Sunday, September 10
2:15 - 3:15 p.m.
Models Track

Challenges and Successes in RHIO Implementation
For several years, the 16 independent hospitals serving western North Carolina have explored options to securely and efficiently exchange electronic medical records among the region's healthcare providers. The WNC hospitals required that the project be implemented using each hospital's own legacy system without any type of central data repository. The hospitals contracted with IBM and AccessPt to develop and implement the solution with federal grant funds. In January 2006, the first four hospitals went "live" on the system with the remaining 12 hospitals to be phased in over the coming year. Called WNC Data Link, the system allows authorized physicians and clinicians to view electronic medical records across all WNC hospitals in a standardized format in real time. In future phases, authorized users will be able to access electronic records from physician offices, health departments, clinics and other healthcare providers to create a longitudinal view of the patient's medical history. This workshop will include: 1) a brief history of the project; 2) the technology, political and legal challenges that were addressed and overcome; and 3) a demo of the system.

Session Objectives

• Discuss the steps required to implement a RHIO
• Identify the political, technological and legal challenges in forming a RHIO
• Describe how the WNC Data Link system works

Gary Bowers, JD (WNC Health Network), Arlo Jennings, PhD (Mission Hospitals) & Tommy Finley (Rutherford Hospital)

Sunday, September 10
2:15 - 3:15 p.m.
Clinical Track

Improving Patient Care, Safety and Satisfaction through an Admission Database
Creating and recreating accurate patient medical history and records has been a source of increasing concern both throughout the United States and within the Duke University Health System. Of approximately 5,000 admissions per year to the Duke inpatient cardiovascular service, 881 of the patients were readmissions. Computerized admission data was not consistently available at the time of patient readmission, thus requiring the clinical provider to recreate the admission database prior to establishing the plan of care. Per year, this required 21 weeks of labor just to recreate data that has already been created. To address this, a database was created that included a problem list, allergy list, medication list, social history and family history that was copied and pasted from previous patient encounters including cardiology clinic notes and discharge summaries. The databases were created at the time an outpatient cardiology procedure was scheduled and stored in a secure location for licensed medical providers to access at the time of the procedure or at the time of readmission. The problem list, medication and/or allergy information was updated as appropriate and stored in the database. Our analysis concluded that by introduction and access of this database to medical providers during real time clinical care, time to disposition was reduced by 40%, patient satisfaction was enhanced by 21%, medical errors were reduced by 15% and provider satisfaction was improved by 30%. As the number of admissions and readmissions increased, this database was projected to save approximately 30 weeks per year of clinician time. This study emphasizes the continued need for creative solutions to medical records management.

Session Objectives

• Identify opportunities within the healthcare setting to improve efficiency, patient care and safety
• Establish multidisciplinary team opportunities to engage and reinforce success
• Align patient care system innovative ideas while also aligning team rewards

Carolyn Lekavich, MSN (Duke University Medical Center)

Sunday, September 10
2:15 - 3:15 p.m.
Compliance/Technology Track

Building a Mini EMR to Meet Clinical and Financial Needs
Physicians at the Duke Eye Center see over 100,000 patients per year over a wide geographic area. The complexity of managing a paper record used by multiple providers at multiple locations challenged the support services of the department. It became clear that an EMR was needed to manage clinical growth and to maintain excellent quality of care. At the same time, the EMR could not add significant time to the clinical visit, should maintain patient quality and safety, should maximize productivity and have minimal "ramp up" time. Any EMR system needed to provide immediate benefit: the Eye Center business demands this immediate clinical and financial payoff.

Duke Eye Center physicians and IT staff, with the help of a consultant, built a customized "mini EMR" that meets these demanding cost benefit goals. The system is lightweight and uses in-house tools to their fullest advantage. Physicians and technicians use workstations on swing arms that are equipped in each exam room. Some physicians use wireless tablets while seeing patients, and most patients appreciate the advanced nature of the system. The electronic data capture also paves the way for enhanced clinical research and standards-based information exchange in formats such as HL7's Clinical Document Architecture. However, any EMR implementation is not without its bumps and grinds. Hear stories from the trenches and lessons learned - what is good, bad, what would be done differently and what future plans lie ahead.

