June 2016

Thoughts from Our President

Three things I wanted to recognize in this month’s newsletter:

1)  A big thank you to our clients who participated in KLAS’s performance report, “Healthcare IT Advisory 2016: The Experience Factor,” as Navin, Haffty & Associates (NHA) was rated as the 4th best consulting company for professional services among those providing comprehensive services and is rated ahead of every other MEDITECH READY-certified firm. More on this in our monthly section on KLAS.

2)  NHA has completed a study on the financial impact of CMS quality and value measurements and has found hospitals that use MEDITECH outperform those that use Cerner or Epic. The study is included in this month’s newsletter and may be very interesting, especially to executives.

3)  Another big thank you to all who stopped by to visit us at our booth at the MUSE International Conference in Orlando a few weeks ago. I appreciate the great feedback on our services and our newsletter and enjoyed the time to meet many of you in person. Also, the keynote speech by two of MEDITECH’s executives was inspiring, and a link to this presentation as well as more information on the MUSE conference is provided below.

John Haffty, President

MEDITECH Hospitals Outperform Cerner and Epic Hospitals on Quality and Value Measures

NHA recently completed research regarding the financial impact of CMS quality and value measurements and has concluded that hospitals that use MEDITECH’s EHR outperform those using Cerner and Epic on CMS Quality and Value measures. These findings come from the CMS database and use Meaningful Use (MU) attestation and EHR data, as provided by Definitive Healthcare, to validate each hospital’s EHR.

Below is a summary of the results using FY2016 data. 

Highlights include:

• Only 19% of hospitals using MEDITECH had a Medicare penalty resulting from being in the bottom quartile of hospitals in risk-adjusted Hospital Acquired Conditions (HAC) quality measures, while a greater percentage of hospitals using Cerner (24%) and Epic (29%) were impacted by this penalty.
   
• When it comes to value-based purchasing adjustments, a greater percentage of MEDITECH hospitals had a positive adjustment, and the smallest percentage of their hospitals had a negative adjustment than those that use Cerner or Epic.
   
• While there was a smaller difference between the percentage of hospitals impacted by readmission penalties, a greater percentage of hospitals using Cerner and Epic had a penalty than did MEDITECH hospitals.
  

The table below provides the number of hospitals in the study and presents the number impacted by category. Note that hospitals that provided data to CMS for one but not all categories were included only in the adjustment statistics for categories in which they provided data.  

While correlation does not necessarily imply causation, these are statistically significant findings and may dispel the notion that greater spending on an EHR translates into improved quality measures and related financial performance.

Of the 10 hospitals with the largest negative financial impact, 7 are on Epic, and 3 use Cerner. The largest projected impact of almost $8 million in penalties is at Florida Hospital, Orlando, using Cerner, while the second largest projected penalties were over $5 million at Yale New Haven, an Epic shop.
  

When NHA began this research, we were trying to identify those MEDITECH hospitals where we could leverage our knowledge and expertise with their software to have an impact on both their quality and financial performance. When we found fewer hospitals than expected, we expanded our study to all of the major EHRs to ensure we did not miss anything. Upon further study, we believe the following reasons might explain the variation among MEDITECH, Cerner and Epic:

• MEDITECH focuses extensively on tools for addressing patient safety and quality. Even its older versions (MAGIC, C/S) have been enhanced to enable maximum patient safety as well as efficient capture of quality measures.
   
• While all of these major vendors have strong advanced clinical tools, it is possible that the complexity of Cerner and Epic distract from actually being able to implement and utilize these tools. As one of the more integrated EHRs and with a track record of interoperability, MEDITECH supports access and exchange of clinical data more fully than most vendors.
   
• While Cerner and Epic tend to have a greater presence at larger hospitals with more resources, smaller hospitals often have a greater focus on meeting quality measures, as they do not have the financial reserves to survive these penalties.

Note that this study removed those hospitals that are not subject to these Medicare penalties. They consist of critical access hospitals, specialty hospitals, DOD and VA hospitals and those few hospitals that did not provide data to CMS. Further, Maryland hospitals are exempt from penalties under their CMS waiver, and hospitals in non-state territories are exempt from the program.

