On June 18 and 19, 2012, the U.S. Department and Health and Human Services (DHHS) hosted two national Health IT events: the Health IT Vanguard Conference and the White House Health IT Town Hall, respectively. These events featured senior White House and DHHS officials such as National Coordinator Farzad Mostashari, as well as Health IT leaders from around the country - including MUVers (Meaningful Use Vanguard) from the national REC network. Dr. Joop Offerman, Cindy Fox, and Dr. Greg Narzikul attended the White House Health IT Town Hall event as PA REACH's MUVer designees. More than 80 other health care providers from across the nation joined our PA REACH providers for the town hall session, which was held in the Executive Office Building adjacent to the White House.
"I was very honored to attend the HIT Town Hall Meeting at the White House on June 19th. I found it to be very 'meaningful and useful'," said Dr. Offerman. "It was a very eclectic group in attendance, comprised of hospital administrators, practice managers, physicians, CEOs of insurance companies and government officials. What made the biggest impression on me was realizing that we are just at the beginning phase of applying computers into the medical field. We are still a long way from integrating computers totally into offices and hospitals and having a complete medical exchange between computers. PA REACH will be needed for many years for this HIT journey."
Cindy Fox, Practice Administrator for Craig D. Fox, M.D. in Washington, PA, was also proud and excited to represent PA REACH at the Health IT events in Washington, D.C. Here's what she had to say about her experience:
"The National Coordinator for Health IT, Farzad Mostashari, and his staff brought energy and enthusiasm to our topic, as well as support for the future. A selected panel of MUVers, followed by a forum for an open discussion, focused on issues including usability, portability, and safety concluded the program. These sessions provided an environment for networking with professionals from across the country, including Alaska and Hawaii. I shared my views about how an electronic medical record (EMR) can increase safety, improve access to education, and keep track of procedures. Through a patient portal, every patient can be more involved in their own care. Further discussion reviewed future EMR opportunities and challenges, including one of my concerns about viruses and hacking. Noting a 45 percent improvement in several areas of diabetic care alone should convince offices that EMRs are here to stay.
Our office would not have been able to do the search for a reliable EMR and office assessment without our REC. As a solo physician having received support from RECs like Quality Insights of Pennsylvania, PA REACH West and UPMC, we have found their assistance to be invaluable. Quality Insights helped our office search for a system and attest to meaningful use, and PA REACH West provided many educational classes and instruction for our office. The experience and coverage of this expense proved necessary, as without it, this process would have been cost prohibitive.
My advice to all new users is to go in knowing that EMRs are invaluable and essential for the future of medicine in just reporting and identifying outcomes. Just hang in there during the beginning trials. Your office will come together and you will come to the point where you don't know how you did the job without the computer."
Dr. Greg Narzikul, from Devon, PA, felt that the event provided an excellent opportunity to have an ear to the ground around Health IT and hear firsthand the vision for the continued expansion of networks to support the exchange of health information. He said that the event focused on three key themes: value not volume, the value in getting your “tech house” in order, and the importance of safe and effective exchange of information—HIE.
According to Dr. Narzikul, “The focus of health care delivery and primary care practice as a component of that delivery is shifting to providing value and not volume---the value provided will be identified by improving patient and population outcomes through process improvement. The scale of this type of improvement is fundamentally possible because of technology.” As part of the care delivery system, technology is ever more important. “Creating the technology infrastructure to support the meaningful exchange of patient data as well as to look closer at subsections of patient populations is key to providing physicians with a better understanding of how we might make a difference in managing our patients health, wellness, and illness,” said Dr. Narzikul.