• E-mail
• Print
• Comment
• Font Size
• Digg
• del.icio.us
• Discuss article

Indiana Health Information Exchange Announces Milestone for Quality Health First(SM) Program

Posted on: Thursday, 11 October 2007, 09:00 CDT

The Indiana Health Information Exchange (IHIE) today announced a significant milestone related to progress of its Quality Health First (SM) program.

The Regenstrief Foundation has provided a $1.7 million Building Bridges to Quality grant to IHIE to support the participation of small primary care practices in the organizations' Quality Health First program. Through this two year grant, IHIE will study what practice improvement resources are effective in the setting of small practices in the context of Quality Health First and develop a sustainable approach to providing these resources to these physicians.

Large physician practices have created resources to facilitate quality improvement activities. Small practices, which deliver over 80% of the ambulatory care in the U.S., typically do not have access to the same resources as large practices.

According to Len Betley, Regenstrief Foundation president, this grant will greatly facilitate quality improvement activities in these smaller practices.

"Large physician practices have resources, such as charging a medical director with responsibility for quality," said Betley. "This program will enable the Indiana Health Information Exchange to spend time with these small practices to assist with the implementation of the Quality Health First program, which could include workflow analysis and providing very practical solutions for these physician offices. Ultimately, these activities will positively impact patient care by reducing hospitalizations and complications and allowing for a better adherence to evidence-based medical practices."

According to Dr. J. Marc Overhage, President and CEO of the Indiana Health Information Exchange and Director of Medical Informatics at the Regenstrief Institute, Inc., the Quality Health First program ultimately will become self-sustaining.

"We are grateful for this support from the Regenstrief Foundation," said Dr. Overhage. "These funds will enable us to establish the validity of the concept, demonstrate its value in the market place and develop a sustainable business model. Sustainability is a critical component to this project and to the overall strategy of the Indiana Health Information Exchange."

The Quality Health First program architecture was developed under the auspices of the Employers' Forum of Indiana. The Forum, of which IHIE is a member, is a coalition of employers, health plans, physicians, hospitals, public officials and other stakeholders that share the goal of improving the value purchasers and patients receive for their health care dollar.

By combining electronic medical and drug claims data from participating health plans with patient prescription medication data, laboratory and test results from the Indiana Network for Patient Care database and the DOCS4DOCS® clinical messaging service, the Quality Health First program creates reports that physicians can use to better monitor and improve the health of their patients. The Indiana Network for Patient Care is operated by Regenstrief Institute and the DOCS4DOCS service was developed by Regenstrief and is operated in conjunction with IHIE.

Participating health insurers will also use these reports to provide meaningful incentives based primarily on the physician's high performance and significant improvement of the overall health of their patient population. These health insurers also have agreed to IHIE providing one standard report to physicians across all insurers versus multiple health insurer reports based on a set of common measures.

Specifically, the Quality Health First program provides alerts, reminders and follow-up treatment information to manage chronic diseases including diabetes, high cholesterol and certain types of cancer. The program also includes childhood immunizations and mental health screening and follow-up.

Currently, the program is being implemented in the Indianapolis area to primary care physicians. In 2008, it will be expanded to include primary care physicians located in other areas of the state and to specialty care groups like cardiology and orthopedics.

For several decades, the needs of the American public have been shifting away from predominately acute, episodic care and toward focusing more on patients with chronic diseases. Chronic conditions are now the leading cause of illness, disability and death. They affect almost half of the U.S. population and account for the majority of health care expenditures. Moreover in 2004, according to Partnership for Solutions National Program Office, almost half of all Americans lived with a chronic condition.

However, there remains a dearth of clinical programs with the infrastructure required to provide the full complement of services needed by people with heart disease, diabetes, asthma, and other common chronic diseases. The Quality Health First program was launched to address these needs.

About the Indiana Health Information Exchange

The Indiana Health Information Exchange was formed by the Regenstrief Institute, private hospitals, local and state health departments, BioCrossroads and other prominent organizations in Indiana to help improve the quality, safety, and efficiency of patient care. The organization is dedicated to providing clinical data and services to assist providers, payers, and other healthcare stakeholders in achieving the highest possible quality in patient care. To learn more, visit www.ihie.com.

Source: Business Wire

More News in this Category