Why & How to Get AAAHC Ambulatory Health Care Accreditation Written by web_developers on December 5, 2016. Posted in Other. Ambulatory health care accreditation is an often overlooked step in improving your ambulatory care outcomes and reputation. One of the leaders in this is the Accreditation Association of Ambulatory Health Care (AAAHC), which has been providing approval for ambulatory care facilities since 1979. Through the use of a peer-based review and evaluation program, AAAHC examines all areas of medical institutions, including: • Quality of care • Use of facilities • Adherence to best practices • Management methodology AAAHC accreditation is highly respected in primary care fields, and their certification validates your medical practice’s willingness to exceed minimum expectations for quality ambulatory patient care. Because AAAHC offers certification only for healthcare practices that demonstrate comprehensive compliance with stated criteria, earning AAAHC ambulatory health care accreditation is a vital part of maintaining a well-reputed clinic that provides quality care. AAAHC Accreditation Process AAAHC accreditation is a multi-step process that requires a thorough review of your current ambulatory health care practices. In order to be as successful as possible during the evaluation process, AAAHC has outlined several steps designed to assist hospitals and practices: • Perform a Self-Evaluation: Prior to bringing in an official team of surveyors, ambulatory health care facilities are urged to read the current AAAHC Handbook and self-assess compliance with all required criteria. If expectations are not maintained in full, adjustments should be made prior to continuing. • Submit a Survey Application: In order to begin the ambulatory health care accreditation review process, facilities must submit a survey application. Once received, the AAAHC will determine the timeline necessary, the number of surveyors required, and the applicable fee. • Prepare for Evaluation: Surveyor visits are arranged in advance. Hospitals and clinics should prepare prior to the scheduled date, ensuring all AAAHC Handbook requirements are met and displayed appropriately. This may involve: • Facility cleaning • Technology evaluation and repair • Extra staffing to meet the needs of the review team The Importance of EHR Management and Ambulatory Health Care Accreditation Electronic health records (EHR) have become a standard in modern ambulatory health care. As a result, an inability to meet expectations may compromise your ability to secure the certifications of excellence your hospital or care center deserves. Demonstrating effective patient care coordination for ambulatory health care accreditation goes beyond what skills and procedures you physicians can perform. Instead, it also evaluates how well you organize data, especially as it relates to the patient experience. Regardless of which ambulatory health care accreditation organization you use, EHR management will likely be a crucial factor in your success. As you prepare for ambulatory health care accreditation, be sure to examine your capabilities for EHR and: • Appropriately handled first contacts • High standards and HIPAA compliance throughout appointments and treatments • Proper billing practices Sequence Health can support your journey through the AAAHC accreditation process. Contact us if you need assistance ensuring your facility’s compliance with ambulatory health care accreditation standards or would like to improve patient care coordination.
Easing MACRA’s Quality Payment Program Transition Written by SQHealth-admin on November 17, 2016. Posted in Other. As the highly anticipated Quality Payment Program—a result of the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 (MACRA)—rollout begins, so does the search for solutions for easing the transition. Although MACRA’s enactment and the corresponding transition to the Quality Payment Program offer significant advantages to many U.S. healthcare facilities, it may also represent a costly shift in existing infrastructure for others. This is especially true for hospitals that are not equipped to track the necessary metrics for one of the Quality Payment Program’s payment tracks. What is MACRA and the Quality Payment Program? Drafted by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) as an alternative to traditional payment and reimbursement policies, MACRA is an extremely complex piece of legislation that seeks to accomplish the weighty task of implementing value-based care. While perhaps too lengthy to read in full for most busy healthcare professionals (the document itself is more than 2,000 pages), understanding its fundamentals is crucial for any healthcare facility that provides treatment for Medicare and Medicaid patients. Most simply, MACRA is an incentive-based payment system to be associated with Medicare services. Physicians will no longer utilize the fee-for-service model or the Medicare Sustainable Growth Rate formula (SGR) that has been used since 1997 to calculate payment. Instead, they may now choose from two new payment tracks—which, when used in conjunction, can better achieve a results-oriented method: • Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS): In an effort to accomplish a truly effective merit-based model, MIPS consolidates three existing quality