< + > Roundup: Monash IVF begins digital transformation and more briefs

Also, MedSync launches a new video sharing feature.

< + > Congresswoman asks VA Secretary to redirect EHR funds

"VA medical centers still operating the Oracle Cerner EHR need more personnel and resources; not less," said Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash.

< + > Learning by Listening: A Winning Formula for The Health Management Academy

The Health Management Academy is a hidden gem. For years they have been bringing together leaders from healthcare providers and industry innovators in small group meetings. The smaller event format makes it easier to share ideas, exchange best practices, and transfer knowledge. The Academy now runs 65+ focused meetings each year and operates a Center for Transformation to help its clients.

Healthcare IT Today had the rare opportunity to sit down with Renee DeSilva, Chief Executive Officer at The Health Management Academy (THMA). We wanted to learn more about the work THMA is doing, what their plans are for the next 12 months, and what trends they are hearing + seeing from their clients.

Listening to Healthcare Leaders

“A big part of what The Health Management Academy does is we listen,” explained DeSilva. “We have about 65 live events a year and over 2,000 executives flowing through our doors. We listen and then we curate what we hear and turn it into insights that the rest of the industry can use.”

A good example of this shared insight came earlier this year when THMA published an article summarizing their findings on technology investment by leading health systems. By listening to its clients, THMA found that “90% of systems would be increasing their healthcare technology investment over 2022”.

What were those systems looking for? Technology partners who:

• Would not increase up labor cost
• Would reduce burnout or frustration
• Understand current business practices and data/reporting needs
• Have realistic implementation timelines and a willingness to provide prolonged support to ensure successful installation

Most interesting was their finding that the investment in technology would come from the IT budget and surprisingly the Marketing budget.

Current Healthcare Issues

Given THMA’s access to providers and solution vendors, they see and hear the current issues healthcare leaders are concerned about. Based on numerous conversations with IT leaders – CIOs, CMIOs, VPs of IT, etc – the THMA team identified three current issues:

1. How the organization will be impacted by artificial intelligence (AI)
2. What processes should be automated and which should not
3. How to protect against cyber attacks

“A lot of leaders were thinking about how to best integrate a human and technology dyad model of care,” said DeSilva. “This means answering tough questions around what should be automated and what shouldn’t be.”

Future Plans for THMA

Over the next twelve months, DeSilva’s team will be collaborating with Microsoft and Nuance. Through THMA’s AI Collaborative, leaders from different functional areas like HR, finance, clinical, and operations, will be brought together to chart a sustainable path for AI and advanced analytics in healthcare.

THMA will also be collaborating with AWS to create a new leadership development program for rising technology leaders in healthcare. Together they will be delivering courses and other learning modules that will arm these individuals with the skills they need in the years ahead.

“I’m also getting my roller bag ready,” shared DeSilva. “We have over 60 events that we will be hosting through the rest of 2023.”

A Hidden Gem

One of the most exciting things about working in healthcare is that I’m constantly learning new things and discovering new companies. THMA is an example of that.

I mistakenly thought I had a fair handle on all the major events and conferences in healthcare…but I had never heard of THMA. The more I learned about the organization prior to the interview with DeSilva, the more excited I became. Like us, here was an organization dedicated to improving healthcare by bringing different parts of the ecosystem together. They are truly a hidden gem.

Watch the interview with Renee DeSilva to learn:

• Why in the near future healthcare organizations will need to move beyond the digital front door into a completely digital house
• Why reducing costs of care for employers will be important over the next five years
• What’s on Season 3 of THMA’s “The Table” podcast

Learn more about The Health Management Academy at: https://hmacademy.com/

Listen and subscribe to the Healthcare IT Today Interviews Podcast to hear all the latest insights from experts in healthcare IT.

And for an exclusive look at our top stories, subscribe to our newsletter.

Tell us what you think. Contact us here or on Twitter at @hcitoday. And if you’re interested in advertising with us, check out our various advertising packages and request our Media Kit.

