MEDITECH VP Sets Course for "Destination Excellence" in 2009 (2/05/2009)

As 2009 gets underway, many hospitals are confronting a myriad of financial and clinical challenges, as they attempt to balance their quality care concerns with the increasingly urgent need to control costs. We recently sat down with Hoda Sayed-Friel, MEDITECH's vice president of marketing, to discuss some of the difficulties many health care organizations face in an unstable economy, as well as how MEDITECH is poised to help its customers achieve and prosper no matter what surprises the financial forecast holds. Q: We talk a lot about how rapidly health care is evolving, but what specific challenges do you think most health care organizations will be facing in 2009? Hoda: Well, certainly many hospitals today are dealing with limited resources, just like everyone else in this slowing economy. But on top of that, health care organizations still need to respond to rising patient expectations, more stringent state and federal requirements, and rapidly expanding care that is moving far beyond hospitals and physicians' offices into new environments—such as retail clinics, patients' homes, and hospices. Our entire care landscape is changing, and it's simply a more complicated world than it used to be. Providers find themselves having to work harder and more efficiently for their reimbursements, while patient conditions are becoming increasingly complex as our population ages. In some ways, the biggest challenge is the sheer volume of challenges before us. Q: Economic instability is definitely a worry for everyone right now. Do you think it's likely that many hospitals will be forced to cut back on I.T. projects, because of a lack of funding? How can MEDITECH help them to move forward with quality initiatives on a tight budget? Hoda: I don't doubt that hospitals are clamping down on costs, but I.T. won't go away. No matter what happens with the financial crisis, hospitals' quality improvements won't stop, because they can't. Chronic diseases, government mandates, consumer demands—these won't disappear just because money is tight. And the current financial climate makes it even more important for health care organizations to turn to their HCIS, in order to reduce waste and improve efficiency across the board. By using I.T.'s patient safety features to reduce the incidence of medical errors and hospital-acquired infections, hospitals can improve their reimbursement rates and literally save tens of thousands of dollars. Even just using the system to keep better track of medical supplies can make a big impact on a facility's bottom line. I do believe, however, that many hospitals will need to figure out how they can accomplish more with the HCIS they currently have. MEDITECH customers are in a good position, since they have solid systems which will help them to achieve their goals and build best practices into their clinical and business processes. There are still plenty of reasons to be optimistic. Our customers have accomplished some amazing things over the past year, despite the economic downturn. Eight of them—including Citizens Memorial Healthcare, St. Agnes Hospital, Watertown Regional Medical Center, Parkview Adventist Medical Center, Lawrence Hospital Center, Northern Westchester Hospital, Swedish Covenant Hospital, and White Plains Hospital Center—received the prestigious Stage 6 EMR designation from HIMSS Analytics. Parkview Medical Center won the Five Star Service Award from Avatar International. And Poudre Valley Health System was recently honored with the 2008 Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award. Nothing has stopped these organizations from making their mark. Q: What do you think sets these high-achieving hospitals apart? Hoda: One important thing they have in common is they all realized the importance of having I.T. in their long-term strategic plans. Also, they are all very focused on their goals, on what they want to achieve and how they are going to get it. Success hasn't just happened to them by accident—these organizations actually see themselves as being on a mission to continuously improve care. They are always moving ahead, getting closer to what we at MEDITECH are now calling "Destination Excellence." These hospitals stand out because they continually strive to be better than what they presently are. And they are on a journey that has no literal end, because the needs of the health care industry are always evolving, and the bar is constantly being raised higher and higher for all of us. Perfection is an elusive goal, but constant progress forward—even if it is incremental—is what's necessary to survive. Q: It sounds like "Destination Excellence" is really about taking the next logical step beyond mobilizing data—once hospitals have the information, they can then use it to set their own course for success. Is that right? Hoda: Yes, exactly. It's just so important for hospitals to collect useable data and measure their own progress forward. Using metrics is the best way to determine what areas you want to focus on for improvement. I.T. plays a big part in this, especially for MEDITECH customers, since our system automatically gathers a huge amount of data which can then be organized into quality reports. This helps executives and caregivers to see trends throughout their organization which are impacting not only patient outcomes, but also the financial stability of the enterprise. For hospitals to prosper in today's world, it just isn't enough to simply implement a new I.T. system and hope it will somehow solve all of your problems. The most successful health care organizations are taking the time to discover their own particular issues, then targeting their energies and resources to resolve them. The MEDITECH system can help hospitals to measure, as well as to make improvements once they've set a plan in motion—whether it involves building best practices, facilitating community care, or controlling costs. We show hospitals what is possible to achieve, then empower them to take action. Q: Probably one of the biggest quandaries for hospitals is determining how to set their own priorities, when challenges are numerous, and the industry is always changing. How can I.T. help hospitals to stay ahead of the curve? Hoda: Whatever plans for the future a hospital may have, I.T. must be a major part of it. Because transparency both inside and outside the organization is the key to staying afloat—and that would be virtually impossible for any hospital to achieve without computer software to organize patient data. The problem is, many caregivers and health care executives are understandably overwhelmed by their increasing workloads, and fearful that a complicated HCIS would make things even more difficult. At MEDITECH, we believe technology should be a help to them, not an additional burden. If hospitals have dependable, industry-standard software tools which are easy to learn and use, and which will also allow them to honestly assess their own strengths and weaknesses, they will be able to navigate any new challenges they encounter. Q: And how can MEDITECH's I.T. products, in particular, prepare customers for the tumultuous (and undoubtedly busy) years which may lie ahead? Hoda: Our systems, especially the new 6.0 offering, are designed specifically to address health care's next phase, which will involve, among other things, more disease management and community-based care. We're focused on giving our customers a solid foundation built on metrics and actionable data, using the powerful reporting capabilities of our Data Repository, as well as data analysis tools from our corporate allies at Medisolv and The Institute for Health Metrics. Once they've harnessed the power of their own data, hospitals will be better prepared to accommodate patients' demands for more convenient, seamless care without walls—by sharing this information with many different caregivers and facilities across the continuum. We're also continuing our efforts to achieve interoperability with other vendor EMRs, so MEDITECH users will be able to deliver care which truly stretches across all departmental, organizational, and geographical boundaries. Beyond all that, one thing I think many hospitals really need right now from their I.T. vendors is support. And not just to fix system glitches. For MEDITECH, supporting our health care organizations involves a long-term commitment. We want to actively collaborate with our hospitals, to help them thrive under even the most difficult circumstances. The journey to Destination Excellence can be a long one, but our customers needn't ever worry about undertaking it alone.