Analytics

3M Health Information Systems plans to unveil the latest module in its 360 Encompass Health Analytics Suite early next week at HIMSS16 in Las Vegas. Physician Compare integrates with the company’s Potentially Preventable Readmissions and Potentially Preventable Complications grouping software, according to materials Healthcare IT News obtained ahead of the launch. Taken together, the risk analysis methodologies enable hospitals to audit doctors to identify avoidable events, notably admissions, emergency room visits, hospital-acquired complications and preventable readmissions. [Poll: What topics will define HIMSS16?] Physician compare brings reports for gauging physicians’ efficiency and performance compared to peers, measuring which resources they use and how those impact outcomes – as well as enabling users to identify tactics for improving physician performance. Another pre-packaged report focuses on what the company called “patient acuity” through avoidable care, admissions and healthcare costs. Released in the summer of 2015, the 3M Encompass Health Analytics Suite also includes State Compare and Patient Compare modules for benchmarking hospital quality performance and patients’ perspective on costs, performance and length of stay. The former is why University Health System in San Antonio, Texas reached out to 3M. Well, that and a little philosophy called the Triple Aim, said Camerino Salazar, senior director of health analytics at UHS. [Also: 21 awesome photos from past HIMSS conferences] “We initially used 3M software to help with reporting for the 1115 state Medicaid waiver,” Salazar explained. “Now that we’ve been operationalizing the analytics dashboard it’s a way to monitor performance and identify the areas where we need to improve quality.” Salazar’s colleague Heidy Colon-Lugo, a senior quality data analyst in the UHS health analytics unit, added that UHS has the Physician Compare module and “physicians can use it to track their own progress,” though the hospital has not yet put it into production at an enterprise level. “We see it as a tool that could be very beneficial on inpatient reporting. It’s on the to-do list – and it’s a gauge for population health management,” Salazar explained because it helps UHS track performance and quality. “If we’re doing a good job of care management and providing timely preventable care, that’s an avenue of keeping people healthy. We’re the downstream so if things are operating well we should see those changes to readmissions, costs, the Triple Aim.” Twitter: @SullyHIT 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.

Advanced data analytics may hold the power to help predict likely prescription drug abuse in patients, a needed breakthrough as an opioid epidemic sweeps the country.  The problem is "no longer just heroin and cocaine; it's prescription drugs,” said Jaya Tripathi, principal investigator at the MITRE Corp. “If you look at the trends, despite the overwhelming focus and funds, more needs to be done." [Poll: What topics will define HIMSS16?] Her team at MITRE researched public and private stakeholders and interviewed board members and law enforcement officials and others over the course of 18 months. The interviews revealed ways to carry out implementation with a broad approach. In a Wednesday morning session at HIMSS16, “Data Analytics Takes the Pain out of Pain Pill Management,” Tripathi plans to discuss advanced analytics and the ways it can predict drug abusers. She'll also talk about some Big Data challenges and how to overcome them. MITRE operates multiple, federally funded research and development centers and a robust research program. Tripathi's prescription drug project began three years ago, while she's been in the analytics field for a decade. [Also: 21 awesome photos from past HIMSS conferences] Tripathi said the study demonstrated provider challenges, especially in the emergency room, to differentiate the symptoms of similar patients, when prescribing medications. "They do a lot of subjective interpretation," Tripathi said. "There are vital disagreements on how to handle it." "I wanted to solve this problem and look at all current solutions, identify gaps and what we need," Tripathi added, saying a better predictive approach would provide the necessary empirical data. "Data is everything, but you can do better if you know the right techniques," Tripathi said. "If your data is poor, your models will only go so far." Tripathi noted that each pharmacy must report every controlled-drug prescription to the state, as much as once every 24 hours. Her project has found access to analytics data of this resource at the point-of-sale can make sure the drugs are making it into the right hands and in the right amount. [Like Healthcare IT News on Facebook] "We had a lot of information, like drug interaction — so when you outline that you get a much bigger picture," Tripathi said.  "People have done a lot of work out there and sometimes one technique will inform the other. But it also needs to be usable." Tripathi’s session, “Data Analytics Takes the Pain out of Pain Management,” is scheduled for March 2, 2016 from 8:30 to 9:30 a.m. at the Sands Expo Convention Center Palazzo D. Twitter: @JessiefDavis 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.