If you’d like more information, contact John Haffty at jhaffty@navinhaffty.com.

KLAS Update: “Healthcare IT Advisory 2016: The Experience Factor” Performance Report

Here are some notes from the KLAS performance report referenced in our opening comments.  “Healthcare IT Advisory 2016: The Experience Factor” was released by KLAS on June 7, and here are some of the findings:

Background on this study:

• Based on interviews with 322 providers on depth and breadth of firm service offerings
• Based on interviews with 177 providers on firm strengths and weaknesses, delivery of tangible benefits and performance against quality metrics
• The report rated 36 healthcare IT consulting firms that provide IT advisory services. Those companies that were not included did not meet the minimum threshold for experience, as KLAS tracks over 100 professional services companies

NHA:

• Highest rated of MEDITECH-READY certified consulting firms in Overall Performance, Planning and Assessment, Clinical Transformation/Optimization, Service Delivery Met Timelines, Quality of Service Staff and Executive Involvement
• 4th rated company of all consulting firms providing comprehensive services
• Much greater breadth and depth than any other MEDITECH-focused firm
• Only MEDITECH-focused firm that provides comprehensive services

Quotes from this study:

• “Because of our consultant, we changed out our whole business office, and things have been better since then.”
• “No one knows MEDITECH like Navin, Haffty & Associates.”
• “Clients appreciate NHA’s ability to help MEDITECH clients see and prevent unanticipated IT problems.”
• “Clients see NHA resources as efficient, hardworking and excellent communicators.”
• “Providers are highly satisfied with NHA’s ability to execute project plans and meet deadlines, while consistently delivering on promises made.”
• “We have been extremely satisfied with Navin, Haffty & Associates. They respond very quickly to us, and they always give us quality work.”
• “I really liked all of the tools our consultant had at his fingertips. His methodology was superb.”
• “The build we did with Navin, Haffty & Associates has been rock solid.”

For more information on NHA’s results from this study, click here. To see the full report, go to www.klasresearch.com.

Observations from the 2016 International MUSE Conference

I wanted to share a few thoughts from this year’s MUSE conference.

• In addition to thanking those who stopped by our booth, I would like to thank Halifax Health, Daytona Beach, Florida and The Valley Hospital, Ridgewood, New Jersey, for allowing us to participate with their staff on their presentations. These presentations have been made available on the MUSE Resource Center website.  If you would like a copy of any of NHA’s presentations, please email Katie Kelly at kkelly@navinhaffty.com.
   
• If you didn’t attend, you owe it to yourself to view the keynote presentation by Helen Waters and Hoda Sayed-Friel of MEDITECH. This presentation portrays both MEDITECH’s understanding of the EHR market but also their direction and solutions. I believe most of you will find this both useful and fascinating. This keynote presentation will be made available on the MUSE Resource Center soon. 
   
• Special kudos to the many MUSE volunteers who put in tremendous effort to support the mission of MUSE to enable sharing and knowledge transfer to its members. On top of already demanding positions at their hospitals, these folks put in plenty of extra hours for the betterment of the MEDITECH community. If you benefit from MUSE, remember to thank these dedicated volunteers.
   

We are pleased to announce the winner of our raffle from this year’s conference.  This year’s winner is Alice Rogers, Clinical IT Specialist at Uvalde Memorial Hospital in Uvalde, Texas. We hope you enjoy your Apple Watch!

MEDITECH Launches New Sepsis EHR Toolkit

Coincidental to our study on CMS quality measures, MEDITECH has launched their new Sepsis toolkit for all platforms. The following is from the MEDITECH website, including links to the specific site relevant to your hospital:

Did you know that MEDITECH’s Electronic Health Record (EHR) supports your organization in the early detection and treatment of sepsis? Check out our Sepsis Management Toolkit, a new resource for 6.x, Client/Server, and MAGIC customers.

Sepsis is a life-threatening complication of an infection which can cause tissue damage, organ failure, or death. According to the CDC, there are over one million cases of sepsis each year, killing more than 258,000 Americans, and it is the ninth leading cause of disease-related deaths. In 2011, $20.3 billion was spent on sepsis-related hospitalizations, making sepsis one of the most expensive conditions treated in U.S. hospitals.
 
