Programs “meaningful use” criteria, and which improve profitability and efficiency.
“Hospitals are being forced to achieve two seemingly conflicting objectives: improving quality while reducing cost,” said Dolin. “To meet the pressing demands of today’s evolving healthcare environment and run a financially profitable organization, more and more hospitals are effectively leveraging technology to move beyond the four walls of the hospital to engage and empower patients to take a more active role in their care.” Dolin will speak about the return-on-investment of patient engagement as well as the tracking of patient data to glean actionable results.
Attendees will learn how EHR data can help meet meaningful use incentive guidelines, a topic to be addressed by Hoyt. “Hospitals continue to move forward to meet Stage 1 of meaningful use, especially certain segments of hospitals as highlighted in the December 2011 Summary of Meaningful Use Readiness report. We found similarities among these segments of hospitals and those reaching Stage 7, which is a totally paperless environment on the HIMSS Analytics Electronic Medical Record Adoption Model,” said Hoyt. “We know hospitals are investing in health IT to earn the incentive payments from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and to meet the standards of safety and quality that electronic medical records offer.”
One goal of the EHR meaningful use initiative is to make medical records more accessible to patients electronically in order to help patients and providers make more informed healthcare decisions. Nationally, fewer than 10 percent of patients communicate electronically with their providers, and few have access to patient gateways or EHR systems. One optional Stage 1 meaningful use objective includes the “use of certified EHR technology to identify patient-specific education resources and provide those resources to the patient if appropriate.”
NorthShore University HealthSystem, a HIMSS stage 7 and one of the first healthcare systems in the U.S. recognized for full EHR adoption by HIMSS, uses its groundbreaking EHR system to focus on patients. “More than 160,000 of our patients use NorthShoreConnect to directly and securely communicate with physicians, schedule services and receive results,” said King. “This helps improve efficiency and effectiveness.” NorthShore is evaluating this data to learn more about quality improvement, clinical outcomes and the effectiveness of various treatments.
Likewise, Emmi Solutions works closely with hospitals and providers to measure the quantifiable impact of its interactive patient engagement and empowerment platforms and to examine the ways in which improved communication and engaged patients can affect clinical and financial outcomes.
Simply put, healthcare systems that don’t effectively manage their IT budgets and patient population will suffer fiscally. “Engaging patients is no longer a nice to have, it is a must have,” said Dolin. “Using technology to communicate with patients and empower them to take an active role in their care has become an economic imperative.”
About NorthShore University HealthSystem
Headquartered in Evanston, Illinois, NorthShore University HealthSystem (NorthShore) is a comprehensive, fully integrated, healthcare delivery system that serves the Chicago region. The system includes four hospitals in Evanston, Glenview, Highland Park and Skokie. NorthShore employs approximately 9,000 and has 2,400 affiliated physicians, including a 700+ physician, multispecialty group practice with over 80 office locations under NorthShore Medical Group. Further, NorthShore supports teaching and research as the principal teaching affiliate for the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine.
About HIMSS Analytics
HIMSS Analytics is a wholly owned not-for-profit subsidiary of the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS). The company collects and analyzes healthcare information related to IT processes and environments, products, IS department composition and costs, IS department management metrics, healthcare trends and purchase-related decisions. HIMSS Analytics delivers high quality products, services and analytical expertise to healthcare delivery organizations, healthcare IT companies, state governments, financial companies, pharmaceutical companies, and consulting firms. Visit www.himssanalytics.org for more information.
About Emmi Solutions, LLC
Emmi’s proprietary interactive communication methodology – which incorporates graphics, text and spoken words – delivers actionable health information to patients at key moments across the continuum of care. It has been demonstrated to help healthcare providers reduce costs, increase revenue and improve outcomes by engaging and empowering patients. The platform allows providers to track the delivery and consumption of information to measure the clinical and financial impact of patient engagement and meet regulatory guidelines. The web-based platform requires no installation or maintenance and can be used in stand-alone mode or fully integrated into existing systems.
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