Healthcare innovation across the United States is being powered by a number of factors – including technology, legislation and the move toward value-based reimbursement – but the engine driving that transformation is data. Not only can data be collected and stored to an extent that wasn’t possible several years ago, it also can be analyzed to uncover population health trends, improve efficiency, reduce costs and deliver better care to patients. See all of our HIMSS16 previews “The starting point is having robust healthcare data from every ZIP code,” said Maureen Sullivan, chief strategy officer for Blue Cross Blue Shield Association. “We are already using this data to help improve healthcare, and we can learn from those efforts.” Sullivan will share examples of how Blue Cross Blue Shield companies are using data to help employers, providers and individuals in a session titled “The Power of Data to Transform Healthcare” at HIMSS16. BCBSA is a national federation of 36 independent, community-based and locally operated Blue Cross and Blue Shield companies. The Blue System is the nation's largest health insurer, covering more than 106 million people, and also is the nation’s largest single processor of Medicare claims. [Poll: What topics will define HIMSS16?] The BCBSA healthcare database is massive, combining cost information from 2.3 billion medical procedures, provider information, and patient reviews. The data provides BCBSA actionable insight on cost and quality trends, enabling it to advance care delivery, empower informed decision-making and improve the health of Americans. “At Blue Cross Blue Shield, we are committed to a data-driven healthcare system,” Sullivan said. “We have already made great strides to harness the power of healthcare data by building a comprehensive dataset and mining it for important insights and trends. Building on those assets and efforts will continue to drive the changes we need to ensure our healthcare system is sustainable.” Sullivan’s session will delve into a data analytics approach that brings value to both employers and employees, investigate solutions that enable consumers to make evidence-based decisions and show how aggregating cost data can help providers contain costs while better managing care. [Like Healthcare IT News on Facebook] “This is an exciting time in healthcare, and we have tremendous opportunities ahead,” Sullivan said. “Moving forward, we have more work to do to pull even greater insights and intelligence from healthcare data.” “The Power of Data to Transform Healthcare” will be held on Tuesday, March 1 from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. PST at the Sands Expo Convention Center, Palazzo E. Twitter: @SullyHIT 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.

While early-adopting healthcare organizations are seeing strategic value by leveraging predictive analytics to inform their plans and programs, most providers are only in the initial phases of implementation. “The question in healthcare now is how to budget and manage care with the proliferation of new data,” said Scott Allister, senior manager of health analytics with Accenture. “What do we do about it?” [Also: NorthShore University Health System leverages predictive modeling] Allister said the value of predictive analytics for providers is becoming more apparent every day. Providers are exploring multiple uses for analytics, he added, such as “how you work with analytics, including how you can manage medication, how you can set up your infrastructure, how you can govern your data in specific ways, and how you manage the culture of the enterprise.” The transition to a service informed by predictive analytics, however, is not always easy. Organizational silos must be broken down, and new ways of decisionmaking enacted. “This is a journey,” Allister said. Among the hospitals making great strides in adoption of analytics, Allister said, is Presbyterian Healthcare Services in Albuquerque, New Mexico, a private, nonprofit healthcare system with eight hospitals, a statewide health plan and a multi-specialty medical group. [Also: 21 awesome photos from past HIMSS conferences] Allister, along with Soyal Momin, vice president of analytics at Presbyterian Healthcare Services, will show how Presbyterian has moved toward an integrated system in a presentation at HIMSS16, which kicks off in late February. Their talk, “Data and Analytics Done Right: Driving Value Creation” will examine how the healthcare provider recognized the need to optimize the growing amounts of electronic data that it was capturing, and thus sought a data and analytics transformation strategy. Among the points covered in the talk will be how to recognize the changing data and analytics requirements faced by healthcare providers with health plans, as well and assessing the benefits an end-to-end data and analytics transformation can deliver. See all of our HIMSS16 previews Allister said that Presbyterian so far has overcome many of the barriers often facing providers as they adopt an analytics strategy. “They recognized the problems of really getting value out of data,” he said. “A lot of organizations have plans, but Presbyterian stuck to it and they are starting to show some important results.” The session “Data and Analytics Done Right: Driving Value Creation,” is scheduled to take place on March 2, from 10-11 a.m. in the Sands Expo Convention Center Marcello 4401. Twitter: @HealthITNews 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.

