Comprehensive COVID-19 understanding is a critical asset for adapting to pandemic needs, directing resources, developing vaccines, and planning for surges in a timely, informed manner. Because common barriers have impeded the progress of comprehensive data repositories, researchers have relied on surveillance data from population-level viral testing, which has proven insufficient. To significantly advance COVID-19 understanding, the medical community needs a digital patient registry that captures national-level data on how the virus impacts individuals differently according to comorbidities, lifestyle factors, and more. These essential insights lie in real-world evidence, which a registry can only deliver when it applies value sets to leverage clinical and claims data from health systems across the United States.
How a U.S. COVID-19 Data Registry Fuels Global ResearchHealth Catalyst
In addition to driving COVID-19 understanding within the United States, a national disease registry is informing research beyond U.S. borders. Clinicians with the Singapore Ministry of Healthcare Office for Healthcare Transformation (MOHT) have used Health Catalyst Touchstone® COVID-19 data to develop a machine learning tool that helps predict the likelihood of COVID-19 mortality. With this national data set that leverages deep aggregated EHR data, the MOHT accessed the research-grade data it needed to build a machine-learning algorithm that predicts risk of death from COVID-19. The registry-informed prediction model was accurate enough to stand up to comparisons in the published literature and promises to help inform vaccine research and, ultimately, allocation of vaccines within populations.
Continuity of Care Documents: Today’s Top Solution for Healthcare Interoperab...Health Catalyst
While healthcare waits for the expanded data interoperability that FHIR promises, the industry needs an immediate solution for accessing and using disparate data from across the continuum of care. With FHIR potentially several years away, continuity of care documents (CCDs) are the best option for acquiring the ambulatory clinical care data health systems need to close quality gaps today. Because organizations that rely only on claims data to drive quality improvement risk missing out on more that 80 percent of patient information, CCDs are the current must-have answer to interoperability for successful quality improvement.
2021 Healthcare Trends: Embracing an Unpredictable FutureHealth Catalyst
We’re putting 2020 in the rearview mirror and gazing into the crystal ball to see what 2021 holds. Stephen Grossbart, PhD, and Dan Orenstein, JD, tackle the challenge of predicting what’s next for healthcare in 2021. Stephen and Dan discuss the trends and policies most impactful to the industry and attempt to answer the following questions on everyone’s mind.
- Healthcare technology—Where is it headed? What’s the next big thing?
- Care delivery—How will COVID-19 continue to impact healthcare systems, physicians, and patients? What changes will the industry make to prepare for future pandemics? What will happen with value-based care?
- The new Biden administration—What changes will it make that will impact healthcare? What will the Supreme Court/Congress do about the ACA?
Why Data-Driven Healthcare Is the Best Defense Against COVID-19Health Catalyst
COVID-19 has given data-driven healthcare the opportunity to prove its value on the national and global stages. Health systems, researchers, and policymakers have leveraged data to drive critical decisions from short-term emergency response to long-term recovery planning.
Five areas of pandemic response and recovery stand out for their robust use of data and measurable impact on the course of the outbreak and the individuals and frontline providers at its center:
Scaling the hospital command center to pandemic proportions.
Meeting patient surge demands on hospital capacity.
Controlling disease spread.
Fueling global research.
Responding to financial strain.
Healthcare Price Transparency: Three Opportunities for TransformationHealth Catalyst
Price transparency has been an ongoing challenge for health systems, and upcoming legislation requiring increased visibility around hospital pricing adds pressure. Meeting the new price transparency requirements means legal compliance, but providing procedure costs, different payment options, and the reasoning behind prices set patients up for an optimal experience, increasing their likelihood to return for future care.
With the right tools, such as robust pricing transparency technology and a defensible price strategy, health systems can use the new mandate to take advantage of three key opportunities:
Satisfy increasing patient interest in cost of care.
Earn patient trust—a short- and long-term imperative.
Create the optimal patient experience.
The 2021 Healthcare Financial Forecast: What to Expect, How to PrepareHealth Catalyst
As healthcare financial leaders plan for 2021, they can expect COVID-19 to shape their strategies. Pandemic response and recovery will continue to dominate the industry, inform new perspectives on existing issues (e.g., the shift to value-based care and health equity), and shape priorities. Meanwhile, the Biden administration will start to puts its stamp on U.S. healthcare, further making 2021 a pivotal year for the industry.
Healthcare finance teams can best navigate 2021 by monitoring and preparing to take action in five prominent areas:
Election impact.
Price transparency.
Financial forecasting.
Value-based care.
Health equity.
The Top Three 2020 Healthcare Trends and How to PrepareHealth Catalyst
After a tumultuous 2019, healthcare organizations are pivoting to make sense of the latest changes and prepare to face the top 2020 healthcare trends:
Consumerism—Can health systems respond to the consumer demands of better access and price transparency?
Financial Performance—With mergers, acquisitions, and private sector companies entering the healthcare arena, how will traditional hospitals and clinics compete?
Social Issues—How will health organizations respond to the opioid crisis and consider social determinants of health as part of the care process to provide comprehensive treatment?
As health systems struggle to survive amidst constant change, they must look forward and proactively prepare for what’s to come in 2020.
Five Action Items to Improve HCC Coding Accuracy and Risk Adjustment With Ana...Health Catalyst
A hot topic in healthcare right now, especially in the medical coding world is the Hierarchical Condition Category (HCC) risk adjustment model and how accurate coding affects healthcare organizations’ reimbursement.
With almost one third of Medicare beneficiaries enrolled in Medicare Advantage plans, it’s more important than ever for healthcare organizations to pay attention to this model and make sure physicians are coding diagnoses appropriately to ensure fair compensation. This article walks through basics of the risk adjustment model, why coding accuracy is so important, and five action items for interdisciplinary work groups to take. They include:
Having an accurate problem list.
Ensuring patients are seen in each calendar year.
Improving decision support and EMR optimization.
Widespread education and communication.
Tracking performance and identifying opportunities.
How a U.S. COVID-19 Data Registry Fuels Global ResearchHealth Catalyst
In addition to driving COVID-19 understanding within the United States, a national disease registry is informing research beyond U.S. borders. Clinicians with the Singapore Ministry of Healthcare Office for Healthcare Transformation (MOHT) have used Health Catalyst Touchstone® COVID-19 data to develop a machine learning tool that helps predict the likelihood of COVID-19 mortality. With this national data set that leverages deep aggregated EHR data, the MOHT accessed the research-grade data it needed to build a machine-learning algorithm that predicts risk of death from COVID-19. The registry-informed prediction model was accurate enough to stand up to comparisons in the published literature and promises to help inform vaccine research and, ultimately, allocation of vaccines within populations.
Continuity of Care Documents: Today’s Top Solution for Healthcare Interoperab...Health Catalyst
While healthcare waits for the expanded data interoperability that FHIR promises, the industry needs an immediate solution for accessing and using disparate data from across the continuum of care. With FHIR potentially several years away, continuity of care documents (CCDs) are the best option for acquiring the ambulatory clinical care data health systems need to close quality gaps today. Because organizations that rely only on claims data to drive quality improvement risk missing out on more that 80 percent of patient information, CCDs are the current must-have answer to interoperability for successful quality improvement.
2021 Healthcare Trends: Embracing an Unpredictable FutureHealth Catalyst
We’re putting 2020 in the rearview mirror and gazing into the crystal ball to see what 2021 holds. Stephen Grossbart, PhD, and Dan Orenstein, JD, tackle the challenge of predicting what’s next for healthcare in 2021. Stephen and Dan discuss the trends and policies most impactful to the industry and attempt to answer the following questions on everyone’s mind.
- Healthcare technology—Where is it headed? What’s the next big thing?
- Care delivery—How will COVID-19 continue to impact healthcare systems, physicians, and patients? What changes will the industry make to prepare for future pandemics? What will happen with value-based care?
- The new Biden administration—What changes will it make that will impact healthcare? What will the Supreme Court/Congress do about the ACA?
Why Data-Driven Healthcare Is the Best Defense Against COVID-19Health Catalyst
COVID-19 has given data-driven healthcare the opportunity to prove its value on the national and global stages. Health systems, researchers, and policymakers have leveraged data to drive critical decisions from short-term emergency response to long-term recovery planning.
Five areas of pandemic response and recovery stand out for their robust use of data and measurable impact on the course of the outbreak and the individuals and frontline providers at its center:
Scaling the hospital command center to pandemic proportions.
Meeting patient surge demands on hospital capacity.
Controlling disease spread.
Fueling global research.
Responding to financial strain.