Session Objectives

• Discuss the pros and cons of using an EMR in a busy clinic practice
• List crucial success factors in adopting an EMR
• Describe the clinical, business and technical perspectives to be considered when developing an EMR

Robin Vann, MD (Duke Eye Center), Richard Low (Topsail Technologies), Nick Hernandez (Duke Eye Center) & Brian Rothfuss (Duke Eye Center)

Sunday, September 10
3:30 - 4:30 p.m.
Models Track

RHIOs: Making Sure Children's Healthcare Issues are Incorporated and Addressed
This session will highlight both national and state opportunities for addressing pediatric healthcare issues as Regional Health Information Organizations (RHIOs) play a major role in the transformation to EHR systems based on national "standards" for data definitions, privacy, security and transactions. This session will also include discussion of how to integrate pediatric-specific parameters into the development and implementation of e-health.

Session Objectives

• Identify opportunities and threats for the delivery of healthcare to children in the evolving transformation to EHR systems
• Explain how the strategies employed can be applied to local efforts

Patricia MacTaggart, MBA (Health Management Associates), Chuck Willson, MD (ECU Brody School of Medicine) & Donna Ettel, PhD (HCA)

Sunday, September 10
3:30 - 4:30 p.m.
Clinical Track

Justification and Adoption of the Ambulatory Medical Record
Over the past several years, reports have been published regarding the use and adoption of electronic health records (EHR) for both the inpatient and outpatient environments. Many healthcare organizations have developed an inpatient clinical roadmap, but the Ambulatory Medical Record (AMR) has generally not been fully addressed due to cultural (especially physician adoption) and cost constraint issues. A September 2005 study found that only 14.1 percent of all medical group practices in the U.S. use an EHR/AMR, and only 11.5 percent have a fully implemented EHR/AMR. Among smaller practices, the adoption rate is even lower. Nearly half of all respondents had no plans for EHR/AMR adoption. The researchers found that two important barriers to adoption were cost and the fact that practices are not convinced the EHR/AMR will improve their performance.

This presentation will discuss successful physician adoption methodologies for the AMR and provide a detailed approach to evaluation of the benefits of AMRs, utilizing a tool with standardized ambulatory metrics. Learn about Novant Health's approach to AMR assessment, its strategies for physician adoption and lessons learned.

Session Objectives

• Identify and discuss tools to communicate the relevance of acquiring AMR technologies
• Discuss how to engage physicians in the AMR process and tactics to help drive greater physician adoption of AMR technologies
• Provide an actual AMR benefits identification example for Novant Health's physician practices

Gail Hinte, MPA (HIMformatics), Sheila Cook (Novant Health) & Cathy Morris (HIMformatics)

Sunday, September 10
3:30 - 4:30 p.m.
Compliance/Technology Track

Simplifying Administrative Data Exchange, Interoperability at the CORE
In the world of banking, a single set of electronic data exchange rules has made ATM transactions and direct deposits an everyday occurrence. Why can't verifying patient eligibility and benefits and other data in provider offices be as easy as making an ATM cash withdrawal? CAQH is answering that question through the Committee on Operating Rules for Information Exchange (CORE), which is comprised of more than 80 industry stakeholders - health plans, providers, vendors, CMS and other government agencies, associations, regional entities, standard-setting organizations and banking industry experts. CORE is building consensus on a set of operating rules that will enhance interoperability between providers and payers, streamline eligibility and benefits data transactions, and reduce the amount of time and resources providers spend on administrative functions. The first phase of those rules, which build on the HIPAA requirements and other standards, will help providers determine which health plan covers the patient and their benefit coverage, and confirm coverage of certain service types and the patient's co-pay amount, coinsurance level and base deductible for each of those types. CORE also developed Phase I rules and policies to govern exchange of this data.