< + > Fax As An On-Ramp for Interoperability

The journey to achieve interoperability in healthcare has been too long and too expensive. To address this, companies have put effort into creating interoperability tools and platforms designed to make it easier to exchange data. To accelerate interoperability efforts, however, creating more technology may not the answer. Perhaps interoperability can gain more traction by putting a focus on getting more organizations on board the interoperability train.

Healthcare IT Today had the opportunity to discuss this topic with Scott Turicchi, CEO at Consensus Cloud Solutions, the world’s largest digital fax provider. Consensus helps organizations in regulated industries, like healthcare, finance, and government to transform, enhance and securely exchange digital information.

No Network Effect for Interoperability

According to Harvard Business School, the term “network effect” refers to any situation in which the value of a product, service or platform depends on the number of buyers, sellers, or users who leverage it.

The classic historic example of the network effect is the telephone. Having the first telephone in the world is completely useless since there is no one else with a telephone that you can call. When there are 10 telephones connected by a network of phone lines, suddenly the value of the telephone rises. When there are 1,000 telephones connected, the value rises even more. When there are 500,000 telephones, suddenly everyone is clamoring to join the network.

During the interview, Turicchi suggested that it is time for healthcare to look at our interoperability challenge through the lens of network effects.

When only a handful of organizations in a region (or within their own system) can exchange data electronically with each other, there is benefit for those that are connected, but the impact relative to the entire industry is small. This is the situation we find ourselves in today.

Large health systems have invested the time and cost to make their systems more interoperable. So too have Health IT vendors. However, without more organizations exchanging data with one another, the impact of these changes is minimal (for now).

“It’s good to think big,” stated Turicchi. “We should definitely have one eye on the horizon, in a world where all data in healthcare is freely flowing between all parties who need access. However, we should also think smaller. Thousands of organizations exchange a small portion of a patient’s health record today using a technology they trust. Let’s use that technology as a first step to wider interoperability. Let’s use it as an on-ramp.”

The technology Turicchi is referring to is digital cloud fax.

Interoperability Step 1 Could be Cloud Fax

Just prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, an estimated 9 billion fax pages were exchanged each year on average. Healthcare tops the list of industries still using fax with upwards of 75% of patient information still being exchanged in that format.

Everyone, including the ONC, wants to get rid of traditional fax machines and well we should. They are clunky, bad for the environment, and expensive to maintain. However, rather than jump from fax all the way to electronic data exchange through FHIR or APIs, Turicchi suggests that we should leverage the inherent network effect that fax still enjoys.

“We realized we could provide an on-ramp for interoperability because so many people in healthcare are still using fax,” said Turicchi. “If we can migrate them to more advanced fax solutions, like what is available nowadays via cloud-fax solutions that would be a great first step. From there we can add other functionality, like converting those electronic faxes into HL7 FHIR, direct secure messages.”

A piece of paper fed into a fax machine will always be an unstructured document, but when a digital cloud fax is transmitted and received, the possibilities are endless. Through digital cloud fax, the unstructured document can be converted to a structured document where discrete data elements, such as patient demographics, can be intelligently extracted to enable faster care.

What Turicchi was referring to was technology that converts the image sent via a cloud fax protocol into discrete electronic data. So when a  staff member sends a digital unstructured document using cloud fax technology, the recipient may receive the patient’s first name, last name, diagnosis, medication information, etc. as distinct fields of data ready to be imported into the EHR, when additional functionality is added.

“We have a solution that can turn an unstructured digital fax into structured, searchable data so that vital information can be esaily extracted,” shared Turicchi. “That is what healthcare organizations really want. They want actionable data that can be fed directly into a patient’s EHR. Not images from fax machines that require manual sorting and processing to make that journey.”