Healthcare Price Transparency: Three Opportunities for TransformationHealth Catalyst
Price transparency has been an ongoing challenge for health systems, and upcoming legislation requiring increased visibility around hospital pricing adds pressure. Meeting the new price transparency requirements means legal compliance, but providing procedure costs, different payment options, and the reasoning behind prices set patients up for an optimal experience, increasing their likelihood to return for future care.
With the right tools, such as robust pricing transparency technology and a defensible price strategy, health systems can use the new mandate to take advantage of three key opportunities:
Satisfy increasing patient interest in cost of care.
Earn patient trust—a short- and long-term imperative.
Create the optimal patient experience.
The 2021 Healthcare Financial Forecast: What to Expect, How to PrepareHealth Catalyst
As healthcare financial leaders plan for 2021, they can expect COVID-19 to shape their strategies. Pandemic response and recovery will continue to dominate the industry, inform new perspectives on existing issues (e.g., the shift to value-based care and health equity), and shape priorities. Meanwhile, the Biden administration will start to puts its stamp on U.S. healthcare, further making 2021 a pivotal year for the industry.
Healthcare finance teams can best navigate 2021 by monitoring and preparing to take action in five prominent areas:
Election impact.
Price transparency.
Financial forecasting.
Value-based care.
Health equity.
The Top Three 2020 Healthcare Trends and How to PrepareHealth Catalyst
After a tumultuous 2019, healthcare organizations are pivoting to make sense of the latest changes and prepare to face the top 2020 healthcare trends:
Consumerism—Can health systems respond to the consumer demands of better access and price transparency?
Financial Performance—With mergers, acquisitions, and private sector companies entering the healthcare arena, how will traditional hospitals and clinics compete?
Social Issues—How will health organizations respond to the opioid crisis and consider social determinants of health as part of the care process to provide comprehensive treatment?
As health systems struggle to survive amidst constant change, they must look forward and proactively prepare for what’s to come in 2020.
Five Action Items to Improve HCC Coding Accuracy and Risk Adjustment With Ana...Health Catalyst
A hot topic in healthcare right now, especially in the medical coding world is the Hierarchical Condition Category (HCC) risk adjustment model and how accurate coding affects healthcare organizations’ reimbursement.
With almost one third of Medicare beneficiaries enrolled in Medicare Advantage plans, it’s more important than ever for healthcare organizations to pay attention to this model and make sure physicians are coding diagnoses appropriately to ensure fair compensation. This article walks through basics of the risk adjustment model, why coding accuracy is so important, and five action items for interdisciplinary work groups to take. They include:
Having an accurate problem list.
Ensuring patients are seen in each calendar year.
Improving decision support and EMR optimization.
Widespread education and communication.
Tracking performance and identifying opportunities.
HAS 20 Virtual: Featuring a World-Class Lineup of Keynote SpeakersHealth Catalyst
The Healthcare Analytics Summit (HAS®) is going virtual this year but will still feature the same world-class experience you expect from HAS–including world-class keynote speakers. HAS 20 Virtual will showcase well-known visionaries and C-level executives from leading healthcare organizations. The summit will feature speakers who’ve battled COVID-19 in the trenches as well as other speakers adjusting to planning for the “new normal” that we all anticipate.
We’re reimagining HAS 20 in a virtual format that will be unlike any other healthcare conference you may have attended, virtual or otherwise. HAS 20 Virtual takes place September 1-3, 2020 and will feature nationally recognized keynote speakers, educational breakout sessions, and much more.
Lean Healthcare: 6 Methodologies for Improvement from Dr. Brent JamesHealth Catalyst
The survival of healthcare organizations depends on applying lean principles. Organizations that adopt lean principles can reduce waste while improving the quality of care. By applying stringent clinical data measurement approaches to routine care delivery, healthcare systems identify best practice protocols and incorporate those into the clinical workflow. Data from these best practices are applied through continuous-learning loop that enables teams across the organization to update and improve protocols–ultimately reducing waste, lowering costs, and improving access to care.
This executive report based on a presentation by Dr. Brent James at a regional medical center, covers the following:
1. How lean healthcare principles can help improve the quality of care.
2. The steps healthcare organizations need to take to create a continuous-learning loop.
3. How a lean approach creates financial leverage by eliminating waste and improving net operating margins and ROI.
Artificial Intelligence in Healthcare: A Change Management ProblemHealth Catalyst
The key to successfully leveraging artificial intelligence (AI) in healthcare rests not wholly in the technical aspects of predictive and prescriptive machines but also in change management within healthcare organizations. Better adoption and results with AI rely on a commitment to the challenge of change, the right tools, and a human-centered perspective.
To succeed in change management and get optimal value from predictive and prescriptive models, clinical and operational leaders must use three perspectives:
Functional: Does the model make sense?
Contextual: Does the model fit into the workflow?
Operational: What benefits and risks are traded?
Using Data to Ensure a Safe Return to School During COVID-19Health Catalyst
With limited information about the novel coronavirus, industries are scrambling to create an effective response to more quickly and safely return to life before the pandemic. Data has proven to be the best way to capture information about the developing virus. With access to the latest, comprehensive COVID-19 data, decision makers in any industry—from education to healthcare—can develop a sustainable, viable approach to pandemic-era operations.
In the education sector, leaders can use accurate, up-to-date COVID-19 data to make decisions about implementing in-person or virtual learning. When states across the country instituted virtual learning as a stopgap until it was safe to resume in-person education, the most vulnerable students experienced the greatest disadvantages. As these disparities grow with continued virtual learning, it is an imperative that leaders have access to the latest coronavirus data to rapidly return to face-to-face learning.
Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) and clinically integrated networks (CINs) are two types of organizations working to address the problem of rising costs. As ACOs and CINs continue to evolve, organizations moving into value-based care (VBC) face an ever-changing landscape. This article looks at the evolution of the ACO and CIN models, what new tools ACOs employ today to promote success, and lessons learned from organizations that have succeeded in alternative payment models. It also explores what healthcare experts believe the future of alternative payment models will look like and competencies to develop to meet those changing demands.
Survey Points to Major Burnout Concerns Among CliniciansHealth Catalyst
According to a November 2019 survey, 62 percent of clinicians and other healthcare professionals view burnout as a major problem industrywide. When asked for the best way to address clinician burnout problems, the most popular solution was less-complex workflows, which is the aim of emerging point-of-care analytics solutions.
Responses to additional questions reveal more about clinician burnout experience and views on the technology designed to help:
At your organization, how big of a problem is clinician burnout?
What is the best way to solve clinician burnout problems?
What are the biggest barriers to adopting closed-loop, point-of-care analytics capabilities at your organization
What are the biggest problems arising from a lack of adopting closed-loop, point-of-care analytics capabilities?
Four Keys to Increase Healthcare Market ShareHealth Catalyst
With leadership alignment, easy access to data, and a roadmap to reach their objectives, health systems can drastically increase revenue and grow market share by applying four principles:
Key 1. Alignment.
Key 2. Vehicles.
Key 3: Five tools: access to data, data acumen; finance, vision to execution, and prioritizing outcomes.
Key 4: Education.
Access to the right data can drive changes that generate $48M in revenue, surpassing the year three market share goals in year two.
Employers are always looking for ways to reduce one of their biggest expenditures–the cost of providing health insurance to employees. Many employers have explored solutions such as adding wellness plans, reducing usage, and providing different provider access mechanisms, all with modest success.
Stemming the rising costs of health insurance requires management to understand and improve healthcare outcomes for their employee and dependent populations. Changing the future of employer health insurance will require a multi-faceted approach:
Driving additional value by reducing utilization of healthcare services within these employer populations.
Utilizing a wider lens through which to view performance of various providers, then making decisions based on those who are consistently providing low cost, high quality care.
Employer will need to combine their data with other companies across a geographic region to get a better picture of the provider landscape than has ever been possible before.
Customer Journey Analytics: Cracking the Patient Engagement Challenge for PayersHealth Catalyst
Customer journey analytics uses machine learning and big data to track and analyze when and through what channels customers interact with an organization, with an aim to influence behavior (e.g., buying behaviors among retail customers). Similarly, healthcare organizations want to influence health-related behaviors, such a taking medication as prescribed and not smoking, to improve outcomes and lower the cost of care. In a partnership with an analytics services provider, a payer organization is leveraging customer journey analytics among healthcare consumers to identify the best opportunities and channels for patient outreach. With this analytics-driven engagement strategy, the payer has found an opportunity to significantly improve patient engagement—a predicted overall increase from 18 percent to 31 percent.
Healthcare Financial Transformation: Five Leading StrategiesHealth Catalyst
Healthcare financial transformation—improving care delivery while lowering costs—has been an ongoing challenge for health systems in the era of value-based care and an even more prominent concern amid COVID-19. While better care and reduced expense to organizations and consumers might seem like opposing goals, by understanding the true cost of services and other drivers of expense, organizations can successfully manage costs while maintaining, and even improving, care delivery. To that end, health systems can use data- and analytics-driven tools and strategies to addresses financial challenges, including uncompensated care, prolonged accounts receivable days, discharged not final billed cases, inefficient resource use, and more.