considerations (i.e., meaningful use, Physician Quality Reporting System, and Value-based Payment Modifier) with a new evaluation method: clinical practice improvement activities. These criteria are then used to determine a score from 0–100 that can be applied to physician payments. • Alternative Payment Model (APM): A secondary method, APM is designed to further enhance what MIPS is able to accomplish by offering practitioner bonuses for continued excellence. Exact practices vary from one facility to the next, but qualifying participants must meet certain requirements, including: • Use of certified EHRs • Payments under an approved quality-based system • Services that assume more than a nominal risk of losses MACRA is also designed to replace three existing quality reporting systems with a more streamlined and effective alternative. Although this is intended to reduce clinical administrative burdens in the long run, it may require a better approach to patient management in the interim. Sequence Patient Tracking System: A Solution for Reducing MACRA Admin Burdens The Sequence Patient Tracking System can ease your healthcare facility’s transition to the Quality Payment Program tracking patients from first contact to recovery. By collecting and consolidating all necessary information through a HIPAA-compliant platform, our lead and patient tracking solutions enable you to manage patient leads, streamline patient intake, and organize patient information. If your facility seeks proven, qualified guidance and support to successfully participate in the MACRA rollout, please contact Sequence Health to learn about our solutions.
Sequence Supports Important Hospital Rankings Written by SQHealth-admin on November 3, 2016. Posted in Other. In an effort to standardize healthcare evaluations for patients with limited medical experience, Healthgrades hospital rankings outline the strengths and weaknesses of facilities across the country. While rankings aren’t everything, how your facility is perceived can be extremely influential to the community around you. When you’re seeking solutions that can position you in the best possible light, patient management can be a crucial and often overlooked component. By providing a more thorough look into your management approach, patient care and retention practices, and adherence to quality regulations, it’s possible to leverage your strengths, improve weaknesses, and boost overall reputation. The Importance of Hospital Rankings Objectively evaluating hospitals is a loaded task, especially with the differences from facility to facility. Many organizations, like U.S. News and World Report, attempt to provide comprehensive overviews, but all rankings apply slightly different methodologies that can influence patient perceptions. Healthgrade ranks hospitals based on a wide variety of standards and services, including patient reviews, hospital quality awards, clinical quality awards, patient safety ratings, and physician performance. The addition of patient feedback in the ratings process is especially influential; this provides relatable information to patients while also offering healthcare facilities criticism that otherwise may have gone ignored. The Art of Attracting Patients In a competitive market like healthcare, the smallest details can make the largest difference. Your approach to patient care and organization can be critical here, offering you an opportunity to streamline operations and stand apart from the crowd. Through a new approach and a better perspective on patient satisfaction, your facility can make the decisions necessary to improve both rankings and results. Sequence Health clients are able to better attract patients through our digital marketing services, manage admissions, regulate care, and retain patients so they keep coming back. Two successful Sequence facilities, Centura Health and Alexian Brothers, are both highly ranked as top hospitals in their respective states, demonstrating a track record of educated management coupled with success-oriented goals. Making a Difference with Sequence In non-emergency situations, it is up to the patient to determine which healthcare facility is the proper choice. In a world where patients seek online reviews prior to making a decision about which hospital to utilize, hospital rankings are now more than ever important. When your hospital needs a way to boost rankings and serve more members of the community, Sequence Patient Tracking can assist in interpreting ranking data to achieve meaningful, successful results. We track patients from their first contact, whether an online contact form or a phone call, tracking them as they work through surgical pre-requisites, insurance verification, through their postoperative recovery to ensure they receive full support from your organization to provide them with a satisfying experience. In addition, Sequence provides you with real time monitoring and tracking of the patient through the use of a HIPAA-approved software platform. When you’d like to attract more patients and improve your reputation, both locally and nationally, Sequence Health can provide the solutions needed to achieve your goals. Contact us at 888-986-3638 to learn more about our patient tracking software or request a demo to see what our team can do to assist in increasing your hospital rankings.
