Organizational change projects that involve technology sometimes fail, often not because of a poor technology choice or an unresponsive vendor, but because the client failed to understand their own culture or how to use project management methods, controls, and metrics to meet their desired objectives. As a nimble, responsive organization, DIVURGENT Healthcare Advisors provides personalized, professional services in ways that big-box consulting firms cannot match. We spoke to Partners Colin Konschak, RPh, MBA, FACHE, FHIMSS; Philip Felt, PMP, MBA, CPHIMSS; and Lindsey Jarrell, FACHE, the former BayCare Health System SVP/CIO who recently joined the company as a partner.
QuadraMed’s Care-Based Revenue Cycle is a deceptively simply phrase that aptly describes the technology that hospitals desperately need: sophisticated clinical solutions that mesh seamlessly with world class applications supporting administrative and financial goals, all at a highly competitive price point. Few vendors can boast of a single product line of robust applications that include computerized physician order entry, integrated medication management, patient registration, patient accounting, identity management, and perhaps the most lauded health information management systems in the industry. We spoke with Joe Bormel, MD, MPH, the company’s chief medical officer and vice president for clinical strategy.
Reading healthcare IT magazines might make you think that every hospital needs a $20 million information system that takes five or more years to install and a vast army of highly trained support staff to keep it up and running. What they don’t say is that those systems are not always appropriate for community hospitals that need a fully functional yet affordable system to help them improve patient care, manage costs and the revenue cycle, and allow improving and measuring quality. Systems like that make perfect sense in uncertain economic times, especially when the federal government may soon provide help in financing healthcare technology such as Paragon. The Paragon hospital information system, No. 1 ranked in KLAS, is sold by healthcare giant McKesson Corporation, which backs Paragon with financial stability, deep healthcare expertise, and a wide range of healthcare solutions and technologies. We spoke to Jim Pesce, senior vice president and general manager for Paragon.
The industry is pushing (and being pushed) toward implementing electronic medical records that clinicians can use to improve care and reduce costs, but software applications alone are limited in their caregiver support capabilities. Much of the value of systems like CPOE and medication management actually comes from the underlying clinical decision support systems, not the software itself. Deriving value from those systems means embedding evidence-based clinical content from a respected source, whether it be drug information, CPOE order sets, or coding-aware procedure documentation systems. Wolters Kluwer Health Clinical Solutions provides industry-leading content under such universally recognized brand names as UpToDate®, Medi-Span, Facts & Comparisons, and ProVation Medical. We spoke to Linda Peitzman, MD, chief medical officer of the company.
Vanderbilt Medical Center is broadly recognized for applying sophisticated biomedical informatics technology to support its physicians and care venues in delivering quality care. Informatics Corporation of America has commercialized Vanderbilt-developed technology as ICA’s CareAlign solution, which provides a longitudinal patient record, workflow tools, population management, and secure messaging in a solution that can be rapidly implemented without changing underlying information systems. Strong technology, usability-based design, and ongoing physician involvement have combined to create a system with value in interoperability, physician alignment, and disease management. We spoke with Gary Zegiestowsky, CEO of ICA.