Master Your Value-Based Care Strategy: Introducing Health Catalyst Value Opti...Health Catalyst
Each year CFOs and population health executives at health systems (and other risk-bearing entities) ask themselves: What is our strategy to realize maximum value in our risk-based contracts? Many organizations lack an approach for managing complex, risk-based populations—one that is driven by data, helps them understand their performance, and shows them which of their many options should be prioritized and pursued.
The Health Catalyst Value Optimizer™ solution help systems master their value-based care (VBC) strategy and achieve profitability in population health management. Delivering data aggregation, integration, and analysis, Value Optimizer instantly identifies the most valuable benchmarked opportunities for improvement across the continuum—offering actionable guidance for success in risk-based contracts.
Join Mike McBride, Vice President of Payment Transformation at Health Catalyst, as he demonstrates how Value Optimizer empowers leaders to confidently pursue a rational course toward improved risk-based performance.
What You’ll Learn about Value Optimizer:
• Comprehensive, quantified intelligence. Value Optimizer presents one solution to understand all your financial options—up to 10,000 possible opportunities across the care continuum—benchmarked and compared with dollar impact.
• Accuracy and context for better decisions. With continually refreshed data and benchmarking (using risk-adjusted codes, published research, or “digital twin” population matching), the app serves up timely and meaningful data to guide your VBC strategy.
• Transparency, not "black box." With fully disclosed and legible groupers, metric calculations, and risk and benchmarking methodologies, the solution allows open-book analytics across 10+ domains from inpatient to post-acute, prescriptions to coding, chronic to end-of-life care, etc.
• Expert guidance. Our most successful clients work with our services team to explore opportunities within the complete clinical, operational, and financial context for a given population—accessing guidance that up-levels their strategic insight and accelerates success.
From Volume to Value: 10 Essential Strategies for Navigating the Healthcare S...Health Catalyst
As the transition of healthcare payment models from volume to value takes longer than expected, healthcare organizations must balance fee for service (FFS) with value-based care (VBC). The transition to VBC will accelerate, but as FFS persists and still generates adequate margins, organizations must also continue to be successful under volume-based reimbursement.
Ten tools can help health systems balance VBC with FFS:
A member perspective.
Cautious investment in hard delivery assets.
Accelerated investment in digital infrastructure.
Innovative digital engagement solutions.
Pricing concessions.
Aligned incentives.
Network management.
Payer-provider trust and collaboration.
Clinician and administrative alignment.
Physician leadership and accountability.
A New Era of Personalized Medicine: The Power of Analytics and AIHealth Catalyst
Healthcare is looking towards an era of personalized medicine in which providers customize treatments for the individual patient. Realizing this tailored level of care s a new level of data volume and analytics and AI capabilities that, while novel to healthcare, other industries are thriving in. Choosing the right role models as healthcare works towards the analytics- and AI-driven territory of personalized medicine will guide informed strategies and establish best practices.
With experience and expertise in these key areas, the military, aerospace, and automotive industries can serve as healthcare’s best examples:
1. The human cognitive processes of complex decision making.
2. The digitization of their industries, with the “health” of their assets as key drivers.
3. Operating in a “big data” ecosystem.
Five Solutions to Controlling Healthcare's Cost ProblemHealth Catalyst
When expenses exceed revenue, business has a financial problem. In healthcare, the focus has been on revenue for so long, we’ve lost sight of runaway costs brought about by high labor and technology expenses, inefficient use of resources, and supply waste. Recognizing the cost problem is a big first step toward solving it.
Five expense-controlling strategies can play a significant role in returning healthcare systems to a stronger financial position:
Refocus on labor management.
Manage employed physicians.
Change the patient encounter environment.
Augment standard approaches with technology.
Manage patient access and flow through the healthcare system.
With new, value-based payment structures, shrinking margins, and decreasing reimbursements, this insight offers some new ways to think about expense inefficiency and how to get costs under control.
Activity-Based Costing: Healthcare’s Secret to Doing More with LessHealth Catalyst
Delivering high-quality, cost-efficient care to specific patient populations within a service line is nearly impossible without a sophisticated costing methodology. Activity-based costing (ABC) provides a nuanced, comprehensive view of cost throughout a patient’s journey and reveals the “true cost” of care—the real cost for each product and service based on its actual consumption—which traditional costing systems don’t provide.
With the true cost of care at their fingertips, healthcare leaders can identify at-risk populations earlier—such as pregnant women diagnosed with gestational diabetes mellitus—and more quickly implement effective interventions (e.g., more scrupulous monitoring and earlier screenings). Health systems that leverage the actionable insight from ABC further benefit by implementing the same, or similar, process/clinical improvement measures across other service lines.
The Digitization of Healthcare: Why the Right Approach Matters and Five Steps...Health Catalyst
While many industries are leveraging digital transformation to accelerate their productivity and quality, healthcare ranks among the least digitized sectors. Healthcare data is largely incomplete when it comes to fully representing a patient’s health and doesn’t adequately support diagnoses and treatment, risk prediction, and long-term health care plans. But even with the obvious urgency for increased healthcare digitization, the industry must raise this trajectory with sensitivity to the impacts on clinicians and patients. The right digital strategy will not only aim for more comprehensive information on patient health, but also leverage data to empower and engage the people involved.
Health systems can follow five guidelines to digitize in a sustainable, impactful way:
Achieve and maintain clinician and patient engagement.
Adopt a modern commercial digital platform.
Digitize the assets (the patients) and the processes.
Understand the importance of data to drive AI insights.
Prioritize data volume.
Drive Better Outcomes with Four Data-Informed Patient Engagement TacticsHealth Catalyst
Increased patient engagement leads to better clinical outcomes, but organizations still struggle to engage patients and their families in their care. To start, patients have different levels of interest in their care and competency regarding healthcare, which adds to the challenge of treating each patient like a member of the care team.
However difficult these patient engagement roadblocks are, organizations can use data to overcome them. Access to data allows healthcare leaders and providers to identify opportunities to optimize patient engagement. By implementing four data-informed tactics, systems can increase patient engagement and improve health outcomes:
1. Implement shared decision-making interventions.
2. Advance health equity.
3. Prioritize patient feedback.
4. Provide patient-centered education.
Will the Revenue Ever Return? COVID-19 and the Rise of the Insurers; the Case...Health Catalyst
As healthcare providers face the long-term revenue compression of COVID-19, they’re also navigating significant industry changes. Current challenges include horizontal competition from large insurers and digital disrupters, growing telehealth volumes, headwinds from price transparency, and growth in managed care programs, like Medicare Advantage. Without restored or growing volumes, how do health systems return to profitability?
Health systems will need accurate financial data around service line and procedural profitability, which very few have. Allocations, estimates and averages of cost, and large pools of clinical “overhead” are inaccurate, and these methods have no credibility with physicians and administrators.
Join Rob DeMichiei, Strategic Advisor for Health Catalyst and former Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer for UPMC, to learn more.
What You’ll Learn:
- How insurers look at their medical expenses, and their plans to reduce utilization and steer volumes away from traditional providers.
- The implications of price transparency; why a rational pricing strategy is critical to success.
- Using existing EHR data to measure and assess 100 percent of your clinical costs.
- How improved costing enables service-line management and allows for improved clinical care delivery and insight into profitability.
- How activity-based costing can help identify physician and clinical variation.
- Implications of inaccurate RVU/RCC costing on contract negotiations, resource management, and productivity reporting.
- Benefits and simplicity of activity-based (consumption) costing.
Solutions to the New Challenges Facing ACOs and ACO Participants from the 202...Health Catalyst
This webinar thoroughly explains four key changes in the 2021 Quality Payment Program (QPP) Final Rule: the discontinuation of the CMS Web Interface, the introduction of the Alternative Payment Model (APM) Performance Pathway (APP), the discontinuation of the APM scoring standard, and the expanded use of the APM entity submitter type. These changes create eight new challenges in quality measurement for ACOs in the Medicare Shared Savings Program (MSSP) and ACO participants in the Merit-Based Incentive Payment System (MIPS).
Darren O’Brien, Client Development Director for Regulatory Measures at Health Catalyst, and Rachel Katz, Senior Vice President of Product Development at Health Catalyst and former CEO of Able Health, analyze each change, discuss the new challenges created, and demonstrate how Health Catalyst solutions can help.
This webinar accomplishes the following:
- Analyzes the four key changes.
- Evaluates the eight new challenges.
- Creates solutions for each new challenge.
