Physician Using Ingenix CareTracker Becomes One of the First in the U.S. to Demonstrate Meaningful Use of Health IT

New Meaningful Use Dashboard supported patient care and administrative decision-making to help Dr. Douglas Forman demonstrate Meaningful Use in the first 90 days of 2011

EDEN PRAIRIE, Minn., April 18, 2011 – Douglas Foreman, D.O., a family physician in Warwick, R.I., will be among the first physicians in the U.S. to attest to meeting Phase 1 requirements for Medicare Meaningful Use of health information technology as defined by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). Today is the first day physicians can attest to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) in order to receive Medicare incentive payments provided by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA).

To achieve this, Dr. Foreman used the Ingenix CareTracker electronic health record (EHR) system, which features a graphical Meaningful Use Dashboard created by Ingenix to help physicians monitor progress toward meeting Meaningful Use objectives and take corrective action to improve quality of care as they work to qualify for federal health IT incentives.

Ingenix's V.P. Strategic Initiatives: Kim LaFontana and the Ingenix Expert Physician Advisory Board

“Using technology in your office should not impede your cash flow, should not slow clinicians down and it should not prevent you from having information. It’s a radical change to your world and the workflow, but what our teams have been focusing on, as we have introduced CareTracker EHR— is how to do it in a way that actually works for the physician and makes them feel like they are delivering better, more efficient care”. –Kim LaFontana

What I would like to begin with is how Ingenix’s recent formation of an independent expert physician advisory board will be tackling the dynamics of health information exchange?

Given our history, our legacy strengths and capabilities are certainly on the software side, specifically on the data and analytics side. We have an incredible legacy of teams of clinicians, who are constantly thinking about using clinical data to help drive better care decisions. Meaningful use— which is the government’s position on the right way to use an EHR, certainly provides some required specifics. However, we feel like there is quite a bit of room within meaningful use on how to execute the requirements. One goal of the board is to figure out how to marry the government objectives in meaningful use and Ingenix strengths and capabilities in a way that actually solves the problems of the clinicians out there in the real world, seeing real patients. So one could construct a beautiful product that meets the government guidelines, but it won’t necessarily be adopted in the “Real-World” because it isn’t practical.

Ingenix acquiring Axolotl

Ingenix is a part of the UnitedHealth Group and in the spirit of the UnitedHealth Group tradition, Ingenix is acquiring yet another company. This time, Ingenix is aquiring Axolotl. Recently, Ingenix acquired Picis and Executive Health Resources (EHR).

Ingenix delivers data, analytics, research and consulting services for health insurers and payers, large employers, government organizations, life sciences companies, physicians, hospitals, consumers and other participants in the health care system.

Axolotl is a leading provider of health information exchange (HIE) services.

Here's a snippet from the press release:

    “HIEs are bringing us closer to the point where all the health care professionals patients select to oversee their care can connect to share information and optimize outcomes”

Who will Ingenix acquire next?

Ingenix to Acquire Executive Health Resources

Eden Prairie, MN and Newtown Square, PA, August 4, 2010 – Ingenix, a leading health information technology and services company, today announced it is acquiring Executive Health Resources, a leading provider of medical necessity compliance and physician medical management solutions for hospitals.  The transaction is subject to regulatory approval and other customary closing conditions and is expected to close before the end of 2010.

Combined, Executive Health Resources and Ingenix will have a greater ability to help hospitals manage medical necessity compliance requirements as hospitals and health systems serve an increasing volume of patients with government-sponsored health benefit plans.  Executive Health Resources’ Physician Advisor teams provide hospitals and health systems with the dedicated, technology-supported services needed to assist hospitals with managing compliance with Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS)- and state-directed medical necessity rules and regulations. Ingenix offers consulting, information systems and services that help hospitals maintain the highest quality of care and improve operational efficiency.

Under federal and state law, hospitals and health systems must perform compliance reviews for medical services provided to patients covered by Medicare and Medicaid programs to ensure that care is medically necessary and delivered in the proper care setting.  Congress expanded federal auditing oversight in 2006 to all 50 U.S. states in an effort to reduce federal payment discrepancies with hospitals.  Executive Health Resources provides evidence-based clinical intelligence and Physician Advisors highly-trained in CMS rules and regulations to support hospitals in complying with federal and state provisions related to medical necessity.

AMA on Health IT

Did you catch the AMA webinar today on health IT? It was titled, "Stimulus 102: Update on the Health Information Technology Provisions."

If you missed it, then they will be posting a link to the archived version (and I'll post that link as soon as I get it). The webinar covered updates on the framework for the development and adoption of a nationwide HIT infrastructure. If you wish to gain a better understanding of the HIT provisions in ARRA, then you'll want to catch this webinar. The presenters were:

• Russ Keene, Vice President, Ingenix CareTracker
• Amanda Ervin, Director, Health Information Technology Initiatives