November 2021

Thoughts From Our President

I am pleased Tegria acknowledges the sacrifice and service of our veterans and their families by recognizing Veterans Day (Remembrance Day in Canada) as an official company holiday. This has been my policy at Navin Haffty since our inception in order to demonstrate our appreciation. Even when serving in a fairly safe naval assignment (as my nephew had), there may be long-term separation from family. For those in active combat, they undergo experiences those of us who haven’t served will never understand. We acknowledge families share in the sacrifice. The son of one of our long-time directors was deployed in Iraq during the surge. She was gripped with fear every time her phone rang. Unfortunately during one of those calls she learned he had been wounded and hospitalized in Germany. Thankfully he has since fully recovered and is now leading a full and normal life. Tegria and Navin Haffty are proud to honor these and all veterans and their families for their service and sacrifice.

John Haffty, President
Navin Haffty

MEDITECH MaaS and Your Hospital

Many hospitals are discovering MEDITECH’s new offering, MEDITECH as a Service (MaaS) is a great option. The traditional perpetual software license for Expanse may make sense for some hospitals, but for others, the advantages of MaaS are worth considering. For the hospitals beginning the journey to MaaS, consider bringing in Navin Haffty/Engage for implementation services. Here are examples of how we are helping other hospitals on the same path:

• Project Management – MEDITECH expects hospitals implementing MaaS have their own project manager. Navin Haffty/Engage fills this need with an experienced resource to successfully manage a project of this magnitude. We bring significant value in facilitating the process changes that allow you to take full advantage of the state-of-the-art software.
• Dictionary Building – With MaaS, MEDITECH delivers standard dictionaries and does the majority of the build, however, some customer building is required. Many hospitals do not have staff with availability and/or experience to handle this responsibility. Navin Haffty/Engage provides resources who understand the complexities and cross-departmental impacts. An example of where we have received multiple requests for assistance is with guidance on design and building of dictionaries with user provisioning.
• Training – MEDITECH trains the majority of your end users, however, your hospital will be expected to provide training resources to supplement those provided by MEDITECH. Your internal resources will need to take time away from their current responsibilities to be trained by MEDITECH. Navin Haffty/Engage can free your staff from this responsibility by providing just-in-time experienced Expanse trainers.
• Go-LIVE Support – At-the-elbow provider support is critical to facilitating a smooth transition from your legacy system to Expanse. If you have a number of locations to be covered (e.g., physician offices, clinics, imaging centers), your staff will be stretched thin. Navin Haffty/Engage provides this service (on-site and/or remotely) to greatly enhance provider adoption and satisfaction.
• Reporting – MEDITECH MaaS provides useful out-of-the-box reports. Most hospitals find their executives and departmental leaders require additional unique reports. Navin Haffty/Engage creates custom reports whether from NPR, DR or BCA.
• Ongoing Support – A big attraction of MaaS is on-going support provided by MEDITECH (management of all routine needs). Navin Haffty/Engage provides an extra level of support for immediate needs and those outside of routine.

Congratulations to CHIME’s Most Wired 2021

The College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (CHIME) “Digital Health Most Wired” annual survey identifies, recognizes, and certifies the adoption, implementation, and use of information technology by healthcare organizations. This year’s survey spanned 36,000 facilities, a 20 percent increase from last year.

We are pleased to report this year’s CHIME honors include several Navin Haffty/Engage clients:

• Avera Health (Sioux Falls, SD) reached Level 10 for the third consecutive year.
• Valley Health System (Ridgewood, NJ) reached level 10.
• North Country Healthcare (Whitefield, NH) made the list for the first time, reaching Level 8 after implementing MEDITECH Expanse across three hospitals.
• Berkshire Health Systems (Pittsfield, MA) made the list for the first time reaching Level 8.
• Stamford Health (Stamford, CT) and Tri-State Memorial Hospital (Clarkston, WA) both reached CHIME Level 9.
• DCH Health System (Tuscaloosa, AL) reached Level 8 after its implementation of Expanse across three hospitals.

