Share

    


In This Section

Home / Learn / Management & Operations / Telehealth / Health Information Technology

Health Information Technology

As healthcare transitions to a patient-centric, value-based model, the role of information technology (IT) has become critical for data collection and reporting, for supporting patient engagement and education, for providing point-of-care information for providers, and more.

By 2016, more than 95 percent of hospitals eligible for the Medicare and Medicaid EHR Incentive Program had achieved meaningful use of certified health IT, and over 60 percent of all U.S. office-based physicians (MD/DO) had demonstrated meaningful use of certified health IT in the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Electronic Health Record (EHR) Incentive Programs.1  Yet ACCC's 2017 Trending Now in Cancer Care survey found that although half of respondents (51%) report that their EHR platforms have interoperability capabilities (i.e., the capability to transmit a summary of a patient’s care to other systems), nearly 1 in 3 (31%) say their EHRs do NOT have that capability. At this stage in the EHR journey, the vast majority of survey respondents (80%) say that their EHR system(s) have increased the workload of their physicians and staff.

Realizing the potential of health IT requires solving real-world challenges across all settings of care.

1.The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology. Health IT Dashboard. Available at https://dashboard.healthit.gov/quickstats/quickstats.php

Featured Program

Optimizing Electronic Health Records

Through this project, ACCC identifies real-world tactics for overcoming common challenges and barriers to the use of EHRs for data analysis, care coordination, and quality reporting.
Learn More