Leveraging Fax Familiarity and Network Effect

Despite the industry’s best efforts to “axe-the-fax”, fax machines remains a popular way to send patient information from one facility to another. Rather than try to switch the entire industry away from a common workflow to advanced standards, Turicchi voiced his preference to lean into cloud fax – leveraging its familiarity and near ubiquity as a way to accelerate healthcare interoperability.

In other words, Turicchi wants us to give serious consideration to using fax’s network effect to our advantage using digital fax.

“The ultimate goal is to get the right information into the right hands in real time so that the best decisions can be made,” concluded Turicchi.

Watch the interview with Scott Turicchi to learn:

• Why fax continues to be the best option if want to meet healthcare organizations where they are when it comes to interoperability
• Whether more regulation around interoperability will help or hinder healthcare
• About the early success Consensus is experiencing with the on-going implementation of Electronic Cloud Fax (ECFax) services in all Veterans Affairs (VA) healthcare facilities

Learn more about Consensus Cloud Solutions at https://www.consensus.com/

Listen and subscribe to the Healthcare IT Today Interviews Podcast to hear all the latest insights from experts in healthcare IT.

And for an exclusive look at our top stories, subscribe to our newsletter.

Tell us what you think. Contact us here or on Twitter at @hcitoday. And if you’re interested in advertising with us, check out our various advertising packages and request our Media Kit.

Consensus Cloud Solutions is a sponsor of Healthcare Scene

< + > The Goal of RPM is Management, Not Monitoring

The following is a guest article by Lucienne Ide, MD, PhD, Founder and CEO at Rimidi

Remote patient monitoring (RPM) is a key capability in healthcare, particularly as we have seen multiple factors align in recent years: advances in medical device technology, decreased cost of cellular connectivity, new reimbursement models, and consumer demand that accelerated during the pandemic. RPM offers the ability to follow the patient from the clinic to the home and to provide a more complete picture of their health by collecting daily metrics such as blood pressure, blood glucose, weight, pulse oximetry, etc. But the healthcare industry needs to look at RPM as a tool in the toolkit for managing health conditions. The goal is management. Remote monitoring is one strategic capability for how we get there. 

As a clinician, I’ve had a front row seat to the evolution of RPM. Early efforts to deploy remote monitoring tools and technologies faced multiple challenges. Prior to the introduction of RPM reimbursement codes in the Physician Fee Schedule in 2019, financial hurdles made it difficult for medical practices to perform remote monitoring activities as there was not a mechanism for reimbursement to cover the cost of the devices and the practice’s time unless the practice was part of a value-based contracting model and assumed the cost as part of their model of care delivery. In addition to the financial barriers, lack of broadband infrastructure and the slow digital transformation in healthcare, hampered widespread adoption of RPM in the early years.

Within the last five years, however, we’ve seen dramatic changes that have pushed RPM to the forefront in patient care. Consider the impact of consumer wearable technology, like the Fitbit and Apple watch, which is used to keep track of key fitness metrics. We have seen this kind of innovation come to the medical device space, first with Bluetooth-enabled devices and then with cellular-enabled devices such as blood pressure cuffs.  This innovation in connectivity was an important step in making it more efficient and scalable to track biometrics from patients outside of the clinic. Together with the innovation in reimbursement models for remote patient monitoring, a path to adoption of RPM as a core component of medical management of health conditions emerged. 

Perhaps the biggest driver in recent RPM adoption was the COVID-19 pandemic. When physicians were unable to see patients in person, telehealth and RPM became a necessary capability not a nice-to-have. RPM enabled providers to continue to support patient care from afar. This new paradigm in care was particularly useful for patients with chronic diseases like diabetes, heart failure and hypertension, some of whom have a high potential for complications if not receiving regular care. In recent years, usage spiked. Currently 54% of U.S. internet households have at least one connected health device, with about one-quarter possessing three or more. 