Look to Navin Haffty/Engage for Staffing Relief

MEDITECH hospitals have experienced challenges over the years with recruiting and retaining subject matter experts to support and optimize MEDITECH applications and infrastructure. The pandemic invariably increased these challenges. If your MEDITECH experts are stretched thin, Navin Haffty/Engage offers customized solutions to meet your needs. With over 20 years of remote staffing and flexible resource deployment experience, we have staffing solutions that provide access to dedicated and highly qualified MEDITECH specialists as needed. These solutions range from full-time on-site support to 24×7 or part-time remote support. We pride ourselves on working with our clients to develop complementary staffing to meet individualized organizational needs and are currently providing these services for many clients in the U.S., Canada, and abroad. Our team delivers the expertise, speed to execution, and flexibility that is more important now than ever before. Our contract terms are flexible, giving you the ability to modify service levels at any time. If you are interested in learning more, contact us at info@navinhaffty.com.

Canadian Corner

CHAMP Overcomes Pandemic Challenges to Successfully Go LIVE with Expanse Advanced Clinicals

Navin Haffty congratulates members of the Champlain Association of MEDITECH Partners (CHAMP) network of hospitals on the successful October Go LIVE with Expanse Advanced Clinicals, including computerized physician order entry (CPOE), electronic Medication Administration Record (eMAR), Bedside Medication Verification (BMV) and Surgical Services (SUR). The CHAMP network includes Arnprior Regional Health, Bruyère Continuing Care, Carleton Place and District Memorial Hospital, Glengarry Memorial Hospital, Hôpital Montfort, and Queensway Carleton Hospital (QCH).

During the implementation, CHAMP was forced with the difficult decisions to pause the project, not once, but twice. Tim Pemberton (QCH’s Vice President, Information Management, Clinical Support, Chief Information Officer & Chief Privacy Officer) recalls, “We had to be responsive and pause when appropriate. Our first delay was due to the pandemic, to reallocate lead clinicians to patient care and support. Our second pause came during the third (and largest) wave, which hit us on the staffing side. This time it was about nursing capacity. We added 100 beds during pandemic, which stretched our staff. We found it difficult to staff the units, let alone train the nurses on the new system.”

In fall 2020 the decision was made to resume the project, despite being in the middle of wave three. “We revisited the guiding principles of why we initially started on this path. Clinical patient safety was of utmost importance. Our clinicians were using a combination of paper and electronic charts. We needed to eliminate the hybrid chart due to patient safety risks,” according to Tim.

Planning for Go LIVE would pose additional challenges. The typical support model would not work in the COVID-19 world, and Navin Haffty and the CHAMP project team pivoted to develop a creative alternative. According to Karen McMullen, Director of Information Technology Services, “The remote command center support provided by the core team of Navin Haffty resources would prove to be fantastic. There was a lot of organizing to do around Go LIVE support scheduling, as one would expect. To ensure real time support, the CHAMP project team and Navin Haffty established 24×7 virtual remote support, and the collaboration was excellent. This model worked out very well, although it was not something we would have considered pre-pandemic.”

Resuming the project and pushing ahead resulted in positive outcomes. Tim reports, “Being prepared, and having a couple of new beginnings, ultimately contributed to the project’s success. We have a better product because of it. During pre-LIVE this summer and fall, engagement was incredible. There was a big push to go LIVE. We knew we couldn’t postpone again and delay our patient safety goals, or incur the costs associated with a delay. These were huge driving forces.”

