Consultants
Gain a Competitive Edge at MEDITECH Briefing
On May 11, MEDITECH
hosted its 2006 Consultant Briefing. The one-day
informational event gave health care consultants the
opportunity to learn more about a broad range of
strategic and product-related initiatives underway at
MEDITECH, which they can in turn share with their
clients. The agenda was packed with hot-button topics,
including the electronic health record (EHR) movement,
chronic disease management, and the impact of
informed clinical decision support on quality and
safety.
Industry
Leadership
Stu Lefthes, vice president of sales for MEDITECH,
kicked off the event with an analysis of the
competitive advantage MEDITECH has in the health care
I.T. landscape. Lefthes talked about MEDITECH's
record sales numbers from 2005 and Q1 of 2006 and
shared examples of the award-winning success and
industry recognition being achieved by our customers.
He also spoke of how MEDITECH's alliances with
vendors such as Forward Advantage, Zynx Health, and
the Institute for Health Metrics are helping our
customers to meet their organizational goals of
improved patient safety and better outcomes.
Russ Ricci, MD, chairman of the MEDITECH Advisory
Board, then took the stage to expand upon Lefthes'
presentation and highlight MEDITECH's more active
approach in the industry by joining and participating
in important organizations such as Connecting for
Health and the eHealth Initiative. Ricci wrapped up
his presentation with a call-to-action for the
audience: "It is the consultants who need to
help hospitals succeed in their I.T. endeavors,
because it takes consulting support to change the
process of health care and get the facility to not
just buy the technology, but actually use it,"
he asserted.
Barbara Hobbs, EHR project manager, then gave the
audience an overview of MEDITECH's leadership on the
EHR front, including strategic vision for achieving
national EHRs and goals for interoperability.
MEDITECH is preparing customers for the EHR movement
by taking a proactive approach in deploying
international industry standards right now in the
working models we are operating at local, state, and
regional levels. Hobbs outlined the various data
sharing models that MEDITECH supports and shared
examples of customers who are deploying those
solutions successfully today. "Interoperability
is a journey, not a destination," Hobbs
concluded. "Because technology will always
change, the real destination of our efforts is
improved patient safety."
Innovative
Applications
Shifting the focus to MEDITECH applications, Vice
President of Marketing Hoda Sayed-Friel gave an
overview of how MEDITECH's Advanced Clinical System (ACS)
facilitates better health care. and some of the new
strategies we have developed to address common
implementation challenges. She also touched upon some
of MEDITECH's new clinical enhancements, including
the ability for customers to incorporate evidence-based
medicine from Zynx Health, our e-prescribing
capabilities, and our new Oncology Management suite.
Once the audience was primed on MEDITECH's current
and future initiatives, they were ready to learn
about the business solutions that will help them lead
their clients to financial fitness. Doug Aylaian,
director, client services, and Kerry Weschrob,
supervisor, reimbursement product specialists, opened
up a discussion about how organizations can maintain
a healthy bottom line. They detailed how MEDITECH's
reimbursement products are helping health care
organizations to employ proactive tactics in their
billing departments, allowing them to dramatically
reduce their Accounts Receivable (AR) days. Aylaian
and Weschrob's presentation also gave consultants
valuable information on MEDITECH's best practices,
which will equip them to offer strategic solutions to
improve their health care clients' financial
performance.
Next on the agenda was Geoff Smith, director of
development, and Lincoln Brewer, senior development
analyst, who gave the audience an overview of the new
Oncology Management application -- a product that
offers clinicians a standardized, integrated solution
for managing the complexities of oncology treatment.
Brewer highlighted the ordering
functionality available to clinicians within the
computerized physician order entry module, including:
conflict checking, dose checking, order rules through
Zynx Health, notifications, dosing factors, and
Electronic Signature. Brewer also noted that a
clinical flowsheet gives physicians access to all the
information necessary to treat their patients located
in one place, right at their fingertips.
Janet Desroche, director of advanced clinical systems
implementation for MEDITECH, delved into an analysis
of effective strategies for the implementation of an
HCIS. She shed light on a new process redesign
initiative from MEDITECH which enables more
streamlined implementations of our ACS and a
restructured workflow that will further facilitate
clinicians' use of the system. Desroche also
identified key best practices consultants can share
with their clients, as well as the ways consultants
can work with MEDITECH. "Because the culture of
the health care organization needs to be ready and
accepting of the new technology, consultants have an
important role during this critical time period,"
she explained. "The goal is 100% utilization of
the system, and MEDITECH will rely on its alliances
with consultants to realize this goal."
The day concluded with an overview of how the
solutions from MEDITECH and its partners Forward
Advantage, Zynx Health, and the Institute for Health
Metrics (IHM) work together to support informed
clinical decision-making and improved outcomes. Mike
Knebel, vice president of sales for Forward Advantage,
spoke about the identity management solution they
have created for MEDITECH customers. Greg Dorn, MD,
MPH, vice president and general manager for Zynx
Health, then gave an informative look into the
practice of evidence-based medicine and its many
benefits to patient safety. Finally, A.G.
Breitenstein, JD, MPH, executive vice president and
chief privacy officer of IHM, shared how consultants
and IHM can help health care organizations improve
their performance in meeting reporting requirements.
The Consultant Briefing offered attendees the
exclusive opportunity to get inside information on
trends that are driving the health care industry
today, as well as the ways MEDITECH is leading many
of those initiatives. Consultants who participated
can feel confident that they now have the insights
and tools to empower their health care clients to
make the right decisions in I.T.
MEDITECH
Medical
Information Technology, Inc.
MEDITECH Circle
Westwood, MA 02090
781-821-3000
www.meditech.com