More practices are adopting RPM programs because of the increasing patient acceptance of virtual care models, widespread reimbursement from CMS as well as private payers and Medicaid plans, and decreased cost of connected devices. Today, only about half of practices use RPM, but surveys show that there will be dramatic growth – reaching about 76% of practices within the next year. And, by 2025, more than 70 million U.S. patients – 26.2% of the population – will benefit from some kind of RPM.

Putting Patient Data in Context

While it’s great to see more practices adopt RPM, I always like to look at the bigger picture of why CMS introduced reimbursement for RPM in the first place: It is a more proactive approach to care delivery that facilitates better patient outcomes. Consider Remote Patient Monitoring for chronic disease management. A person lives with diabetes 365 days a year, not just once every three months when they visit their doctor. How can looking at a paper logbook or a consumer app for the five minutes clinicians have with their patient adequately tell them enough about how the patient has done in between visits? In contrast, when a clinician can see the patient’s blood glucose data in between visits, not only can they observe the effect of medication or lifestyle changes without waiting to see the individual back in clinic, but they can visualize trends in the data over time making the brief in-person visit more efficient and meaningful. In other words, CMS created these reimbursement pathways as a bridge to practicing proactive, value-based care. 

As more and more practices begin to implement RPM, it’s important to remember that the goal shouldn’t be to simply collect and monitor the data. The goal should be to improve health outcomes for patients, and in order to do that the RPM data needs to be shown in the context of what else is going on with the patient, it needs to be integrated into existing workflows, and it needs to be actionable.

The evolution of remote patient monitoring to remote patient management requires patients and providers to have the necessary tools. Putting the right pieces together will enable providers to understand the story of each patient’s health by looking at trends and insights in their condition on a day-to-day basis in combination with all other aspects of their care. What’s needed is: 

• Data connectivity and interoperability between various systems, such as electronic medical records (EMRs), clinical management platforms and telehealth solutions
• Transparent access to data by a patient’s entire care team, from primary care doctors to specialists and more. 
• Clinical decision support tools that empower providers to interpret data within their workflow and make personalized treatment decisions based on the latest clinical guidelines.

The combination of these tools can deliver real benefits. In one study, a remote patient management program for high-risk diabetes patients at Leon Medical Centers in Miami helped lower A1c levels below 9% for 84% of patients – a key indicator of better diabetes control. More broadly, a KLAS Research report noted that more than one-third of healthcare organizations saw fewer readmissions when using RPM for chronic care management, and 17% said they achieved cost reductions. 

These kinds of results will only be possible going forward if we redefine the “M” in RPM – management – moving from basic monitoring of health metrics to management of a patient’s overall health. But we need more certainty going forward. Reimbursement levels must encourage and support RPM deployment and broad usage in hospitals and health systems. Physicians need the tools to help them derive actionable insights from the data they collect. With these in place, we can see even more benefits – from reduced admissions and fewer complications to lower healthcare costs and better results – that will serve as the foundation for the future of value-based care. 

About Lucienne Ide

Lucienne Ide, MD, PhD, is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer at Rimidi, a leading clinical management platform designed to optimize clinical workflows, enhance patient experiences and achieve quality objectives. She brings her diverse experiences in medicine, science, venture capital, and technology to bear in leading Rimidi’s strategy and vision. Motivated by the belief that we can do so much better as individuals, in industry and society, Lucie left clinical medicine to join the ranks of healthcare entrepreneurs who are trying to revolutionize an industry.

< + > Pear Suite Empowers Community Health Workers to Improve Health in Asian American and Pacific Islander Communities

$2.5 Million in Seed Funding Expands Care Navigation Software and Partnerships with a Focus on Addressing Social Determinants of Health (SDOH) with Cultural Competency

Pear Suite, a digital health company working to empower community health workers (CHWs) and better address the social determinants of health (SDOH), today announced its recently closed funding round. The $2.5 million in seed funding will enable CHWs to better act on SDOH data as well as expand the company’s efforts within the Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) community. The investment round was led by Mucker Capital, Impact Engine, American Heart Association, Sweater Ventures, and Atento Capital, with support from Techstars, Open Venture Capital, Incisive Ventures, Lair East Labs, StartUp Health, and Third Act Ventures.