Tim and his QCH Connected Care Team placed a tremendous amount of emphasis on leading the organization through change. Knowing a more structured governance model and an increase in automation could lead to delays and frustration, leadership prepared the organization for the changes (and improvements) to come. CHAMP and QCH’s Connected Care Team ramped up communication, education, and excitement around the project. Using a catchy one-page “tip of the week” infographic style newsletter, the team conveyed palatable tidbits organization-wide on topics such as “All about armbands,” “Real time orders improving efficiency and accuracy,” and “Addressing verbal orders in the new system,” to name a few. These brief newsletters helped to normalize questions and provide meaningful and uniform approaches, increasing confidence and adoption.

Now in the optimization phase, the CHAMP hospitals are realizing the advantages of MEDITECH’s Advanced Clinicals system. Tim stated, “We have a real time patient record, a huge benefit from a medication reconciliation perspective. Everyone can see what medications our patients have received. Physicians are very pleased with that. Previously they had to go find the chart and the medication reconciliation record. Now they know instantly.”

In his QCH executive oversight role within CHAMP, Tim leveraged his depth of experience to serve as the champion and leader of the project, engaging and managing the stakeholder groups. For other healthcare organizations beginning their journey, Tim shares his advice on the importance of strong leadership and governance structure. “Each organization is unique, but projects of this magnitude are ultimately about change management on the people side. Use virtual collaboration tools to your advantage. They allow for wider participation among stakeholders and facilitate engagement among those who may not have otherwise participated. Bring the stakeholder groups together and mediate consistently in order to gain consensus and compromise. This is your key to success. Leadership, including C-suite, must be kept updated on the pulse of the project. This allows for informed decision making at key points when decisiveness is critical. Further, anticipate issues and proactively communicate to your executives. For example, physicians will escalate to the top if there is dissatisfaction. Don’t allow your executives to be caught off guard. Differentiate the real issues and communicate. A change of this scale will be a tough transition not only for physicians, but for everyone.”

QCH is excited to be part of CHAMP, linking it with other local hospitals in the Ottawa region that use MEDITECH healthcare information system for electronic patient charts. “As a leader in the MEDITECH Expanse community, other sites will be looking to us for guidance,” according to Tim. “Others can learn from CHAMP’s experiences in standardizing, while recognizing each hospital as an individual entity. Properly developed governance, effective communications and level setting of expectations is key to this successful partnership.”

CHAMP understands the work isn’t over yet. A six-month stabilization period has been put in place to allow clinicians time to become fully proficient in the new solution and to optimize based on their feedback. Despite pandemic fatigue, the CHAMP hospitals marched forward, resulting in a successful Go LIVE. Tim, Karen and the entire CHAMP project team extend their gratitude to the staff and physicians for their countless contributions in making Expanse a reality.
​
Quick Notes

• Save the dates for the virtual e-Health 2022 Conference and Tradeshow being held June 1-2. This event provides unique and valuable learning and networking opportunities for organizations and people working to make a difference in Canadian health through information and technology. e-Health offers one of the best opportunities in the industry to interact with a diverse group of engaged professionals from across Canada (and around the world). The Call for Abstracts opened November 10. Learn more on the e-Health website.
• Canada Health Infoway’s Virtual Infoway Partnership Conference is being held December 1 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. EST. The program is now available and registration is complimentary for all attendees.

Navin Haffty of Canada is Hiring

Navin Haffty continues to expand our commitment to MEDITECH’s Canadian clients. We are pleased to have recently added new team members in Canada and plan to continue our initiative to grow our team here. Navin Haffty employs the most experienced MEDITECH consultants in North America and is looking to complement our team with Canadian-based resources.

MEDITECH Expanse Clinical Lead or Subject Matter Experts – Canada: Navin Haffty is looking for strong clinical resources with proven implementation experience with MEDITECH Expanse. Are you a clinician able to communicate effectively, with expert application knowledge, who enjoys leading projects in a fast paced and energetic team environment?

Navin Haffty is also actively seeking experienced MEDITECH Expanse project managers for Canada. If you have strong project management skills in healthcare and have worked with the MEDITECH platform, we want to talk to you!

Are you ready to join the team at Navin Haffty? Contact us at recruiting@navinhaffty.com.

