HMS’ Modular Certification Assists Hospitals in Achieving MU Compliance

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HMS is currently working toward receiving Modular Certification (Public Health Surveillance) for its Mergence platform.  This will assist hospitals in achieving Meaningful Use Compliance—without requiring facilities to change their current EpiCenter or EpiStart data feeds.

The key to this certification is the utilization of HMS’ Mergence data integration engine. Mergence, which is a service provided to a medical facility, was the first open source integration engine to work with HL7 and general XML data types. While the first generation of Mergence was open source, today’s Mergence has been fine-tuned to meet our clients’ needs.  Mergence is suitable to a variety of tasks that HL7 integration engines simply cannot accomplish. Data from Mergence is sent in certified, secure format to HMS’ EpiCenter system.

HMS will be able to route incoming data feeds through the Mergence engine which will then output a data stream, in the HL7 format required by MU2, and onto EpiCenter or EpiStart, thereby meeting the MU2 requirements, and implementation specifications, related to the submission of Syndromic Surveillance data to public health departments.

“Providing this service affirms our commitment to customer service,” states Kevin Hutchison, HMS President and CEO. “It ensures that current—and future—users of the system continue to gain valuable insight and support regarding important issues that impact public health.”

 

ISDS Conference: December 4-5

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This year’s ISDS Conference kicks off December 4 in San Diego, CA. HMS is an event sponsor and we’ll be on hand to talk about syndromic surveillance, community health surveillance, and our products—EpiCenter and EpiStart.

The 2012 conference features industry professionals including Keynotes James H. Fowler, a professor at University of California, San Diego and Bill Davenhall, global marketing manager for health and human services at ESRI, Inc.

We hope to see you there. Check back to read some of our thoughts on the conference.

Superstorm Sandy's Effects on Public Health Are Far From Over

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Superstorm Sandy’s effects may linger longer than expected, from a public health perspective. According to a November 8th article on Accuweather.com, Sandy may have long-term impacts on public health.

The article cites Patrick Kinney of the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University, who states that threats may still emerge – even though the storm is long gone. “This particular storm, I think we’re still learning what the health impacts specifically were,” he states.

Kinney cites patterns similar to previous storms – most initial deaths were from flooding. This was followed by fatalities that occurred due to debris removal, fire, or electrical damage. “From a longer-term perspective, you start looking at things like the effects of the power outage: What does that mean for the spoilage of food? For the contamination of the water supply? You also worry about access to routine medical care,” according to Kinney.

The article also addresses issues such as an inability to access medication in the storm’s aftermath – leading to illness and increased visits to hospital emergency rooms.

Read the complete article here. And check back to read about what we learned by analyzing the community health surveillance data collected by EpiCenter during and after the storm.

 

Frankenstorm Emphasizes the Value of Community Health Surveillance

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Weather forecasters are predicting that the remnants of Hurricane Sandy will hit the east coast hard this week—a one/two punch of a winter weather system and weakening hurricane. Utilizing Community Health Surveillance during this time will help public health departments to prepare, monitor, investigate, and respond to any threats.

In the fall of 2011, New Jersey faced a similarly daunting weather emergency when Hurricane Irene came barreling up the coast. New Jersey utilized the EpiCenter Community Health Surveillance system, and its custom classifiers functionality, to learn more about a specific after-effect of the hurricane—an increase in carbon monoxide poisoning due to the use of portable gas-powered generators.

Teresa Hamby, MSPH, Data Analyst in the Communicable Disease Service of the New Jersey Department of Health & Senior Services, presented the findings of the carbon monoxide/hurricane connection at the CSTE conference in Omaha this year—and discussed how the findings will be used in an article this past summer.

Analysts Forecast EHR Systems Market Will Continue to Grow

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According to EMR Daily News, market research company TechNavio prepared a report stating that analysts believe that the EHR Systems market in North America will see an annual growth rate of 7.85% through 2015.

“One of the key factors contributing to this market growth is the increase in government support,” according to the article.

The findings were presented following an in-depth market analysis with input from industry experts. EMR Daily News states that issues addressed in the report include key market trends, challenges to market growth, key vendors in the market space, and strengths/weaknesses of those key vendors.

Read more at EMR Daily News or download the complete report.

The Politics of Health IT

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With the presidential election quickly approaching, healthcare professionals may have a new reason to closely follow the results. Politics has played a major role in Health IT funding over the past 8 years—starting in 2004 when President George W. Bush doubled funding for federal demonstration projects on healthcare.

