My thanks to those of you who congratulated us on our sale to Providence Services Group (PSG) and our partnership with Engage. We are excited about the possibilities this brings to our staff, our clients, and the MEDITECH community as a whole.
A word on our decision to become part of a larger enterprise. Over the years, I have been approached by a number of potential buyers. They wanted to talk price, while I wanted an answer to the question: “How is this good for my staff and for my clients?” Prior to PSG approaching us (note, we were not for sale), no one could give a credible answer. PSG outlined how this would create opportunities for my staff that, in our current state, we could not provide, and how “better together” with Engage would provide a broader array of service offerings for our clients. They committed to investments that would allow us to grow to meet needs for services the MEDITECH market will need. Most importantly, they demonstrated a culture that aligns with ours, one where people matter and one that takes a long-term view. As the largest, most highly-rated consulting company in the MEDITCH market, we came from a position of strength. We accepted the offer and expect to keep all the goodness of Navin Haffty while expanding opportunities for our staff and our clients. Among other things, I will continue to publish this newsletter each month as I have since November 2001, and we will focus on providing the best consulting services to the MEDITECH market. We are proud to now bring a complete set of solutions for each of you.
Finally, a word about CloudWave. Over the years, we have enjoyed a strong relationship and have often referred them for hosting, hardware integration and disaster recovery services. We made these recommendations due to their excellent quality and service. Nothing has changed; we believe they are an excellent company. As many of you know, our sister company, Engage, also provides these services (see article below for an overview of their technical services offerings). We encourage you to consider them as well for your technical services needs. I have personally met with Chad Skidmore, Engage’s Director of Network Services, and have been very impressed. Having two excellent options ensures the MEDITECH community has choice and competition.
Feel free to contact me for more information on Engage’s technical services or just to catch up.
John Haffty, President
Navin, Haffty & Associates
Engage provides complete infrastructure solutions for MEDITECH hospitals. Whether you are setting up a new MEDITECH Expanse instance, refreshing hardware for your current system, or right-sizing a legacy platform, Engage’s remote and on-premises consulting and cloud-based solutions have solved the toughest challenges for hospitals across the country, including San Luis Valley Health in Colorado, Val Verde Regional Medical Center in Texas, Beauregard Health System in Louisiana, and Summit Medical Center in Oklahoma, along with many others over the past 15 years. These hospitals have trusted Engage to provide cloud hosting of their MEDITECH EHR, disaster recovery, and cloud backup.
Serving a population of 30,000, the independent healthcare providers in rural northern New Hampshire faced the typical struggles and financial pressures impacting all critical access hospitals, including the ability to recruit and retain staff, rising healthcare costs, low reimbursements, and inability to leverage more favorable contracts. The reality that healthcare for the region’s population was in jeopardy and unable to grow forced several forward-thinking healthcare leaders to “circle the wagons” and develop a unique approach that would not only ensure quality care be available but provide for sustainable growth of quality services.
The leaders understood the value of creating visibility across the continuum of care for the population, and the concept of developing an affiliation was explored. The goal would be to achieve a non-competitive collaborative process, where together through integration and standardization, the combined economies of scale could ensure the financial sustainability for all of the healthcare organizations. Multiple drivers influenced the potential alliance, but member facilities agreed a singular focus would be needed to ensure long-term success. The vision would be to develop a clinically integrated network for all hospitals and providers in the North Country of New Hampshire to address population health and to improve health indicators for area residents. As explained by Darrell Bodnar, Chief Information Officer for North Country Healthcare, “For the alliance to be effective, all members must truly be committed to the same mission, and that would be the best possible delivery of patient care. Independently each hospital cannot be all things to all people. But as a system, we can help ensure maintaining services in our region. By combining our clinical resources we will develop a clinically integrated network providing coordinated high-quality patient-centered care.”
North Country Healthcare was born when the leaders from the medical facilities in the White Mountains region of New Hampshire agreed to move forward with a non-profit affiliation. It would be comprised of three critical access hospitals (Androscoggin Valley Hospital, Upper Connecticut Valley Hospital, and Weeks Medical Center), and North Country Home Health and Hospice Agency. North Country created partnerships with other local healthcare providers, including two Federally Qualified Health Centers (Coös County Family Health Services and Indian Stream Health Center), and urgent care provider ConvenientMD.
