Jeff Lagasse

Hospital is looking to the public to nominate one of three initiatives: a patient identification shield, a surgery blood loss manager, or a bioprinter to produce living tissue replacement.

LAS VEGAS — Technological innovation is used often in healthcare to improve patient outcomes, but when it comes to children, aggregating data at the individual and population level is critical, said Stephen Quirk, CEO of Youth Emergency Services and Shelter in Des Moines, Iowa, and Larry Seltzer, general manager and senior director of Netsmart, in a presentation at HIMSS16 on Wednesday. Quirk, no stranger to working with children with health and behavioral issues, said that Medicaid privatization prompted him to seek a partner to help modernize the provider’s electronic health records. In particular, he realized it wasn’t enough to diagnose and treat the immediate problem. Often, it was helpful to examine the circumstances of a child’s life — family dynamics, history of substance abuse, and other “social determinants” that can dictate how compliant a child is with his or her care plan. [Also: See photos from Day 3 of HIMSS16] In short, YESS needed better continuity of care. “You need to reach out to your provider partners to reign all of the data into one place,” said Seltzer, whose company has been working closely with YESS. “You need to be aware of gaps in care — understanding all of that knowledge and placing it in the hands of a care coordinator or social worker to get more engaged.” The goal, he said, is to exchange data in consistent and meaningful ways; lab data, immunization data and other information should all be sent to or shared with inpatient mental health centers, substance use centers, hospitals, primary care practices and any other entities that may be involved in a patient’s care. Information technology, he said, can be an advocate for the best health decisions for a child. Data aggregation is key, and Seltzer maintained there’s a significant return on that investment. According to a YESS study, 93 percent of respondents reported they felt better about themselves and their care plan, and 88 percent of the children studied reported better overall functioning. On top of that, Seltzer said there are cost savings achieved by moving youths out of detention centers and hospitals and into the care of private nonprofits like YESS. Since implementation of the data aggregation model, he said there’s been an increase in high school graduations and test scores, and a reduction in substance abuse and thoughts of suicide. “Anyone who has access to those records is privileged to be able to see all that information,” said Quirk. Twitter: @JELagasse This story is part of our ongoing coverage of the HIMSS16 conference. Follow our live blog for real-time updates, and visit Destination HIMSS16 for a full rundown of our reporting from the show. For a selection of some of the best social media posts of the show, visit our Trending at #HIMSS16 hub.

David Weinstock, MD, and Raymond Magner of Grove Medical Associates say EHR implementation is just the first step.

LAS VEGAS – Rueben Devlin, CEO of Humber River Hospital in Toronto, sees full digitization as the future of physician efficiency and patient experience.  In seeking to fully digitize Humber River, the hospital focused on improving communications, bringing disparate technologies together into one streamlined package. Monitors on the outside of patient rooms are just the tip of the iceberg. “It tells people coming to that room what’s going on – if there are infection control problems, any special precautions that need to be made,” said Devlin. “If a nurse or physician is in the room, that will show up on the monitor as well.” [Also: See photos from Day 1 of HIMSS16] All nurses and physicians are also assigned “rugged PDAs,” smartphones that can take pictures, provide code call applications and scan bar codes. Devlin said the hospital recently implemented use of real-time locating systems. The RTLS devices are doled out to clinicians and patients alike, not only ensuring that nobody gets lost, but that hospital staff can more efficiently perform their jobs. “(Visitors) can track their family member in the waiting room on the screen,” said Devlin. “That solves their problem of constantly going back to the desk to check where they are.” Humber River Hospital in Toronto A patient portal at Humber further advances efficiencies in communication, he said. The patient portal “allows patients to access their own information (and) empowers physicians to access information off-site if they’re allowed to.” Devlin asserted that this has decreased registration load. Online billing is a component of the patient portal, and operates within a secure firewall. Since implementing full digitization in October 2015, the hospital has seen an increase in safety, with a higher focus on care, said Devlin. Communications aren’t the only ways in which technology has changed the landscape. Wireless addressable light switches, chromatic glass windows controlled by the patient, and 100 percent fresh air with temperature control has heralded a 40.8 percent decrease in energy usage. Automating the little things helps, too – as in the case of garbage. “Pneumatic garbage chutes … deliver the materials right to shipping and receiving,” said Devlin. “That goes on a truck. That’s quite helpful; none of the dirty material needs to be dragged through the hospital.” Devlin said part of the hospital’s success in innovation is due to gleaning a wide swath of ideas from different hospitals, and in keeping track of what non-health entities are doing to become more technologically current. “You need to look at other industries,” he said. “A big supporter of ours is someone who owns a lot of McDonald’s. … They’re very efficient. They only walk three to four steps to get to everything they need within their facility. We needed to look at other industries who were doing a good job.” The next steps for the hospital include creating a center of excellence, and implementing black box technology in operating rooms, similar to what’s found on an airplane – in case “something untoward happens.” Twitter: @JELagasse This story is part of our ongoing coverage of the HIMSS16 conference. Follow our live blog for real-time updates, and visit Destination HIMSS16 for a full rundown of our reporting from the show. For a selection of some of the best social media posts of the show, visit our Trending at #HIMSS16 hub.

Thomas Carton, director of health services research at REACHnet, also says tablets are changing the way data is managed.

The former national coordinator said at HIMSS16 that simple alerts can work. And an accountable care organization example proves that.

Steve Steffensen tells Innovation Symposium crowd at HIMSS16 that data can improve results and create better relationships with the community.

McKesson Health Solutions and Health QX on Wednesday announced an alliance designed to help insurers quickly design and scale complex bundled payment models. The agreement also aims to ensure those programs provide timely and accurate payment to providers. Under the terms of the agreement, HealthQX and McKesson will jointly market their solutions to their respective customers, as well as coordinate consulting and service offerings, giving payers a single point of contact when creating bundled payment programs. The announcement was made at the Healthcare Financial Management Association's annual National Payment Innovation Summit, which is being held this week in Memphis, Tennessee. [Also: McKesson gears up for the next era] The agreement unites industry leaders whose combined offerings start with claims analysis, using HealthQX's ClarityQX; it extends to enterprise-class operation using McKesson's Episode Management and its other value-based reimbursement tools. This closes the gaps that can derail bundled payment programs, as payers and providers define how payments should be administered or -- later -- as payers attempt to scale operations to enterprise levels. [Like Healthcare IT News on Facebook] The development is expected to be positive for payers and providers struggling to master the complexity of bundled payment models. Just last month, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services implemented the final rule for its first mandatory bundled payment program. Starting in April, acute care hospitals in targeted regions will receive bundled payments for lower extremity joint replacements or reattachments. This aligns with CMS's goal of having 30 percent of reimbursement made via alternative payments this year, and 50 percent by 2018. "Interest in bundled payment as a fast path to (value-based reimbursement) has never been greater, and payers and providers alike need help getting started and scaling up," said Carolyn Wukitch, senior vice president of McKesson Health Solutions, in a statement. Twitter: @JELagasse

New rules are anticipated to allow organizations -- those approved as qualified entities -- to confidentially share or sell analyses of the data.

In a deal that will have implications for rural and community hospitals as well as the post-acute care market, Computer Programs and Systems announced Nov. 25 that it would acquire rival Healthland Holding and its affiliates for $250 million.