June 2019

Thoughts From Our President

When making a purchase, the best advice comes from those who have made similar purchases. Websites such as WebMD and Healthgrades have grown as buyers want to know what peers think.

At NHA we strongly encourage you to check references prior to selecting a consulting partner. We are proud so many of our happy clients have taken time to share their positive feedback. If you visit our website’s Clients and Testimonials page, you’ll find testimonials from the following organizations where we recently provided Expanse and 6.15 implementation services, as well as some from several long-time clients running Client/Server and MAGIC:

• Goshen Health, Goshen, IN – LIVE with Expanse Acute and ED – March 2019
• Peterson Health, Kerrville, TX – LIVE with Expanse – March 2019
• Lane Regional Medical Center, Zachary, LA – LIVE with Expanse Acute, Ambulatory and ED – February 2019
• Oswego Health, Oswego, NY – LIVE with Expanse Acute, Ambulatory and ED – November 2018
• Coffeyville Regional Medical Center, Coffeyville, KS – LIVE with Expanse Acute, Ambulatory, ED and Oncology – November 2018
• East Tennessee Children’s Hospital, Knoxville, TN – LIVE with Expanse – November 2018
• Phelps Memorial Health Center, Holdrege, NE – LIVE with 6.15 Acute and Ambulatory – April 2018
• Sierra View Medical Center, Porterville, CA – LIVE with Expanse Acute, Ambulatory and ED – February 2018
• Deborah Heart and Lung Center, Browns Mills, NJ – LIVE with 6.15 Acute and Ambulatory – December 2017

We viewed our competitors’ websites and found very few testimonials at all, let alone from Expanse projects. (Of those that do, we suggest you ask from which year they occurred.)

Most of our competitors have some satisfied clients, but lack the volume or consistency of outcomes we deliver. Selecting the consulting partner that will bring your hospital success warrants diligent reference checking and I strongly recommend taking the time to fully vet their claims.

John Haffty, President
Navin, Haffty & Associates

New Research Confirms MEDITECH Expanse Hospitals Outperform Cerner and Epic Hospitals on Quality and Value Measures

Every EHR vendor makes claims their software enables healthcare organizations to improve quality of care. However, data submitted to CMS determines their actual performance, and in this recent study by NHA we conclude hospitals using MEDITECH Expanse outperform hospitals using Cerner and Epic (as well as hospitals on older versions of MEDITECH). Below are a few key statistics from our research:

• Fewer hospitals LIVE with MEDITECH Expanse have incurred a CMS penalty for hospital acquired conditions than those running Cerner Millennium or Epic
• More MEDITECH Expanse hospitals received a positive value-based purchasing adjustment and fewer a negative value-based purchasing adjustment than those running Cerner Millennium or Epic
• MEDITECH Expanse hospitals outperform those utilizing Cerner and Epic regarding CMS readmission penalties

Of the twenty hospitals with the largest negative financial impact, ten run Epic, three utilize Cerner Millennium and none use Expanse. The largest estimated penalty totaled nearly $7.5 million for AdventHealth Orlando (formerly known as Florida Hospital Orlando), which utilizes Cerner Millennium. The second largest total penalty was estimated at about $5 million for Beaumont Hospital, Royal Oak, Michigan, which utilizes Epic.

We encourage you to download the full report from our website. For anyone interested in our research methodology, or the source (public) data, please contact us at info@navinhaffty.com.

Update on MEDITECH’s Expanded Availability of MaaS

While MEDITECH’s initial offering of MEDITECH as a Service (MaaS) was limited to critical access hospitals (CAHs), it is now available to all community hospitals. Here is our understanding of the offering:

• The core components of MaaS are the same:
  • It is a cloud-based EHR subscription model, significantly reducing the one-time costs associated with acquiring an EHR
  • It is designed to reduce the complexity and cost of procuring, hosting, and maintaining a cutting-edge EHR system
  • MaaS is a streamlined implementation. Using best practices, hospitals and health systems will be able to go LIVE with Expanse in an expedited time frame
  • The interoperability of Expanse allows for greater ease in data exchange with other systems
  • MEDITECH’s cloud operations team oversees the remotely-hosted data center, decreasing strain on an organization’s technical staff

As we learn more about MaaS for larger hospitals, we will share this information. Your MEDITECH representative is the best source for any immediate questions.