Health Catalyst Launches COVID-19 Patient Data Repository to Speed Vaccine De...Health Catalyst
With a lack of historical population-based information to steer COVID-19 research, pharmaceutical companies are struggling to understand the everchanging virus as they work tirelessly to develop a vaccine in less than one year. Research teams can access near real-time COVID-19 patient data with Touchstone® for COVID-19 National Data Sets and Registry from over 80 million patients across the United States and three national data sources: John Hopkins University, The New York Times, and The COVID Tracking Project.
The Registry offers up-to-date, comprehensive data with outcome analysis and clinical trial analysis so research teams can stay up to date through every stage of the vaccine development process.
Hospital Capacity Management: How to Prepare for COVID-19 Patient SurgesHealth Catalyst
Health system resource strain became an urgent concern early in the COVID-19 pandemic. Hard-hit areas exhausted their hospital beds, ventilators, personal protective equipment, staffing, and other life-saving essentials, while other regions scrambled to prepare for inevitable surges. These resource concerns heightened the need for accurate, localized hospital capacity planning. With additional waves of infection in the summer months following the initial spring 2020 crisis, health systems must continue to forecast resource demands for the foreseeable future. An accurate capacity planning tool uses population demographics, governmental policies, local culture, and the physical environment to predict healthcare resource needs and help health systems prepare for surges in patient demand.
HAS 20 Virtual: Featuring a World-Class Lineup of Keynote SpeakersHealth Catalyst
The Healthcare Analytics Summit (HAS®) is going virtual this year but will still feature the same world-class experience you expect from HAS–including world-class keynote speakers. HAS 20 Virtual will showcase well-known visionaries and C-level executives from leading healthcare organizations. The summit will feature speakers who’ve battled COVID-19 in the trenches as well as other speakers adjusting to planning for the “new normal” that we all anticipate.
We’re reimagining HAS 20 in a virtual format that will be unlike any other healthcare conference you may have attended, virtual or otherwise. HAS 20 Virtual takes place September 1-3, 2020 and will feature nationally recognized keynote speakers, educational breakout sessions, and much more.
Lean Healthcare: 6 Methodologies for Improvement from Dr. Brent JamesHealth Catalyst
The survival of healthcare organizations depends on applying lean principles. Organizations that adopt lean principles can reduce waste while improving the quality of care. By applying stringent clinical data measurement approaches to routine care delivery, healthcare systems identify best practice protocols and incorporate those into the clinical workflow. Data from these best practices are applied through continuous-learning loop that enables teams across the organization to update and improve protocols–ultimately reducing waste, lowering costs, and improving access to care.
This executive report based on a presentation by Dr. Brent James at a regional medical center, covers the following:
1. How lean healthcare principles can help improve the quality of care.
2. The steps healthcare organizations need to take to create a continuous-learning loop.
3. How a lean approach creates financial leverage by eliminating waste and improving net operating margins and ROI.
Artificial Intelligence in Healthcare: A Change Management ProblemHealth Catalyst
The key to successfully leveraging artificial intelligence (AI) in healthcare rests not wholly in the technical aspects of predictive and prescriptive machines but also in change management within healthcare organizations. Better adoption and results with AI rely on a commitment to the challenge of change, the right tools, and a human-centered perspective.
To succeed in change management and get optimal value from predictive and prescriptive models, clinical and operational leaders must use three perspectives:
Functional: Does the model make sense?
Contextual: Does the model fit into the workflow?
Operational: What benefits and risks are traded?
Using Data to Ensure a Safe Return to School During COVID-19Health Catalyst
With limited information about the novel coronavirus, industries are scrambling to create an effective response to more quickly and safely return to life before the pandemic. Data has proven to be the best way to capture information about the developing virus. With access to the latest, comprehensive COVID-19 data, decision makers in any industry—from education to healthcare—can develop a sustainable, viable approach to pandemic-era operations.
In the education sector, leaders can use accurate, up-to-date COVID-19 data to make decisions about implementing in-person or virtual learning. When states across the country instituted virtual learning as a stopgap until it was safe to resume in-person education, the most vulnerable students experienced the greatest disadvantages. As these disparities grow with continued virtual learning, it is an imperative that leaders have access to the latest coronavirus data to rapidly return to face-to-face learning.
Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) and clinically integrated networks (CINs) are two types of organizations working to address the problem of rising costs. As ACOs and CINs continue to evolve, organizations moving into value-based care (VBC) face an ever-changing landscape. This article looks at the evolution of the ACO and CIN models, what new tools ACOs employ today to promote success, and lessons learned from organizations that have succeeded in alternative payment models. It also explores what healthcare experts believe the future of alternative payment models will look like and competencies to develop to meet those changing demands.
Survey Points to Major Burnout Concerns Among CliniciansHealth Catalyst
According to a November 2019 survey, 62 percent of clinicians and other healthcare professionals view burnout as a major problem industrywide. When asked for the best way to address clinician burnout problems, the most popular solution was less-complex workflows, which is the aim of emerging point-of-care analytics solutions.
Responses to additional questions reveal more about clinician burnout experience and views on the technology designed to help:
At your organization, how big of a problem is clinician burnout?
What is the best way to solve clinician burnout problems?
What are the biggest barriers to adopting closed-loop, point-of-care analytics capabilities at your organization
What are the biggest problems arising from a lack of adopting closed-loop, point-of-care analytics capabilities?
Four Keys to Increase Healthcare Market ShareHealth Catalyst
With leadership alignment, easy access to data, and a roadmap to reach their objectives, health systems can drastically increase revenue and grow market share by applying four principles:
Key 1. Alignment.
Key 2. Vehicles.
Key 3: Five tools: access to data, data acumen; finance, vision to execution, and prioritizing outcomes.
Key 4: Education.
Access to the right data can drive changes that generate $48M in revenue, surpassing the year three market share goals in year two.
Employers are always looking for ways to reduce one of their biggest expenditures–the cost of providing health insurance to employees. Many employers have explored solutions such as adding wellness plans, reducing usage, and providing different provider access mechanisms, all with modest success.
Stemming the rising costs of health insurance requires management to understand and improve healthcare outcomes for their employee and dependent populations. Changing the future of employer health insurance will require a multi-faceted approach:
Driving additional value by reducing utilization of healthcare services within these employer populations.
Utilizing a wider lens through which to view performance of various providers, then making decisions based on those who are consistently providing low cost, high quality care.
Employer will need to combine their data with other companies across a geographic region to get a better picture of the provider landscape than has ever been possible before.
Customer Journey Analytics: Cracking the Patient Engagement Challenge for PayersHealth Catalyst
Customer journey analytics uses machine learning and big data to track and analyze when and through what channels customers interact with an organization, with an aim to influence behavior (e.g., buying behaviors among retail customers). Similarly, healthcare organizations want to influence health-related behaviors, such a taking medication as prescribed and not smoking, to improve outcomes and lower the cost of care. In a partnership with an analytics services provider, a payer organization is leveraging customer journey analytics among healthcare consumers to identify the best opportunities and channels for patient outreach. With this analytics-driven engagement strategy, the payer has found an opportunity to significantly improve patient engagement—a predicted overall increase from 18 percent to 31 percent.
Healthcare Financial Transformation: Five Leading StrategiesHealth Catalyst
Healthcare financial transformation—improving care delivery while lowering costs—has been an ongoing challenge for health systems in the era of value-based care and an even more prominent concern amid COVID-19. While better care and reduced expense to organizations and consumers might seem like opposing goals, by understanding the true cost of services and other drivers of expense, organizations can successfully manage costs while maintaining, and even improving, care delivery. To that end, health systems can use data- and analytics-driven tools and strategies to addresses financial challenges, including uncompensated care, prolonged accounts receivable days, discharged not final billed cases, inefficient resource use, and more.
Master Your Value-Based Care Strategy: Introducing Health Catalyst Value Opti...Health Catalyst
Each year CFOs and population health executives at health systems (and other risk-bearing entities) ask themselves: What is our strategy to realize maximum value in our risk-based contracts? Many organizations lack an approach for managing complex, risk-based populations—one that is driven by data, helps them understand their performance, and shows them which of their many options should be prioritized and pursued.
The Health Catalyst Value Optimizer™ solution help systems master their value-based care (VBC) strategy and achieve profitability in population health management. Delivering data aggregation, integration, and analysis, Value Optimizer instantly identifies the most valuable benchmarked opportunities for improvement across the continuum—offering actionable guidance for success in risk-based contracts.
Join Mike McBride, Vice President of Payment Transformation at Health Catalyst, as he demonstrates how Value Optimizer empowers leaders to confidently pursue a rational course toward improved risk-based performance.
