The future of U.S. healthcare demands extensive coordination across the full continuum of care. But accurate patient identification and patient matching are essential for this coordination: - The ability to access patient information is integral to care coordination across the full continuum of care; - Resolving patient identities across disparate systems is critical to accessing information; - Existing Master Patient Indexes (MPIs) cannot resolve identities consistently or well enough to support healthcare's emerging needs. Learn why a new type of MPI technology will pave the way for "identity interoperability" across the entire continuum of care.

This article focuses on the requirements and current developments in clinical decision support technologies for immunizations (CDSi) in both the public health and clinical communities, with an emphasis on shareable solutions. The requirements of the Electronic Health Record Incentive Programs have raised some unique challenges for the clinical community, including vocabulary mapping, update of changing guidelines, single immunization schedule, and scalability. This article discusses new, collaborative approaches whose long-term goal is to make CDSi more sustainable for both the public and private sectors.

Jason Goldwater explains how blockchain technology is used to foster the development of patient-reported outcome measures in a detailed white paper from the National Quality Forum.

Cerner Patient Accounting Case Study – Bridging the Gap Between IT & Operations to Drive ROI

Bridging the gap between the Cerner application and operational teams can pose challenges for organizations implementing Cerner Patient Accounting. In recent months, RoundTable Strategic Solutions has been engaged by two nationally recognized IDNs to help with their upcoming Cerner implementations. Our team is working closely with the CFO and Revenue Cycle Leadership to drive a best-practice approach to maximize the benefits of their new revenue cycle management solution while also providing guidance around avoiding the common pitfalls that impact cash
and productivity during and after go-live.

RoundTable’s Risk to Revenue Mitigation Program drives results. In just two weeks, the RoundTable Executive Consultant drove the organization towards a 30%
improvement in the Clean Claim Rate resulting in a 2M financial improvement. Below is a brief Case Study.

Organizational Challenge: PCP Claim Errors in Excess of 2M Two (2) Weeks Post Live

RoundTable Approach: Using the Claim Error Analysis Report, RoundTable identified a trend/pattern in the top four (4) Claim Errors that were driving a large volume of claim edits and A/R within Cerner Revenue Manager. Given our revenue cycle operations AND Cerner Patient Accounting application expertise, RoundTable was able to implement a “Cerner Rule” that modified the interface and immediately reduced the Claim Errors.

Impact & ROI: In two (2) weeks, the Clean Claim Rate Increased by 30% and 
resulted in a 2M Financial Improvement.

Lessons Learned: Ensure Design / Build Options Align to 12-18 Month Implementation Plan. Organizations implementing Cerner PA are making design/build
decisions now for an implementation that will not roll out for another 12-18 months. Fully understanding design decisions and options today will be key to a successful
implementation down the road. Operational changes can be modified, however, unraveling build decisions “after the fact” will impact timeline and may add to
additional project cost.

“Our consultants have a unique skill set and bring best practices to each engagement. Clients are engaging RoundTable to serve as the Cerner Patient Accounting SME and
to collaborate with revenue cycle and operational leadership to ensure feature/functionality is being designed and built in a fashion that supports the unique requirements of each organization. Clients look to us to serve as a strategic partner and guide them through the implementation process. The RoundTable Consultants have deep understanding of data flow and touch points between Cerner Millennium’s
Patient Access, Clinical & Patient Accounting Applications (Inpatient & Ambulatory),” says Kyle Swarts, Senior Vice President.

For more information about RoundTable Strategic Solutions please check out our website at www.roundtablehit.com.

Contact us today to see how RoundTable can work for you.

“We Believe In The Value of Conversation”

IMPORTANCE Social determinants of health shape both children’s immediate health and their lifetime risk for disease. Increasingly, pediatric health care organizations are intervening to address family social adversity. However, little evidence is available on the effectiveness of related interventions. CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE To our knowledge, this investigation is the first randomized clinical trial to evaluate health outcomes of a pediatric social needs navigation program. Compared with an active control at 4 months after enrollment, the intervention significantly decreased families’ reports of social needs and significantly improved children’s overall health status as reported by caregivers. These findings support the feasibility and potential effect of addressing social needs in pediatric health care settings. Gottlieb et al., 2016.

The goals of this cross-sectional study were to (a) describe the prevalence of 5 basic social needs in a cohort of parents attending an urban teaching hospital–based pediatric clinic, (b) assess parental attitudes toward seeking assistance from their child’s provider, and (c) examine resident providers’ attitudes and behaviors toward addressing these needs. Parents (n = 100) reported a median of 2 basic needs at the pediatric visit. The most common was employment (52%), followed by education (34%), child care (19%), food (16%), and housing (10%). Most parents (67%) had positive attitudes toward requesting assistance from their child’s pediatrician. The majority of resident providers (91%) believed in the importance of addressing social needs; however, few reported routinely screening for these needs (range, 11% to 18%). There is great potential for assisting low-income parents within the medical home. Further practice-based interventions are needed to enhance providers’ self-efficacy to screen and address low-income families’ needs at pediatric visits. Garg et al., 2009

A 5-tier pyramid best describes the impact of different types of public health interventions and provides a frameworktoimprovehealth. At the base of this pyramid, indicating interventions with the greatest potential impact, are efforts to address socioeconomic determinants of health. Frieden. Am J Pub Health. 2010.

Special article from the New England Journal of Medicine from Steven A Schroeder: 

I first summarize where the United States stands in international rankings of health status. Next, using the concept of determinants of premature death as a key measure of health status, I discuss pathways to improvement, emphasizing lessons learned from tobacco control and acknowledging the reality that better health (lower mortality and a higher level of functioning) cannot be achieved without paying greater attention to poor Americans. I conclude with speculations on why we have not focused on improving health in the United States and what it would take to make that happen.

In a national Robert Wood Johnson Foundation survey of primary care providers and pediatricians, 85 percent believe that unmet social needs—things like access to nutritious food, reliable transportation and adequate housing—are leading directly to worse health for all Americans. Furthermore, 4 in 5 physicians do not feel confident in their capacity to meet their patients’ social needs, and they believe this impedes their ability to provide quality care.

This is health care’s blind side: Within the current health care system, physicians do not have the time or sufficient staff support to address patients’ social needs.