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KLAS Comments

We are pleased to share the following KLAS comments from our clients:

“Navin Haffty has a commitment to value, and they are committed to understanding what we need and who we are as an organization. They appreciate all the unique things about us. Navin Haffty is committed to a sense of partnership with us. They reach out and tell us about someone in an organization like ours who we may want to speak to. Navin Haffty tells us when a conference is coming up. They serve as a good liaison between our organization and our software vendor. Navin Haffty partners with us as opposed to just generating revenue. They put us first.”
– CIO

“Navin Haffty has a very good all-encompassing team for support and new projects. Navin Haffty is really very capable in all areas. They have great people and are nice to work with. They work hard and go the extra mile.”
– VP/Executive

“Navin Haffty challenges us to really think long term, and I appreciate that. Rather than solving a particular issue at a particular time, we have an enterprise-wide sustainability approach to every single output or initiative we are working on. They help us facilitate and talk that out in our organization.”
– Director

Navin Haffty/Engage Client News

New Projects

• Beacon Health System, South Bend, IN – 6.08 PDoc Build
• Citizens Memorial Hospital, Bolivar, MO – Expanse Revenue Cycle Training
• Deborah Heart and Lung Center, Browns Mills, NJ – Expanse MM Training and Assessment
• Gaylord Specialty Healthcare, Wallingford, CT – Cloud Computing for Expanse Implementation
• Goshen Health, Goshen, IN – MEDITECH Expanse Ambulatory Implementation
• Natchitoches Regional Medical Center, Natchitoches, LA – 6.08 Ad Hoc LAB Assistance
• Saratoga Hospital, Saratoga Springs, NY – Hosted Disaster Recovery Solution
• The Orthopedic & Spine Inpatient Surgical Hospital, Phoenix, AZ – Clinical Analyst
• White Plains Hospital Medical Center, White Plains, NY – AP Cleanup
• Witham Health Services, Lebanon, IN – Expanse DR/SQL Reporting

Quick Notes

• Read Tegria’s whitepaper on The Future of Healthcare and learn how digital realization continues to drive quality and convenience in healthcare services.
• Save the dates for the 2022 MUSE Inspire Conference, May 15-19 at the Gaylord Texan Resort & Convention Center in Dallas (note this is earlier in May than in past years).

Calendar of Events

MEDITECH Conference

2022 Home Care Symposium
March 21-25 (virtual)
Register for MEDITECH’s 2022 Home Care Symposium, taking place virtually March 21-25.

MEDITECH Webinars (all times listed in Eastern)

MEDITECH and Nuance – Expanse Virtual Assistant EHR Workflow
December 13, 2:00 PM | 60 min.
MEDITECH and Nuance have collaborated to integrate artificial intelligence and voice-driven navigation into the Expanse EHR, allowing physicians to use simple and intuitive voice commands to access key areas of the patient chart.

Doctors’ Hours: CLPP Clinician Advisor Series Q & A

Deborah Harrigan, MD (Ambulatory)
Thursday, December 9 at 12 p.m. – Register

Louis Dandurand, MD (Emergency)
Tuesday, January 25 at 1 p.m. – Register

Bryan Bagdasian, MD, MMM (Acute)
Wednesday, February 16 at 11 a.m. – Register

Navin Haffty/Engage Careers

Navin Haffty/Engage is actively seeking individuals with strong implementation project management and consulting experience with MEDITECH Expanse. Demand is high for skills with billing, ambulatory, clinical materials management and laboratory. Those with proven implementation experience are encouraged to apply. We offer an outstanding compensation package and a workplace culture that values each of our employees. If you are interested in joining Navin Haffty/Engage to be #BetterTogether, please email us at recruiting@navinhaffty.com to set up a time to discuss opportunities.

Client Job Board

Navin Haffty/Engage 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 Lauren Iacovelli. No recruiting firms, please.