Canadian Corner

e-Health 2019 Conference Highlights

“Celebrate, Grow and Inspire Bold Action in Canada’s Digital Health Community” was the theme of the e-Health Annual Conference and Tradeshow 2019.  Held at The Beanfield Centre in Toronto, this impressive 160,000 s/f space broke down the walls of a traditional conference center by incorporating advanced technological innovations in an open concept presentation space, allowing delegates to move about the conference to fully experience the knowledge and advancements in being made the Canadian healthcare IT space.

The traffic at MEDITECH’s booth was impressive, as was the attendance at their presentations and demos. MEDITECH’s “Click Less, Connect Easier, and Work More Efficiently with MEDITECH Expanse Mobile Solutions” presentation brought together MEDITECH Executive Director Christopher Policano, Douglas Kanis, MD of Pella Regional Health Center (Pella, Iowa), and Parminder Ghuman, RN/Informatics Lead at Humber River Hospital (Toronto), in sharing a glimpse into the MEDITECH Expanse powerful point of care solutions for clinicians in a completely web-based environment.

We appreciated the opportunity to network with multiple clients, and attend MEDITECH’s presentations, demos and social event. We extend our appreciation to those who made e-Health 2019 a success and look forward to participating in e-Health in 2020.

MUSE Inspire Conference Highlights

For those who couldn’t attend this year’s MUSE conference, you missed a good one! There were improvements in all areas, with overall MUSE facility attendance up over 30%, program, schedule and exhibit hall improvements, and great educational sessions. We recognize MEDITECH’s increased presence and contributions were very important and valuable to meeting the collective needs of the attendees and exhibitors. The overall vibe from attendees was positive, and the energy and value were very high.

Our thanks to everyone who stopped by our booth and shared kind words regarding our services.  It was great to see all of you to learn about your successes, plans and needs. Here are some highlights from this year’s conference:

• On Tuesday, the Leadership Summit kicked off with a keynote presentation on “The Future of Healthcare IT” by John Halamka, MD, Executive Director of Beth Israel Lahey Healthcare Technology Exploration Center. It was followed by multiple discussions centering around Application Programming Interfaces (APIs). MEDITECH AVP Larry O’Toole discussed the use of APIs within MEDITECH Greenfield, stating he believes the ability to interact with applications outside of the MEDITECH EHR is limited only by the ingenuity of the innovators and their creations. He mentioned APIs can only pull information out of a test ring in MEDITECH, however, strides are being made to allow information to flow back into MEDITECH from APIs.
• Throughout the week:
  • MEDITECH’s educational sessions included topics on population health, cybersecurity, and LIVE demos of Expanse.
  • There were many great presentations/sessions. A few to mention:
    • Web Ambulatory Patient Registries – Thank you to Conway Regional Health System (Conway, Arkansas) for collaborating with us on an educational session on the topic of Web Ambulatory Patient Registries.
    • Other NHA presentations included preparing for Promoting Interoperability Stage 3 and MIPS.
  • These and all other presentations are available on the MUSE Resource Center website (access requires a MUSE log in).

• The Forward Advantage Customer Appreciation Event on Wednesday evening was one of the highlights of the week for those who attended and lived up to its reputation of high energy, great food and great entertainment. We were proud to be one of the co-sponsors and want to thank Forward Advantage (and other co-sponsors CloudWave, Jellyfish Health, ACS MediHealth and DrFirst) for the efforts in making this a fantastic event.
• On Thursday, Hoda Sayed-Friel, MEDITECH Executive VP, provided a keynote address entitled “EHRs on the Crossroads of a New Healthcare Frontier.” She discussed emerging HIT trends and how they impact consumers, providers and patients, e.g., mHealth apps, Alexa HIPAA compliance, virtual visits, and how these advancements are being used to guide the evolution of the Expanse EHR. Hoda also referenced MEDITECH’s continued expansion of their offerings, including population health, Greenfield evolution, virtual assistance, as well as extending their hosting options for MaaS/Upstream and planning around professional services offerings for their customers.

We would like thank the many MUSE volunteers who put in countless hours to pull this conference together. Your efforts have not gone unnoticed and we thank each and every one of you.

Finally, put May 26-29, 2020, Washington, DC on your calendar for next year’s MUSE Inspire conference, to be held in Washington, DC.  We look forward to seeing you there!

