March 2018

Thoughts From Our President

Organizations considering upgrading from MAGIC or C/S to Expanse (formerly known as 6.16 – see more information below) may be expected to evaluate other EHR vendors. But no matter which EHR you’re running, or where you are on your journey, we strongly encourage you to review MEDITECH’s new eBook, “The Essential Guide to EHR Value and Sustainability.”

This eBook covers:

• The six necessary qualities in an EHR
• The 10 key drivers of financial sustainability
• A closer look at both value and operating margins
• A checklist of hidden costs with other vendors
• A list of realizable benefits

Regardless of what you like or dislike in any EHR vendor’s presentation, this eBook provides a rational framework for decision making.

John Haffty, President
Navin, Haffty & Associates

Meet Expanse: MEDITECH’s Next-Generation Platform

MEDITECH’s Web EHR platform (version 6.16) has a new name: Expanse.

MEDITECH has opted to remove the numbering scheme from its web-based platform, as well as from any future platforms. Expanse will cover platforms 6.16 and above, and replaces the name “Web EHR.” MEDITECH will continue to support the legacy platforms of MAGIC and Client/Server and earlier versions of 6.x, with Expanse serving as the unifying platform of the future.

This new direction in renaming the platform signifies a purposeful transition into how MEDITECH promotes its brand. The company has never been more energized or better positioned to transform the way it connects care, with the new branding conveying confidence and excitement to the market and the industry at large.

For more information on MEDITECH’s new branding, click here to read the press release.

MEDITECH’s eBook: The Guide to Making Rational EHR System Selection Decisions

In our opening remarks, we referenced MEDITECH’s eBook, “The Essential Guide to EHR Value and Sustainability.” Here are some observations:

We updated our initial study on CMS Quality Measures and, for the second year in a row, MEDITECH outperformed Cerner and Epic! This is not a random study but based on all data submitted to CMS from every short term acute care hospital in the country. We point this out as studies by some vendors are based on limited sample sizes that do not meet any basic level of statistical validity.

If you are a CMO, VP of Medical Staff or CNO, why wouldn’t you select the top performing vendor on clinical quality measures?

Our study on profitability shows hospitals that implemented 6.1 outperformed hospitals that implemented Cerner and Epic during the two-year post-LIVE period. Further, a recent study published in the Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association found that:

“After implementing an EHR, 7 hospitals had a bond downgrade, 7 had a bond upgrade, and 18 had no changes. There was no difference in the likelihood of bond rating changes or in changes to NISP following EHR go-live when compared to control hospitals.”

This study included large organizations that spent significant amounts mostly implementing Epic and Cerner. Despite these huge investments, there has been inconsistent financial improvement and we believe both vendors make “business cases” for their return on investment. Despite large expenditures, in over 75% of the hospitals examined, financial performance either did not improve or deteriorated. Both studies suggest these sales statements are not valid.

If you are a CFO or board member, why wouldn’t you select the vendor with the strongest track record of improving profitability and avoid those vendors that adversely impact your bond ratings?

Finally, for our information system friends, it is common knowledge that the turnover rate among CIOs in place when Epic is selected is greater than that with any other vendor. Also, if you look at their press releases from the past year, you will see Cerner convincing the senior management to outsource all information system departments to them, eliminating your position in most cases.

If you are a CIO, why wouldn’t you select the vendor that provides the greatest job security for you and your staff?

Read MEDITECH’s eBook and review these research studies. It becomes apparent that MEDITECH is the rational choice for hospitals.

MEDITECH HEART Pathway Toolkit to Help Identify Low-Risk ED Chest Pain Patients

We are sharing this news article from the MEDITECH website as it represents another significant step towards leveraging the capabilities of their EHR:

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports there are over 7 million visits to the emergency department (ED) for chest pain each year in the United States alone. Although fewer than 10 percent of these patients are ultimately diagnosed with acute coronary syndrome (ACS), such testing accounts for as much as $10-$13 billion in hospital costs.

MEDITECH has been collaborating with customers and staff clinicians to create an evidence-based HEART Pathway Toolkit, to support providers in safely identifying low-risk chest pain patients in the ED. This toolkit will include evidence- and experience-based standard content embedded in our EHR, along with optimal workflows and system guidance to help your organizations improve outcomes while facilitating earlier discharge for low-risk patients.

We look forward to sharing this toolkit with our customers soon. Expect additional details in the coming months, leading up to our annual Nurse and Home Care Forum in June.

Challenges with Coordination of Care Criterion Under MU Stage 3

The Coordination of Care criterion under Meaningful Use (MU) Stage 3 is composed of three measures, with reporting required for all three and achievement of minimum compliance levels required for two of three. For those not familiar, the three measures include:

• View, Download or Transmit (VDT):  At least one unique (discharged) patient views, downloads, or transmits their health information to a third party.  Alternately, at least one (discharged) patient accesses their health information through an API configured to the provider’s CEHRT.
• Secure Messaging:  For >5% of unique (discharged) patients, a secure message was sent to the patient using their CEHRT, or, a response was sent in reply to a secure message sent by the patient.
• Patient Generated Health Data (PGHD):  For >5% of unique (discharged) patients, health data generated by the patient (or generated from a non-clinical setting) is incorporated into the CEHRT.