What You’ll Learn about Value Optimizer:
• Comprehensive, quantified intelligence. Value Optimizer presents one solution to understand all your financial options—up to 10,000 possible opportunities across the care continuum—benchmarked and compared with dollar impact.
• Accuracy and context for better decisions. With continually refreshed data and benchmarking (using risk-adjusted codes, published research, or “digital twin” population matching), the app serves up timely and meaningful data to guide your VBC strategy.
• Transparency, not "black box." With fully disclosed and legible groupers, metric calculations, and risk and benchmarking methodologies, the solution allows open-book analytics across 10+ domains from inpatient to post-acute, prescriptions to coding, chronic to end-of-life care, etc.
• Expert guidance. Our most successful clients work with our services team to explore opportunities within the complete clinical, operational, and financial context for a given population—accessing guidance that up-levels their strategic insight and accelerates success.
From Volume to Value: 10 Essential Strategies for Navigating the Healthcare S...Health Catalyst
As the transition of healthcare payment models from volume to value takes longer than expected, healthcare organizations must balance fee for service (FFS) with value-based care (VBC). The transition to VBC will accelerate, but as FFS persists and still generates adequate margins, organizations must also continue to be successful under volume-based reimbursement.
Ten tools can help health systems balance VBC with FFS:
A member perspective.
Cautious investment in hard delivery assets.
Accelerated investment in digital infrastructure.
Innovative digital engagement solutions.
Pricing concessions.
Aligned incentives.
Network management.
Payer-provider trust and collaboration.
Clinician and administrative alignment.
Physician leadership and accountability.
A New Era of Personalized Medicine: The Power of Analytics and AIHealth Catalyst
Healthcare is looking towards an era of personalized medicine in which providers customize treatments for the individual patient. Realizing this tailored level of care s a new level of data volume and analytics and AI capabilities that, while novel to healthcare, other industries are thriving in. Choosing the right role models as healthcare works towards the analytics- and AI-driven territory of personalized medicine will guide informed strategies and establish best practices.
With experience and expertise in these key areas, the military, aerospace, and automotive industries can serve as healthcare’s best examples:
1. The human cognitive processes of complex decision making.
2. The digitization of their industries, with the “health” of their assets as key drivers.
3. Operating in a “big data” ecosystem.
Five Solutions to Controlling Healthcare's Cost ProblemHealth Catalyst
When expenses exceed revenue, business has a financial problem. In healthcare, the focus has been on revenue for so long, we’ve lost sight of runaway costs brought about by high labor and technology expenses, inefficient use of resources, and supply waste. Recognizing the cost problem is a big first step toward solving it.
Five expense-controlling strategies can play a significant role in returning healthcare systems to a stronger financial position:
Refocus on labor management.
Manage employed physicians.
Change the patient encounter environment.
Augment standard approaches with technology.
Manage patient access and flow through the healthcare system.
With new, value-based payment structures, shrinking margins, and decreasing reimbursements, this insight offers some new ways to think about expense inefficiency and how to get costs under control.
Activity-Based Costing: Healthcare’s Secret to Doing More with LessHealth Catalyst
Delivering high-quality, cost-efficient care to specific patient populations within a service line is nearly impossible without a sophisticated costing methodology. Activity-based costing (ABC) provides a nuanced, comprehensive view of cost throughout a patient’s journey and reveals the “true cost” of care—the real cost for each product and service based on its actual consumption—which traditional costing systems don’t provide.
With the true cost of care at their fingertips, healthcare leaders can identify at-risk populations earlier—such as pregnant women diagnosed with gestational diabetes mellitus—and more quickly implement effective interventions (e.g., more scrupulous monitoring and earlier screenings). Health systems that leverage the actionable insight from ABC further benefit by implementing the same, or similar, process/clinical improvement measures across other service lines.
The Digitization of Healthcare: Why the Right Approach Matters and Five Steps...Health Catalyst
While many industries are leveraging digital transformation to accelerate their productivity and quality, healthcare ranks among the least digitized sectors. Healthcare data is largely incomplete when it comes to fully representing a patient’s health and doesn’t adequately support diagnoses and treatment, risk prediction, and long-term health care plans. But even with the obvious urgency for increased healthcare digitization, the industry must raise this trajectory with sensitivity to the impacts on clinicians and patients. The right digital strategy will not only aim for more comprehensive information on patient health, but also leverage data to empower and engage the people involved.
Health systems can follow five guidelines to digitize in a sustainable, impactful way:
Achieve and maintain clinician and patient engagement.
Adopt a modern commercial digital platform.
Digitize the assets (the patients) and the processes.
Understand the importance of data to drive AI insights.
Prioritize data volume.
Drive Better Outcomes with Four Data-Informed Patient Engagement TacticsHealth Catalyst
Increased patient engagement leads to better clinical outcomes, but organizations still struggle to engage patients and their families in their care. To start, patients have different levels of interest in their care and competency regarding healthcare, which adds to the challenge of treating each patient like a member of the care team.
However difficult these patient engagement roadblocks are, organizations can use data to overcome them. Access to data allows healthcare leaders and providers to identify opportunities to optimize patient engagement. By implementing four data-informed tactics, systems can increase patient engagement and improve health outcomes:
1. Implement shared decision-making interventions.
2. Advance health equity.
3. Prioritize patient feedback.
4. Provide patient-centered education.
Will the Revenue Ever Return? COVID-19 and the Rise of the Insurers; the Case...Health Catalyst
As healthcare providers face the long-term revenue compression of COVID-19, they’re also navigating significant industry changes. Current challenges include horizontal competition from large insurers and digital disrupters, growing telehealth volumes, headwinds from price transparency, and growth in managed care programs, like Medicare Advantage. Without restored or growing volumes, how do health systems return to profitability?
Health systems will need accurate financial data around service line and procedural profitability, which very few have. Allocations, estimates and averages of cost, and large pools of clinical “overhead” are inaccurate, and these methods have no credibility with physicians and administrators.
Join Rob DeMichiei, Strategic Advisor for Health Catalyst and former Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer for UPMC, to learn more.
What You’ll Learn:
- How insurers look at their medical expenses, and their plans to reduce utilization and steer volumes away from traditional providers.
- The implications of price transparency; why a rational pricing strategy is critical to success.
- Using existing EHR data to measure and assess 100 percent of your clinical costs.
- How improved costing enables service-line management and allows for improved clinical care delivery and insight into profitability.
- How activity-based costing can help identify physician and clinical variation.
- Implications of inaccurate RVU/RCC costing on contract negotiations, resource management, and productivity reporting.
- Benefits and simplicity of activity-based (consumption) costing.
Solutions to the New Challenges Facing ACOs and ACO Participants from the 202...Health Catalyst
This webinar thoroughly explains four key changes in the 2021 Quality Payment Program (QPP) Final Rule: the discontinuation of the CMS Web Interface, the introduction of the Alternative Payment Model (APM) Performance Pathway (APP), the discontinuation of the APM scoring standard, and the expanded use of the APM entity submitter type. These changes create eight new challenges in quality measurement for ACOs in the Medicare Shared Savings Program (MSSP) and ACO participants in the Merit-Based Incentive Payment System (MIPS).
Darren O’Brien, Client Development Director for Regulatory Measures at Health Catalyst, and Rachel Katz, Senior Vice President of Product Development at Health Catalyst and former CEO of Able Health, analyze each change, discuss the new challenges created, and demonstrate how Health Catalyst solutions can help.
This webinar accomplishes the following:
- Analyzes the four key changes.
- Evaluates the eight new challenges.
- Creates solutions for each new challenge.
Health Catalyst Launches COVID-19 Patient Data Repository to Speed Vaccine De...Health Catalyst
With a lack of historical population-based information to steer COVID-19 research, pharmaceutical companies are struggling to understand the everchanging virus as they work tirelessly to develop a vaccine in less than one year. Research teams can access near real-time COVID-19 patient data with Touchstone® for COVID-19 National Data Sets and Registry from over 80 million patients across the United States and three national data sources: John Hopkins University, The New York Times, and The COVID Tracking Project.
The Registry offers up-to-date, comprehensive data with outcome analysis and clinical trial analysis so research teams can stay up to date through every stage of the vaccine development process.
Hospital Capacity Management: How to Prepare for COVID-19 Patient SurgesHealth Catalyst
Health system resource strain became an urgent concern early in the COVID-19 pandemic. Hard-hit areas exhausted their hospital beds, ventilators, personal protective equipment, staffing, and other life-saving essentials, while other regions scrambled to prepare for inevitable surges. These resource concerns heightened the need for accurate, localized hospital capacity planning. With additional waves of infection in the summer months following the initial spring 2020 crisis, health systems must continue to forecast resource demands for the foreseeable future. An accurate capacity planning tool uses population demographics, governmental policies, local culture, and the physical environment to predict healthcare resource needs and help health systems prepare for surges in patient demand.