A clinical professor at the school will discuss at HIMSS16 how a combination of people, process and technology drove success.

Healthcare organizations are making big investments in population health and patient engagement platforms as they prepare to move past meaningful use and toward value-based reimbursement, according to "The Big Mega HIT Purchasing Report" released Monday by market research firm peer60. Electronic health records remain core to healthcare IT, according to the report, which gathered 567 responses from CEOs, CIOs, nursing and financial leaders and others with purchasing authority at hospitals and medical practices. However,many customers are still dissatisfied with their products. Projected EHR replacement rates for 2016 show 23 percent of health providers (inpatient and outpatient combined) planning to look for new vendors, according to peer60. [Also: Hospitals keeping close eye on revenue cycle vendors] Still, "population health and patient engagement are the hottest areas by a wide margin," wrote peer60 executive vice president Chris Jensen in the report. "It’s really no surprise these two segments continue to lead the way among hospital IT upgrades considering their impact on successful migration to value-based care and value-based purchasing." As for pop health, peer60s sees some stabilization in contracting plans. In 2015, roughly 25 percent of providers were certain they'd keep their population health vendor; in 2016, that amount has doubled. "The pressure is on for vendors that have not already made their mark in this market because they’re about to be squeezed by increasing renewal rates and a declining pool of hospitals that have not already adopted," said Jensen. [Also: New trends ahead for imaging informatics] But when it comes to patient engagement, authors see the opposite. "More enterprise vendors are capturing more of the minds of providers, while interest in the best of breed crowd is beginning to dwindle," Jensen said. Other big purchasing trends are also unsurprising. Data security, enterprise analytics and revenue cycle management are all in play. Security technology, especially, has seen a big jump in provider interest. "In 2015 it was at the bottom of the list of top IT priorities and placed third this year," said Jensen. "Since this is not a growth market with 90 percent of hospitals already employing a true data security solution, the jump in interest in this area likely means the replacement market for more robust solutions in this very critical segment is heating up. Twitter: @MikeMiliardHITN

(SPONSORED) Millions of people are struggling with conditions caused by neurological damage or disease. The future of treatment for many may not lie not in new and different drugs but in smart devices that can monitor, interpret and generate neurological signals. Data analytics is making these treatments possible.