Session Objectives

• Describe the CORE initiative and the collaborative process that is being employed to create the rules
• Discuss how providers, health plans, clearinghouses and vendors interested in administrative data exchange can become and remain CORE certified, and the benefits of CORE certification
  

Josh Duffy (BCBSNC), Gwendolyn Lohse (CAQH) & Morgan Tackett, MHA (BCBSNC)

Monday, September 11
9:00 - 10:00 a.m.
Plenary Session

Leveraging the NHIN Prototype to Deliver Value Today
The Nationwide Health Information Network Prototype project is helping the healthcare industry gain insights as to how to improve our ability to gain value from Health Information Networks. Two communities, which are represented by NCHICA members from Rockingham County and Research Triangle, working with IBM as one of the initiative awardees, are among the twelve communities selected to participate in this demonstration. The lessons learned to date (at time of conference), approach to meeting project goals, and implications to the NCHICA community as well the nation will be discussed. In addition, the session will explore the impact on prototype outcomes to delivering value to individual stakeholders in the healthcare ecosystem and the creation of patient-centered health solutions. Finally, an update on anticipated next steps following the first phase of the project will be shared.

Session Objectives

• Discuss the value proposition to different healthcare ecosystem stakeholders that the NHIN Prototype project could create
• Describe the technical approach being taken for delivering the Nationwide Architecture to promote clinical information sharing among communities and stakeholders
• Discuss the local impact of the project and what immediate future opportunities are available for participation in the NHIN or similar activities
  

Monday, September 11
10:15 - 11:15 a.m.
Models Track

The Race Toward Interoperability and Data Exchange: A NC Perspective
The past 18 months have seen increased emphasis on interoperability and data exchange. Specific examples of this are the four ONCHIT awards for development of demonstrations for a Nationwide Health Information Network, as well as the awards for standards harmonization and state regulations regarding privacy. This presentation will specifically explore the IBM NHIN award and the North Carolina participation. Discussion will focus around use cases, architecture, patient identification and lessons learned to date.

Session Objectives

• List challenges and solutions for patient identification/matching
• Describe NHIN principles and define requirements and limitations per ONCHIT
• Discuss IBM use cases, including North Carolina involvement
  

Lorraine Fernandes, RHIA (Initiate Systems, Inc.), JP Little (RxHub) & Ginny Wagner (IBM)

Monday, September 11
10:15 - 11:15 a.m.
Clinical Track

Statewide Nursing Home Online Medication Error Reporting System: NC's Experience
The Cecil G. Sheps Center for Health Services Research at UNC-Chapel Hill is implementing a Web-based medication error reporting and management tool for use in North Carolina nursing homes. This online form will be used by nursing homes to enter information about each medication error or near miss that occurs in their facility. The information collected will include: patient demographics, medications involved, route of administration, type of error, phase in medication use, personnel involved, possible causes, whether the error reached the patient and its effect on the patient. The reporting system will allow participating nursing homes to extract summary data in table and graph formats from the information they have submitted for their facility. This will provide useful information to the nursing home for their medication management advisory committee to use in its mission to reduce errors and improve patient safety. Twenty-five nursing home facilities will be selected to pilot test the error reporting system. The pilot period will begin May 1, 2006 and last for six months. Pending successful results of the pilot, the Web-based system will be made available to all nursing homes for use beginning October 1, 2006. North Carolina enacted legislation in 2003 to require all state licensed nursing homes to report medication errors. Since January 2004 the Sheps Center has managed a statewide reporting system for Web-based annual reporting of medication errors. Nursing homes have collected information on their errors through the year, and reported aggregate statistics at year end. The new system will enable real time reporting of each individual error.