The Sepsis Management Toolkit promotes MEDITECH’s sophisticated EHR technology and supports customers in the early detection and treatment of sepsis. Built and maintained in collaboration with MEDITECH customers and staff clinicians and aligning with recommendations provided by the Surviving Sepsis Campaign (SSC) and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) SEP-1 core measure, this toolkit provides evidence-based and outcomes-focused implementation guides outlining best practice workflow and system set-up recommendations.
 
MEDITECH is committed to helping your organization achieve clinical and operational excellence. Be sure to visit our EHR Excellence web page regularly for additional guidance, best practices and educational materials on quality measurements. Customers can sign up for upcoming 6.x, Client/Server, and MAGIC webinars on how your organization can take advantage of the Sepsis Management Toolkit.

Quick Notes

• Neil Pappalardo, MEDITECH’s founder and CEO, recently gave an interview to Modern Healthcare. If you are interested in reading this interview, click here.
• Congrats to our friends at Sampson Regional Medical Center, Clinton, North Carolina with their successful implementation of the MEDITECH 6.1 system on May 1. NHA is proud to have been their READY consulting partner for this project.
• NHA is pleased to announce recent contract signings with Firelands Regional Medical Center, Sandusky, Ohio and Newton Medical Center, Newton, Kansas to serve as consulting partner for their 6.1 projects. Both sites are migrating from MEDITECH C/S to 6.1.
• On Wednesday, June 22 at 11 AM EDT, MEDITECH will host a high level demonstration of their Web EHR solution and will highlight the streamlined roles-based desktop approach to patient care and documentation across different care settings. To register for this 60-minute demo, click here.

Becker’s Reports on Hospital Finances Hurt by EHR Costs

One of the points we have consistently made is that while Epic is a very good EHR, the cost of implementing and maintaining this system can overwhelm even some of the largest and most profitable hospitals in the country. Becker’s recently reported on eight hospitals that have had a sizable negative impact on their finances associated with their recent Epic implementations. While some present this as short-term, others report that higher-than-expected operating expenses would adversely impact them into the future.  To see the details, click here.

NHA is Hiring

To keep up with the demand from our clients, NHA continues to need excellent MEDITECH specialists. We have been named among the top 100 Best Places to Work in Healthcare by Modern Healthcare for the second consecutive year.
 
We believe there are significant advantages to being part of NHA. As part of the largest consulting company focused exclusively on serving the MEDITECH community, we enjoy an exceptional working relationship with MEDITECH, offer a collaborative work environment and treat each of our staff with respect. Our competitive compensation package includes exceptional medical insurance coverage as part of our extensive benefits as well as ongoing education to maintain and develop skills and talent. Our employment approach and focus on long-term business relationships has led to an unparalleled record for consultant and client retention.
 
If you have interest in consulting and have solid MEDITECH experience with implementing one of their applications, please contact us. We have an outstanding mentoring program for new consultants and the best reputation in the MEDITECH community for training and development of our staff. We are the first company certified in the new MEDITECH READY implementation methodology.
 
We are also interested in experienced consultants from other companies. As the largest company that works exclusively with MEDITECH, you would be supported as you continue to build your skills. In addition, our management approach has demonstrated a respect for our consultants and created a collegial atmosphere that encourages information sharing and support.
 
While we have a number of openings, at this time, we are particularly interested in candidates with strong project management experience (6.x preferred), Revenue Cycle and Ambulatory experience.
 
If you are interested please contact us at recruiting@navinhaffty.com or call us at 855-309-9334. See what positions are currently available by visiting the NHA Current Openings page.
 
Please note that at this time, we are only able to consider those able to travel up to 80% of the time. (Current employees of MEDITECH or of our clients cannot be considered.)

Client Job Board

If you are interested in exploring new positions at other organizations visit the client job board section of our website. This is a free service of NHA to the MEDITECH community. Currently, there are many postings from MEDITECH organizations. If you or a colleague are interested, take a look and see what’s open.

If you would like to include your organization’s listing on the NHA website, please email Katie Kelly at kkelly@navinhaffty.com. (Please note that as this is a courtesy to the MEDITECH community, we will not accept postings from recruiting companies.)