Beyond having a unified mission, the success of the affiliation would require all members to agree and align with a new governance structure, operating structure, standardized care models, and the mindset that they must find common ground. Fortunately, the culture at each facility (and engrained throughout the leadership teams) provided the perfect platform. Organizations and individuals were willing to sacrifice their autonomy for the benefit of the overall strategy and mission of North Country. As the framework for the affiliation developed, governing boards remained in place at the facility levels and a unified board was established at the system level, allowing equal voice among all members. Consolidation occurred at the executive and departmental levels, resulting in the merger of many positions into combined regional roles, including a single CEO, CIO, and the same for various North Country Healthcare system department heads. This allowed for economies of scale and provided a means for the essential unified vison and oversight.
“The mission of North Country Healthcare is to assure consistent, high quality, accessible, and integrated healthcare across the communities served,” said Thomas Mee, Chief Executive Officer for North Country Healthcare. “The passion behind this commitment is evident at every level of North Country Healthcare and leadership has set the goals and blazed the trail with a clear vision and focus. The dedication of staff to deliver the highest quality care is inspiring. I think a consistent feeling is that even though challenging at many levels and sometimes a bit overwhelming, it’s rewarding and fun to do what nobody else has done. I believe everybody at North Country Healthcare feels that quality care and great customer service is everybody’s job regardless of their title or role. It’s great to be part of what we are doing here.”
In 2018 North Country began the search for an electronic health record (EHR) to standardize across member facilities. The formal RFP search and selection process included EHR vendors Athenahealth, eClinicalWorks, Cerner, Allscripts, and MEDITECH. After an extensive evaluation by physicians, clinicians, leadership, and stakeholders from all facilities, North Country elected to implement the MEDITECH Expanse (acute and ambulatory) EHR, due to its advanced functionality and fit for their long-term goals. With Go-LIVE planned for December 2020, North Country partnered with Navin Haffty to provide leadership, assist with the workflow redesign, and complement their teams with certified implementation resources. The process of implementing a single EHR forced discussions to streamline and standardize care and paved the way for the members to become a unified system.
The success of these efforts demonstrates the sense of community that extends beyond the walls of each respective organization. Years into the affiliation, members remain focused on the primary goal and long-term mission to improve patient care. North Country is providing new services and experiencing improvement in their ability to recruit specialized resources to the region. Further, North Country is recognizing benefits and efficiencies in other areas. It has greater purchasing power, consolidated numerous contracts, enhanced services and improved reimbursement rates. This expanded affiliation is now able to lobby on state and federal levels and provides a stronger voice for the community. When Darrel speaks of the success and benefits being recognized, he says, “The glue is hardened to where it’s not coming apart. All facilities remain committed to the mission and success of North Country.”
The approach utilized to affiliate the members of the North Country community can be modeled elsewhere. Although other notable collaborations have been achieved in the critical access community, the North Country environment, structure and accomplishments make it unique. Each member is able to remain independent, yet benefit from the larger affiliation, without losing the autonomy that would result from an acquisition by a major health system. In addition to blazing a trail for other critical access facilities, North Country members have been recognized as industry leaders in other categories, such as its selection by Modern Healthcare as one of the 2020 Best Places to Work in Healthcare, and Androscoggin being named a top 100 critical access facility for 2020 by The Chartis Group.
Navin Haffty is proud to be part of North Country’s success and looks forward to supporting the partnership well into the future as their mission and vision continues to grow and flourish.
MEDITECH Virtual Assistant is the newest tool in the growing toolset for physicians, built upon the Nuance Dragon® Medical solution already used by 550,000+ physicians. Virtual Assistant enables physicians to navigate their EHR hands-free and transforms the way they practice and provide care. By simplifying routine tasks, physicians can save steps and time, freeing them up to focus on direct patient care.
Expanse Virtual Assistant responds to simple verbal commands by retrieving the information clinicians are looking for – without having to type, point, click, or even touch a device. Clinicians can experience new levels of efficiency and usability, while keeping their focus squarely on patients, not their computer systems.
For more information, review MEDITECH’s press release, website product description, or attend the “Step Into the Future with MEDITECH’s New Virtual Assistant” session during the Physician and CIO Forum.
September 15-17 (online)
10 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. EDT (Tuesday and Wednesday)
10 a.m. – 12 p.m. EDT (Thursday)
MEDITECH’s Physician and CIO Forum is virtual this year, making it easy to attend all sessions or only those important to you and your organization.
