MEDecision Aims to Drive Adoption of Health Information Exchange with New Center for Collaborative Health
Group Will Work to Streamline Workflow Processes to Escalate Use of Patient Information by Physicians at Point of Care
WAYNE, Penn. - February 26, 2007 - The health information technology sector has developed rich sources of patient clinical information to aid physicians at the point of care, yet its deployment has been slower than expected. To remedy this, MEDecision, Inc. (NASDAQ: MEDE), a provider of software, services and clinical content to healthcare payers, has established the Center for Collaborative Health, a new group charged with streamlining the adoption and utilization of its Patient Clinical Summary, a payer-based, clinically validated electronic health record, among physicians and the other key stakeholders in the healthcare process.
MEDecision will be exhibiting in booth #2731 at HIMSS07 (Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society) Annual Conference and Exhibition, running February 25 - March 1, 2007 in New Orleans, Louisiana.
"It's time to focus on the human component of health information exchange adoption since the technical aspects have been sufficiently established," said MEDecision President and Chief Operating Officer John H. Capobianco. "Through the Center for Collaborative Health, we will work to help patients, payers and providers recognize the value of the data that has been amassed and make it as easy as possible for them to access and employ it to its maximum benefit. In the process, we'll be supporting the larger goal of improving medical outcomes and lowering healthcare costs."
The Center for Collaborative Health's primary objective is to work closely with healthcare payer organizations to drive physician adoption and utilization of the Patient Clinical Summary. To achieve this, the group plans to take a proactive approach to physician outreach; promote the Patient Clinical Summary's ease-of-use, time savings and workflow efficiency advantages; and enhance relationships between payer organizations and provider staff. The Center for Collaborative Health will pursue these goals through four primary strategies, including:
1) Defining step-by-step information exchange procedures that incorporate provider behavior and coordinate the business processes associated with patient and clinician interactions
2) Delivering training and education programs
3) Assigning dedicated resources to assist in the deployment of health information exchange
4) Instituting help desk and assistance programs
MEDecision has appointed Colleen M. Dudley to lead the Center for Collaborative Health. She brings to the role more than 20 years of healthcare experience with extensive expertise in provider relations and electronic transaction adoption. She most recently served as Provider eService Strategic Relationship Lead for Aetna, Inc., one of the nation's leading diversified healthcare benefits companies. In that capacity, her primary responsibilities included developing strategic relationships with national hospital systems, national ancillary providers and billing services to reduce phone call volume by enhancing the use of electronic transactions.
"In many respects, the barriers to health information exchange adoption are more perception than reality," Dudley said. "We are at the point in the evolution of health information technology that the Center for Collaborative Health is essential. Through education, demonstrations, closer relationships and other initiatives, we hope to show the industry just how accessible clinical information is and how easy it is to deploy so that we can begin to realize its advantages."
Dudley said the Center for Collaborative Health has already begun working on a number of projects with Health Care Service Corporation, a mutual insurance company that operates the Blue Cross and Blue Shield plans in Illinois, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas. Earlier this month, the Center for Collaborative Health facilitated a joint Webinar presentation between officials from MEDecision and Christiana Care Health System of Delaware. In addition to expanding these relationships, the Center for Collaborative Health plans to begin working more closely with other MEDecision customers in the coming weeks.
The Center for Collaborative Health is one of two groups MEDecision created as part of a larger overall initiative it has launched to drive greater adoption of health information exchange between patients, payers and providers. The other organization - the Interoperability Competency Center - will work to establish the technical requirements and interoperability standards that will enable a more open exchange of clinical data. MEDecision devised the two groups based on the results of an economic benefit study commissioned by MEDecision and conducted by HealthCore, Inc., an outcomes research firm, that analyzed the financial implications of providing the Patient Clinical Summary to emergency department physicians at Christiana Care Health System's Level-1 Trauma Center in Wilmington, Delaware. The analysis found that each transmitted Patient Clinical Summary generated an average total savings of $545 on emergency department visit costs and first day hospitalization expenses for the subset of patients who were subsequently admitted. In addition, the study found that using the Patient Clinical Summary resulted in significant savings on laboratory testing, cardiac catheterization, and medical and surgical supplies.
Resources:
Study: "Assessing Adoption of Effective Health Information Technology"
http://www.mgma.com/WorkArea/showcontent.aspx?id=782
Study: "An Economic Evaluation of Use of a Payer-Based Electronic Health Record within an Emergency Department"
http://event.on24.com/event/35/62/1/rt/1/images/player_docanchr_5/study.pdf
Webinar: "Economic Benefits to Collaborative Data Exchange between Payers and Providers"
http://w.on24.com/r.htm?e=35621&s=1&k=959E0B9C42F975FBA8F64EB3FC9621E9
Health Care Service Corporation (HCSC): http://www.hcsc.com/index.htm
Christiana Care Health System: www.christianacare.org
About MEDecision
Founded in 1988, MEDecision provides healthcare payer organizations with software, services and clinical content that allow them to increase administrative efficiency and improve the overall quality and affordability of their members' healthcare. A provider of Collaborative Care Management, MEDecision's technologies analyze data, automate payer workflow processes and electronically connect patients, providers and payers to give each a common view of the patient's medical history, helping to foster better clinical decision making. MEDecision believes that, in the aggregate, its customers insure or manage care for approximately one in every six people in the U.S. with health insurance. For more information, please visit MEDecision.com
CONTACTS:
Tracey Kohler Costello,
MEDecision,
(610) 540-0202,
Tracey.Costello@MEDecision.com
Laura Paden,
TECHMarket Communications,
(818) 597-0480,
Laura@TECHMarket.com