REAL WORLD DATA SOURCES AND APPLICATIONS IN HEALTH OUTCOMES RESEARCH ClinosolIndia
Health outcomes research aims to assess the real-world effectiveness, safety, and value of healthcare interventions. In recent years, the availability and utilization of real-world data (RWD) have significantly contributed to advancing health outcomes research. This paper explores the various sources of real-world data and their applications in health outcomes research.
Real-world data refers to data collected outside of controlled clinical trials, often generated through routine healthcare delivery, electronic health records (EHRs), claims databases, registries, wearable devices, and patient-reported outcomes. These data sources provide a wealth of information on patient characteristics, treatment patterns, healthcare utilization, and clinical outcomes in real-world settings.
A Sustainable Healthcare Emergency Management Framework: COVID-19 and BeyondHealth Catalyst
With an ever-changing understanding of COVID-19 and a continually fluctuating disease impact, health systems can’t rely on a single, rigid plan to guide their response and recovery efforts. An effective solution is likely a flexible framework that steers hospitals and other providers through four critical phases of a communitywide healthcare emergency:
Prepare for an outbreak.
Prevent transmission.
Recover from an outbreak.
Plan for the future.
The framework must include data-supported surveillance and containment strategies to enhance detection, reduce transmission, and manage capacity and supplies, providing a roadmap to respond to immediate demands and also support a sustainable long-term pandemic response.
Sustaining the HIV and AIDS Response in the Countries of the OECS: Regional I...HFG Project
In 2014, the six countries of the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) of Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia and St. Vincent and the Grenadines developed HIV and AIDS Investment Case Briefs, with the support of USAID’s Health Finance and Governance (HFG) and Strengthening Health Outcomes through the Private Sector (SHOPS) projects. This document provides a summary of the findings of these briefs, which includes an analysis of the costs of HIV and AIDS programs that respond to the disease in the six countries, the resources that are available, the funding gaps, and the potential impact of different levels of investment in programming on the progression of the disease in the region.
GLOBAL VACCINATION: HOW THE EVOLVING HEALTHCARE INFRASTRUCTURE IS SUPPORTING ...Anayasharma10
COVID-19 (coronavirus) vaccines have started becoming accessible in most countries and are probably a severe product in fighting the pandemic in 2021. Several vaccines are already in the development trails or phase three trials that have reported promising data in the initial phase, with some receiving authorization for use.
In this report we set out ten provocative statements predicting the world of 2020. Each prediction is articulated and brought to life through a series of portraits which imagine how patients, healthcare professionals and life sciences organizations might behave in this new world. Our predictions lean more towards an optimistic view of the future, although we organized that many in our industry are organized about the constraints and therefore pace of change. We describe the big trends rolled forward to 2020 and some of the constraints that will need to be overcome.
We also provide examples and evidence, based on the here and now, that show that the predictions are perfectly plausible, perhaps inspiring and surprising!
Our industry is changing quickly – requiring a bold response that is often difficult to implement – and yet organizations struggle to understand how to respond effectively and build a sense of urgency. We hope this report creates rich dialogue and enables a move to action.– we have had enormous fun discussing these predictions and sharing our experiences. We hope you have the same experience within your own organizations as you peruse this report and reflect on your current situation and future scenarios.
The ten predictions for 2020
1. Health consumers in 2020
Informed and demanding patients are now partners in their own healthcare
2. Health care delivery systems in 2020
The era of digitised medicine - new business models drive new ideas
3. Wearables and mHealth applications in 2020
Measuring quality of life not just clinical indicators
4. Big Data in 2020
Health data is pervasive – requiring new tools and provider models
5. Regulation in 2020
Regulations reflect the convergence of technology and science
6. Research and Development in 2020
The networked laboratory - partnerships and big data amidst new scrutiny
7. The pharmaceutical commercial model in 2020
Local is important but with a shift from volume to value
8. The pharmaceutical enterprise configuration - the back office in 2020
Single, global and responsible for insight enablement
9. New business models in emerging markets in 2020
Still emerging, but full of creativity for the world
10. Impact of behaviours on corporate reputation in 2020
A new dawn of trust
Repurposed existing drugs and updated global health policy and clinical guidelines will be essential for limiting the social and economic devastation caused by this virus. So, we are leading a three-phase multinational Network Medicine clinical study (MNM COVID-19 study). The study will apply Network Medicine methodologies to repurpose existing drugs for SARS-CoV-2 infected patients and update global health policy and clinical guidelines.
Extended Real-World Data: The Life Science Industry’s Number One AssetHealth Catalyst
The life science industry has historically relied on sanitized clinical trials and commoditized data sources (largely claims) to inform its drug development process—an under-substantiated approach that didn’t reflect how a new drug would affect broader patient populations. In an effort to gain more accurate insight into the patient experience and bring drugs to market more efficiently and safely, the industry is now expanding into extended real-world data (RWD).
To access the needed breadth and depth of patient-centric data, life science companies must partner with a healthcare transformation company that has three key qualities:
A broad and deep data asset.
Extensive provider partnerships.
An outcomes-improvement engine to support the next generation of drug development.
HAS 20 Virtual: Reimagining the Healthcare ConferenceHealth Catalyst
The future of healthcare is here, with its focus on data sharing, technological pushes forward, and virtual work wherever possible. We are excited to embrace the adventure and challenge of these changes by reimagining the Healthcare Analytics Summit (HAS) 2020 as a virtual format that will be unlike any other healthcare conference you may have attended, virtual or otherwise. HAS 20 Virtual takes place September 1-3, 2020 and will feature nationally recognized keynote speakers, educational breakout sessions, and many of the unique touches you’ve come to expect from HAS.
This report has been developed by Medicus AI, a leading technology company supporting the diagnostic testing partners with an innovative digital health solution.
We embarked on this study to better assess and understand the challenges facing medical biologists and the healthcare industry, and to identify solutions to support a new era of healthcare.
The research included over 2,200 survey participants, and almost 20 expert interviews, and was completed in December 2020.
Alternative approaches for sustaining the HIV and AIDS response in Dominican ...HFG Project
The purpose of this report is to capture and consolidate the suggestions of the Sustainability Group for consideration by the Government of Dominican Republic (GODR) and other relevant stakeholders. GODR will be able to draw from this report when developing its HIV sustainability strategy, revising the National Strategic Plan for HIV (PEN), and developing other planning and policy documents.
Sustaining the HIV and AIDS Response in St. Vincent and the Grenadines: Inves...HFG Project
National surveillance reports estimate that there were about 649 persons living with HIV in St. Vincent and the Grenadines at the end of 2011, which translates to 1.2% of the adult population (15-49 years) or 0.7% of the total population. The epidemic is male-dominant, illustrated by the fact that the cumulative case reporting from 1984-2013 indicates that 60.6% of new cases are reported among males and 38.1% females (1.3% unknown). In response to the growing epidemic, the country quickly scaled up its national HIV/AIDS program in 2004. While care and treatment remains a high priority, St. Vincent and the Grenadines has devoted significant resources to preventative activities, including HIV counseling and rapid testing, education and workplace programs, and other behavioral interventions.
Despite a marked decline in HIV and AIDS cases, significant challenges for the country’s response remain. Close to 20% of persons with advanced HIV infection discontinue treatment within 12 months of initiation, suggesting the need to reinforce adherence and retention to care. The country also faces an imminent decline in donor funding and domestic reprioritization of chronic and non-communicable diseases; without renewed sources of external funding or greater domestic resources allocated to HIV/AIDS, progress made since 2004 could regress.
In response to these challenges, key priorities outlined in the country’s strategic framework (2014-2025) include: 1) institutionalizing HIV education through collaborative programs with different sectors, 2) targeting high risk groups, 3) strengthening HIV testing and counseling, including routine testing for pregnant women and, 4) ensuring access and retention to care and treatment for those with HIV and AIDS and TB. St. Vincent and the Grenadines has also taken steps to integrate HIV and AIDS services into the broader health system and included the HIV and AIDS program as part of the Ministry of Health, Environment and Wellness’ overall health framework. These actions are the beginning of efforts to improve access to care, reduce costs, and improve efficiencies.
Similar to The Fight Against COVID-19: A National Patient Registry (20)
Empowering ACOs: Leveraging Quality Management Tools for MIPS and BeyondHealth Catalyst
Join us as we delve into the crucial realm of quality reporting for MSSP (Medicare Shared Savings Program) Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs).
In this session, we will explore how a robust quality management solution can empower your organization to meet regulatory requirements and improve processes for MIPS reporting and internal quality programs. Learn how our MeasureAble application enables compliance and fosters continuous improvement.
