Drawing on recently published research from Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality’s EvidenceNOW initiative, Dr. Samuel Edwards shared insights for primary care practices seeking to assess and address provider burnout. Dr. Edwards highlighted associations between the use of quality improvement strategies, EHR capabilities, and satisfaction among practices with zero-burnout versus high-burnout. Key, and sometimes surprising, takeaways regarding leadership, workplace environment and culture, EHR use, and more from this research were discussed.

As health centers have newly established, scaled and/or enhanced their telehealth services during the pandemic year, they have navigated a variety of challenges, including policy and practice changes, logistics of implementation, privacy and security considerations, connectivity issues, ensuring quality services and patient and provider satisfaction. As health centers continue to refine their telehealth services amidst a changing context, the HITEQ Center is pleased to offer a panel of telehealth experts to address health center questions.  Panelists offer expertise in: set up and implementation of telehealth; clinical workflows, roles and training; hybrid care; patient-centered services; remote patient monitoring; telebehavioral health; telehealth optimization, maturity and performance management.

View the HITEQ Center's Telehealth Operations and Quality: Ask Anything  session. The session,  moderated by HITEQ’s Training and Technical Assistance Advisor, Natalie Truesdell, will provide an open forum for health centers to ask panelists their most pressing questions about telehealth services in the health center setting, such as:

• How can we fully integrate telehealth into our overall care delivery model?
• What are the ways in which telehealth may alleviate and/or add to provider burden?
•  Can you describe other health centers’ experiences with the unintended consequences of transitioning to telehealth?
• How do we ensure health equity when refining our telehealth and in-person care?
• What recommendations do you have for patients with limited digital proficiency?
• What might be the best approach to optimizing care for patients with chronic conditions?
• How can we improve our care team communication when so many staff are working remotely?
• What recommendations do you have for quick training of providers on patient interaction through telehealth?
• How can telehealth be more than a ‘transactional’ interaction?
• Can it be used to provide more touchpoints through different levels of care?
• What's the best way to assess telehealth success?

Please note: This session will be focused on telehealth operational and quality questions, and will not cover questions related to telehealth reimbursement, financing or policy changes at the state or federal level.

The session features the following panelists:

• Emma Ansara,  RN, MS, MA, FNP-C, Integrated Care Expert at the HITEQ Center
• Samantha Lippolis, MPA, Physician Practices Telemedicine Advisor & Consultant with Ingenium Digital Health Advisors
• Shane McBride, MBA, Founder & CEO of Chiron Strategy Group
• Christian Milaster, MS, Founder & CEO, Digital Health Transformation Advisor & Consultant with Ingenium Digital Health Advisors

The  60 minute session will start with panelists answering questions submitted by health centers during registration for the event.

Objectives

• Provide information and guidance to health centers across a variety of telehealth topics.
• Share ideas, tactics, and resources for implementing and optimizing telehealth services and virtual care

Healthcare continues to be the sector most targeted globally by ransomware and related malware attacks and leads in the average total cost of data breach across industries. The FY 2021 American Rescue Plan Funding provides an excellent opportunity for Health Centers to make strategic investments in cybersecurity infrastructure and services. This HITEQ Highlight, presented by Adam Kehler of Online Business Systems provides an overview of assets that can increase Health Center cybersecurity. Topics covered include cybersecurity infrastructure and services that can increase defense-in-depth for health IT, including EHRs, telehealth tools and services, mobile medical devices, patient portals, and related health information software applications.

Note: You can view our American Rescue Plan: Budget Your Cybersecurity Investments guidance document in the Documents to Download section below. An accessible version of the handout is is also available in the Documents to Download section. 

The HITEQ Center led a learning collaborative for health centers on Addressing Provider Burden. This learning collaborative provided a space for discussion and sharing compassionate, well designed, and digital-first solutions. Health center participants had the opportunity to discuss interventions, implementation, training, and ongoing support for meaningfully integrated digital solutions to effectively support reducing provider burden.

This learning collaborative provided health centers a series of four structured virtual sessions to engage with subject matter experts and their colleagues in peer-to-peer learning and discussion. Topics included EHR best training practices, workflow support, and documentation support. Throughout the series, participants were encouraged to consider the broad scope of provider burnout and the opportunities their particular settings may have for meaningful interventions.

All sessions are scheduled to begin at 1:30 ET and will last between 60 - 90 minutes. The session schedule is:
--June 9: Session 1 - Scoping Provider Burnout as a Problem with a Solution
--June 23: Session 2 - EHR Training Best Practices
--July 14: Session 3 - Workflow and Documentation Support
--July 28: Session 4 - Provider Burnout Round-Up

Health centers interested in participating in the upcoming learning collaborative series can submit one registration form on behalf of their health center. Health center registrations can include up to three participants in their form.

Session 2 discussed the questions of effectiveness, timing, and structure of EHR training to prevent provider burnout.

The HITEQ Center hosted a learning collaborative for health centers on Addressing Provider Burden. This learning collaborative provided a space for discussion and sharing compassionate, well designed, and digital-first solutions. Health center participants had the opportunity to discuss interventions, implementation, training, and ongoing support for meaningfully integrated digital solutions to effectively support reducing provider burden.