From Oncology Issues

  •  Integrating Discrete Genomic Data with an EHR Improves Patient Care Provider Satisfaction and Program Metrics
    By Karen Huelsman, MS, LGC, et al.
    In addition to facilitating faster ordering and resulting of genomic testing, genomic integration with an EHR also led to streamlined workflow, reduced time to access results, and greater efficiency in clinical decisions for TriHealth.
  •  Machine Learning and Predictive Analytics Solution Transforms Infusion Center Operations
    By Maddelynne Parker and Chidi Ike
    The O’Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of Alabama at Birmingham and Monument Health Cancer Care Institute leveraged a technology solution to improve infusion center efficiency, increase revenue, and reduce patient wait times.
  •  Ochsner Chemotherapy Care Companion: Improving Outcomes through Digital Medicine
    By Zoe Larned
    Ochsner Health, Ochsner Cancer Institute developed a program to remotely monitor patients on intravenous or oral anti-cancer treatment.
  •  An Interprofessional EHR Collaboration Optimizes Oncology Navigation Efficiency and Value
    By Lauri Ledbeter, Whitney Daws, Lindsay Shimizu and Rebekah Hart
    The interdisciplinary team at Providence Health & Services leveraged its electronic health record to improve the efficiency, transparency, and productivity of their oncology navigation program.
  •  Leveraging Pharmacy Informatics to Standardize Pharmacists Review of Oral Oncolytics-for-Hospitalized-Patients
    Madison Saxton, PharmD, et al.
    Pharmacy informatics can be leveraged to help clinical inpatient pharmacists ensure the safe use of oral oncolytics during a patient’s hospital stay.
  •  A Digital Population Tracking System Helps Improve Colorectal Cancer Survivorship Services
    Raymond Liu, MD, et al.
    An integrated precision tracking program ensures proper follow-up care and surveillance for survivors of colorectal cancer.
  •  Creating an Oncology Practice Plan That Can Change with the Times
    James L. Weese, MD, FACS, et al.
    Thirty-six medical oncologists, practicing at 21 sites in groups that ranged in size between 1 and 8, were paid according to 14 variations of 9 individual practice plans. We felt that the window of opportunity was optimal to convert individual sites into a functionally cohesive and interactive group using financial goals and rewards to encourage behavioral changes.
  •  Reducing ED Visits and Hospital Admissions After Chemotherapy with Predictive Modeling of Risk Factors
    Michelle Smith, DC, and Jay Carlson, DO
    Mercy Cancer Care responded to OP-35 was by developing an internal report that predicted the metrics for one of its larger oncology practices.
  •  A Pharmacist Collaborative Practice Agreement Improves Oral Oncolytic Workflow and Reduces Treatment Delays
    Amanda L. Wright, PharmD, et al.
    St. Luke’s Cancer Institute, formerly known as Mountain States Tumor Institute, established its medically integrated pharmacy in 2010 to manage patients on oral oncolytics. To improve the workflow in the medically integrated pharmacy and assist busy providers with patient care, St. Luke’s Cancer institute’s pharmacy management team discussed opportunities to expand pharmacist responsibilities, including the implementation of a collaborative practice agreement.
  •  Transitioning Select Chemotherapeutics to the Outpatient Setting Improves Care and Reduces Costs
    Ali McBride, PharmD, MS, BCOP, and Daniel Persky, MD
    Providers and staff at the University of Arizona Cancer Center, along with published literature, report that patients want to receive their therapies in the outpatient setting when possible
  •  After the Outbreak: Preparing for the Return of Cancer Cases
    Matthew Strum, MBA, and Jessica Turgon, MBA
    Cancer programs are facing multiple challenges related to treating patients in a COVID-19 environment. Cancer programs need to deploy systems and processes to help navigate these patients into the healthcare system and to work through the backlog of new patients with cancer as quickly as possible within existing resources.
  •  All It Takes Is One
    Alti Rahman, MHA, MBA, CSSBB
    All it takes is one. One person, one email, one click, to grant cybercriminals access to your confidential files, your applications, and your patients’ protected health information.
  •  Confronting Cyber Threats to Your Practice
    Sean Hall and Adam Rebhuhn
    Cyberattacks can take place against any entity on any scale, striking both individuals and multinational companies with consequences big and small. As we have seen repeatedly, not even the largest companies with the most sophisticated security resources at their disposal are immune from security breaches.
  •  Developing and Implementing a Radiation Oncology App to Improve the Patient Experience
    Wellspan Health, Oncology Service Line
    In 2018 the Oncology Service Line recognized the potential to improve the patient experience with the development and implementation of a mobile radiation oncology application (app). This app supports the healthcare organization’s goal to deliver a patient experience that is simpler, builds loyalty, and reduces patient anxiety.
  •  Reducing Revenue Loss and Patient Financial Toxicity with a Pharmacy-Managed Pre-Certification and Denials Management Program
    Suzanne J. Francart, PharmD, BCPS, et al.
    To adequately address patient financial toxicity, institutions must assume responsibility for ensuring that patients understand their insurance coverage and anticipated out-of-pocket expenses. Institutions should also have procedures in place to navigate the pre-certification process and prevent claim denials that may ultimately end up as the patient’s responsibility.
  •  Can You Hear Me Now?
    Kimberly Smith, MPHA
    After integrating voice recognition software with its EMR, Mount Sinai Health System reduced physician workload, improved patient care, and streamlined clinic workflow. Physicians and staff shared that this process improvement initiative also improved their well-being, freeing clinicians up to spend more time doing what they want to do—caring for patients.
  •  Implementing Oncology Distress Screening in a Large Academic Health System
    Marianne Pearson, LCSW, AND Laura M. Melton, PhD
    A step-by-step guide on how to develop and implement a health system-wide distress screening tool.
  •  MyCareCompass
    Elizabeth Koelker, MHA, FACHE, et al.
    A dynamic partnership with a technology company allowed one cancer program to improve patient education through the use of digital communication. Today patients receive emails or texts at crucial and targeted moments during their cancer treatment journey.
  •  Utilizing Scribes to Improve Patient-Centered Care and Efficiency and Reduce Burnout
    By Amy Hindman
    More oncology programs across the country are hiring scribes in their practices to improve patient-centered care, reduce physician burnout, and create administrative efficiencies.
  •  Fast Facts
  •  One Best Practice: Streamlining Workflow, Unifying Staff, and Reducing Redundancy
    Elizabeth Koelker, MHA, FACHE
    When Kettering Health Network reorganized its operations by service lines, oncology had major problems—internal competition, communication deficits, inefficiencies, and a lack of infrastructure. Learn how Kettering united its oncology staff under “one best practice,” streamlined operations, increased patient volume, and decreased internal competition.
  •  Development of an Outpatient Cardio-oncology Program
    By Laurie Walton Fitzgerald, MSN, RN, and Peyton Neilson, MSN, RN, OCN
    At University of Maryland Upper Chesapeake Health, the Heart and Vascular Institute and the Kaufman Cancer Center have come together to create a cardio-oncology program that provides a patient-centered, multidisciplinary clinic for cancer patients during diagnosis, treatment, and survivorship.
  •  Turning on the Light Switch
    By Ann McGreal, RN
    Discover how 2017 ACCC Innovator Award winner Advocate Medical Group developed and implemented an immunotherapy program, lessons learned, and tools created to educate staff and patients.
  •  A Web-Based Patient Tracker
    Michelle Evangelista, RN, MHSA, and Astrid Lenis, BS
    In the summer of 2012 the Ruttenberg Cancer Center, New York, N.Y., developed and implemented a web-based patient tracking system to improve patient flow and enhance the patient experience.
  •  An EMR-Driven Approach to Survivorship Care Plans
    Sigrun Hallmeyer, MD, and Naveed Cheema, DO
    In order to minimize the challenges of time and resource allocation, Oncology Specialists, SC, set out to create a survivorship care plan (SCP) using its electronic medical record (EMR) as a tool to ease the clinician’s workload and time commitment, while still delivering patient-centered care at the end of treatment.
  •  Copy and Paste—CMS to the Rescue!
    Copy and Paste—CMS to the Rescue!
  •  Improving Pain Management in Patients with Cancer
    Dylan Zylla, MD
    In June 2014 Park Nicollet Oncology Research and Health-Partners Institute, Minneapolis, Minn., implemented a quality improvement (QI) initiative aimed at improving pain management in patients with cancer.
  •  Start Small, Think Big!
    Melissa Cronn and Lorri Smith, RN, BSN
    As the healthcare payment landscape shifts from volume-based to value-based reimbursement, healthcare facilities need to look inward at their business performance to understand how to improve and adapt to this change.
  •  Developing an Oncology IT Strategy
    Ryan Langdale, MBA, and Alex Glonek
    This article reviews the keys to developing a successful oncology-specific IT strategy in a continuously changing IT environment.
  •  Compliance: Coding & Billing Telehealth Services
    Cindy Parman, CPC, CPC-H, RCC
    In order to be reimbursed for telehealth services, specific criteria must be met and unique procedure codes and modifiers must be appended to identify the services performed.

From the ACCCBuzz Blog