Electronic Health Records (EHR, EMR)

Kiosk maker CTS Healthcare Services will start targeting mid-size and smaller provider organizations when it introduces at HIMSS16 new middleware dubbed Kwerk. Since it launched its first kiosks in 2005, CTS Healthcare Services has racked up more than 200 million patient check-ins on its kiosks, the vendor said. More than 95 percent of healthcare organizations using the Welcome patient check-in component of Epic’s electronic health record system use CTS Healthcare Services kiosks, CTS Healthcare Services said. This is because Epic was very early to the patient check-in game, enabling the critical integration component. Twitter: @SiwickiHealthIT But there is a whole healthcare world beyond Epic, said Sandy Nix, president and CEO of CTS Healthcare Services. “We’ve found a lot of potential customers with an interest in deploying check-in solutions but without the appropriate middleware piece that allows kiosks to talk to their EHRs,” Nix said. “So we developed Kwerk, which will talk to not only the EHRs in larger facilities but also serve as a bundled product we can offer the mid-market so potential customers at that level can have healthcare-proven hardware and high-quality patient check-in software solutions in an affordable package.” Kwerk will connect with EHRs in any size facility, but will also enable smaller organizations that simply want a standalone check-in solution to have one. In addition to patient check-in, the kiosks can accept co-pays and bill payments, be used for patient scheduling, secure consent to treatment signatures, issue privacy notices, change demographic information, and more. CTS Healthcare Services will offer Kwerk on a subscription basis, Nix said. Twitter: @SiwickiHealthIT 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 leading topic or two seem to have emerged at every HIMSS Annual Conference. What do you think will lead this year?

IT support is emerging as a key factor in hospital satisfaction and many trends will shape these relationships, report says.

Healthcare economist Jane Sarasohn-Kahn is delighted that the patient component of the healthcare information technology is finally coming of age. Health IT professionals have been witness to the growing role of the consumer in educational sessions and at exhibitions and she expects even more of that at HIMSS16 when it kicks off later this month. Sarasohn-Kahn, who will be attending as a Social Media Ambassador, writes the Health Populi blog and tweets at @HealthyThinker. She shared her thoughts on how much the patient perspective has gained traction in the two decades she’s been attending HIMSS, the need for healthcare organizations to take a hard look at the return on EHR investments and the importance of getting workflow right. [Also: Bill Bunting talks 2016 predictions, patient engagement] Q: One health IT prediction for 2016? A: Now that some $35 billion in HITECH funding has been spent, healthcare providers wonder: what's the ROI? Congress, too, asks the question in other ways, although bipartisan support continues for health information technology inside the Beltway. In 2016, we will see more candid conversations about the lack of ROI from big capital spending for EHRs. This will result in healthcare provider demands for lighter (and less capital intensive) streamlined approaches to data liquidity, data collection (say, via sensors), and standards adoption like FHIR. As my fellow HIMSS16 Social Media Ambassador Charles Webster, MD is fond of saying: "It's all about the workflow." And in a value-based payment environment, that workflow is part of the lifeblood for healthcare providers.  Q: Shifting gears a bit, what is one thing about you that not even devout followers are likely to know? A: I'm a huge believer in the role that food and nutrition play in health, beyond healthcare. We know that our genes tell only a fraction of our personal health stories. Our lifestyle behaviors contribute mightily to our overall health and wellness. So my family and I belong to our local community-supported agriculture farm, led by our wonderful and talented homeopathic farmer, Erik. And we are Italo-philes devoted to the Slow Food movement founded in Bologna, Italy. Q: So what inspired you to apply for Social Media Ambassador credentials? A: As a member of HIMSS for more than 20 years, I can remember that the patient was rarely part of educational sessions or the exhibit hall in my early days of being involved with the organization. I joined HIMSS' Connected Patient Committee several years ago, and we collaborated to help drive the message of the patient's role in healthcare to the organization and its members. Q: What are you most looking forward to learning more about at this year’s conference? A: Topics such as self-care with patient portals and personal health records systems, health engagement. Also, financial wellness, such as what providers are doing in terms of revenue-cycle management, financial services for patients and healthcare banking. See all of our HIMSS16 previews Q: And what do you see as the untold potential for social media in healthcare? A: There's no doubt that social media has become an integral part of the healthcare landscape in the U.S. Today, social media is driving the collective wisdom of patients and the wisdom of providers - the tremendous impact of peer-to-peer healthcare for consumers and caregivers, provider-to-provider and provider-to-patient. This is resulting in greater democratization in healthcare and better information symmetry between patients and their clinicians, all of which enables health engagement that underpins the Triple Aim to improve outcomes, enhance the healthcare experience and lower per capita costs. Twitter: @SiwickiHealthIT 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.