The first measure, accessing the patient portal (or use of an API) by a minimum of one patient should be a no-brainer. The challenge will rest in meeting the other two measures.

For secure messaging, greater than 5% of your discharged patients will need to receive a secure message to their portal account. MEDITECH allows for a secure message to be automatically transmitted to a portal account as part of the discharge process, and the message may be pre-defined by the hospital. Concurrently, if the patient has enrolled as a portal user, an email will be sent to the account on record indicating there is a new message available on their portal account. Technically, if greater than 5% of patients discharged during the reporting period are enrolled in the portal, this automated messaging will meet the minimum for the Secure Messaging measure. If your portal enrollment numbers are low, you should consider efforts to improve enrollment and utilization.

The challenge? If patients respond to a message sent to their portal account, or if they create a new message, they expect their provider to respond in a reasonable timeframe. Disclaimers may be added to the portal screen telling the patient they should not reply or send a message, and MEDITECH can disable the patient’s ability to message, but this defeats the purpose of establishing an alternate means of provider-patient communications, and will affect patient satisfaction and utilization of their portal.

What can you do? Consider establishing workflows and procedures for providers and staff to utilize messaging as another form of patient communications, create the training plan, and begin the effort to have house-wide participation.

And what about PGHD? Accepting PGHD is a new requirement and will require workflow development, testing, and training for nursing, providers, registration and HIM. Incoming information will be provided in several forms, such as print, physical media and electronic transmissions, and a workflow for each format needs to be considered.

PGHD may include the following, but this is by no means an exhaustive list. CMS does not supply an “acceptable data list,” but rather leaves it up to the facility to determine what they will accept and what is patient generated.

• Advance directives
• Prenatal records for OB patients
• Home health monitoring data (such as BP or glucose levels)
• Fitness device monitoring data

Attention needs to be paid to the potential number of patients composing the numerator. MU for hospitals is based on ED or inpatients discharged during the reporting period; non-discharged patients supplying data through outpatient clinics (such as diabetes or stroke programs) will not count.  In order to achieve a 5% minimum, hospitals should consider approaching patients prior to their admission, and request that information be brought with them at registration. This effort can continue during their stay and post-discharge if information is supplied during the reporting period.

There will be concerns from clinicians, such as trust, accuracy and validity of the data, liabilities and accountabilities associated with utilizing that data for patient care, reconciliation of patient supplied and hospital produced data, etc.  Given that providers have tight schedules and high demands on their time, creating incentives to incorporate PGHD will need to be developed if adoption is to occur.

This is the second of a four-part series of articles covering MU Stage 3. If you missed the first article, click here to access “Meaningful Use Stage 3 Just Around the Corner” from last month’s newsletter.

MU Stage 3 involves changes to all criteria and will require significant effort. For support with your preparation and planning, contact your NHA account executive, or email us at info@navinhaffty.com.

KLAS Comments

Here are a few of our recent KLAS comments. Visit our website for a more complete list of comments.

“Navin Haffty hasn’t missed any of our expectations. They have helped us continue progressing so we can get things done and get things where they need to be. If our team was left on its own to learn our new software, we would be in a rough spot. The consultants we are working with have helped other sites with the same software, so they are able to show us how things work and how we can improve our workflow for our specific operations and culture. We would be going through a trial by fire if it weren’t for Navin Haffty.” – CIO

“I have never seen another vendor as open to adjusting to the needs of our budget as Navin Haffty was. They truly wanted to help, and they knew what constraints they would have to operate under, and they were okay with that. They were willing to work with us.” – CIO

“The project manager from Navin Haffty is on our weekly calls with our software vendor. That individual asks questions that help push things along and works on our behalf. I forget sometimes that the Navin Haffty people are contracted and aren’t actually part of our staff.” – CIO  

Please note selected commentaries may not represent the whole of provider sentiment related to this product or service. For a complete view, visit KLASresearch.com.