Geeta Nayyar, MD, is the chief healthcare and innovation officer at management services organization Femwell Group Health, the host of Topline MD TV, and the co-founder and chief medical information officer of design-based strategy and analytics firm Abeyon. And at HIMSS16 she will join the ranks of Social Media Ambassadors credentialed to attend and cover the show. We asked Nayyar what she’s most interested in learning more about during the conference, her top health IT prediction for health IT in 2016 and the potential to apply analytics to social media to harness the power of massive networks around the world. Q: What are you most excited to see at HIMSS16? A: I’m looking for some very elegant user-centered design solutions.  Too often the tech products we are putting out in the industry leave the end user’s (doctor or patient) point of view to the end. Keeping the tech simple and elegant can go a long way and with all the patient centered discussion and focus I’m looking to see this play out in more products. Also looking for other non-healthcare industry leaders to help show us lessons learned. The advantage healthcare has is we are so far behind many other industries such as retail and banking. To the extent some of these representatives will be at HIMSS I’m interested in hearing those use cases and extrapolating what they mean to healthcare. Also looking for use cases and proof points, whether that’s a pilot or real life scenario that has played out such that we can glean the lessons learned. And I’m very jazzed to be at HX360 this year. That forum seems ideal for all of the above. Lastly, I always love to see old colleagues and friends and connect in real time. [Also: 21 awesome photos from past HIMSS conferences] Q: What is something about you that even your devout followers don't know? A: I’m a big tennis fanatic and love water sports of every kind.  I have a boating license and love to sail and kiteboard. Q: What is the untold benefit of social media in healthcare today? A: Today, a large number of consumers turn to social media for health information, physician reviews and even data research, making the healthcare industry one of the top industries to attract large numbers of audiences from everywhere on the globe on social networks.  I think we will see the analytics space growing around social media metrics and really help us understand what these networks currently are doing for patients and docs and what more can result from bridging massive networks across the globe. Q: What’s your one health IT prediction for 2016? A: The consumer continues to drive healthcare in 2016. As a result, I think we will see an uptake in telemedicine and remote monitoring solutions and communication solutions bridging docs and patients. I also think Big Data is only getting bigger — so we will see more solutions addressing how to better manage the data unfolding and put it into action. Q: What inspired to apply to the Social Media Ambassador program? A: As a former advisory board member of HIMSS I have always supported bringing different stakeholders in the industry together.  With the Presidential campaign upon us we all know how relevant and timely the state of the healthcare industry remains. The Social Media Ambassador program allows us to bring these different views together and amplify them and make connections for all of those in industry looking for solutions to the universal problems we continue to face.  Also, the program allows folks both present and not present to partake in this discussion and serves as an expansive network to count on both at HIMSS and after.  Twitter: @SullyHIT 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.

Atlantic Health cut operational costs $70 million in three years by effectively using predictive analytics, according to MaryPat Sullivan, chief nursing officer at Overlook Medical Center in Summit, New Jersey. “We have so many IT tools in the hospital setting,” Sullivan said, “but they’re only good if they actually get adopted." Overlook is part of the five-hospital Atlantic Health system. Sullivan spearheads healthcare literacy, diversity, and implementation of programs for pre-hospitalization, acute care and care transitions in the nursing department. When Overlook began its EHR transition, Sullivan’s team interviewed staff members to determine what data meant for them. While Sullivan thought culture change would hinder implementation, her staff actually embraced the transition. [Also: 21 awesome photos from past HIMSS conferences] “It’s a real find that staff were not only believing in the data, but were making decisions based on it,” she said. Sullivan will deliver a presentation titled “Reining in Labor Costs with Predictive Analytics,” at HIMSS16 later this month. Sullivan’s team spent a lot of time educating staff to help with the transition, she said, and found nurses felt “empowered to control their environment and to be good stewards to plan and evaluate.” Her team used business analytics to predict hospital productivity and analyze labor costs. By comparing data from previous years, Sullivan could create the best possible schedules to reduce costs and get the most from her staff. “We took the budget and the business analytics and married them,” Sullivan added. “It gives staff the control over their working environment and work in a way to maximize patient outcomes.” Even though it’s only Atlantic Health System’s first year with the data, there’s already been a big reduction in overtime and premium usage. See all of our HIMSS16 previews “There’s a million moving parts to this, but in terms of data, we’ve seen a quarter of a day length of stay less, and earlier morning discharges,” Sullivan said. Sullivan’s team is working toward the next steps of using the data to benefit the health system and apply the data concepts to other departments, like critical care. The session “Reining in Labor Costs with Predictive Analytics” is scheduled for March 2 from 8:30 – 9:30 a.m. in the Sands Expo Convention Center Palazzo E. Twitter: @JessiefDavis 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.

IBM executives say the purchase adds not only a massive repository of health data to the Watson Health Cloud, but also an extensive client roster to IBM's Watson Health unit.