Launched in 2021 by Co-Founders Colby Takeda and Nick Lockett, Pear Suite’s flexible and customizable social care navigation platform enables anyone – CHWs, care coordination staff, volunteers, and others – to better assess and address SDOH in a cost-effective, person-centered, and culturally and linguistically sensitive way. Through AI-powered smart scripts and care journeys, omni-channel communication tools, predictive analytics, and actionable dashboards to guide resource linking, Pear Suite is converting SDOH data into real-time solutions for CHWs to drive impactful interventions for those in need, particularly those within the AAPI community. To date, the company has helped over 24 organizations boost member engagement, improve health outcomes, and reduce the overall cost of care, impacting more than 25,000 individuals.

The seed funding is being used to fuel platform development efforts and better empower CHWs to collect SDOH data and provide culturally sensitive care navigation. Additionally, funding will be allocated to drive new partnerships with more organizations serving the AAPI community, as well as other underserved populations, and expand Pear Suite’s geographical reach within the United States, particularly in rural areas where SDOH are heightened. The company is on pace to impact an additional 300,000 lives through partnerships with health plans, providers, and community-based organizations, and also support the training of more than 50 CHWs in the next year.

“Social care is a consistently underfunded area of healthcare that is now getting the attention that it deserves,” said Will Hsu, Co-Founder and Partner at Mucker Capital. “The Pear Suite team continues to develop alongside its health and community partners to build the simplest, yet most effective digital solution for community health workers.”

“Pear Suite utilizes technology to empower organizations with tools to transform social determinants of health data into actionable solutions to better address community health and well-being in a person-centered way,” said Ashley Steward, National Vice President & Managing Director of the American Heart Association’s Social Impact Fund. “The AHA Social Impact Fund has invested in Pear Suite as an organization that can help advance the American Heart Association’s goal of creating a community focused solution that can be scaled across the nation, with the potential to drive long-term positive health outcomes.”

The funding announcement comes at a time of increased investment into community-based health initiatives, including a $227 million investment by the Biden administration to train and deploy more CHWs. These workers bring their lived experience and are integrated into the communities they are serving, allowing them to provide trusted health and social services with a level of care that is difficult to match in traditional healthcare settings. With more than 80% of health outcomes determined by non-clinical factors (including housing, food availability, and transportation), CHWs are in a prime position to help their neighbors understand the health and social service options available to them, take action, and maintain healthier lifestyles.

“So much of healthcare innovation today is focused on developing new medications, mobile wellness applications, and smart devices that aren’t equitable for all patients,” said Colby Takeda, Co-Founder and CEO at Pear Suite. “After seeing community health workers in action, we knew the solution was right in front of us, and with a little technology upgrade, we could enable and enhance a skilled workforce that was best positioned to impact health-related social needs, at scale.”

About Pear Suite

Pear Suite is a digital health company that empowers community health workers to address the social determinants of health (SDOH), with a particular focus on the Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) community. Through Pear Suite’s social care navigation platform, health plans, providers, and community-based organizations can boost member engagement, improve health outcomes, and reduce the cost of care in a person-centered, culturally, and linguistically centered way. Pear Suite has supported dozens of organizations and impacted more than 25,000 lives by driving improvements that are often overlooked in the healthcare landscape. The company’s unique ability to combine software with tech-enabled services is significantly impactful for older adults, ethnic minority groups, and other medically-underserved groups. For more information, please visit pearsuite.com or follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter.

Originally announced May 16th, 2023

< + > Small hospitals drove EHR market demand in 2022, says KLAS

Epic achieved the only net positive change across electronic health record vendors, but Oracle Health had the highest growth in the small hospital market, according to the new study.