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During the first year of tele-ICU, the technology helped save 125 lives, reduce ICU length of stay by 34 percent, reduce the sepsis mortality rate, and more.

A new survey with the HealthCare Executive Group sees trends such as consumerism and social determinants forcing providers and payers to fundamentally rethink how care is delivered and reimbursed.

Using the Massachusetts Prescription Awareness Tool will create better access to prescription data for clinicians at Partners.  

The industry veteran and head of the CTA on the greatest threat to innovation, empathy as the new currency – and why every health organization should be thinking like a tech company.

Sharing systems and data, speed to market and agility and improved security are among the reasons payers are making the move to cloud.

A group of Kiwi clinicians with a passion for technology driving changes in healthcare has created a Clinical Informatics Leadership Network. The new network is being supported logistically and financially by Health Informatics New Zealand and held its first meeting during the HiNZ 2018 conference in Wellington. It now has 74 members from a range of health professions such as medicine, nursing, allied health, midwifery and pharmacy. It provides an online forum for members to share expertise and ideas as well as national networking events. Network organiser Karen Blake is the regional manager for health informatics at shared services organisation healthAlliance and has worked as a midwife in both New Zealand and Australia. “There have been lots of failed IT projects in health and there’s enough evidence now to demonstrate that clinical leadership is absolutely fundamental to the success of these projects,” she says. “Our IT solutions need to be clinically led to solve clinical problems, as it’s not about solving more and more IT problems.” Similar networks have been set up in Australia and the UK, where NHS trusts routinely have a chief clinical information officer and there is a national CCIO for Health and Care. Fellow network organiser and clinical director information services and virtual healthcare at Waikato DHB Ruth Large says in New Zealand there are a variety of ways that DHB information services use a clinical reference point, but there is no consistent clinical IT role in DHB leadership models. “There has been a gap in terms of clinical leadership around the development of our digital technologies,” she says. Large says CILN members do not need to have IT qualifications or a role involving informatics, but an interest in using technology to drive change, efficiency and good patient outcomes. Large wants New Zealand to avoid the US experience where the wide implementation of electronic health records has seen many clinicians become disengaged, feeling they are entering patient data into computers to “feed the machine”, rather than for improved patient outcomes. “We need a cohesive and supportive voice for clinical IT, otherwise we are just going to get the technologies we are given,” Large says. This article first appeared on eHealthNews.nz.

Mental health records at the Black Dog Institute’s clinical services arm will soon go digital. The Australian institute for research and services in mental health will deploy Global Health’s MasterCare EMR solution across clinical services, using the clinical and practice management software to transition processes. Black Dog Institute joins a number of other healthcare providers that have recently transitioned over to MasterCare EMR, such as Justice Health Victoria and Bass Coast Health. MasterCare EMR General Manager Kye Cherian said the solution was chosen for being a team-based, client-centric record that supports multiple programs and services. As Black Dog Institute has a number of clinical services – such as a child and adolescent health unit, psychology clinic, and depression and bipolar unit – he said the solution can be configured to suit different workflows within these individual organisations, enhancing workflow functionality across the multi-program community. Specifically, according to Cherian, MasterCare EMR’s mental health modules, such as risk assessments and assessment wizards, would benefit the organisation. “[The] platform can be implemented either as is, or adapted easily for specific client needs and requests,” he said. “The area of mental health is one that requires continuous research, innovation and investment to meet growing demand. the Black Dog Institute clinical services arm’s use of MasterCare EMR will support their research-based approach to delivering and improving mental health services. “Often people with a mental health condition have lifelong needs, and it is essential these services are coordinated and tracked for optimum outcomes and continuous improvement,” he said. [Read more: Fremantle Hospital deploys EMR system for better support of care in WA | University Hospital Geelong improves ED clinical workflows] MasterCare EMR also allows for customised program support across minimum data sets, streamlined data collection, support for more than 25 common federal and state-funded programs, and has an inbuilt practice management system for clinic appointments, billing, online claiming, staff rostering, client management and secure messaging.

The program uses a mix of home visits and telehealth technologies to bring more services to the home.

Analysts see a best-of-breed strategy finding favor, with companies such as Xenex, Ecolab and VigiLanz preferred over Epic and Cerner for their innovative approaches to patient safety surveillance.

After using the system for its 2017 reporting, Grandview achieved a MIPS score of 96.27 – earning 81.27 points in the Quality Performance category and 15 points in the Improvement Activities category.