According to Healthcare IT news, Bush also recommended the adoption of EHRs within 10 years and created the sub-Cabinet position of National Coordinator for Health Information Technology—to make these goals a reality.

In 2009 President Obama signed the “American Recovery and Reinvestment Act”. This Act is estimated to top $800 Billion in stimulus spending over 10 years and has been the primary funding source for CMS’s EHR Meaningful Use reimbursements which have totaled over $7 billion to date.

View the Healthcare IT News slideshows “Health IT Held Hostage to Politics” for a review of the past eight years’ ups and downs in funding—as well as the recent call to halt the EHR incentive program.

Survey: Physicians looking for meaningful information – not more data!

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At a recent Bipartisan Policy Center briefing, former Senator Bill Frist, MD, discussed the results of physician surveys regarding HIEs. The center released two reports: “Clinician Perspectives on Electronic Health Information Sharing for Transitions of Care” and “Accelerating Electronic Sharing to Improve Quality and Reduce Costs in Health Care.”

The survey asked physicians what type of information they would want access to via an HIE. According to Healthcare IT News, “relevant lab and imaging tests ranked high among all physicians as the type of information they want across the board.” They also wanted to see data on discharge summary reason and summary of care provided.

Interestingly, most physicians did not want more data—just access to the most essential data. They wanted to selectively choose the information that would be placed in a patient’s electronic health record.

See the full article at Healthcare IT News.

Meaningful Use: No Fraud Allowed

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If you’re visiting our blog, there’s a good chance that you see the value in Meaningful Use and Syndromic Surveillance. While EHR compliance is providing insight and information that is incredibly valuable—it’s also enabling providers to receive incentive payments.

The federal government wants to make it very clear that it will not tolerate any cheating by those receiving the payments.

A recent posting on EHR Intelligence focuses on what the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services calls an unwelcomed trend. “There are troubling indications that some providers are using this technology to game the system, possibly to obtain payments to which they are not entitled. False documentation of care is not just bad patient care; it’s illegal,” according to the article.

Learn more about the Obama administration’s warning to hospitals by reading the full New York Times article on the topic.

Sustainability and ROI – Keeping Tabs on your HIE

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Large amounts of federal money have been pouring into states to fund HIE creation. But what is the return on this investment? A recent survey indicated that only 50% of HIEs intend to even try to demonstrate or track their ROI! With financial sustainability continuing to be the number one concern for HIEs, demonstrating value should be a top priority.

But ROI is only one issue plaguing HIEs—there’s also the issue of sustainability. Kansas is an example of sustainability gone wrong. Its HIE recently voted to dissolve and turn operations over to the state.  While the initial federal grant provided needed startup funds, the HIE could not create a workable plan to cover the estimated $400,000 in annual operating costs.

Situations such as Kansas’ highlight the potential for additional problems, especially in locations where the state HIE is also being utilized to meet Federal Meaningful Use requirements. The failure of an HIE in one of these locations would be challenging for hospitals and medical centers—which would then fail to maintain their Meaningful Use 2 certification and lose federal reimbursements.

Healthcare professionals and facilities currently working with an HIE would be wise to keep a close eye on the financial viability and sustainability of the HIE they are working with.

Tracking the Hantavirus – Affirming the Importance of Community Health Surveillance

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This week, officials from Yosemite National Park reported that a ninth person had contracted the hantavirus after staying in the park. Over 260,000 park visitors have now been notified to watch for and report the onset of hantavirus symptoms.

Hantavirus is carried in the urine and feces of deer mice and spreads when humans inhale it after it mixes with dust. The virus is not known to spread from person to person, but it can incubate for up to six weeks after initial exposure.

Early symptoms include flu-like issues such as headache, fever, muscle aches, shortness of breath, and coughing. It escalates into hantavirus pulmonary syndrome and kills more than one third of those infected. Blood tests early on to detect the virus, followed by medical care, can increase the chances of survival.

The hantavirus outbreak affirms the value of community health surveillance systems, such as HMS’ EpiCenter and EpiStart, that constantly monitor reports of illness and provide real-time outbreak alert notifications to public health professionals.

Our goal is to provide public health with the tools needed to ensure the health of the communities they serve—and to provide an early detection system that helps to prevent the spread of disease.

To learn more about our surveillance systems, which fulfill Meaningful Use Syndromic Surveillance mandates, please contact us.