Tech Talk and Summer Reading Highlights with Chief Technology Officer, Gopi Yeleswarapu Written by web_developers on July 6, 2016. Posted in Other. A few weeks ago Bill Gates published his reading list on his blog. My boss mentioned about the book How Not to be Wrong, by Jordan Ellenberg, and suggested that I may like reading it. Here are my thoughts on workflow automation and the challenges of improving the user experience. 5 Books to Read This Summer Here in Seattle, summer is a gift you earn by gutting out nine months of rain and gloom. The skies are clear, there’s…www.gatesnotes.com Reading the book, you will understand why Bill Gates would have added to his list of books to read. Having spent the last dozen years writing software to automate routine tasks and building platforms, I have realized that math has a profound impact on computing, especially automation. In my opinion automating user workflows is one of the fairly challenging computing problems to solve. Identifying use cases and building rules on what needs to happen next and how, involves a lot of common sense logic applied like mathematical deductions (deduction theorem). At work, one problem my team and I are working on solving is to apply “if this, then that” rules to automate tasks while taking into account “when and by whom.” Come to think of it, these rules are pure math and if improperly applied can cause chain and circular rule executions leading to infinity. So taking atomic transactions (derivative) and applying limits (not tending to infinity, maybe 10 for now) is helping us solve the problem of workflow automation, while limiting the number of rules one can execute on a successful completion of a transaction. The chapter Straight Locally, Curved Globally has really been an inspiration while working on this project over the last few weeks. Gopi Yeleswarapu Chief Technology Officer at Sequence Health Gopi joined the Sequence Health team in 2014 with more than 10 years’ experience in developing complex software and support platforms. Since his arrival, he has led development of our software platform, Sequence, while managing development and support of the existing LeadTracker platform and all other internal IT projects. He spent the majority of his career building scalable, communication enabled and automation oriented software platforms for Healthcare and Telecom. Gopi earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Computer Science from Osmania University in India, and a Master’s in Computer Information Systems from the University of South Alabama.
Salesforce Connections 2016 Spotlights Opportunities for Personalizing the Patient Journey Written by SQHealth-admin on May 13, 2016. Posted in Other. Salesforce Connections 2016 (#cnx16) is in the books! Three exciting days at Atlanta’s Georgia World Congress Center set the stage for phenomenal networking, ideating, and market research around trends in what is now the evolving world of customer experience and relationship management. This inclusive, outcomes-driven approach to what was one time the segmented industries of marketing, advertising, public relations, sales, and customer service echoes the sentiments of leaders in the healthcare industry as consumers continue to expect quality outcomes and value-based care. Rising Digital Expectations: Personalizing the Entire Patient Journey “It’s a good thing to be forced to be innovative.” – Avice Meehan, Senior VP, Chief Communications Officer, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center Highlighting the growing expectations of healthcare consumers for a personalized one-to-one patient journey, this breakout session focused on ways healthcare providers are addressing regulatory and data challenges while improving cross-channel digital communications to improve patient satisfaction, and to drive patient acquisition and engagement while creating lifetime advocacy. Jessica Sweeney-Platt shared with the group, “Hospital and health system executives recognize that health care is not immune to digital disruption; the rude awakening has been that the disruption is happening faster than they can respond to it.” Doug Weiss, Chief Marketing Officer at Eating Recovery Center, further highlighted the MDnetSolutions value proposition, “It’s before and after care where a big opportunity exists. Education to support families and providers can improve the customer experience and enhance the quality of care.” MDnetSolutions Can Address Opportunities to Improve the Personalized Patient Journey Configurable cloud technology is a competitive advantage in how the patients are acquired, engaged, and retained The patient experience should be seamless, offering a single experience with the entire care team empowered by constant, transparent communication and efficient relationship management; interoperability is key Providers have a real need for a holistic view of each patient and of their practice New industry thinking: Don’t build systems to solve problems, build relationships and put people and data in context Education and technology should set expectations and monitor adherence throughout the patient’s journey; managing expectations allows you to manage outcomes Provide the right information at the right time to inspire engagement/action Surprise and delight the client so they can surprise and delight the patient See more news and notes from #CNX16 by visiting our social media sites and joining the conversation. For more insight into industry trends and how MDnetSolutions is addressing the immediate needs of providers across the healthcare industry, call today and ask for a product demo. 888.986.3638 Kris Altiere, Director of Marketing & Creative As our Director of Marketing & Creative, Kris is chief architect of our creative services and manages our marketing, design, video and production teams. She has more than 15 years’ experience in creative leadership and design, and has worked with prestigious clients including Cleveland Clinic, New York Presbyterian, Baptist Health South Florida, Emory Healthcare, St. Joseph’s Hospital and Piedmont Hospital. Before joining us, she worked at AVID Design as a Senior Designer, Marketing Manager and Web Consultant. Kris earned a Bachelor of Arts in Graphic Design from Kennesaw State University. She also attended Auburn University.