This learning collaborative provided health centers with a series of four structured virtual sessions to engage with subject matter experts and their colleagues in peer-to-peer learning and discussion. Topics from these series included EHR best training practices, workflow support, and documentation support. Throughout the series, participants were encouraged to consider the broad scope of provider burnout and the opportunities their particular settings may have for meaningful interventions.

All sessions are scheduled to begin at 1:30 ET and will last between 60 - 90 minutes. The session schedule is:
--June 9: Session 1 - Scoping Provider Burnout as a Problem with a Solution
--June 23: Session 2 - EHR Training Best Practices
--July 14: Session 3 - Workflow and Documentation Support
--July 28: Session 4 - Provider Burnout Round-Up

Health centers interested in participating in this learning collaborative series can submit one registration form on behalf of their health center. Health center registrations can include up to three participants in their form.

This session focused on assisting with workflow and documentation improvements like standing orders, huddles and alerts; telehealth/ hybrid care workflows; and optimizing templates, documentation guidance, tracking regulatory/ reimbursement changes that require documentation changes, and more. The speaker shared tools to assist with documentation such as scribes, tailoring favorites/ smart phrases/ shortcuts, etc.

The HITEQ Center hosted a learning collaborative for health centers on Addressing Provider Burden. This learning collaborative provided a space for discussion and sharing compassionate, well designed, and digital-first solutions. Health center participants had the opportunity to discuss interventions, implementation, training, and ongoing support for meaningfully integrated digital solutions to effectively support reducing provider burden.

This learning collaborative provided health centers with a series of four structured virtual sessions to engage with subject matter experts and their colleagues in peer-to-peer learning and discussion. Topics from this session included EHR best training practices, workflow support, and documentation support. Throughout the series, participants were encouraged to consider the broad scope of provider burnout and the opportunities their particular settings may have for meaningful interventions.

All sessions are scheduled to begin at 1:30 ET and will last between 60 - 90 minutes. The session schedule is:
--June 9: Session 1 - Scoping Provider Burnout as a Problem with a Solution
--June 23: Session 2 - EHR Training Best Practices
--July 14: Session 3 - Workflow and Documentation Support
--July 28: Session 4 - Provider Burnout Round-Up

Health centers interested in participating in this learning collaborative series can submit one registration form on behalf of their health center. Health center registrations can include up to three participants in their form.

In this final session, HITEQ facilitated a health center showcase (1-3 examples from participants) to highlight successes and troubleshoot challenges.

The HITEQ Center led a learning collaborative for health centers on Addressing Provider Burden. This learning collaborative provided a space for discussion and sharing compassionate, well designed, and digital-first solutions. Health center participants had the opportunity to discuss interventions, implementation, training, and ongoing support for meaningfully integrated digital solutions to effectively support reducing provider burden.

This learning collaborative provided health centers a series of four structured virtual sessions to engage with subject matter experts and their colleagues in peer-to-peer learning and discussion. Topics included EHR best training practices, workflow support, and documentation support. Throughout the series, participants were encouraged to consider the broad scope of provider burnout and the opportunities their particular settings may have for meaningful interventions.

Session schedule:
--June 9: Session 1 - Scoping Provider Burnout as a Problem with a Solution
--June 23: Session 2 - EHR Training Best Practices
--July 14: Session 3 - Workflow and Documentation Support
--July 28: Session 4 - Provider Burnout Round-Up

During this session participants will meet one another, develop a shared definition of provider burnout and review the literature on provider burnout/burden to better understand where opportunities for meaningful interventions may exist.

What if we told you your electronic health record (EHR) was one of the keys to ending the HIV epidemic (EHE)? Your EHR is a powerful tool that can support increases in HIV testing, access to pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) for people at risk for HIV, and so much more! View our HITEQ Highlights webinar on June 8th to learn more about leveraging your EHR through the use of digital tools and innovative strategies!

While there are thousands of consumer health applications (health apps), which run on smartphones, watches, tablets, and other mobile devices, there is currently no central government agency that provides certification or guidance on consumer-based health apps. View this HITEQ Highlights webinar to learn more about a new tool, the Health App Analyzer, designed to assist health care providers, patients, and consumers in determining whether a given consumer health app provides appropriate health information, guidance, and related services. The Health App Analyzer is a step-by-step decision tree that determines whether a particular health app is the best fit for a specific patient or a health center's patient population.

More than a year into the Covid-19 pandemic, it is now obvious that telehealth — in the form of a hybrid care delivery model that blends virtual and in-person care — is not a fad, but a healthcare delivery option that is here to stay. Healthcare leaders are seeking to optimize their organization's telehealth services for high performance and long-term sustainability. The problem is that most leaders neither know how well (or how bad) their telehealth services are performing, nor what true success can or should look like.   Telehealth, when designed and implemented correctly, will engage patients to achieve positive outcomes, delight physicians, and contribute to organizational strategic objectives, including sustainable financial success.  In this presentation, Christian Milaster of Ingenium Digital Health Advisors leads viewers through a series of pragmatic concepts on how to set an organization’s telehealth success targets, what and how to measure telehealth performance, the Physician Bill of Telehealth Rights, and how to leverage telehealth to achieve strategic success. This presentation is the second session of a two-part series. The first session focused on a telehealth maturity model and is available here.

