Medicity in the News

Medical Records Meet 21st Century with GeorgiaDirect

WABE: The state says it's well on its way toward implementing an electronic system where patients, doctors, hospitals and other health care providers across Georgia can access medical records. The goal is to improve efficiency and deliver better patient care. The first phase is called GeorgiaDirect, and it's a offered through the Georgia Health Information Network. Now that it's up and running, it promises to make sharing medical data easier. More ...

State, Federal Health Data Exchange Efforts Heat Up

iHealthBeat: The need for robust health information exchange (HIE) continues to grow, and not just because it is a part of the meaningful use incentive program. Having infrastructure to support HIE will be a critical component to enable new payment and care delivery models like accountable care organizations and medical homes. ... The Direct Project – which was sponsored by the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT – has become an important on-ramp to the health information superhighway. More ...

Improving quality of care: Care transitions and medications adherence

NHINWatch: Nestled in the northwest corner of Mississippi, the 18-county region known as the Mississippi Delta is home to the crossroads, Blues music and fertile farmland. The Delta is also home to some of the nation's worst health problems, where the prevalence of diabetes reaches 13 percent, and approximately 70 percent of all adults are overweight or obese. The Delta Health Alliance (DHA) changes healthcare in the Delta by improving access to healthcare and providing education for healthier lifestyles. Despite the socio-economic challenges that present in the Delta, or perhaps because of them, clinicians in the Delta have readily adopted new innovations in care. More ...

Podcast and transcript of interview with Health Bell, KishHealth System CIO

healthcarecio.com: KishHealth System CIO discusses developing an HIE strategy with Medicity at the core. More ...

Building a solid infrastructure for ACOs

By James K. Lassetter, M.D.

Health Management Technology: Use an HIE to leverage existing information systems.Standard fee-for-service payment models will soon face what may be their most viable competition to date: accountable care. Established under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) of 2010, accountable care organizations (ACOs) represent integrated care systems that will be responsible for the quality and cost of the care they provide to Centers of Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) beneficiaries. More...

ACOs: What they entail and how we will benefit

CMIO.net: The U.S. spends more on healthcare than any of the other 34 countries that comprise the Organization of Economic Co-operation and Development, but has seen comparatively little improvement in outcomes. Moving toward an accountable care organization (ACO) model may be the answer to improving patient care in the U.S., said Gifford Boyce-Smith, MD, general internist and senior vice president and chief medical officer of Medicity, during a webinar Dec. 15.
More...

Preparing for Accountable Care Organizations

By James K. Lassetter, MD

HIMSS News: With the federal government set to pilot a new care-delivery and reimbursement model focused on accountable care a year from now, hospitals, health systems, medical groups and payers may soon have to decide how to respond to an innovation that promises to drastically reshape the industry within the next five years. More...

HIEs: Specialize, Adapt & Survive

CMIO.net: Health information exchanges (HIEs) are coming online at a rapid pace, fueled by federal dollars and the demands of an increasingly mobile population. What information is being exchanged? The answer depends on the HIE and the communities it serves. Answer this question correctly, and your HIE’s prospects for survival greatly improve. More...

West Michigan HIE Incrementally Adds Value

Healthcare Informatics: Michigan Health Connect got its initial start in July 2009 when a few health systems in West Michigan using Medicity’s Novo Grid (Salt Lake City, Utah) decided to share health information. The collaborative was formalized in March 2010 with five main health systems as stakeholders. Doug Dietzman, at the time a program manager with one of the stakeholders Spectrum Health, worked in the beginning stages to deploy Medicity and helped facilitate the burgeoning collaborative. Once Michigan Health Connect incorporated, Dietzman stepped into the executive director role. He recently spoke with HCI Associate Editor Jennifer Prestigiacomo about his HIE’s value-add strategy, as well as his mantra of not trying to do it all. More...

Vendors project bright future for HIE market

Healthcare IT News: With states either submitting or receiving approval from the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT of their strategic and operational plans for statewide HIEs, the HIE market is booming for vendors. More...