Session Objectives

• Discuss the pros and cons of both summary and individual medication error reporting
• List the characteristics of medication errors that are collectible from a reporting system
• Describe the type of facility reports that can be accessed through the Web system to assist in the facilities drug error management
  

Sandra Greene, DrPH (UNC)

Monday, September 11
10:15 - 11:15 a.m.
Compliance/Technology Track

The CCR Standard: Data Mobility for PHI
ASTM E2369, Standard Specification for Continuity of Care Record (CCR), is a dataset of the most relevant clinical information about a patient's healthcare to be used when a patient is referred, transferred, or uses different clinics, hospitals, or other providers. As both a technological innovation using XML to make health data interoperable, and a content standard for portability of PHRs, the CCR standard is mobilizing healthcare data and changing forever the way healthcare professionals preserve and transfer healthcare information about their patients. CCR standard development co-sponsoring organizations include the American Academy of Family Physicians, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Medical Association, HIMSS and the National Association for Long Term Care. This presentation will provide a basic overview of the CCR standard, and demonstrate how the CCR is being used by physicians, patients, health plans and community health information exchanges in projects around the country, from New Orleans to Yuma County, Arizona.

Session Objectives

• Describe the CCR standard and how it is mobilizing healthcare data
• Discuss how the CCR is being used across the country

David Kibbe, MD, MBA (AAFP)

Monday, September 11
11:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.
Models Track

NC DETECT
The North Carolina Disease Event Tracking and Epidemiologic Collection Tool (NC DETECT) is the Web-based early event detection and timely public health surveillance system in the North Carolina Public Health Information Network. NC DETECT uses the CDC's Early Aberration Reporting System (EARS) to monitor several data sources for suspicious patterns. Data sources currently monitored on at least a daily basis include 70 (62%) hospital emergency departments throughout the state, ambulance data collected by the statewide EMS system, the statewide poison center calls, and animal health data from laboratories at the NCSU College of Veterinary Medicine and from one regional wildlife rehabilitation center. Although the primary target of the system is illness or injury resulting from terrorist events involving infectious, chemical or radiation agents, NC DETECT also provides broader public health surveillance reports for emergency department visits related to hurricanes, injuries, asthma, occupational health and others.
The purpose of this presentation is to give an overview of NC DETECT, describe its crucial building blocks and share the lessons learned from building the system. It will include a demonstration of how the system and data are used each day by public health epidemiologists at the state, regional and local levels. Discussion will include future plans for NC DETECT, such as technical improvements and additional data sources.

Session Objectives

• Describe the purpose of NC DETECT
• Discuss the components of the NC DETECT system, including the different data sources used and the importance of maintaining data quality for each
• Explain how qualified hospital users can access NC DETECT for their own public health surveillance interests
  

Amy Ising, MSIS (UNC) & Lana Deyneka, MD, MPH (NC Division of Public Health)

Monday, September 11
11:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.
Clinical Track

A Consumer's Guide to Remaking American Medicine
"Remaking American Medicine: Healthcare for the 21st Century" is one of the nation's most sophisticated call-to-action campaigns that will reshape consumer involvement in healthcare. The RAM Campaign's flagship is a four-part PBS documentary series in development for nearly five years that PBS will air over four Thursdays in October 2006. Each episode features high-profile patient safety and quality control issues and how patients and families turned an adverse event into a provider collaboration to reshape healthcare in their communities. Sophisticated outreach and viewer recruitment is being driven by 42 national organizations including AARP, medical associations, QIOs, and CMS. Mary Cay Corr is spearheading the outreach campaign for UNC-TV, North Carolina's eleven station public television network. UNC-TV is one of the 22 PBS affiliates that received a grant for consumer outreach activities. In this session, we'll preview vignettes from the series, focus on the "Champions of Change in NC Medicine," highlight consumer stories from the series and discuss how NC organizations are involving consumers in designing and managing improved quality outcomes and reducing medical errors.