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, telehealth adoption increased significantly, supporting ongoing access to care and was critical to support healthcare operations continuity which resulted in the adoption of various modes of telehealth tools.

The initial focus was applying telehealth capabilities to ordinary care to increase access to care and keep patients, providers and staff safe. What healthcare organizations are now looking for is a roadmap to make telehealth more sustainable, to integrate it into clinical operations and to leverage it more strategically.

In this presentation, Christian Milaster of Ingenium Digital Health Advisors shares the 7-step Telehealth Maturity Model that guides organizations toward sustainable success with telehealth. This presentation is the first session of a two-part series. HITEQ hosted a second webinar session in April -- Measuring Telehealth Success: The Why, The What, The How -- that can be viewed here.

View a brief presentation by HITEQ and HealthTalk followed by facilitated questions and discussion on their electronic patient engagement platform and the features within the platform that can assist health centers with COVID vaccine communication and dissemination.

Note that these sessions are not an endorsement of any specific vendor. These are an opportunity for health centers to hear about 3rd party vendors and get questions answered.  

View a brief presentation by HITEQ and CareMessage followed by facilitated questions and discussion on their electronic patient engagement platform and the features within the platform that can assist health centers with COVID vaccine communication and dissemination. 

View a brief presentation by HITEQ and WELL Health followed by facilitated questions and discussion on their electronic patient engagement platform and the features within the platform that can assist health centers with COVID vaccine communication and dissemination. 

In this session, we will discuss the 21st Century CURES act (CURES act) specifically focused on how it defined interoperability and information blocking and how that relates to health centers. With HHS recently extending the provider compliance date to April 5, 2021, the group will review how ONC’s final rules defined information blocking requirements and exceptions. The group will discuss common scenarios and health center policy practices that might be considered information blocking, and how they can reduce health center risks with early planning and policy definitions.

Learning Objectives: After participating in this session, attendees will be able to:
- Understand how the CURES act defines Interoperability and Information Blocking
- Describe how the ONC final rules define reasonable exceptions to information blocking
- Review and update health center policies in key areas related to information blocking

In this session, we introduce major interoperability initiatives and efforts, including the United States Core Data for Interoperability (USCDI), Commonwell Alliance, and Carequality that have already begun to lower the barriers to health centers achieving interoperability with other provider organizations. Discussions focus on common usages scenarios for health centers, particularly related to current issues such as COVID-19.

Learning Objectives: After viewing this session, attendees will be able to:
- Understand the role of USCDI in the CMS Promoting Interoperability program and beyond.
- Describe how Carequality could help them engage providers in their local community.
- Identify Commonwell Alliance participants they could connect to within their region.

In this session, we will show examples of how health centers are leveraging administrative, financial, and other non-clinical data to improve operations. Examples include claims processing through HIE, and the use of ADT (Admission-Discharge-Transfer) notifications to enhance care coordination and patient care follow-up.

Learning Objectives: After participating in this session, attendees will be able to:
- Identify the variety of non-clinical data that could be exchanged through HIE.
- Understand how non-clinical data such as ADT messages could be used to enhance clinical processes.
- Learn how to incorporate ADT notifications to improve patient follow-up and care coordination.

In this session, we explore a specific, relevant interoperability use case of immunization registries and disease registries, such as reportable diseases, or COVID immunization registries. The group views case studies of how health centers incorporated registries into their clinical workflow, and enhanced patient care.

Learning Objectives: After participating in this session, attendees will be able to:
- Describe the role of immunization and disease registries in clinical care, and potential legal requirements for participation.
- Understand the potential integration options for registries with the health center’s local EHR
- Learn how to engage clinicians in the use of registries

Speakers:

Kislaya Kunjan, PhD

Health IT Director, Indiana Primary Health Care Association

Noam H. Artz, PhD, FHIMSS, FAMIA

HLN Consulting

In this final session, participants hear from leading interoperability experts and envision the goals and future of interoperability. Specific examples related to the health centers such as the All of Us effort are highlighted with health center participants sharing their experiences, expectations, and promises.

Learning Objectives: After participating in this session, attendees will be able to:
- Understand the promise and direction of interoperability efforts.
- Describe the impact of major national efforts such as All of Us data initiative.
- Identify one or more ways their health center could participate and enhance their data sharing.

Health centers now report on social determinant of health screening activities and many use the PRAPARE tool for this purpose; for years, however, health centers have focused on the broader health and social needs of the individuals they serve often making referrals to community based organizations and utilizing available enabling services. Today, there is growing interest and awareness on the value and use of interoperable social determinants of health (SDoH) data to support individual, community, and population level health improvement. View this HITEQ Center webinar, where the The Health and Human Services, Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT present on the current state of federal activities and standards based approaches for collecting, sharing, and using SDoH data with a focus on technical and policy considerations. The presentation describes available standards, tools, and initiatives for health center use and input.