Perspective: Operational HIEs offer advice to fledgling HIE efforts

NHIN Watch: A recent KLAS report indicated a health information exchange market overflowing with vendors but few live deployments, which can confuse emerging HIEs. More...

Q&A: Delaware HIE rolls on with the changes

CMIO.net: The healthcare landscape has changed a lot since Delaware Health Information Network (DHIN), the first statewide health information exchange (HIE) in the U.S., went live in the spring of 2007, says Gina Perez, MPA, the DHIN executive director. More...

Five Michigan Healthcare Organizations Partner to Launch HIE

HIMSS News: Five Michigan hospital systems have partnered to advance HIE across their communities by forming the Michigan Health Connect (MHC). MHC’s mission is to advance the delivery of patient-focused healthcare across the state by collaboratively leveraging IT and clinical data exchange. More ...

Powering Health Information Exchange between Physician Practices and Hospitals

Group Practice Journal: Patrick O’Hare talks about how hospitals and health systems are now exploring hospital-based HIEs to facilitate the exchange of information with physicians, labs, imaging centers and other care providers using the Medicity Novo Grid. More ...

Q&A: Beware of train wrecks

CMIO.net: Healthcare delivery is undergoing drastic changes, making interoperability all the more imperative—as long it’s done carefully, said George Conklin, senior vice president and CIO of Christus Health, a faith-based healthcare network based in Dallas, which has hospitals in Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, Georgia, Missouri and New Mexico, as well as Mexico. Conklin recently spoke with CMIO about Christus Health’s initiatives to get beyond point-to-point interfaces. More ...

Podcast: Traditional HIE Vs. Hospital HIE: What's The Difference?

Healthcare Technology Online: Kipp Lassetter, CEO of Medicity, talks with Healthcare Technology online editor in chief Ken Congdon in this exclusive podcast. During the conversation, Lassetter outlines some fundamental differences between traditional HIE and hospital, or enterprise, HIE. Lassetter also provides some key insight throughout the podcast on the steps necessary to deploy a successful HIE project. Listen ...

Quantifying The Value Proposition And ROI For Electronically Connecting Hospitals And Community Physicians, April 26, 2010

 

Healthcare Technology Online: Hospitals have an opportunity, spurred by stimulus funding available through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA), to create and expand health information exchange (HIE) both with current affiliated physicians and with the broader healthcare community. More ...

Medicity, Emdeon join on 'Health 4.0'

Healthcare IT News: We're the largest clinical health information exchange, they're the largest financial administration network, and we're joining,” said Medicity chairman and CEO Kipp Lassetter, MD, in a meeting with Healthcare IT News at the recent Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society's annual conference and exhibition in Atlanta. More ...

Mississippi HIE expansion represents a triumph over Katrina

Editor's Corner, Fierce Health IT:
I think most people can agree that HIE is an important component of interoperability and as good a mechanism as any for breaking down the many information silos that help make healthcare so inefficient. We got news late last week that the Mississippi Coastal Health Information Exchange has moved into Phase 2 of its rollout by adding four more health systems to the original three participants and widening connectivity to include more EMR vendors. More ...

The Methodist Hospital Selects Eclipsys HealthXchange to Improve Care through Connectivity

Business Wire: Eclipsys Corporation (NASDAQ: ECLP), The Outcomes Company®, today announced that The Methodist Hospital of Houston (Methodist), TX, has selected Eclipsys HealthXchange™ to support it in connecting its local care community. The scalable and secure platform, powered by Medicity, will connect Methodist’s acute care electronic health record (EHR) with a network of disparate EHRs in use at local affiliated physician offices throughout the region/local area. The seamless exchange of patient information will support enhanced care continuity and quality, and in turn assist both the hospital and community physicians in becoming eligible for stimulus funding associated with the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009. More ...

