Industry Insight

Organizations Combine to Create HIT Company Geared Toward HIEs

Santa Rosa Consulting, Inc recently announced that it has partnered with North Texas Specialty Physicians (NTSP) to create Sandlot Solutions, Inc, an HIT company that will develop and implement health information exchanges (HIEs) nationwide.

Sandlot Solutions will help meet the needs of a multitude of hospitals and health systems that realize the need to consolidate claims and clinical data while improving quality and disease management through advanced reporting and analytics.

Currently, Sandlot Solutions’ HIE products and services allow NTSP to better manage its Medicare and Medicare Advantage patient population of more than 50,000. The HIE application connects providers across north Texas, including 14 hospitals and more than 1,400 physicians, and maintains clinical data for more than 2 million unique patients. A driving success factor for the Sandlot HIE is its ability to operate behind the scenes without interrupting physician workflow and to connect with any EHR system.

— Source: PR.com

 

Barry Libman Inc Announces Virtual CCS Exam Prep Course

Due to an overwhelming response to Barry Libman Inc’s on-site CCS Exam Prep course, the company began a real-time, virtual version of the course in February.

The high demand for the course is due to changes in the CCS exam scheduled for March 2013. At that time, the current ICD-9–based CCS credentialing exams are slated to end, and all AHIMA coding credential exams will be based on ICD-10-CM/PCS.

The Barry Libman CCS Exam Prep course, which uses the Internet and GoToMeeting for live online classes, is a 13-week program scheduled for Saturdays between 1 pm and 4 pm Eastern.

For more information, visit www.barrylibmaninc.com/ccs-exam-preparation.

— Source: Barry Libman Inc

 

CHIME Announces Its 2012 Board Chair

The College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (CHIME) has announced that Drexel DeFord, chief information officer (CIO) and senior vice president of Seattle Children’s Hospital, will serve as the 2012 chair of CHIME’s board of trustees.

DeFord’s three-year term on the board, which began in 2010, culminates with his role as 2012 chair. A 13-year CHIME member, fellow, and certified healthcare CIO, he brings nearly a quarter century of information systems management experience to the board.

— Source: College of Healthcare Information Management Executives

 

HL7 Pilot Program to Provide Key Intellectual Property for Free

Health Level Seven International (HL7) recently announced a pilot program to provide some of its key intellectual property free of charge. In the pilot project, HL7 will enable no-cost licensing of its domain models (DAMs) and functional profiles.

The DAM is a set of requirements that explore and analyze the business of a particular clinical domain. Domain analysis is the first step in creating HL7 standards for a specific care or research environment. The domain analysis process produces documentation describing the stakeholders, activities, interactions, and information for a particular domain and serves as the source of requirements used in the design of HL7 standards.

Stand-alone DAMs will be made available at no cost during the one-year pilot, including the following:

• HL7 Version 3 DAM: Cardiology; Acute Coronary Syndrome;

• HL7 Version 3 DAM: Clinical Trials Registration and Results; and

• HL7 Version 3 DAM: Analysis Model: Vital Records.

Functional profiles for the HL7 Electronic Health Record System Functional Model (EHR-S FM) also will be available as part of the pilot program. The HL7 EHR-S FM was the industry’s first standard approved by the American National Standards Institute to specify the functional requirements for an EHR system. HL7’s functional profiles outline the important features and functions of an EHR system, including criteria to support functions such as medication history, clinical decision support, and privacy and security. Profiles that are available to support specific uses across the continuum of care include child health, behavioral health, long-term care, clinical research, and records management and evidentiary support.

The HL7 DAMs and functional profiles can be accessed at HL7.org. Users must complete a click-through license registration process to participate.

— Source: Health Level Seven International