Session Objectives

• Predict the outcome of the series on consumer healthcare attitudes
• Prepare key messages to respond to consumer inquiries
• Initiate ideas for the development of consumer/patient involvement in reshaping healthcare

Mary Cay Corr (UNC-TV)

Monday, September 11
11:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.
Compliance/Technology Track

Organizing for Success: Security Management Program Best Practices
Effective enterprise-wide security management requires the integration of people, process and technology. Historically, many covered entities (both payers and providers) have relied upon the skills of the CIOs and IT departments to assemble this structure. Unfortunately, this model has difficulties adapting to organizational management challenges that accompany the transition to mature security operations. Covered entities are now evaluating management models that support an independent Chief Security Officer role, one that provides independent oversight, policy guidance and an enterprise-wide security focus. This presentation will explore the adoption of an independent CSO office at a major hospital district, an academic medical center and a $1B insurance company.

Session Objectives

• Explain the advantages and disadvantages of an independent Chief Security Officer role
• Identify the various security management processes, including those external to many IT departments
• Discuss the need for an enterprise-wide security focus
• Formulate a job description for a CSO

Clyde Hewitt (CTG Healthcare Solutions)

Monday, September 11
2:45 - 3:45 p.m.
Models Track

Tools for Building a Successful Health Information Exchange
All health information exchange (HIE) efforts face a similar set of challenges and opportunities. This session will highlight critical success factors, provide case studies demonstrating successes and failures and provide applicable HIE tools. Participants will learn about the eHealth Initiative Connecting Communities Toolkit and the impact of important decisions regarding governance, clinical impact, legal implications, financial considerations and technical architecture for a successful HIE. These decisions, when made appropriately, have a complementary effect on all stakeholders in the affected community. The presenter will also discuss the state and regional HIE efforts currently underway nationwide as part of the eHealth Initiative Foundation's Connecting Communities for Better Health Program.

Session Objectives

• Identify the critical success factors for HIE within a community
• Evaluate the key decisions to be made as a local, regional or statewide HIE is designed
• Describe how to ensure collaboration with existing governance, clinical and technology approaches in situations where key HIE decisions have already been made
  

Andrew Weniger (eHealth Initiative & Foundation)

Monday, September 11
2:45 - 3:45 p.m.
Clinical Track

Compliance Challenges in the Emerging Field of Disease Management
Disease management is an emerging field in the healthcare industry and oftentimes at the borderline between healthcare and health information. The cost savings from managing chronic diseases such as hypertension, diabetes, respiratory illnesses, cardiac disease and others come with new challenges. Entrants into this field need to stay abreast of the federal regulatory and HHS guidance expectations, the federal sentencing commission guidelines, HHS OIG guidance, HIPAA and more. Being a data-centric and technology-driven as well as patient-centric business, entrants and players in this field need to examine their compliance programs and efforts in a dynamically changing environment. This session will discuss some of the unique challenges faced by disease management companies, which are still largely unregulated but are intimately involved in patient care and in handling patient information.

Session Objectives

• Explain the regulatory guidance and regulations that apply to disease management companies today
• Describe the challenges that a compliance officer might face in a disease management company
• Discuss the impact that disease management companies have on the healthcare sector
• Explain the importance of accurately tracking return on investment (ROI) figures
  

Cornelia Dorfschmid, PhD (Strategic Management Systems, Inc.) & James Cottos (Strategic Management Systems, Inc.)

Monday, September 11
2:45 - 3:45 p.m.
Compliance/Technology Track

NPI Implementation: Issues and Answers
The purpose of this presentation is to identify and address key issues relevant to implementation of the National Provider Identifier (NPI). Healthcare providers, health plans and clearinghouses, as well as business associates and vendors that support all of these entities, need to understand and be prepared to address the legal, business and technical issues raised by the transition from existing identifiers to the NPI. They will need to evaluate the changes needed to implement the NPI in their own systems while coordinating and testing those changes with modifications being made by multiple other entities with whom they interact. This presentation will provide an overview of current NPI regulations and related program requirements, and review what the NPI is, what processes are necessary to obtain adequate NPI enumeration, and how to plan for NPI use. Among the issues to be discussed will be subpart enumeration; Electronic File Interchange (EFI), or "bulk" enumeration; apparent inconsistencies between the NPI Rule and other HIPAA transaction standards; dual usage of NPI and legacy identifiers; NPI data dissemination; and development and use of "crosswalks" between NPIs and legacy identifiers.

