Industry Insight

Mayo Clinic, Austin Public Schools
Establish Telemedicine System

Mayo Clinic Health System in Albert Lea and Austin and Austin Public Schools have joined forces to improving access to medical services while reducing costs through the use of Mayo Clinic Health Connection—a new telemedicine delivery system through the HealthSpot platform, which combines robust cloud-based software and a private walk-in kiosk that offer solutions to care for patients in their place of work.

Mayo Clinic Health Connection will allow Austin Public School staff and their dependents to connect with Mayo Clinic and Mayo Clinic Health System providers through a private, walk-in kiosk that provides high-definition video-conferencing and interactive digital medical devices. The kiosk enables highly trained Mayo Clinic and Mayo Clinic Health System physicians, nurse practitioners, and physician assistants to see and treat patients face-to-face in a variety of nontraditional health care settings.

Kiosk sites available to Austin Public School staff and dependents will be located at Ellis Middle School and at the former Home Health Care and Hospice building, which is one block from Austin High School, in early February. Discussions are taking place to determine if any additional kiosks will be available and in what locations. Additional information on Mayo Clinic Health Connection will soon be provided to Austin Public School staff.

“Mayo Clinic is committed to reducing health care expenses for employees and employers by improving access to medical services through convenient and more affordable care through Mayo Clinic Health Connection,” says Mark Ciota, MD, CEO at Mayo Clinic Health System in Albert Lea and Austin. “This collaboration with Austin Public Schools is just one way we can do this. Mayo Clinic Health Connection will help school staff and their dependents avoid waiting for traditional health care appointments and time away from work, and still get the continuity of care you need from people you trust. This should decrease absenteeism, lower costs, and increase wellness, a win-win for Austin Public schools and their employees.”

Austin Public School staff and their dependents can conveniently walk up to the kiosk without scheduling an appointment and be treated for minor, common health conditions, such as cold, earaches, sore throat, sinus infections, upper respiratory infections, rashes and skin conditions, and eye conditions. “Mayo Clinic Health Connection provides convenient care from experts for common conditions, while saving you time and money. It’s the best of both worlds,” Ciota says.

— Source: Mayo Clinic Health System

Michigan’s Schade Receives CIO Award

Sue Schade, FCHIME, FHIMSS, has been selected as the recipient of the 2014 John E. Gall, Jr. CIO of the Year Award. Schade is CIO at University of Michigan (UM) Hospitals and Health Centers in Ann Arbor.

The award, sponsored by the College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (CHIME) and HIMSS, recognizes HIT executives who have made significant contributions to their organization and demonstrated innovative leadership through effective use of technology. The boards of directors for both organizations annually select the recipient of the award, which is named in honor of the late John E. Gall, Jr., who pioneered implementation of the first fully integrated medical information system in the world at California’s El Camino Hospital in the 1960s. Schade will receive the award in April at the 2015 HIMSS Annual Conference & Exhibition in Chicago.

“I am very honored to receive this award,” Schade says. “I am passionate about my work in health care and IT. With talented and dedicated IT teams over the years, we’ve been able to make a positive difference in the lives of so many people. I’m happy to be able to give back, both personally and professionally through organizations like CHIME and HIMSS where we are developing the next generation of HIT leaders.”

Schade’s distinguished career in the HIT industry spans 30 years, 15 of which have been spent as a CIO. She joined UM Health System in November 2012 to oversee the launch of its new EHR system. Prior to joining UM Health System, Schade spent 12 years as CIO at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, a founding member of Partners HealthCare and a teaching affiliate of Harvard Medical School. Under her leadership, Brigham received national recognition for its Balanced Scorecard initiative—a widely adopted best practice by provider organizations around the country.

“Sue is truly one the great and influential forces in health IT,” says CHIME President and CEO Russell P. Branzell, FCHIME, CHCIO. “Her vision and passion for health care transformation have made an enduring impact on our industry, and she continues to serve as a vital and credible source of knowledge and inspiration to her peers. It is with great pleasure that we are able to recognize her many career accomplishments, and honor her leadership, dedication, and contribution to the field.”