Keynotes:
Here are some of the topics being presented by Navin Haffty past and present clients:
Healthcare’s Most Wired (CIO Track)
Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2:30 p.m. EDT
Moderator: Christine Parent, Associate Vice President, MEDITECH
Andrew Burchett, DO, CMIO, Avera Health
CHIME’s Most Wired program continues to be a catalyst for technology adoption that improves patient outcomes and engagement. In November 2019, Avera Health (Sioux Falls, SD) was one of three organizations to achieve CHIME’s highest level 10 status. Join Avera Health CMIO Dr. Andrew Burchett as he explains why Avera embarked on this journey, what it took to accomplish this goal, and some of the meaningful outcomes they achieved.
Boosting Physician Efficiency: Health Tracker and Health Maintenance (Care Coordination Track)
Tuesday, Sept. 15, 3:15 p.m. EDT
Moderator: Linda Nadeau, Account Manager, Client Services, MEDITECH
Mark List, MD, Family Physician, Avera Health
Discover how Avera uses Health Tracker to speed up chart review, improve ACO quality metrics, and reduce clinicians’ daily workload.
Tiered Ordering in the ED (Physician Track)
Tuesday, Sept. 15, 3:15 p.m. EDT
Moderator: Gina Schladenhauffen, Lead Analyst, Strategy, MEDITECH
Louis Dandurand, MD, Medical Director, ED and Urgent Care, Northwestern Medical Center
MEDITECH and Zynx Health have collaborated to develop a tiered approach to ordering in the Emergency Department, addressing the special workflows within the environment. Learn about the specific use case scenarios, and how tiered ordering can be applied successfully in the ED setting.
Driving BCA Adoption, One Dashboard at a Time (CIO Track)
Wednesday, Sept. 16, 1 p.m. EDT
Moderator: Rachel Wilkes, Senior Manager, Strategy, MEDITECH
Sindee Morse, MSN, RN, Program Chair, Informatics Clinical Nurse, Conway Regional Health System
Barbara Dawdy, Enterprise Data Architect, Gila Regional Medical Center
Kelly Lippold, Director of Health Informatics, Newton Medical Center
Becoming a data-driven organization starts with successes gained through the deployment of a single dashboard. During this panel discussion, you’ll hear what operational objectives each organization prioritized within Business and Clinical Analytics (BCA), and the strategies used to drive adoption.
Small Hospital, Big Solutions: How Rural Community Hospitals Can Lead During a Pandemic (CIO Track)
Wednesday, Sept. 16, 1:45 p.m. EDT
Moderator: Cathy Turner, BSN, MBA, RN-BC, Associate Vice President, MEDITECH
Sherry Montileone, CIO, Citizens Memorial Healthcare
Louis Harris, MD, CMIO, Citizens Memorial Healthcare
COVID-19 is straining healthcare organizations across the country, especially rural America. Citizens Memorial Hospital’s quick response to the pandemic not only kept their providers and patients as safe as possible, but also allowed CMH to remain financially sustainable during unusual times. Hear from CIO Sherry Montileone and CMIO Dr. Louis Harris as they share how the organization rapidly developed a COVID-19 dashboard, fast-tracked Virtual Visit technology, established a COVID patient hotline, set up one of Missouri’s first drive-through testing sites, and even deployed tablets to patients isolating with the virus.
A Robust KPI-driven Solution for Managing and Improving Care Coordination at Kingman Regional Medical Center (Care Coordination Track)
Wednesday, Sept. 16, 2:30 p.m. EDT
Moderator: Janet Desroche, Associate Vice President, MEDITECH
Arek Shennar, CIO, Kingman Regional Medical Center
William Gustin, MD, Medical Consultant, MEDITECH
Hear how a multidisciplinary group from Kingman Regional Medical Center teamed up with MEDITECH to develop a key performance indicator (KPI)-driven care management program for the organization’s Medicare Advantage patients.
Curbing the Effects of Downtime (CIO Track)
Thursday, September 17, 11 a.m. EDT
Rebecca Lancaster, Senior Manager, Strategy, MEDITECH
Andrew Burchett, DO, CMIO, Avera Health
During this demonstration of MEDITECH’s High Availability SnapShot, Avera Health CMIO Dr. Andrew Burchett will provide feedback on Avera’s experience as an early adopter, and utilizing SnapShot to help mitigate the effects of unplanned downtime.
MEDITECH Demonstrations
On Tuesday and Wednesday, the following lunchtime demonstrations will be available at 12:20 p.m.:
Click here to register.
