HealthHelp Launches Innovative Clinical Decision Support System

HealthHelp Launches Innovative Clinical Decision Support System

FrogDogBobby Jaffe, 713-867-9808

Imagine a completely transparent clinical decision support system that allows providers to self-govern the ordering process and receive approval for most decisions in less than one minute, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. HealthHelp offers exactly that with MedTree QDS.

Providers access the system, which integrates with HealthHelp's Consult program for radiology, cardiology, radiation therapy, and oncology benefits management, via an intuitive web or tablet interface. It shows the up-to-the-minute, evidence-based appropriateness rating for a chosen test or treatment plan as well as additional information relating to the procedure, including cost and percent utilization for stated indications. MedTree QDS covers more than 400 conditions.

If a test or treatment plan receives a low rating, the system displays comparisons to local and national averages and offers more suitable options. The provider then can provide justification for orders of borderline appropriateness online or request live peer-to-peer consultation with an academically affiliated subspecialist.

“MedTree QDS gives providers access to the latest information and the most cutting-edge technologies,” said Cherrill Farnsworth, President and CEO of HealthHelp. “This new system serves as the latest of many innovative ways HealthHelp aids providers and payors in their efforts to improve quality of care and patient safety, while generating savings.”

Physicians also can see statistics for their specific appropriate usage, allowing the system to serve as inherent benchmarking. MedTree QDS also collects feedback, which the benefits management provider incorporates into the system's collective medical knowledge, thus improving care for subsequent patients and user experience for providers. This serves as just one example of how HealthHelp's programs meet federal medical loss ratio requirements, resulting in additional savings for payors.

HealthHelp partnered with Dan Gebow of MDDX to implement MedTree QDS into its Consult program. Initial usage studies demonstrate a decrease in utilization with an increase in appropriate use, specifically a 3-5% decrease in imaging utilization over that of a traditional radiology benefits management pre-certification process, with a decrease in inappropriate ordering by 51% and an increase in appropriate ordering by 38%.

The implementation of MedTree QDS further shifts HealthHelp away from traditional utilization management. These outdated systems lack transparency, causing providers to view decreased utilization as only a means to increased profits for payors and benefits management providers.

HealthHelp, a leader in specialty benefits management, generates significant savings and return on investment for health care payers by enhancing physician knowledge, improving quality of care, and reducing unnecessary radiation exposure. Each of its programs addresses a different aspect of radiology, cardiology, radiation therapy, oncology, emergency medicine, spine surgery, pain management, and sleep care. The clients of Houston-based HealthHelp administer local, statewide, and national health care plans across the country. For more information about HealthHelp’s programs, visit .