Unlock the Secrets to Optimizing Ambulatory Operations Efficiency and Change ...Health Catalyst
Today’s healthcare leaders are seeking technology solutions to optimize efficiencies and improve patient care. However, without effective change management and strategies in place, healthcare leaders struggle to strategically improve patient flow, space, to strategically improve patient flow, space, and schedule management, and implement daily huddles. The role of technology in supporting operational efficiency and change management initiatives is inevitable.
During this webinar, attendees will learn how to optimize Ambulatory Operational Efficiencies and Change Management. Attendees will also learn about the importance of visual management boards in enhancing clinic performance and insights into effective change management approaches.
Patient expectations are rising, and organizations are continuously being asked to do more with less.
Additionally, the convergence of several significant emerging market and policy trends, economic uncertainty, labor force shortages, and the end of the COVID-19 public health emergency has created a unique set of challenges for healthcare organizations.
Attend this timely webinar to learn about new trends and their impact on key healthcare issues, such as patient engagement, migration to value-based care, analytics adoption, the use of alternative care sites, and data governance and management challenges.
During this webinar, we will discuss the complexities of AI, trends, and platforms in the industry. Dive deep into understanding the true essence of AI, exploring its potential, real-world use cases, and common misconceptions. Gain valuable insights into the latest technology trends impacting healthcare and discover strategies for maximizing ROI in your technology investments.
Explore the profound impact of data literacy on healthcare organizations and how it shapes the utilization of data and technology for transformative outcomes. Understand the top technology priorities for healthcare organizations and learn how to navigate the digital landscape effectively. Furthermore, simplify industry jargon by defining common data elements, fostering clearer communication and collaboration across stakeholders.
Finally, uncover the transformative potentials of platforms in healthcare and how they can revolutionize scalability, interoperability, and innovation within your organization. Don't miss this opportunity to gain invaluable insights from industry experts and stay ahead in the ever-evolving healthcare landscape. Reserve your spot now for an enlightening journey into the future of healthcare technology!
Three Keys to a Successful Margin: Charges, Costs, and LaborHealth Catalyst
How can cost management and complete charge capture protect and enhance the margin?
In this webinar, we will look at 2024 margin pressures likely to impact your organization’s financial resiliency. This presentation will also share how organizations can move from Fee-for-Service to Value; bringing Cost to the forefront.
2024 CPT® Updates (Professional Services Focused) - Part 3Health Catalyst
Each year the CPT code set undergoes significant changes. Physicians and their office staff need to be aware of the changes in order to ensure a smooth transition into 2024. Join us for a discussion of the new, deleted and revised CPT codes and associated guidelines for 2024. This presentation will focus on the changes to the CPT dataset and the associated work RVU value changes that impact professional service reporting.
During this complimentary webinar, we will empower you to correctly apply the new and revised codes and discuss the rationale behind this year’s changes. You will leave with an understanding of the financial implications of the changes on your practice.
2024 CPT® Code Updates (HIM Focused) - Part 2Health Catalyst
Each year the CPT code set and the HCPCS code set undergo significant changes, and your coding staff needs to be aware of the changes in order to ensure a smooth transition into 2024. Join us for a discussion of the new, deleted and revised CPT codes and associated guidelines for 2024. This is part two in a three-part series.
During these complimentary webinars, we will empower you to correctly apply the new and revised codes and discuss the rationale behind this year’s changes. This presentation will be geared towards hospital staff with a focus on the surgical section of the CPT book in addition to surgical Category III codes.
2024 CPT® Code Updates (CDM Focused) - Part 1Health Catalyst
Each year the CPT and the HCPCS code sets undergo significant changes, and your staff needs to be aware of the changes in order to ensure a smooth transition into 2024. Join us for a discussion of the new, deleted, and revised CPT codes and associated guidelines for 2024. This is part one in a three-part series, with a CDM focus.
During these complimentary webinars, we will empower you to correctly apply the new and revised codes and discuss the rationale behind this year’s changes. This presentation will be geared towards hospital staff with a focus on the non-surgical sections of the CPT book.
What’s Next for Hospital Price Transparency in 2024 and BeyondHealth Catalyst
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) published updates to the hospital price transparency requirements in the CY 2024 Outpatient Prospective Payment System (OPPS) Final Rule. The updates will be phased in over the next 14 months and include several significant changes including the use of a CMS-mandated template, a requirement for an affirmation statement from the hospital, and several new data elements. Join us to discover what changes are scheduled for implementation in 2024 and 2025 and how they’ll impact your facility.
During this complimentary 60-minute webinar, we’ll analyze the key provisions of the Price Transparency regulations and provide insights to help you prepare for the upcoming changes.
Automated Patient Reported Outcomes (PROs) for Hip & Knee ReplacementHealth Catalyst
What was once voluntary reporting will soon be made mandatory with penalties.
On July 1, 2024, all health systems will be required to collect Patient Reported Outcome Measures (PROM) as part of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) regulation for the following measures:
Hospital-Level, Risk Standardized Patient-Reported Outcomes Performance Measure (PRO-PM) Following Elective Primary Total Hip Arthroplasty (THA) and/or Total Knee Arthroplasty (TKA)
Hospital-Level Risk-Standardized Complication Rate (RSCR) Following Elective Primary THA/TKA
Are you equipped to handle these new requirements?
Mandatory data collection begins April 1, 2024, and failure to submit timely data can result in a 25 percent reduction in payments by Medicare.
Attend this webinar to learn how mobile engagement can empower your organization to meet this requirement.
2024 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (MPFS) Final Rule UpdatesHealth Catalyst
According to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), the calendar year (CY) 2024 MPFS final rule was created to advance health equity and improve access to affordable healthcare. This webinar will cover the major policy updates of the MPFS final rule including updates to the telehealth services policy and remote monitoring services and enrollment of MFTs and MHCs as Medicare providers. The conversation will also cover policy changes on split (or shared) evaluation and management (E/M) visits, and the Appropriate Use Criteria (AUC) for Advanced Diagnostic Imaging.
What's Next for OPPS: A Look at the 2024 Final RuleHealth Catalyst
During this webinar, we’ll analyze the key provisions of the OPPS final rule and identify the significant changes for the coming year to help prepare your staff for compliance with the 2024 Medicare outpatient billing guidelines.
Insight into the 2024 ICD-10 PCS Updates - Part 2Health Catalyst
Prepare for mandatory ICD-10 PCS diagnosis code updates, which take effect on October 1, 2023. By attending this 60-minute educational session, medical coders and healthcare professionals will gain a comprehensive understanding of the changes to the 2024 ICD-10 procedure codes and their guidelines, enabling accurate and compliant coding for optimal billing and reimbursement.
Vitalware Insight Into the 2024 ICD10 CM Updates.pdfHealth Catalyst
Prepare for mandatory ICD-10 CM diagnosis code updates, which take effect on October 1, 2023. By attending this 60-minute educational session, medical coders and healthcare professionals will gain a comprehensive understanding of the changes to the 2024 ICD-10 diagnosis codes and their guidelines, along with major complication or comorbidity (MCC), complication or comorbidity (CC), and Medicare Severity Diagnosis Related Groups (MS-DRGs) classification changes. With this information, professionals can ensure accurate and compliant diagnosis coding for optimal billing and reimbursement.
Driving Value: Boosting Clinical Registry Value Using ARMUS SolutionsHealth Catalyst
Many hospitals today face a perfect storm of operational and financial challenges. With increasing competition from outpatient facilities and rising care costs negatively impacting budgets, now is the time to boost your clinical registry’s value. However, collecting and analyzing data can be time-consuming and costly without the right tools. During this webinar, we will share insights and best practices for increasing the value of registry participation and how it’s possible to reduce costs while improving outcomes using the ARMUS Product Suite.
Tech-Enabled Managed Services: Not Your Average OutsourcingHealth Catalyst
During this webinar you'll learn the following:
The importance of optimizing performance, reducing labor costs and sourcing talent given current market challenges.
Highlighting the need for a balanced approach to cost reduction.
How to reap the benefits of outsourcing (cost cutting, expertise, etc) while protecting yourself from the collateral damage that often comes with them.
This webinar will provide an in-depth review of the CPT/HCPCS code set changes that will be effective on July 1, 2023. The review will include additions and deletions to the CPT/HCPCS code set, revisions of code descriptors, payment changes, and rationale behind the changes.
How Managing Chronic Conditions Is Streamlined with Digital TechnologyHealth Catalyst
Chronic conditions across the United States are prevalent and continue to rise. Managing one or more chronic diseases can be very challenging for patients who may be overwhelmed or confused about their care plan and may not have access to the resources they need. At the same time, care teams are overburdened, making it difficult to provide the support these patients require to stay as healthy as possible. A new approach to chronic condition management leverages technology to enable organizations to scale high-quality care, identify gaps in care, provide personalized support, and monitor patients on an ongoing basis. Such streamlined management will result in better outcomes, reduced costs, and more satisfied patients.