In the previous section, we listed many of the sessions you will want to consider. In addition, MEDITECH will be sharing information on some significant new functionality that someone at your hospital might want to know about:
While these are not the only new features being introduced, these are significant and with all the content available, may have been missed.
“See” you at the Forum.
MEDITECH Contributes to Canada’s Privacy and Security Framework
TECHNATION Health, part of Canada’s national association for information and communication technologies (ICT), recently released the first version of its Privacy and Security Framework Whitepaper, highlighting the top five issues for government and business leaders responsible for protecting sensitive health data and health infrastructure.
The whitepaper is a result of collaboration among the TECHNATION Health Advocacy Committee and its Board, as well as privacy and security officers from member companies. MEDITECH’s Justin Armstrong, CISSP and security architect, and Philip Alcaidinho, project manager, international healthcare policy initiatives, are active members of the Health Advocacy Committee.
The paper discusses the need to develop policies and standards around privacy and security management issues associated with:
The Framework also acknowledges global disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, stating the need for “unprecedented levels of innovation, as governments and public health authorities around the world seek solutions to problems that have never existed at this scale.” Armstrong agreed: “Health Information Technology has never had a more vital role to play than during this pandemic. At the same time, cyber criminals and nation states continue to pose a serious threat. We will only be able to address these problems through the close collaboration of governments, law enforcement, healthcare organizations, and vendors. It’s a privilege to be involved with TECHNATION’s cybersecurity efforts.”
The whitepaper’s release marks the beginning of further engagement with Canadian healthcare stakeholders across British Columbia, Alberta, Nunavut, Quebec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Newfoundland and Labrador, to build a broader consensus on the recommendations for what will eventually be a national scope for the Framework.
The next phase of the Framework is scheduled to be released in late fall 2020. In the meantime, you can learn more about the challenges of maintaining security best practices by watching Justin Armstrong’s on-demand webinar: An Insider Look at Cybersecurity.
2020 MEDITECH Physician and CIO Forum
In addition to the sessions mentioned in the MEDITECH Physician/CIO Forum section this newsletter (above), be sure to check out these sessions that include Canadian participants or are part of the Canadian Track.
COVID-19: EHR Lessons Learned and Thoughts Going Forward
Tuesday, Sept. 15, 11 a.m. EDT
Moderator: Steve Jones, MD, MPH, Lead Physician Informaticist, MEDITECH
Panelists:
The ONE Initiative seeks to deliver patient care across North East Ontario via one electronic health system, MEDITECH Expanse. Three of the region’s 24 organizations went LIVE with this undertaking in October 2019. Hear from representatives from Sault Area Hospital and North Bay Regional Health Centre as they detail the READY implementation from both a clinical and financial standpoint.
Innovations in the 2020 Canadian Landscape (Canadian Track)
Tuesday, Sept. 15, 1:45 p.m. EDT
Hear about MEDITECH’s role in the Canadian landscape, including Canadian advocacy and customer service, as well as updates on Canadian initiatives.
The Doctor Will “See” You Now (Canadian Track)
Tuesday, Sept. 15, 3:15 p.m. EDT
Moderator: Missy Moquin, Senior Manager, Client Services, MEDITECH
Participants:
Session description coming soon.
Responding to a Digital Security Threat (CIO Track)
Wednesday, Sept. 16, 11 a.m. EDT
Moderator: Justin Armstrong, Security Architect, System Technology, MEDITECH
Sam Fielding, CIO, Southlake Regional Health Centre
Security threats can affect any hospital at any time and, in the midst of COVID-19, Southlake Regional Health Centre was faced with a credible and imminent threat to its network and infrastructure. Hear from Southlake CIO Sam Fielding as he shares how the event unfolded, lessons learned, and the level of collaboration required to resume services.
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September is Sepsis Awareness and National Recovery Month, and throughout the month MEDITECH will be sharing content and customer stories identifying how healthcare organizations can confront these challenges.
Sepsis Awareness Month
Viral infections including COVID-19 can cause sepsis. According to the Global Sepsis Alliance, up to five percent of those with coronavirus will show signs of multiorgan failure typical of sepsis after eight to ten days. During Sepsis Awareness Month, take a few minutes to find out how MEDITECH’s EHR helps care teams detect sepsis sooner and intervene earlier.
MEDITECH’s Surveillance solution analyzes data in real time and automatically identifies patients who need attention, whether they show signs of potential sepsis or are overdue for a quality metric.