Open-source technology will offer flexibility and cost-efficiencies, officials say.

The hospital was also the first pediatric facility to achieve Stage 7 for its EHR use, the pinnacle on HIMSS Analytics Scale.

The software vendor intends to showcase two apps it is working on as part of the massive modernization contract.

TrakCare to provide clinical functionality, decision support, patient portal.

A recent study funded by Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality suggests that patients with fully electronic health records experienced fewer adverse events such as hospital-acquired infections. In order to be considered a fully electronic EHR, "physician notes, nursing assessments, problem lists, medication lists, discharge summaries and provider orders are electronically generated," according to researchers. Using 2012 and 2013 Medicare Patient Safety Monitoring System data, AHRQ examined outcomes for cardiovascular, pneumonia and surgery patients – specifically with regard to occurrence rates of 21 adverse events in four clinical domains: hospital-acquired infections, adverse drug events, general events (falls or pressure ulcers, for instance) and post-procedural events. [Also: CMS awards $110M for patient safety] "To assess the role of EHRs in preventing adverse events, the researchers measured to what extent care received by patients in the 1,351 hospitals was captured by a fully electronic EHR," said Amy Helwig, MD, deputy director of AHRQ's Center for Quality Improvement and Patient Safety, and Edwin Lomotan, MD, medical officer and chief of clinical informatics at AHRQ's Center for Evidence and Practice Improvement, in a blog post. The findings of the study, published in the Journal of Patient Safety, show that, of more than 45,000 patients at risk for nearly 350,000 adverse events in the study sample, 13 percent were exposed to fully electronic health records. Among all patients examined in the study, the occurrence rate of adverse events was 2.3 percent, or 7,820 adverse events. Patients with EHRs, meanwhile, had 17 to 30 percent lower odds of any adverse event. Helwig and Lomotan said that health IT has shown patient safety gains, but research to prove it has often looked at just one healthcare provider at a time. "A question that remains unanswered is the impact of fully installed electronic health records systems used in multiple organizations," they wrote. "Another big question: can EHRs go beyond improving safety-related processes to actually preventing adverse events, such as potentially deadly hospital-acquired infections, from reaching patients?" The findings from "Electronic Health Record Adoption and Rates of In-hospital Adverse Events"  suggest hospitals with EHR can offer more coordinated care from admission to discharge to reduce the risk of patient harm. They note, however, that adverse event odds varied by medical condition and type of event. “For example, patients hospitalized for pneumonia and exposed to a fully electronic EHR had 35 percent lower odds of adverse drug events, 34 percent lower odds of hospital-acquired infections, and 25 percent lower odds of general events. Among patients hospitalized for cardiovascular surgery, a fully electronic EHR was associated with 31 percent lower odds of post-procedural events and 21 percent fewer general events," they wrote. [Like Healthcare IT News on Facebook] Helwig and Lomotan caution that the AHRQ study raises a few questions. “The findings showed a significant relationship between fully electronic EHRs and adverse drug event rates for patients hospitalized with pneumonia, but not for those with cardiovascular disease or needing surgery,” they wrote. “This may be due to the fact that certain high-alert medications, such as opioids, which are often associated with adverse drug events, were not included in the MPSMS measures." Still, the authors said as more hospitals mature in their use of EHRs, those systems can play a key role in preventing adverse events. Twitter: @MikeMiliardHITN

Electronic health records are typically touted as providing two primary and vital services: readily accessible patient records and protection against contraindicated medications. But Intermountain Healthcare is benefiting from a growing and transformative versatility in the application of its EHRs.