A desire for more coordinated care has led to the advancement of accountable care organizations (ACO) and similar models. These organizations have set out to improve the delivery of healthcare, while reducing costs and leveraging evidence-based care to collaborate with care teams and patients. At the forefront this movement is Minnesota’s Children’s Health Network (CHN), where we visited for our final Season One episode. We joined Chad Johnson, CEO, Dave Overman, President and COO of Children’s Hospitals and Clinics of Minn., and Dr. Kelly Lemieux, Pediatrician with Wayzata Children’s Clinic and chair of clinical operations for CHN to discuss the benefits of population health technologies, like CCMR, and their ability to enhance care.
Recently, we announced some exciting developments with the healow (Health & Online Wellness) patient engagement platform -- integration with industry-leading wearable devices and fitness trackers. Available now, consumers can have data from these devices seamlessly integrated into their PHR via healow.com and the healow mobile application as well as be available to that person’s medical provider.
Technology plays a vital role in today’s healthcare landscape with the overall goal of driving down costs and improving patient outcomes. It has the potential to connect patients, doctors and payers within the healthcare ecosystem and simplify how they access health information through patient portals, wearable devices and mobile apps. Essential to connecting all of this technology and making it meaningful is an electronic health record (EHR) system that acts as a central database that provides doctors with easy access to crucial patient information.
Fifteen years ago, healthcare was lagging behind other industries when it came to high-tech innovation and changing Americans’ perception of “the way things had to be done.” At that time, having your health records available electronically was just starting to resonate. Now that the majority of physicians use electronic health records (EHR), the industry is still innovating and at an even more rapid pace to bring consumer-facing health apps, wearables and telehealth to the market.
As talked about as patient engagement is today, there is still plenty of confusion around how to maximize it. Enterprise solutions such as EHRs and revenue cycle management streamline the healthcare process therefore simplifying the patient’s experience, and with telehealth, mobile and wearable devices, patients can experience a more personalized experience. My son uses his mobile phone and a QR code to buy coffee, why not also use the same technology to check-in at his doctor’s office?
In an age where connectivity is constantly accessible, the term “Big Data” has quickly become a buzzword favored by any business seeking information about its customers, products and even its performance. But this seemingly ambiguous term has a place in the healthcare industry as well. “Big Data” is more than a buzzword for doctors, researchers and patients – it means easier access to health information, predictive medicine, quicker diagnoses and better treatment.
It is hard to believe that eCW Podcast has produced almost an entire first season. For this episode, host Adam Siladi talks with Dr. Mark McNeill of Trillium Family Medicine about how utilizing the Patient Portal has improved his practice by reducing tedious tasks, while helping him see more patients. Filmed at the 2014 eClinicalWorks National Users Conference, Dr. McNeill mentions how his patients take advantage of the convenience of booking appointments online. He explains how he primarily runs the entire practice’s workflow through the portal by sending messages, booking appointments, viewing lab results and sending both general and appointment reminders. The system also assists Dr. McNeill during patient visits, with reminders notifying him of questions he must ask his patients.
The concluding day for the National Users Conference was a great one. Today was dedicated to each and every one of our clients. At Support and Training, many questions were answered by our knowledgeable and friendly Support Engineers and Trainers in the dedicated support rooms, handing How-To and workflow-related questions to give you a more intuitive way to manage your day-to-day responsibilities. Hands-on-training was also full as software specialists gave the attendees the opportunity to conduct exercises using individual computer workstations, including a defined agenda. Attendees also had the ability to explore eCWCentral, discover interactive stations, where attendees tried out featured products, with eCW experts who know our products and services inside and out.
Another full day at the National Users Conference! The sessions that were held today included Immunizations and Injections: Give it a Shot! Best Practices for CCMR Implementation, Patient Home Health Monitoring, Private Payer Dashboard, Meaningful Use and Interoperability and so many more. Along with these sessions were the hands-on-training which included Making the Transition: ERA, UDS and eClinicalTouch.
Attendees flocked to the photo-sharing booth to share their conference photos with friends and colleagues. Twitter was also filled with tweets that included our #eClinicalWorks and #NUC2014 hashtags. We hit 5,000 tweets since Friday morning and we still have one more day to go! The Podcast booth had its final live podcast that recapped the entire conference. The audience enjoyed going over the entire conference and reminiscing on what was taught throughout it.
What great day of sessions and party! We certainly lit up the night yesterday. It was an educating day for the conference; many sessions were held, including how the NFL is utilizing health IT, the new eClinicalWorks dental module, learning how to set up healow.com for your practice, getting patients excited about patient engagement as well as eClinicalTouch, ACO Management Services and too many more to mention. It was also a packed day for breakout sessions.
Hello and welcome to Orlando! This conference is off to a great start. After a Welcome Breakfast with our sponsors, CEO and co-founder Girish Navani delivered a riveting and insightful keynote address followed by the product showcase. First, we officially have 100,000 providers in the eCW community. This year, we touched upon advancements with dental EHR, a Patient Portal in Spanish, eBO 7, population health with CCMR, along with exciting developments regarding eprescriptions, patient engagement with healow and 10e. We were left with the promise: Together we are going to make healthcare faster, smarter and more convenient for both physicians and patients.
What a busy, informative and excellent week we’ve all had at HIMSS! There were so many lessons learned throughout the show and confirmation that the possibilities for healthcare IT are just beginning.
Saturday was busy for all with many helpful sessions. Popular ones included those about RCM, V10, healow, Meaningful Use in 2014 and how to utilize technology to meet the needs of a changing healthcare system. Customers also had the opportunity to stop by the support and training rooms, where they picked up new tips and tricks for optimizing their workflow experience. eCWCentral was packed all day, with attendees enjoying the interactive stations, test-driving our featured products.
We began the 2013 eClinicalWorks National Users Conference by asking our San Antonio users what they love about their city. Here is what one had to say:
