Recognizing Innovation

Despite all the questions and concerns surrounding the usability and interoperability of health IT, innovative, forward-thinking care delivery organizations are taking on the challenge of getting more out of their electronic tools.

Whether by partnering with vendors or through homegrown efforts, the organizations recognized in our inaugural CI+T Accelerator Awards impressed us with their efforts to achieve the triple aim. Projects focused on patient safety, patient engagement, efficiency and more. We think you’ll be impressed too. Read more about the winners.

Also this month, four CIOs and CMIOs gathered around a virtual table to share their thoughts and struggles with Meaningful Use. The program has been fraught with controversy recently with legislators calling for reassessment and relatively few entities achieving Stage 2 attestation to date.

The conversation covered a range of topics from the competing demands of federal programs such as quality reporting to how health IT is impacting patient safety and efforts to adapt new payment models, audits and more. John Halamka, MD, CIO of Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital in Boston, compared the session to group therapy with the ability to share frustrations about the challenges of Stage 2 and the potential obstacles coming with Stage 3. Read it here.

Also in this issue, we look at hospitals that have replaced their EHR, including Partners HealthCare in Boston which is switching to a commercial system after decades on a homegrown system. Surveys indicate growing dissatisfaction among providers with their EHRs and more plans to replace tools. But is new software really the answer? Learn more.

This month’s issue also includes: a look at the virtual visit program at Massachusetts General Hospital practices; a story on how health information exchanges are pursuing the value proposition; an article on expanding efforts to bring home health into information exchange and data-sharing; and highlights from the 2014 AMDIS Physician-Computer Symposium in Ojai, Calif. 

The challenge of reaching the triple aim requires a little bit of innovation-along with all of the challenges and struggles.