Solid Reporting Options Give MEDITECH Hospitals Tools for ARRA Compliance


As hospitals strive to demonstrate their use of I.T. in more "meaningful" ways, MEDITECH is helping them to show evidence of quality progress and technology usage with solid reporting strategies. Now more than ever, health care organizations have a wide variety of options to choose from, when it comes to documenting their improvements and qualifying for federal funds. And according to Vice President of Product Development Michelle O'Connor, whether our customers are using the Client/Server, MAGIC, or 6.0 platform, they can set a plan in motion which will allow them to comply with any reporting mandates which come their way.

"We want all of our customers to know that they're not limited to just one tool for reporting," O'Connor says. "With the help of our corporate partners and allies, MEDITECH hospitals have a number of avenues open to them—from using Medisolv's Dashboards, to the Institute for Health Metrics' quality reporting services, as well as our own Data Repository. We're also exploring partnership options for establishing on-line patient portals and kiosks for personal health records. We want to ensure that MEDITECH hospitals will be well-prepared for the reporting requirements of the future."

One of the newest options for MEDITECH customers—Medisolv's new Operational Dashboard—gives hospital executives a snapshot visual overview of company health and key performance indicators. The software empowers hospital leaders to easily monitor all performance factors which impact business objectives—including 13 different indicators on such data as patient volumes, staff productivity, and charge capture.

"These role-based dashboards give hospital executives at-a-glance, focused information on their operational and clinical progress," says Medisolv Vice President of Client Services Ken McCormick. "By proactively measuring their own performance, users will be able to identify care trends and correct problems as they occur, instead of months down the line."

With the Meaningful Use Matrix recently released by the federal government, it appears that hospitals which prepare a reporting strategy now, are most likely to thrive in the years ahead. Health care facilities will need to be able to report their quality measures to the Centers for Medicare Services by 2011—or else risk incurring federal penalties. MEDITECH Vice President of Marketing Hoda Sayed-Friel says that while many of the quality standards contained in the Meaningful Use Matrix are not new to the industry, being able to meet the measurement requirements through effective reporting will set some hospitals apart from the rest.

"Clearly, the hospitals in the best position will be those who monitor patient trends on a concurrent, rather than a retrospective, basis," she says. "Those organizations which have real-time, actionable data along with a comprehensive reporting strategy will be able to prove that they are really as efficient and safe as they say they are. Our hospitals have both the tools and the data to shine in this area, and we're ready to help them do just that."