Quick Notes

• John Haffty and David Haffty were recently interviewed by intrepidNOW to discuss NHA’s research studies on how MEDITECH hospitals are experiencing better clinical quality scores and greater post-LIVE profitability than hospitals running EHRs provided by Epic and Cerner.
• NHA is pleased to announce we have been selected by the following organizations for their upcoming projects:
  • Calvary Hospital, Bronx, New York – MEDITECH 6.1 Implementation
  • Exeter Hospital, Exeter, New Hampshire – Lab IT Support
  • Gila Regional Medical Center, Silver City, New Mexico – 6.14 Revenue Cycle Assessment
  • Methodist Hospital for Surgery, Addison, Texas – C/S System Assessment
  • Newton Medical Center, Newton, Kansas – Report Writing Assistance
• MEDITECH is discontinuing the quarterly Client Services newsletters for Patient Care, Clinical, Medical Practice Management & Continuing Care, Decision Management, Patient Identification & Scheduling, Financial Management, and C-level Service Highlights. The quarterly ARRA/Meaningful Use (EHR) and Physician Connection newsletters, as well as the monthly Security newsletter, will continue to be sent as they serve as a strong means for communicating timely information on these topics. Here are some ways to stay connected:
  • Subscribe to MEDITECH’s Blog and frequent the MEDITECH News page.
  • Follow MEDITECH on social media: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn.
  • Visit the Customer Service page.
  • Bookmark any Product Resources pages of interest, and visit them often for up-to-date application-specific content.
  • Subscribe to the ARRA Bulletin Board.
  • Visit the EHR Safety Corner and subscribe to receive safety workflow/education notifications.
  • Subscribe to the Featured Seminars page, and peruse the Seminars page.
  • Sign up for this mailing list to find out about events, webinars, blog posts, and more.
  • Keep your contact information up-to-date to ensure you receive timely Client Services email notifications.
  • And…keep reading The Navin, Haffty Report, the single best resource for everything MEDITECH!

Calendar of Events

Webinar: Web Physician Experience: Acute
March 21, 2:00 PM EDT
This high-level demonstration of MEDITECH’s Expanse EHR showcases the evolution of the bold functionality within the inpatient space. MEDITECH will demonstrate how its Acute solution, a product developed by physicians for a physician’s unique workload, optimizes workflow and increases productivity.

Webinar: Quality and Surveillance
March 28, 2:00 PM EDT
This high-level demonstration will show you how MEDITECH’s Quality and Surveillance solution monitors risk and quality throughout your organization — leading to enhanced patient safety and positive patient outcomes.

Webinar: Introducing MaaS: A Modern Cloud-based EHR
April 4, 11:00 AM EDT
This 30-minute webinar introduces MEDITECH as a Service (MaaS), a modern cloud-based SaaS solution powered by and centralized around the MEDITECH EHR.

Texas Organization of Rural & Community Hospitals (TORCH) 2018 Conference
April 10-12, Dallas, TX

Visit MEDITECH at booth #17 during the Texas Organization of Rural & Community Hospitals (TORCH) 2018 Conference & Trade Show to learn about offerings designed specifically for the rural and community hospital space, including MEDITECH as a Service (MaaS) — a private, cloud-based version of the Expanse EHR, available through a monthly subscription. You’ll see how MEDITECH is bringing IT usability, mobility, and flexibility to a whole new level.

AONE 2018 Annual Meeting
April 12-15, Indianapolis, IN

Join MEDITECH in Indianapolis for the AONE 2018 Annual Meeting! Be sure to stop by booth #643 during the conference and learn how MEDITECH’s EHR gives your team the flexibility to use the device that best fits their workflow and the ability to catch sepsis or other hospital-acquired conditions before they start.

e-Health 2018 – Canada’s National Conference & Tradeshow
May 27-30, Vancouver, BC

NHA will attend this year’s e-Health Annual Conference and Tradeshow, Canada’s national healthcare conference.

2018 International MUSE Conference
May 29-June 1, Orlando, FL
NHA Booth #610

As you make your plans for 2018 International MUSE Conference, be sure to stop by NHA’s booth to say hello. And be sure to attend “Views of the Future from MEDITECH’s Vendor Partners,” a panel discussion to be led by our own John Haffty and Chris Roggenstein, president and CEO of Forward Advantage. Date and time TBD. To pre-arrange a meeting with us at MUSE, contact David LaFontaine at dlafontaine@navinhaffty.com.

2018 Nurse and Home Care Forum
June 13-15, Foxborough, MA

Join MEDITECH at its annual Nurse and Home Care Forum, as they highlight strategies that will give you the freedom and flexibility to provide safe, patient-centered care. Hear from your peers as they discuss ways they’re using information technology to:

• Guide patient care
• Improve efficiency and outcomes
• Promote clinician satisfaction
• Increase patient engagement
• Reduce readmissions
• Create a more proactive approach to population health

More details, including keynote, have been published on MEDITECH’s event page.

NHA is Hiring

If you are interested in consulting, consider joining us. NHA continues to need excellent MEDITECH specialists and for the fourth year in a row, we have been named to the Top 100 “Best Places to Work” by Modern Healthcare magazine.

We are currently looking for candidates with implementation experience with MEDITECH’s 6.1 applications, including clinical leads, pharmacists and specialists in the AMB and RCG applications.

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 that at this time we are only able to consider those able to travel up to 80% of the time (also employees from MEDITECH and 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, check out 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.