Session Objectives

• Describe the processes necessary to obtain adequate NPI enumeration
• Develop an internal NPI Implementation Plan, including the use of a pre-determined time line for each detailed task and objective
• Identify NPI implementation issues for resolution
  

Deborah Newman (LabCorp)

Monday, September 11
4:00 - 5:00 p.m.
Models Track

Health IT Adoption by NC Rural Public Health Entities
Public health departments in rural North Carolina have a distinctive set of opportunities and challenges in adopting health information technology (HIT) to improve public health. To accelerate HIT adoption in public health, NCHICA and the NC Institute for Public Health have recently facilitated assessment and promotion activities with the 17 counties in the Northeast NC Partnership for Public Health and the 13 counties of the South Central NC Partnership for Public Health. NCHICA's work was funded by a grant from the NC Health and Wellness Trust Fund Commission. The focus of the work was to assist the directors and managers of these groups in determining what their best next steps would be in adopting HIT through partnership-wide projects. This session will present the results of this work, including the current status of the HIT infrastructure in NC, prioritized assessments of HIT improvements, barriers analysis and key recommendations.

Session Objectives

• Describe three key results from the partnerships
• List the top three key opportunities for HIT adoption in the partnerships
• List three of the key recommendations resulting from this work

Dave Kirby (Kirby IMC)

Monday, September 11
4:00 - 5:00 p.m.
Clinical Track

Business Continuity is for Wall Street, Care Continuity is for Healthcare
If we worked on Wall Street, we'd have a detailed business continuity plan that would enable our organization to survive interruptions of service, both small and large. That's great if we made hammers. In healthcare it's about a bit more: it's about people. It's about being able to care for people in our communities and our families in any situation, from a server outage to a flood.

Healthcare organizations must provide services that are secure, confidential and available to their care-delivery teams. The increasing complexity of processes, systems and integration has created an environment in healthcare that organizations cannot address with traditional disaster recovery or business continuity. A BCP that only enables 90% of an organization to function in a disaster can be a recipe for failure in an integrated clinical environment. As healthcare organizations automate more of the care delivery process, there comes a moment of realization that clinical operations have become more than technology dependent: they are dependent upon the processes that leverage technology. We will explore a real-world example of one organization that recognized the value of a care-based approach to their continuity planning to ensure their clinicians always had access to the processes to deliver care.

Session Objectives

• Explain the difference between a business-based approach to continuity planning in healthcare and a clinical approach
• Describe the process differences in a care-based continuity approach
• Discuss how Care Continuity binds clinical, business and technology processes to serve the organization and ultimately the patient
• Explain the clinical value of a Care Continuity approach to decision support, nursing documentation, meds administration and CPOE
• Identify weaknesses inherent to your organization's existing continuity plans
  

Monday, September 11
4:00 - 5:00 p.m.
Compliance/Technology Track

Planning for the EHR: Updates and Strategies
Hurricane Katrina brought the need for electronic medical records to the attention of the nation and accelerated discussions about the journey to achieve a true Electronic Health Record (EHR). This session will provide an overview of both government and industry definitions and visions for the EHR, and discuss how healthcare organizations are moving forward on their journey to achieve an EHR. You will learn the key requirements of a model EHR from the NHII Strategic Framework: inform clinical practice, interconnect stakeholders, improve population health and personalize care. This session will also provide practical examples of IT solutions that map to each area of the framework, and share stories of healthcare organizations across the country that are already well on their way to achieving their EHR vision. Discussion will include strategies to help healthcare organizations in their efforts to achieve an EHR, regardless of where they are on the journey.