Heavy Load - The Burden of Meaningful Use By Alice Shepherd, For The Record

March 15, 2010
Workflow changes and reporting requirements are just two of the issues providers must confront on the path to incentive-hood.
...“The industry has been sitting on the sidelines for the past year, waiting for the criteria to come out,” says James K. Lassetter, MD, chairman and CEO of Medicity, a health information exchange vendor. More ...
Featuring James K. Lassetter, M.D., CEO, Medicity

HIMSS: Medicity collaborates with Emdeon for "converged" HIE

CMIO.net: March 15, 2010
Health information exchange (HIE) company Medicity is collaborating with financial and administrative HIE application provider Emdeon to create a “converged” national HIE. The companies announced the project at the 2010 annual HIMSS conference in Atlanta. More ...

Getting Over HIE Hurdles

CMIO.net: March 1, 2010
The potential advantages offered by health information exchanges (HIEs) are well-known. They’ll be vital spokes of the proposed Nationwide Health Information Network (NHIN) architecture initiative, streamlining patient care and records and providing accurate, nearly immediate test results to practitioners anywhere. More ...
Featuring James McIlwain, MD, of MISCHIE

HIMSS Video Profile: Medicity

DOT Med News: March 11, 2010
by Heather Mayer, DOTmed Staff Reporter
Medicity's Vice President Bill Sims spoke with DOTmed News at this year's HIMSS conference about the company's release of the information exchange program iNexx for physician use.
See the Video ...

For Physicians, Incentives To Go Electronic

USA Today: The 2009 stimulus bill offers incentives ranging for $44,000 to $64,000 to physicians who adopt and employ certified electronic health record (HER) technology by 2014. On the flip side, physicians who stick with their outdated paper-based offices will be penalized starting in 2015.

Panel of experts: Kipp Lassetter, MD
The need to improve care quality while controlling costs is driving change in healthcare, requiring unprecedented coordination among all members of a patient’s care team – from the primary care physician to the hospital across town. More ...

Meaningful Use and Beyond

Advance for Health Information Executives: When the rubber meets the road for achieving meaningful use, adoption of electronic health records (EHRs) will facilitate the possibility of data-sharing, but may fall short in realizing the depth of improvements needed to prepare for the future of health care. In fact, the evolving health care reform environment addresses not only the expansion of insurance coverage but also a redesign of the health care delivery system as we know it. More ...
By Robert Connely

HIMSS News Viewpoint: Health Information Exchange and Interoperability

Facilitating a Smooth Transition to Meaningful Use through Incremental Health Information Exchange. With a working definition of meaningful use now on the table, the focus must shift to the meaningful users and the steps required to integrate EHRs into day-to-day workflow. More ...
By James K. Lassetter, M.D., CEO, Medicity

Forecast 2010 for Hospitals: HIEs to Transform

Health Management Technology: In 2010, expect to see shirts in the approach to health information-exchange (HIE) governance and innovative developments in the way health-information exchange is architected. As hospitals monitor the evolving meaningful-use definition, many are proactively moving beyond the basics of electronic health-record (EHR) selection and are exploring their options for HIEs. More ...
By James K. Lassetter, M.D., CEO, Medicity

The Bottom-up Approach to HIEs

Health Management Technology: Bypassing third-party governance allows Spectrum Health to meet physician-practice needs across three hospital systems. More ...

Hospitals take the lead in health information exchange

Grand Rapids Business Journal: Grand Rapids’ three hospitals are taking the lead in implementing the foundation of a Health Information Exchange for West Michigan. With all three using Medicity Inc., a Salt Lake City company, the hospitals are forging ahead with software that allows doctors’ offices and hospitals to order and receive laboratory, radiology and transcribed test results. More ...
By Elizabeth Slowik

HIEs offer to lighten meaningful use load

Government Health IT: Health information exchanges (HIE) could help ease the burden of healthcare providers by carrying out some the reporting and technical requirements for “meaningful use” of health IT, according to executives of several state exchanges at a recent conference. More ...

