DECEMBER 2010 Issue

eHealthAlign appoints interim CEO

The eHealthAlign Formational Board of Directors has appointed John C. Wade, president of JCWade and Associates, LLC, as the organization’s interim chief executive officer. Wade is retired from Saint Luke’s Health System of Kansas City, where he served as vice president and chief information officer.

Prior to joining Saint Luke's, Wade was a principal and national health care practice director with the consulting firm of Logica North America, headquartered in Waltham, Massachusetts. He also served as the senior information executive at the University of Alabama Health Systems at Birmingham; Northwestern Memorial Health System in Chicago; and Children's Hospital Medical Center in Boston. Wade is an honors graduate of Boston College, where he pursued a master’s degree in business administration, and is a fellow of both HIMSS and CHIME.

Safety Net Collaborative identifies priorities for 2011

Members of the Safety Net Collaborative (SNC) conducted in-depth strategic planning sessions in October and November to identify priority areas of focus for the organization for 2011. Melissa Ness from Connections Unlimited facilitated the process. Members of the Safety Net Collaborative identified several priority focus areas, including:

1. The impact of health care reform on the safety net system of care
2. Sustainable funding for safety net clinics
3. Accurate data regarding the safety net system of care
4. Knowledge of health information technology and regional and state initiatives
5. Access to specialty care for medically vulnerable patients

Board considers hospital pricing for health information exchange

At the Nov. 19 eHealthAlign Formational Board meeting, Mike Dunaway, senior vice president of the Kansas City Metropolitan Healthcare Council and member of the eHealthAlign board, discussed a method of allocating health information exchange costs across hospitals. Dunaway discussed the difficulty of finding an equitable manner to charge hospitals for health information exchange costs due to the complexity of many hospital systems and the variability of their inpatient and outpatient volumes.

Dunaway shared a formula, alternatively entitled adjusted patient days or adjusted occupied-bed days, that has been used by hospital systems for many years. He proposed this as a possible metric that could be used as a proxy for the utilization of the health information exchange by a hospital or hospital system. The formula is computed by an accounting firm and the figures for the computation are taken from the hospital’s cost report. Dunaway pointed out that this is a reputable manner of gathering accurate data.

The eHealthAlign Board members concurred that a pricing model based upon adjusted patient days had promise and they encouraged eHealthAlign staff to gather more information from hospital associations and from hospital CEOs related to the pricing bands. For more information about this process or to provide input, please contact Mike Dunaway.

Safety net clinics launch care-coordination program for at-risk patients

A consortium of Kansas City area safety net clinics has announced a new regional strategy to assist medically vulnerable patients in accessing health care services. The At-Risk Patient Support Services Project employs Community Health Workers who reach out to at-risk patients identified at each of the collaborating clinics. Patients with medical or social issues that present barriers to obtaining timely health care services will be offered assistance. Patients may qualify for the program if they lack medications; have ongoing medical needs; are non-English speaking or have English as a second language; experience difficulty accessing transportation; have missed health or behavioral health appointments; or experience difficulty accessing food, housing Medicaid and/or Medicare.

The At-Risk Patient Support Services Project will be deployed in January 2011 through a care coordination team. The team will include medical and behavioral health professionals and Community Health Workers (CHWs) serving as the front line team members. Community Health Worker is an umbrella term that refers to a health care worker, alternatively known as outreach workers, promotores(as) de salud, community health representatives or patient navigators. The CHW serves as a liaison between health systems and communities; facilitates access to and improves the quality and cultural competence of medical care, with an emphasis on preventative and primary care. The CHWs will help patients with seven key health navigation responsibilities:

1. Scheduling and attending medical and behavioral health appointments
2. Transportation related to medical and behavioral health care
3. Obtaining necessary medications
4. Accessing necessary health and wellness information
5. Management of medical and behavioral health referrals
6. Translation services related to health care issues
7. Adherence to medical recommendations and taking medications as prescribed.

Participation in the program is voluntary and patients may discontinue this service at any time without any disruption to their already established health care relationships. The project is funded by the Health Care Foundation of Greater Kansas City and hosted by the KC Free Health Clinic. For more information, contact Jody Denson or Heather Brungardt.

McCrary leaving MARC’s Regional Health Care Initiative

Laura McCrary Ed.D, director of the Regional Health Care Initiative (RHCI) at the Mid-America Regional Council, will leave her position effective December 30, 2010 to become executive director of the newly created Kansas Health Information Network (KHIN).

McCrary has led the RHCI since its inception in January 2007. Under her leadership and with the support of the region’s health and behavioral health stakeholders, the RHCI has had a number of significant accomplishments, including:

• Expansion of the safety net system of care to serve more than 900 new patients through the addition of evening and weekend clinic hours in safety net clinics.
• Development of the Children’s Enhancement Project (CEP) to provide a comprehensive system of supports to children in western Missouri who have significant behavioral health needs, helping them stay in their homes and communities and reducing the need for long-term hospitalizations.
• Development of a regional health information exchange, eHealthAlign, which facilitates the secure exchange of health data to improve health care quality and efficiency at the point of care.

At KHIN, McCrary will be responsible for the development of Kansas’ state-wide health information exchange. KHIN is a technology services organization that supports regional health information exchanges in Kansas City and Wichita and provides direct services to portions of Kansas that do not have access to regional exchanges. KHIN was developed through a collaborative agreement between the Kansas Medical Society, the Kansas Hospital Association, eHealthAlign and the Wichita Health Information Exchange (WHIE).

MARC is currently accepting applications to fill the position vacated by McCrary. Details are available online.