Session Objectives

• Discuss the latest activities surrounding the national effort to implement EHRs
• Describe how healthcare organizations across the country are successfully moving towards an EHR
• List strategies your organization can use to implement an EHR
  

Terry Jacobs (Siemens Medical)

Tuesday, September 12
10:15 - 11:15 a.m.
Models Track

Using the Internet to Improve Healthcare Communications: Select Case Studies
Internet-based communications have improved the operations of many healthcare facilities throughout the entire continuum of care. North Carolina-based payers, providers and suppliers are dramatically improving their workflow by communicating through a single interface with their business partners. During this panel presentation, the audience will participate in a discussion led by representatives from the NC Division of Medical Assistance, WakeMed Health & Hospitals and Advanced Home Care. Topics will include how these organizations have infused Internet-based communications into their workflows and the benefits realized.

Session Objectives

• Define and describe successful implementation strategies for Internet-based communications
• List the potential direct and indirect cost savings resulting from Internet-based communications
• Describe the organizational requirements for RHIO participation

Kimberly Brummett (Advanced Home Care), David Gardner (Covisint), David Miller (Covisint), Lynne Perrin (NC Medicaid), Charlotte Terwilliger (WakeMed) & Christine Tichenor (Covisint)

Tuesday, September 12
10:15 - 11:15 a.m.
Clinical Track

Achieving Cost Effective Disease Management
The South Carolina Heart Center (SCHC) is the largest private cardiovascular practice in the southeastern United States. SCHC decided to introduce congestive heart failure (CHF) software as part of its ongoing commitment to reduce the impact of cardiovascular disease. Prior to this decision, SCHC found it extremely difficult to manage CHF patients by traditional documentation methods. Physicians were not able to track a patient's status in an efficient manner. Patients would wait until their symptoms were severe before contacting their physician, which would result in the need for hospital admission and increased lengths-of-stay. SCHC began implementing CHF disease management software in March, 2005 with clear goals in mind, including reducing the need for CHF admissions to the hospital, reducing length-of-stay when patients were admitted, involving the patient in his or her own management of CHF, and improving communication with all providers involved in a patient's care. This presentation will share lessons learned, results garnered from implementation and utilization of the disease management software, the overall results of the program and the ROI seen through this type of software.

Session Objectives

• Describe how to use disease management software to manage CHF patients
• Explain how patients are involved in their CHF management through software
• Discuss how to improve communication with all healthcare providers through use of the software
• Describe how disease management can decrease hospitalizations and lengths-of- stay
  

Sherry Shults, RN (South Carolina Heart Center)

Tuesday, September 12
10:15 - 11:15 a.m.
Compliance/Technology Track

Person-Centered Care: You'll Know It When You See It
Healthcare providers often reduce person-centered healthcare to patient satisfaction measures, and most healthcare consumers aren't even sure what person-centered care means. In some cases by design and in others by accident, technology-enabled services and processes focused on the healthcare consumer are playing a major role in bringing about person-centered care. As healthcare consumers are exposed to these services, the difference between traditional provider-centered care and person-centered care becomes obvious and changes their expectations. This presentation discusses what person-centered care means in practical terms and illustrates with real-world examples of technology-based systems delivering person-centered care, including patient-centered disease management, patient-owned health record systems, health record banking institutions and debit cards for Health Savings Accounts. Provider-centered processes that can be re-designed as person-centered processes are also described.

Session Objectives

• Describe what person-centered care means in practical terms
• Explain how technologies are enabling person-centered care
• Critique healthcare processes in terms of person-centered care principles
  

Mimi Saffer (American Board of Pediatrics)

Tuesday, September 12
12:30 - 1:30 p.m.
Models Track

Wireless Communications and Messaging
Sampson Regional Medical Center (SRMC) is a 150-bed rural acute care facility located in Clinton, North Carolina. SRMC recently partnered with a wireless solutions company to implement a comprehensive campus-wide wireless network using their suite of tools. In Phase I of the project, all hospital staff obtained phones, pagers or alert devises to streamline communication between nurses, physicians, and ancillary and support staff. Completion of the phase resulted in the elimination of many communication errors and gaps between caregivers. Patient care was immediately provided in a more efficient, timely and safe manner.