Embedded in Expanse, the Sepsis Management Toolkit consists of optimal workflows, system guidance, and advanced clinical decision support to help your organization improve outcomes. The toolkit is available in two customer support models: self-service and MEDITECH’s Specialty Professional Services.
National Recovery Month
MEDITECH offers Opioid Stewardship and Depression Screening and Suicide Prevention Toolkits. Designed using Expanse technology, these evidence-based toolkits, aligned with leading guidance, help care teams identify those who may be at risk. Components include advanced clinical decision support, real-time surveillance, and registry patient monitoring. Toolkits are available in two customer support models: self-service and MEDITECH’s Specialty Professional Services.
Offering over 35 years of healthcare experience as a nurse, nurse manager, clinical informatics specialist, vice president, and consultant, Vicki Schuurhuis, MS, RN, serves as Executive Director of Service Delivery for Navin Haffty. She has devoted the last 25 years to the clinical informatics arena. Vicki’s 14 years of consulting services have focused on implementation, assessment, planning, and optimization of MEDITECH’s clinical systems. Her experience includes implementation of all MEDITECH clinical modules as well as project management of many of MEDITECH’s clinical and advanced clinical applications. She has led successful CPOE implementations, system assessments, CPOE readiness assessments and process redesign for small and large facilities. With her hands-on experience, knowledge of MEDITECH’s most recent products and superior leadership skills, she has led many large and complex organizations through successful implementations. Vicki leads and oversees several of Navin Haffty’s Expanse migration efforts in the U.S. and Canada and is instrumental in the development of planning and implementation-specific tools to support standardized and repeatable implementation successes.
When not working Vicki enjoys biking and hiking in the great outdoors of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan where she lives with her husband.
Connect with Vicki through email, LinkedIn, or follow her on Twitter.
Navin Haffty Brings Salina Regional Health Center LIVE on MEDITECH Expanse Ambulatory
Navin Haffty is pleased to announce our client, Salina Regional Health Center of Salina, Kansas, recently completed the phased Go-LIVE of MEDITECH Expanse Ambulatory in its pediatric clinic, two urgent care clinics, and three family practice clinics. Formed in 1995, Salina is an integrated health system founded to develop a regional healthcare system driven by the needs of its communities, and is comprised of three acute facilities, three urgent care clinics, five family practice clinics, and eighteen specialty clinics. Navin Haffty provided consulting assistance with the clinical and financial (RCG) components of the Ambulatory implementation.
Navin Haffty previously assisted Salina during its implementation of Expanse in the acute environment, which also went LIVE in phases. Salina migrated from MEDITECH Client/Server in the acute setting, and from various systems in the ambulatory clinics, including Greenway, EMDs, and LSS.
According to Michael McEldowney, Salina’s Executive Director of IT, “Navin Haffty has been a trusted consulting partner since we started on our journey to Expanse in 2017. The recent ambulatory go-LIVEs went very well and the physicians and staff are very happy. Navin Haffty was key in our success.”
Navin Haffty New Projects
We are pleased to announce we have been selected by the following organizations for their upcoming projects:
MEDITECH Webinars (all times listed in Eastern)
Take Control of Your Revenue Cycle with Expanse
September 15, 11:00 AM | 30 min.
See MEDITECH’s proven solution that drives revenue while improving the patient financial experience.
Expanse Patient Care
September 22, 11:00 AM | 30 min.
Learn how Expanse Patient Care targets workflows and specialized needs, in addition to providing the tools clinicians need to manage patient care safely, efficiently, and effectively.
A Physician’s Experience with Expanse Ambulatory
September 23, 11:00 AM | 60 min.
See how MEDITECH’S Ambulatory solution is a fully integrated part of MEDITECH’s Expanse EHR, designed specifically for the office setting, with guidance from MEDITECH’s own practicing physicians.
On Boston’s Front Line of COVID-19
September 24, 1:00 PM | 30 min.
MEDITECH AVP Cathy Turner, RN-BC, and Marketing Solution Specialist Leah Postilnik, RN, discuss Leah’s experience volunteering at a Boston field hospital, and how clinicians can leverage EHRs during public health crises.
Visit MEDITECH’s new COVID-19 Webinar page for additional offerings.
Navin Haffty is actively seeking experienced MEDITECH consultants for activation support and long-term implementation projects. If you are a MEDITECH professional interested in consulting, please email us at recruiting@navinhaffty.com to set up a time to discuss future opportunities.
Navin Haffty 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.