NHA Client News

• Congratulations to Lewis County General Hospital of Lowville, NY on their May 1 Go-LIVE on MEDITECH Expanse Acute and Ambulatory. Lewis County migrated from MEDITECH 6.0 on the acute side, and MPM in the ambulatory setting. NHA is pleased to be the consulting partner for this implementation.
• One of the advantages of Expanse that has us excited is the new point-of-care nursing capabilities. One of our clients, Woman’s Hospital of Baton Rouge, LA recently published a blog post on the MEDITECH website about their experience with point-of-care nursing.
• Woman’s Hospital was also featured on MEDITECH’s website for their successful Expanse implementation. NHA is pleased to be the consulting partner for this implementation.
• We are pleased to announce we have been selected by the following organizations for their upcoming projects:
  • Avera Health, Sioux Falls, SD – Requirements Definition for Molecular/Genomics LIS Project
  • Cambridge Health Alliance, Cambridge, MA – MEDITECH Backfill Support
  • Gila Regional Medical Center, Silver City, NM – HL7 Interface & MEDITECH Operational Assistance, Interim Clinical Analyst Assistance, QM/RM Implementation Assistance
  • Griffin Hospital, Derby, CT – Lab Review
  • Kingman Regional Medical Center, Kingman, AZ – MEDITECH Expanse Physician Documentation Build Assistance
  • The Valley Hospital, Ridgewood, NJ – Project Management

Quick Notes

• NHA senior consultant Larae Sams will present “EMR: Ongoing Success Post Implementation IS Possible,” at the American Association for Respiratory Care’s Summer Forum, to be held at the Fort Lauderdale Marriott Harbor Beach Resort and Spa, July 20-22. During her presentation, Larae will uncover strategies for ensuring the respiratory therapy (RT) department is well represented in the transition to a new EMR platform, identify development challenges and opportunities pertinent to the RT manager during the pre-Go-LIVE phase of installing an EMR, and provide tips to assure ongoing success.
• MEDITECH published an updated version of the “Innovators” e-book, featuring hospitals that have achieved great results with their EHR.

Calendar of Events

Upcoming MEDITECH webinars (all times listed in EDT):

Improve Employee Communication through MEDITECH’s Staff Gateway
June 11, 2:30 PM | 30 min.
Your employees have enough on their minds. Tracking down and updating their personnel information should be made simple. Learn how you can use MEDITECH’s Staff Gateway (available in Human Resources) to provide them with convenient web access to their personnel information and self-service options, from benefits to tax forms.

Introducing MEDITECH’s Labor and Delivery Solution
June 19, 2:00 PM | 60 min.
Find out how Expanse Labor and Delivery is designed for nurses to take on the unique responsibilities of caring for little ones, as well as their mothers.

MEDITECH’s Surgical Services
June 20, 2:00 PM | 60 min.
See how the enhancements in MEDITECH’s Surgical Services will empower your organization to better manage surgery workflows and patient care, for increased productivity and revenue.

Web Physician Experience: Acute
June 25, 2:00 PM | 60 min.
This high-level demonstration of MEDITECH’s Expanse EHR showcases the evolution of the bold functionality within the inpatient space. This webinar will show you how MEDITECH’s Acute solution, a product developed by physicians, for a physician’s unique workload, optimizes workflow and increases productivity.

MEDITECH’s Expanse Population Health
June 27, 2:00 PM | 30 min.
MEDITECH’s Expanse Population Health solution provides the tools to help your organization effectively analyze trends and risks in your community, engage patients to actively participate in their care, and capitalize on patient data even beyond the EHR.

Upcoming Conferences

2019 Nurse Forum: Innovative Care Coordination
Foxborough, MA
June 12-14, 2019

For those interested in attending, register here.

2019 Physician and CIO Forum
Foxborough, MA
September 18-19, 2019

Note this year’s forum is happening a month earlier than usual. MEDITECH is planning two full days of plenary and education sessions, including strategies for success from your physician and CIO peers.

For those interested in attending, register here.

NHA is Hiring

If you are interested in consulting, consider joining us. NHA continues to need excellent MEDITECH specialists and, for the sixth year in a row, we have been named to the “Best Places to Work in Healthcare” list by Modern Healthcare magazine.

We are currently looking for Canadians with MEDITECH implementation experience as clinical leads/project managers for Canadian based Expanse/6.1 projects.

Additionally, we are looking for strong ambulatory lead consultants with experience in MEDITECH’s practice management clinical and billing software.

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 Careers page.

Please note at this time we are only able to consider those able to travel up to 80% of the time. Employees of MEDITECH and our clients cannot be considered.

Client Job Board

NHA offers the client job board as a free service to the MEDITECH community.

Job Seekers: If you are interested in exploring positions at other organizations, visit the client job board section of our website often. Feel free to refer colleagues!

Recruiters: If you would like to include your organization’s listing on the client job board, please email the job description and candidate application instructions to Katie Kelly. No recruiting firms, please.