In Phase II of the project, SRMC integrated the communication of the phones and pagers with several Meditech clinical and financial modules, as well as patient monitors, nurse call, building maintenance, PACS and fire alarm systems using an integrated communication gateway. Completion of Phase II allowed for real-time communication of any alarm, alert or event throughout the hospital to be transmitted immediately to any phone or pager. Communication included not only the phones and pagers within the SRMC campus, but also integration with SRMC's nationwide paging service. Examples of Meditech integration include the transmission of lab results to clinical caregivers and notification to appropriate ancillary staff when an order is entered.

Session Objectives

• Describe the core technology and infrastructure included in the project as well as the challenges (and solutions) of enterprise-wide integration
• Explain the ROI and other benefits of implementing this wireless solution and key items to obtain senior management buy-in
• Discuss results of SRMC's January Joint Commission Laboratory Survey
• List next steps and lessons learned from the project

David Ziolkowski, MBA, MHA (Sampson Regional Medical Center)

Tuesday, September 12
12:30 - 1:30 p.m.
Clinical Track

Super-Size Our System?
Many entities, including the Office of the President of the United States, have endorsed the development of the Electronic Health Record (EHR). Despite obvious benefits, there are a number of reasons why American healthcare organizations have been slow to jump on the EHR bandwagon, including lack of funding, poor financial incentives for providers, a well-reported history of costly but failed efforts, and privacy/security issues. While the overall vision for the EHR is broad and comprehensive, large enterprise-wide or "super-sized" systems are built with a "one-size-fits-all" design, and with good reason. Having one place to view the "complete" health record prevents piecemeal patient care and gaps in knowledge. Unfortunately, the super-sized approach lacks the customization that a specialized chronic disease practice like organ transplantation requires.

In our comprehensive medical-surgical transplant program, we provide care for the lifetime of the patient, and have a multitude of data needs that the enterprise-wide system, no matter how robust, cannot provide. The smaller "niche" or condition/disease-specific database, interfaced with our clinical information system, allows us to maintain compliance with regulatory reporting to Medicare and UNOS (United Network for Organ Sharing) and provides ready access and retrieval capabilities for survival statistics. Demonstrating the need for such a system is the first challenging step of the process; we'll review how we started and where we are today, three years after implementation.

Session Objectives

• List benefits and specific applications of a condition/disease specific clinical database in the management of chronic disease
• Explain how the condition/disease specific database and the enterprise-wide clinical systems may complement each other
• Identify those needs for "building" the case for a condition/disease specific database for their own practice
  

Lauren Kearns, MSN (UNC Hospitals) & Ken Andreoni (UNC Health Care)

Tuesday, September 12
12:30 - 1:30 p.m.
Compliance/Technology Track

The All-You-Can-Eat Identity Management Buffet
When most healthcare organizations think of identity management (IM), a complement of technologies comes to mind: user provisioning, access control, single sign-on, authentication, auditing and more. And typically vendors offer a financial incentive that entices organizations to purchase and implement a suite of tools all at once. For hospitals that need to implement most or all of the technologies that fall under the IM umbrella this "all-you-can-eat" model makes sense. But in many cases, hospitals can quickly achieve the business benefits they are striving for by implementing just one or two key IM technologies. For these healthcare organizations, the return on an "all you can eat" investment may not justify the cost.

This presentation examines case studies from the healthcare industries where implementing a few critical technologies met the hospital's immediate and long term IM needs. With just a fraction of the cost and resources associated with a full blown suite of tools, they each solved their IM problems and realized a quick ROI. Issues specific to each scenario, including government regulation, password policies, authentication, auditing, enterprise architecture and relative cost, will be discussed. Different approaches to needs assessment, evaluation, implementation and measurement of ROI will be outlined.

Session Objectives

• Explain the broad range of identity management options available to healthcare organizations today
• Discuss IT scenarios and challenges at three different healthcare organizations, and what implementation strategies worked best for each
• Describe government regulations, password policies, authentication, auditing, enterprise architecture and relative cost

Chris Feeney, CISSP (Imprivata, Inc.)