April is National Minority Health Month Written by web_developers on April 19, 2016. Posted in Other. “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” – Nelson Mandela Thanks to the exceptional team at MDnet, we can help our clients improve education as well as access to health care for minority populations and across cultural barriers that otherwise restrict access to care. Celebrating Dual Language Video Production from MDnetSolutions The MDnetSolutions production staff recently worked with a new client to better reach the minority patient population in the surrounding communities. Going beyond traditional voiceover translation of the English version, the MDnet team led the full on-site production of English and Spanish versions of the Online Seminars (OLS). Working directly with the team from Doctors Hospital at Renaissance, the MDnetSolutions team took on the request to offer more than the traditional translation services. Senior Producer Karen Haft shared insights with the rest of the team on the opportunities of taking on the task, “DHR decided early on that we needed to shoot two seminars, one in English and one in Spanish, to reach the mostly Hispanic patient population. Without being fluent in Spanish, I had to rely on the crew members and support staff who were fluent in Spanish to help determine the right context of the surgeon’s delivery.” “I found it really interesting that often I could tell when the surgeon’s tone was warm and reassuring even though I am not fluent in Spanish. That goes to show how much communication is universal. The entire experience was so positive” said Karen. “It was a great team effort; the surgeons were appreciative of the support from the crew because they knew it would make their seminar that much better.” “On location, we discussed using Spanish voice translation for the English speaking surgeons. Interestingly enough, the crew said using subtitles would be better because the Hispanic population is used to seeing subtitles in movies, so that’s what they prefer. The crew offered invaluable feedback and insights I can bring to future projects.” This exciting milestone paves the way for MDnet to offer better customer service to clients serving minority patient populations. Did you know… MDnetSolutions offers multilingual services, including translation and subtitles, for many of our engagement solutions: Website Content and Digital Marketing Collateral Online Seminars and Assessments MDMessenger Care Transition Systems (CTS) Medical Call Center and NurseLine The focus on patient education, engagement and intervention allow MDnet to partner with our clients to address the issues highlighted by this year’s National Minority Health Month theme, “Prevention is Power: Taking Action for Health Equity.” Visit our social media pages to share your experience in taking action to improve care for minority health populations. #minorityhealthmonth
Today’s Coffee Break: Tom the Thankful Turkey Returns! Written by web_developers on November 25, 2015. Posted in Other. No Comments on Today’s Coffee Break: Tom the Thankful Turkey Returns! Today’s Coffee Break post is written by Brice Kennedy — our own in-house graphic designer, illustration artist and web designer who just so happens to the be creator of Tom the Thankful Turkey. Swing by the creative quad to say hello and get a sneak peek at his next big project! Thanksgiving is almost here! This year we’re keeping our MDnet tradition going and bringing back Tom the Thankful Turkey. Born from a creative collaboration between Creative Director Kris Altiere, Key Account Supervisor Latonya Reid, and myself, Tom was first illustrated last year in our Call Center area as a place for our MDnet family to write and express what we’re most thankful for. In the year since, the company has grown in many ways — with new faces, new and improved products, and new clients. We have plenty to be thankful for. To celebrate our growth in 2015, Tom the Thankful Turkey returns! We’ve all had new experiences in our professional and personal lives and this is a perfect time to reflect on all that has happened in the passing months. Personally, it’s when I’m drawing “Tom” that I spare some time for the gratitude and happiness that occasionally goes missing during such a busy time of year. It’s awesome time to be alive and apart of the MDnet team who have such great things to offer the world. Already I’ve seen how much our products have helped and saved those in need and it’s something I am truly thankful for. I like what Rich Rosenzweig started and I’m excited about the direction in which Alan Creighton is taking MDnet. I feel blessed to have the love and support from my family and inspired to have opportunities to create with like-minded people. What you are most thankful for? Reflect on it and drop a line — Tom is waiting for you.