Schade is a CHIME fellow and has been a CHIME member since 2000. She served on the CHIME Board of Trustees from 2004 to 2006, chaired the CHIME Education Foundation Board from 2006 to 2009, and is a current member of the CHIME Policy Steering Committee. Additionally, she is a current member of the Michigan Hospital Association Health IT Strategy Committee and current board and executive committee member of the Great Lakes Health Connect. Schade is also the first CIO to serve on the Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation Board of Directors.

With her leadership, the UM Health System recently reached stage 6 on the HIMSS Analytics EMR Adoption Model (EMRAM), an eight-step process for organizations to analyze their progress on EMR adoption, chart their accomplishments, and track their progress against other health care organizations. In addition, during her tenure at Brigham, the hospital system also achieved stage 6 on the EMRAM scale.

— Source: College of Healthcare Information Management Executives

HITRUST Updates Common Security Framework
to Include Privacy Controls

The Health Information Trust Alliance (HITRUST) recently announced the addition of privacy controls to version seven of the HITRUST Common Security Framework (CSF) being released this month. This addition creates a fully integrated privacy and security framework that meets the regulatory requirements of the US health care industry. Organizations can now rely on a single framework to manage their information privacy and security risk and compliance.

Developed by the HITRUST Privacy Working Group, the privacy controls produce better alignment between health care organizations’ security and privacy programs and allow for an integrated approach for protecting health information under HIPAA. After conducting a review of various privacy frameworks, standards, and regulations, the working group recommended the inclusion of specific privacy control categories, objectives, specifications, and requirements by implementation level.

“The new HITRUST CSF privacy domain facilitates an integrated approach to protect personal health information, aids in regulatory compliance, is consistent with health care industry trends, and enhances the current HITRUST CSF,” says Angela Holzworth, senior information risk analyst for Highmark Health and HITRUST Privacy Working Group Chair.

The benefits of adopting the HITRUST CSF become even greater by incorporating privacy controls. The HITRUST CSF has evolved into a more comprehensive and robust framework with which organizations can address their security and privacy programs and reduce the burden of compliance with all the applicable health care-related requirements. Although the HITRUST CSF will incorporate both privacy and security controls, organizations will have the option to obtain certification for privacy, security, or both in order to choose the approach and pace most suited to their operational and compliance objectives.

“Given the multitude of federal and state regulations incorporating privacy and security requirements, a fully integrated privacy and security framework provides privacy and security professionals advantages over disparate approaches, allowing the organizations to effectively manage their information protection program,” says Michelle Nader, staff vice president of ethics & compliance and chief privacy officer at Anthem, Inc. “By identifying the controls and requirements that support both disciplines, organizations now have the option to certify their programs for security, privacy, or both.”

“More reliance will continue to be placed on electronic health records and health information exchanges to improve patient care and safety, minimize errors, control costs, and support public health initiatives. In turn the health care industry must protect patient privacy while supporting this flow of health information in a way that benefits individuals and society,” says Kimberly Gray, chief privacy officer, global, IMS Health. “The CSF privacy controls establish a uniform and practical approach to implementing privacy controls, taking into account both risk and operational factors.”

“From the beginning, HITRUST has been committed to ensuring the CSF remains relevant and current to the needs of the health care industry and organizations utilizing it. Privacy was always seen as a component of a complete framework,” says Daniel Nutkis, CEO of HITRUST. “Seven years ago when we began to create the CSF, we focused on the development and adoption of the security controls as a means to drive greater compliance by organizations with the HIPAA security requirements. Now that we have achieved broad adoption, we can join privacy controls with the framework.”

In addition, this release of the HITRUST CSF incorporates the Minimum Acceptable Risk Standards for Exchanges, additional guidance for cyber security, and enhancements to risk factors and assurance methodology. HITRUST is currently updating MyCSF to support the additional privacy controls and enable organizations to perform privacy control assessments, compliance reporting, and related remediation tracking within the tool.

— Source: Health Information Trust Alliance