Quality and Safety

Sens. John McCain, R-Arizona, and Jerry Moran, R-Kansas introduced legislation Monday designed to modernize the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs’ healthcare system. The Veterans Community Care and Access Act of 2017 would require the agency to develop and implement a plan to create a high-performing integrated healthcare network and use objective healthcare demand data to create standards on access and quality. [Also: Feds say VA failed to report 90% of poor-performing providers] These standards would also identify and bridge gaps in patient care -- whether veterans receive care at the VA or community facilities. Further, the bill is aimed to improve collaboration with community providers and other federal agencies, by ensuring the agency promptly pays community providers and opens access to walk-in clinics. McCain and Moran also want to ensure the VA offers telemedicine and increases graduate medical education. [Also: Cerner DoD overhaul coming out in waves; VA deal means 'single system' approach] “The Veterans Choice Program was the first step in delivering on that promise, but much more needs to be done to provide all veterans a choice in when and where they receive care,” said McCain in a statement. To McCain, the bill will strengthen the program by “consolidating and streamlining the VA’s community care program.” “Since the creation of the Veterans Choice Program, Congress has repeatedly pushed the VA to make much-needed changes to its healthcare system,” said Moran in a statement. “Demand has demonstrated that veterans want and need healthcare options in their communities, but there must be reform at the VA to create a system that works for them.” Under the legislation, the VA would also incorporate aspects of recent VA bills that would protect veterans from receiving care from providers who’ve been fired, suspended and or had their license revoked. It would also clarify that the VA is allowed to share records with providers outside of the agency for the purpose of better care delivery. The bill comes in the wake of the care scandals in Phoenix and in other VA care locations across the country, according to McCain. It has support from the American Legion, AMVETS and Concerned Veterans for America. Twitter: @JessieFDavis Email the writer: jessica.davis@himssmedia.com

The aim of the core measures is to refocus the agency's regimen of quality metrics on high-quality healthcare and meaningful outcomes for patients, according to the agency.

Rotunda is the third hospital to implement the Maternal & Newborn Clinical Management System, the first shared EHR system in Ireland.

GAO found that 8 out of 9 providers with concerns on their records weren’t reported to state and national databases.

The goal is to make screening more comfortable and to curb anxiety.

Hospitals and health systems want to consolidate their various cardiology IT solutions, according to a new report from KLAS, but challenges related to clinician workflow and the ability to consolidate structured reporting with a single vendor have hindered such initiatives. Posing a particular challenge is invasive treatment such as cardiac catheterization, and the new study  from examines how various vendors are supporting cath physician workflow and structured reporting. [Also: Intermountain debuts heart mapping technology to treat arrhythmia] Thanks to the complexity of cath procedures, "adoption of structured reporting is low for cath compared to other cardiology areas," according to the report. "Customization and training are two factors that can impact adoption of cath structured reporting." KLAS found that customers of Change Healthcare and Merge report doing best with structured reporting, but also seek more streamlined workflow improvements. Change's clients like its physician training and willingness to customize the technology. Merge customers say the workflow has improved, but some shared concerns about the manual entry necessitated for cath templates Limited feedback from other customers, meanwhile, suggested that "Epic system provides very limited functionality for cath templates, and customers feel what success they have achieved has been due mostly to their own efforts." And a small sample of INFINITT are doing cath structured reporting and enjoy efficient physician workflows. But "many vendors struggle to provide frontline support with the knowledge level needed to help customers succeed with structured reporting," said KLAS researchers. "Merge and INFINITT customers report having access to responsive personnel who can help them adjust the structured reporting. Merge customers have reported some transition challenges following the acquisition by IBM. Philips customers also receive responsive support but must jump through hoops to access the right expertise." Support from Siemens, meanwhile, "varies from customer to customer, and improvements to the structured reporting take longer than hoped. Epic customers feel Epic is a partner but acknowledge that Epic has struggled to bring strong cardiology expertise to structured reporting." Change Healthcare clients "also note gaps in their vendor’s knowledge base," according to the report. "Both Fujifilm and LUMEDX customers report problems getting to the people with expertise to make changes. This is a recent development for LUMEDX customers, who previously received more responsive support." KLAS says that integration between the hemodynamics and cardiology solutions is essential to getting the correct data gets into structured reporting and ensuring that clinician workflow is as smooth as possible. Strong integration is a major selling point for Merge’s hemodynamics customers, who also tout the company's development of more customizable and automated reports, according to the report, which also notes that GE Healthcare and Philips "both offer stable, long-standing hemodynamics solutions; however, lack of development has been a recurring concern for customers looking for improved flexibility." Twitter: @MikeMiliardHITN Email the writer: mike.miliard@himssmedia.com

The class action lawsuit filed Thursday by the estate of a cancer patient, claimed he was unable to determine when cancer symptoms began due to the EHR vendor’s faulty software.

As genomic tests and therapies advance, proliferate and get easier to administer, the group wants payers to be more transparent about how providers can bill for them.

Intermountain and Geisinger -- among others -- are joining similar calls to action by OIG and Congress for CMS to finally add UDI to claim forms to better identify faulty medical devices.

Saint Anthony Hospital alleges Leapfrog used inaccurate information about CPOE data when it lowered the hospital's patient safety grade in a report.