Engaging the “Consumer Patient” — What Healthcare Must Learn from Telecom Written by SQHealth-admin on October 20, 2015. Posted in Other. No Comments on Engaging the “Consumer Patient” — What Healthcare Must Learn from Telecom To launch our ongoing Leader’s Thought blog series, this post is written by Alan Creighton — communications mogul turned CEO of MDnetSolutions. It’s no secret that consumers are embracing and adopting new technologies and communication tools at an unprecedented rate. Within the telecom industry, the demand for asynchronous engagement — “what I want, when and where I want it” — has exploded, and telecom providers have delivered. With applications for a multitude of devices, the industry has set the bar for communication preferences and enabled consumer brands to have this kind of conversation And this is where the healthcare industry has fallen behind. While numerous studies that have indicated that patient engagement improves healthcare outcomes, the healthcare industry as whole has not addressed the changes in communication preferences that consumers, their patients, expect. Yes, brick-and-mortar practices have developed patient portals; but they primarily serve as one-way information aggregators within that practice. It’s the lack of outgoing communication from providers and the ability to consume patient information outside of the brick and mortar that is affecting how active a role patients take in managing their own health. With consumers far ahead of providers and squarely in a highly-engaged phase, this new generation of “consumer patients” is frustrated that they can’t have more communication with their providers when and where they want to receive it. Where telecom technologies have evolved to allow brands to keep up with consumer demand, the CRM technology supporting healthcare practices has remained largely stagnant. In order to thrive, practices must begin to explore the benefits of digital dialogue throughout the patient care continuum and outside the of the typical healthcare setting, particularly with post-discharge follow-up. By enabling dialogue, practices can efficiently and effectively utilize tools of engagement to help their patients lead healthier lives. So what have we learned? For healthcare to succeed in the “consumer patient” generation, integration and interoperability among healthcare IT applications are crucial. Because very few healthcare vendors have fully embraced this, the standards and protocols are lacking when it comes to sharing data and exchanging information. This, too, creates a deficiency when transferring patient data and results in an inefficient, frustrating experience. How do we help improve that experience? One, we have to communicate outside of the healthcare setting with methods that patients, our “consumers”, are most comfortable and most responsive. Two, the healthcare industry must work together to do a better job of sharing information in order to stay effective and relevant. Simply put, healthcare practices that choose not integrate choose to become obsolete. The need for that communication has primed healthcare data to become part of an information system that empowers and educates patients. There is a huge opportunity in the market to utilize the tools of engagement that we know patients, our consumers, have adopted from other consumer brands. Companies that have tuned into this opportunity are beginning to introduce tools that are driven by communication preferences and designed to integrate with existing EMR systems. By adapting their preferred methods of information exchange, healthcare providers can now offer a more-relevant dialogue to better engage with their patients. About MDnetSolutions: We are leveraging communication innovations, and structuring our software for integration, to facilitate conversations between healthcare providers and patients. By creating tools that provide a multi-level view of the patient pathway, and integrate with EMRs, we can also keep a practice’s staff informed of where each patient is within in the provider’s healthcare continuum to prevent them from stalling in their cycle of care. Learn more about these solutions at www.mdnetsolutions.com
An Sequence Health Holiday Poem Written by web_developers on December 24, 2014. Posted in Other. No Comments on An Sequence Health Holiday Poem In tribute to Clement Clarke Moore, we present to you Sequence Health’s version of the author’s famed poem, “The Night Before Christmas”, written in 1822. ‘Twas the day before Christmas, when all through the medical practice Not a creature was stirring because all the phone calls were being handled by Sequence Health’s boutique medical call center. Team members were typing information with care, knowing Dr. Nicholas soon would be seeing patients there. The patients were nestled all snug in their house, while visions of online seminars danced in their brain. There was no need to leave or get out in the rain as they watched and learned without any pain. When all of a sudden there arose