Group Practices

Group Practices Feature Story

Home Health Synchronicity : Case History

Written by E. Victor Brown, Senior Editor

A Minnesota healthcare enterprise discovers a single solution for home and hospice caregiver communication and reporting.

While the practice of providing caregivers with seamless access to health information within a hospital environment can be daunting, providing that same level of communication in the home healthcare environment can be particularly challenging. As the baby boom population ages, more and more people will find themselves moving between ED, hospital and home care. Caregivers must have the same level of access and support outside the hospital environment as they do within it. For one of Minnesota's largest medical groups, that seamless and transparent infrastructure of support required an evolution and process of discovery of not only the health information technology tools, but also the development of true partnerships between caregivers, institutions and healthcare technology solution vendors.

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There's No Place Like Home

Written by Wendy Angst

How will hospitals care for the massive influx of patients as boomers age? Home care technology may be the answer.

Technologies such as the personal health record (PHR) have the potential to transform how care is delivered in the home. Potential beneficiaries of the surge of interest in PHRs and electronic health records (EHR) include patients with chronic and disabling conditions, the frail elderly, volunteer caregivers and parents of severely ill children. Also standing to gain are healthcare professionals such as home health aides, therapists, and nurses and physicians who work in palliative care and hospice.

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The Mother Of Invention

Written by Dr. Charles Willey

A physician-owned medical group builds its own clinical decision support tool and brings it to the open market.

Tom Hastings, M.D., sits with his patient, a 67-year-old woman who was diagnosed with Type II diabetes several months earlier. She has been unable to control her diet and exercise. Having been visited recently from the Glaxo drug representative, Hastings recalls the rep touting Avandia’s proven ability to lower A1C levels among diabetic patients. While writing the prescription for Avandia, using his electronic prescribing software, he notices a message on the screen reminding him of a recent study regarding the increased risk of ischemic heart disease in patients taking Avandia. Reviewing the information further, and noting the higher cost for Avandia and potential adverse side effects, he looks at the alternatives the software presents. Based on the latest ADA recommendations for this patient’s diagnosis, Hastings concludes Metformin would be the safer and more economical first-line drug therapy for his patient.

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Automating Enrollment

Written by Gary Bolt, Brian Keane, and Sahal Laher

An online portal guides consumers through the purchasing process, linking sales with operations, resulting in lowered costs and increased revenue.

Today’s transforming healthcare market is dramatically altering the types of products health plans sell and the way they are sold. According to a March 2006 Forrester report, the individual and family insurance market is growing due to the availability of lower–cost plans and the tax–favored status of health savings accounts. At the same time, cost–shifting by employers and the rise of consumerism are producing a much more engaged healthcare purchaser. Consumers’ service expectations are rising, and they are demanding better products, more real–time information and greater personalization, all for less cost. These market drivers have led some health plans to increase their focus on self–service capabilities, new and lower–cost distribution channels, and enabling technology and tools, much like the financial services industry did a decade ago.

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Simplifying Managed Care Communications

Written by Sally Finley, RN

A case management department implements time saving technology that overturns nearly $700,000 in denials.

For years, providers have sought a reliable, automated solution to the time-consuming and error-prone process of claims reimbursement. On the front end of patient care, countless hours are spent working to notify and secure authorizations from differing payer organizations, each with its own set of unique processes and criteria. On the back end, collections will spend equally large amounts of time struggling to supply evidence necessary to overturn denied claims. All too often, the difficulty prevents any attempt at overturning the denials.

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Group Practices

Group Practices Feature Story

Home Health Synchronicity : Case History

A Minnesota healthcare enterprise discovers a single solution for home and hospice caregiver communication and reporting.

There's No Place Like Home

How will hospitals care for the massive influx of patients as boomers age? Home care technology may be the answer.

The Mother Of Invention

A physician-owned medical group builds its own clinical decision support tool and brings it to the open market.

Automating Enrollment

An online portal guides consumers through the purchasing process, linking sales with operations, resulting in lowered costs and increased revenue.

Simplifying Managed Care Communications

A case management department implements time saving technology that overturns nearly $700,000 in denials.

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