Delaware data exchange builds on its successes, poised for next step

Healthcare IT News: The Delaware Health Information Network, live since March 2007 and a participant in the Nationwide Health Information Network trial implementations, is now preparing for its next transition. More ...

Healthcare Leaders Media 09: Design for Digital Care

Greg Walton, CIO at El Camino Hospital in Mountain View, CA, shares strategies CIOs can use to survive the recession while designing for digital care. Click here to Listen.

HIE: To Be It or To Do It – August 4, 2009

HIStalk: Since the start of the ARRA-generated deliberation over the definition of meaningful use, health information exchange (HIE) has become one of the healthcare industry’s hottest buzz terms. Yet ask what this crucial term means and you may have trouble pinning down a consistent response. More ...
By Kipp Lassetter, MD

CHIME CIO/CMIO Survey Results – June 2009

Medicity conducted a survey through CHIME to their 1,400 CIO/CMIO members regarding current various HIE topics. Please click here to view the results.

An HIE by Any Other Name...

CHIME Foundation: The passage of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act on February 17, 2008 rocketed the U.S. healthcare industry into action with the promise of $19.2 billion in economic stimulus funding. More ...
By Kipp Lassetter

What Will Meaningful Use Mean?

Health Management Technology: Better clinical decision-making for higher-quality care delivery
will be the key component. More ...
By Gifford Boyce-Smith

Building a Closer Connection

Health Care's Most Wired: By linking hospital systems to referring physicians' EMRs, a health care system strengthens its relationships with community practices. More ...
By Ryan Smith and Robert Connely

California Health Information Exchange Platform Powered by Medicity is “Shovel-Ready” According to CalRHIO White Paper

 

Business Wire: CalRHIO Offers Sustainable Business Model for Other Statewide HIEs to Emulate. More ...

Obama's IT plan misses 'big link'

Healthcare IT News: Some experts are saying President Obama’s pledge of $50 billion towards the adoption of healthcare information technology overlooks a crucial piece of the EMR picture – the ability to exchange clinical information between hospitals and practices by connecting the physician EMR system with hospital IT systems. More ...

Novo Innovations Healthcare Grid - Information Exchange Survey Results Summary

Novo surveyed physician practices and business affiliates (EMS providers) at the following Novo customer sites in early 2008. More ...

UPMC Connects to Emergency Medical Services and Physician EMRs Using Integration Technology

 

Inside Healthcare Computing: University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) of Pittsburgh, PA recently implemented a technology solution that helps emergency medical services personnel provide better patient care and allows them to get bills out more efficiently. More ...

What makes a RHIO/HIE Successful?

Healthcare IT News: Wisconsin, Delaware pave the way for future projects. More ...

Building Sustainable HIEs

Health Management Technology: In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, the need for a true health information exchange in Mississippi cannot be denied. More ...
By James S. McIlwain, M.D., and Kipp Lassetter, M.D.

Foundation for Interoperable Health Information Exchange Established - Path to Nationwide Production Set

 

Media Newswire: The 5th Nationwide Health Information Network Forum, held this week in Washington, D.C., showcased the groundbreaking work of the Nationwide Health Information Network (NHIN) trial implementations which began more than 14 months ago. This work, carried out by members of a public-private "NHIN Cooperative," lays the foundation that will serve as the next step toward secure nationwide interoperable health information exchange. More ...

NHIN contracts awarded to nine exchanges

Healthcare IT News: Contracts totaling $22.5 million have been awarded to nine health information exchanges to begin trial implementations of the Nationwide Health Information Network, or NHIN. More ... More coverage: California Healthcare Association, NHINWatch presented by Healthcare IT News, FierceHealthIT & HIMSS

Medicity offering new version of Web-native clinical software

CAP Today: Medicity is marketing the latest generation of its ProAccess Web-native clinical software application. The 4.0 version brings together Medicity's ProAccess clinical application suite and Park City Solutions' provider portal, acquired by Medicity last year. More ...