COVID-19: After the Public Health Emergency EndsHealth Catalyst
In this fast-paced webinar, we will discuss the impact of the end of the public health emergency (PHE), including upcoming changes to the different flexibilities allowed during the PHE and the timeline for when these flexibilities will end. We’ll also cover coding changes and reimbursement updates.
Automated Medication Compliance Tools for the Provider and PatientHealth Catalyst
When it comes to sustaining patient health outcomes, compliance and adherence to medication regimens are critically important, especially as providers manage patients with complex care needs and multiple medications. But, with provider burnout and staffing shortages at an all-time high, an efficient solution is critical. The use of automated medication management workflows to decrease provider burnout, while improving both medication compliance and patient engagement, is the way forward.
Defecation
Normal defecation begins with movement in the left colon, moving stool toward the anus. When stool reaches the rectum, the distention causes relaxation of the internal sphincter and an awareness of the need to defecate. At the time of defecation, the external sphincter relaxes, and abdominal muscles contract, increasing intrarectal pressure and forcing the stool out
The Valsalva maneuver exerts pressure to expel faeces through a voluntary contraction of the abdominal muscles while maintaining forced expiration against a closed airway. Patients with cardiovascular disease, glaucoma, increased intracranial pressure, or a new surgical wound are at greater risk for cardiac dysrhythmias and elevated blood pressure with the Valsalva maneuver and need to avoid straining to pass the stool.
Normal defecation is painless, resulting in passage of soft, formed stool
CONSTIPATION
Constipation is a symptom, not a disease. Improper diet, reduced fluid intake, lack of exercise, and certain medications can cause constipation. For example, patients receiving opiates for pain after surgery often require a stool softener or laxative to prevent constipation. The signs of constipation include infrequent bowel movements (less than every 3 days), difficulty passing stools, excessive straining, inability to defecate at will, and hard feaces
IMPACTION
Fecal impaction results from unrelieved constipation. It is a collection of hardened feces wedged in the rectum that a person cannot expel. In cases of severe impaction the mass extends up into the sigmoid colon.
DIARRHEA
Diarrhea is an increase in the number of stools and the passage of liquid, unformed feces. It is associated with disorders affecting digestion, absorption, and secretion in the GI tract. Intestinal contents pass through the small and large intestine too quickly to allow for the usual absorption of fluid and nutrients. Irritation within the colon results in increased mucus secretion. As a result, feces become watery, and the patient is unable to control the urge to defecate. Normally an anal bag is safe and effective in long-term treatment of patients with fecal incontinence at home, in hospice, or in the hospital. Fecal incontinence is expensive and a potentially dangerous condition in terms of contamination and risk of skin ulceration
HEMORRHOIDS
Hemorrhoids are dilated, engorged veins in the lining of the rectum. They are either external or internal.
FLATULENCE
As gas accumulates in the lumen of the intestines, the bowel wall stretches and distends (flatulence). It is a common cause of abdominal fullness, pain, and cramping. Normally intestinal gas escapes through the mouth (belching) or the anus (passing of flatus)
FECAL INCONTINENCE
Fecal incontinence is the inability to control passage of feces and gas from the anus. Incontinence harms a patient’s body image
PREPARATION AND GIVING OF LAXATIVESACCORDING TO POTTER AND PERRY,
An enema is the instillation of a solution into the rectum and sig
One of the most developed cities of India, the city of Chennai is the capital of Tamilnadu and many people from different parts of India come here to earn their bread and butter. Being a metropolitan, the city is filled with towering building and beaches but the sad part as with almost every Indian city
CHAPTER 1 SEMESTER V PREVENTIVE-PEDIATRICS.pdfSachin Sharma
This content provides an overview of preventive pediatrics. It defines preventive pediatrics as preventing disease and promoting children's physical, mental, and social well-being to achieve positive health. It discusses antenatal, postnatal, and social preventive pediatrics. It also covers various child health programs like immunization, breastfeeding, ICDS, and the roles of organizations like WHO, UNICEF, and nurses in preventive pediatrics.
CHAPTER 1 SEMESTER V - ROLE OF PEADIATRIC NURSE.pdfSachin Sharma
Pediatric nurses play a vital role in the health and well-being of children. Their responsibilities are wide-ranging, and their objectives can be categorized into several key areas:
1. Direct Patient Care:
Objective: Provide comprehensive and compassionate care to infants, children, and adolescents in various healthcare settings (hospitals, clinics, etc.).
This includes tasks like:
Monitoring vital signs and physical condition.
Administering medications and treatments.
Performing procedures as directed by doctors.
Assisting with daily living activities (bathing, feeding).
Providing emotional support and pain management.
2. Health Promotion and Education:
Objective: Promote healthy behaviors and educate children, families, and communities about preventive healthcare.
This includes tasks like:
Administering vaccinations.
Providing education on nutrition, hygiene, and development.
Offering breastfeeding and childbirth support.
Counseling families on safety and injury prevention.
3. Collaboration and Advocacy:
Objective: Collaborate effectively with doctors, social workers, therapists, and other healthcare professionals to ensure coordinated care for children.
Objective: Advocate for the rights and best interests of their patients, especially when children cannot speak for themselves.
This includes tasks like:
Communicating effectively with healthcare teams.
Identifying and addressing potential risks to child welfare.
Educating families about their child's condition and treatment options.
4. Professional Development and Research:
Objective: Stay up-to-date on the latest advancements in pediatric healthcare through continuing education and research.
Objective: Contribute to improving the quality of care for children by participating in research initiatives.
This includes tasks like:
Attending workshops and conferences on pediatric nursing.
Participating in clinical trials related to child health.
Implementing evidence-based practices into their daily routines.
By fulfilling these objectives, pediatric nurses play a crucial role in ensuring the optimal health and well-being of children throughout all stages of their development.
The dimensions of healthcare quality refer to various attributes or aspects that define the standard of healthcare services. These dimensions are used to evaluate, measure, and improve the quality of care provided to patients. A comprehensive understanding of these dimensions ensures that healthcare systems can address various aspects of patient care effectively and holistically. Dimensions of Healthcare Quality and Performance of care include the following; Appropriateness, Availability, Competence, Continuity, Effectiveness, Efficiency, Efficacy, Prevention, Respect and Care, Safety as well as Timeliness.
Explore our infographic on 'Essential Metrics for Palliative Care Management' which highlights key performance indicators crucial for enhancing the quality and efficiency of palliative care services.
This visual guide breaks down important metrics across four categories: Patient-Centered Metrics, Care Efficiency Metrics, Quality of Life Metrics, and Staff Metrics. Each section is designed to help healthcare professionals monitor and improve care delivery for patients facing serious illnesses. Understand how to implement these metrics in your palliative care practices for better outcomes and higher satisfaction levels.
CRISPR-Cas9, a revolutionary gene-editing tool, holds immense potential to reshape medicine, agriculture, and our understanding of life. But like any powerful tool, it comes with ethical considerations.
Unveiling CRISPR: This naturally occurring bacterial defense system (crRNA & Cas9 protein) fights viruses. Scientists repurposed it for precise gene editing (correction, deletion, insertion) by targeting specific DNA sequences.
The Promise: CRISPR offers exciting possibilities:
Gene Therapy: Correcting genetic diseases like cystic fibrosis.
Agriculture: Engineering crops resistant to pests and harsh environments.
Research: Studying gene function to unlock new knowledge.
The Peril: Ethical concerns demand attention:
Off-target Effects: Unintended DNA edits can have unforeseen consequences.
Eugenics: Misusing CRISPR for designer babies raises social and ethical questions.
Equity: High costs could limit access to this potentially life-saving technology.
The Path Forward: Responsible development is crucial:
International Collaboration: Clear guidelines are needed for research and human trials.
Public Education: Open discussions ensure informed decisions about CRISPR.
Prioritize Safety and Ethics: Safety and ethical principles must be paramount.
CRISPR offers a powerful tool for a better future, but responsible development and addressing ethical concerns are essential. By prioritizing safety, fostering open dialogue, and ensuring equitable access, we can harness CRISPR's power for the benefit of all. (2998 characters)
Leading the Way in Nephrology: Dr. David Greene's Work with Stem Cells for Ki...Dr. David Greene Arizona
As we watch Dr. Greene's continued efforts and research in Arizona, it's clear that stem cell therapy holds a promising key to unlocking new doors in the treatment of kidney disease. With each study and trial, we step closer to a world where kidney disease is no longer a life sentence but a treatable condition, thanks to pioneers like Dr. David Greene.