The Critical Access Hospital Network’s Rural Health Information Technology Project
Sue Deitz, Executive Director, Critical Access Hospital Network
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Description
This presentation provides a live, real time demonstration of an electronic population management tool utilized by a rural hospital network in eastern Washington. The tool delivers an innovative technology solution to meet the complex requirements for cost containment and quality improvement in today’s healthcare environment. The Critical Access Hospital Network (CAHN) is an integrated network of seven hospitals and twelve rural health clinics in eastern Washington that collaborate to achieve significant administrative, operational and clinical efficiencies that would not otherwise be possible for the members acting individually. These hospitals face common challenges and opportunities in the areas of government regulation, organizational administration, and service delivery. By developing solutions in unison, the members aim to improve the quality of patient care; improve the health of their rural population; and reduce the per capita costs of care. With support of HRSA Rural Health Information Technology Network Development Grant Program, the CAHN created a robust health information technology (HIT) architecture that includes a disease registry mapped to their electronic health records. The real-time population health tools provide analytics for diabetes mellitus, cardiovascular disease, congestive heart failure and prevention screening among others. One day the data will secure value based payments but today it supports Meaningful Use and NCQA Patient Centered Medical Home recognition. CAHN went the extra mile and developed the capacity to aggregate the local registries providing access to “big data” in a central data repository. The CAHN built a secure virtual private network health information exchange among its members in preparation for a functional statewide exchange. This presentation provides a live, real time demonstration of the web-based tool. Further, the presentation highlights how data can support other initiatives such as local needs assessments, trending practice variation, and supporting evidence based policy development. The project is part of a larger CAHN Patient Centered Medical Home initiative and is an excellent example of how HIT can be used to achieve better patient outcomes in rural communities. Materials Presentation (pptx) Presenter
Sue Deitz is the Director of Critical Access Hospital Network in Eastern Washington. She earned a Master’s Degree in public health from University of Illinois at Chicago with an emphasis in community health sciences. With over 15 years’ experience in grant development and implementation, her areas of focus include rural health disparities, health information technologies, community based strategies for chronic disease prevention, and HIV/AIDS. She is a federal, state, and local level grant reviewer. |