Australian Health Information Technology: Oh, and By the Way, Health IT Really Works!

Thursday, April 02, 2009

Oh, and By the Way, Health IT Really Works!

As we find the ever increasing denial of the value of E-Health in Australia, those who have invested just keep harvesting benefits!

Kaiser pilot results in reduction of heart attack deaths by 73 percent

March 27, 2009 | Bernie Monegain, Editor

OAKLAND, CA – An engaged front-line team, supported by an electronic health record and a clinical care registry, is credited with reducing the deaths of patients with coronary health disease by 73 percent, according to the results of a Colorado program piloted by Kaiser Permanente.

The program, the Collaborative Cardiac Care Service, links coronary artery disease patients and teams of pharmacists, nurses, primary care doctors and cardiologists with an electronic health record and advanced clinical care registry.

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"Front-line healthcare workers will be the lynchpin in transforming healthcare in this country," said John Sweeney, president of the AFL-CIO, a voluntary federation of 56 national and international unions that represent 11 million workers. "Kaiser Permanente's success in using technology has underscored that the integration and optimization of a health IT system are dependent on people. Both effective computer systems and skilled clinicians are needed to truly change the way care is delivered and achieve quality outcomes."

The program achieved the following results:

Patients have an 88 percent reduced risk of dying of a cardiac-related cause when enrolled within 90 days of a heart attack, compared to those not in the program;
The number of patients meeting their cholesterol goal went from 26 percent to 73 percent; and
The number of patients screened for cholesterol went from 55 percent to 97 percent.

Research indicates that fewer than 20 percent of coronary artery disease patients are expected to survive 10 years after their first heart attack. The coordinated, evidence-based care, enabled by KP HealthConnect and an electronic care registry, increased that survival rate dramatically, according to Kaiser executives. It is estimated that more than 135 deaths and 260 costly emergency interventions were prevented annually, as a result of improved care.

Full article here:

http://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/kaiser-pilot-results-reduction-heart-attack-deaths-73-percent

The materials for all this work and a lot more are available on line:

Reforming the Health Care Delivery System: A Team Approach

Friday, March 27, 2009

Reforming the American health care system is a front-burner topic for many policymakers. One main reason is the desire to extend coverage to some if not all of the more than 45 million uninsured in this country. But there is an emerging consensus that reform must also encompass ways to improve quality and value in the system, and one of the prime targets for reform is the way care is delivered. Advocates, analysts, policymakers, consumers and the business and labor communities are all looking for ways to get more value for their health care dollar – delivering better care at lower cost.

Some health care organizations have combined thoughtful use of technology and better use of personnel to improve preventive care and treatment of chronic disease, obtain better outcomes, and offer additional job satisfaction to their health care workforce. For example, the Colorado unit of Kaiser Permanente reduced the mortality associated by cardiac care by 76 percent, in part through a coordinated and multi-disciplinary team using electronic medical records.

Is this model applicable to other organizations? How can health systems restructure their work force to improve productivity and quality? Who needs to be on the care team? How important is health information technology to the success of the team approach? Is the infrastructure ready?

To address these and related questions, the Alliance for Health Reform, Kaiser Permanente and the AFL-CIO sponsored a March 27 briefing. Panelists were: George Halvorson, president of Kaiser Permanente; Carolyn Clancy, director of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality; Susan Kuca, cardiac care coordinator for Kaiser Permanente Colorado; Jon Rasmussen, chief of clinical pharmacy cardiovascular services at Kaiser Permanente Colorado; Rohit Bhalla, director of performance and quality improvement at Montefiore Medical Center; and union representative Maria Castaneda, secretary-treasurer of 1199SEIU. Ed Howard of the Alliance and John Sweeney, president of the AFL-CIO and a member of the Alliance board, co-moderated.