such a clatter, I ran to the phone to see what was the matter. Away to my cell phone I flew like a flash, I slide to unlock it and the button I did mash. The glow of the phone hit my cheek and I seriously wondered to whom I would speak. When what to my inquisitive ears should hear a perky voice saying we are glad you viewed our video dear. The little team member so lively and fair, I knew in a moment I was in good care. With compassion she listened as I described my condition and together we crafted a plan to make it better. Do you struggle to walk or catch your breath when you talk? Is your blood pressure high? Do you eat too much pie? You have a problem and that ain’t no lie, but we can help we won’t deny. You watched the seminar and that’s a key part now let’s make an appointment and get a head start. I was excited down deep in my heart and I wanted to see what would be as my bariatric treatment began I felt like a new man. When I first saw the doc, he gave me a wink. You are perfect, perfect indeed. Yes, oh yes I do believe you can be fitted with a gastric sleeve. I was excited and never enraged, because this bariatric practice was fully engaged. With Sequence Health they did not fret. The medical staff was on the attack thanks to lead and patient track. They followed my progress and made sure that I didn’t falter or lose my step. Records at the practice were meticulously kept. It was so efficient I nearly wept. The treatment is great it is going well. And oh boy do I have a story to tell. I am no longer chubby and plump. I feel better now with less of a rump. Diabetes type 2 is no longer in view, and I can climb up the stairs without gasping for air. I am so happy about my weight-loss surgery and I can safely say without fear of perjury. If you’re a healthcare provider connect with the crowd. We have your new year’s resolution and it’s Sequence Health. You won’t regret, chose Sequence Health and let the engagement begin again and again. Merry Christmas everyone.
Happy Thanksgiving to You and Yours From Sequence Health Written by web_developers on November 26, 2014. Posted in Other. No Comments on Happy Thanksgiving to You and Yours From Sequence Health As we begin traveling around the country this Thanksgiving to visit family and friends, it is time to assess our blessings and express our gratitude. At Sequence Health, each employee had an opportunity to share what he or she is most thankful for during this holiday season. Since we are a creative bunch at Sequence Health, designing top-notch websites and crafting search engine marketing, among other solutions to grow your practice’s patient intake, we added an artistic flair to the Thanksgiving festivities. Sequence Health LaTonya Reid, left, and Brice Kennedy helped create and design “Tom the Thankful Turkey.” Thanks to the creative minds of LaTonya Reid, our key account manager; Kris Altiere, our art director, and Brice Kennedy, a graphic designer, “Tom the Thankful Turkey” was born. During the days leading up to Thanksgiving, Sequence Health employees jotted down what they were most thankful for this year. The notes varied from being thankful for their religious faith, to family and friends, to health and overcoming a disease, to having a job. No matter our situation, we all have something to be thankful for during this time. Regardless of how bleak or dark it seems, there is something, nevertheless how minute, we can express our gratitude. Whether it be preparing for a festive feast with friends and family and watching football on Thursday, to having a day off, to shopping on Black Friday, be thankful for this time. Here’s to You We have enjoyed tremendous success and growth in 2014, and we want to thank all our clients. To our friends who were introduced to Sequence Health at a trade show, found us at Sequence Health or learned about us through word of mouth and forged a relationship, we want to express our sincere gratitude. We hope our patient engagement, patient management and outcomes management solutions have helped enhance your practice, and your patient population has benefited from partnering with us. We look forward to serving you in the future and continuing our fruitful relationship. When your patients and their families gather around the Thanksgiving table today, we hope they mention your practice and how thankful they are for the treatment they received under your care. We hope the LeadTracker™, our online patient seminars, medical boutique call center and 24/7NurseLine played a part in the positive patient outcome. If you are not a client of Sequence Health, give us a call at 888.986.3638 and speak to a sales representative or request a demonstration. We have the right solutions for you and your patients. Together we can transform healthcare. Let us remember that, as much has been given us, much will be expected from us, and that true homage comes from the heart as well as from the lips, and shows itself in deeds. ~Theodore Roosevelt From all of us at Sequence Health, have a happy and healthy Thanksgiving.