HealtHIE
Nevada announces collaboration with the Nevada
Hospital Association(NHA) and Collective
Medical, the nation’s most effective network for care
collaboration. Focused on reducing avoidable hospital readmissions, the effort
combines the depth of HealtHIE Nevada’s data with Collective’s nationwide
network, clinical interoperability functionality, and user generated content
and insights, to arm the NHA member hospitals to better identify and support
vulnerable patients at risk for readmission.
After an extensive search search for the right candidate, HealthInsight Nevada today announced the hiring of Michael L. Gagnon, CPHIMS, as executive director of HealtHIE Nevada, the statewide health information exchange (HIE), managed by HealthInsight. Gagnon will take over the role on August 1.
“Michael Gagnon brings 35 years of experience using technology to solve health care problems to HealtHIE Nevada,” said Deborah Huber, HealthInsight Nevada’s executive director. “He will be vital in the continued development of the state’s health information network.”
As executive director, Gagnon will be primarily responsible for the successful execution of the HealtHIE Nevada management contract, working in partnership with the board of directors. He will direct day-to-day operations for contracts and projects, lead all strategic planning activities and goal development, serve as chief spokesman for the HIE, and work with legislators and regulatory agencies to promote a healthy community.
Gagnon most recently served as chief technology officer for Vermont Information Technology Leaders, Inc. (VITL), a nonprofit organization centered in the Burlington area, where he was responsible for establishing the company’s technical vision and leading all aspects of technology development. He led VITL in the development of a statewide clinical data warehouse that serves the needs of health care organizations, patient-centered medical homes and accountable care organizations. He was also responsible for research and development, security and special projects.
He was also president of Health Information Exchange Partners, LLC, a private health care technology consulting firm, and he has been involved with several HIE projects in Vermont, New York and Michigan, including serving as the lead technical architect for the state of Michigan to help develop the Michigan Health Information Network operational strategy, governance structure and architecture plan.
Gagnon is co-founder and served as chief technology officer for Vermedx, Inc., a developer of clinical decision support systems that manage information on chronically ill patients. For more than a decade, he worked with Fletcher Allen Health Care in a variety of technology and informatics positions. In addition, he also spent several years at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota as a sales manager and lead analyst.
Michael earned his Bachelor of Science degree in computer science from Worcester Polytechnic Institute and achieved the Certified Professional in Health Information Management Systems (CPHIMS) certification from the Health Information Management Systems Society (HIMSS).
By Mark Norby, HealthInsight Certified HIPAA Professional
The Office for Civil Rights (OCR) has developed a new method to help them perform even more random HIPAA audits. These new audits – called desk audits – focus on just seven of the 176 audit elements and the audit is performed entirely via email. The seven areas of focus consist of:
Privacy – Notice of Privacy Practices and Content Requirements
Privacy – Provision of Notice of Privacy Practices
Privacy – Right to Access
Breach – Timeliness of Notification
Breach – Content Notification
Security – Security Risk Analysis
Security – Risk Management
Once contacted, your organization will be expected to provide “demonstrable proof” of compliance in these seven areas. Obviously, your goal is to become compliant in all 176 audit elements, but pragmatism dictates that we focus on these areas of HIPAA compliance first.
Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions or need any help: mnorby@healthinsight.org or (307) 258-5322.
Here at HealtHIE Nevada, we are working continually to improve your experience with the HIE and to ensure the security of the data available through it.
Our new online training course was launched recently, titled HIE Policy Course. This course was created to teach users about our privacy and security policies prior to accessing the upgraded HIE Web Access platform. This course will also train users on the importance of protecting patient health information, preventing unauthorized access and how privacy and security policies impact user behavior in the exchange.
To learn more about the HIE Policy Course or the HIE-Learning Portal, feel free to contact Training Specialist Charlette Frost at HIElearning@healthinsight.org or (702) 777-8380.
New research shows health information exchanges cut down on redundant and unnecessary medical tests by giving physicians access to a patient’s current medical history. Eliminating such redundancies lead to significant cost-savings, to the point where researchers estimate Medicare could save $63 million annually in outpatient therapeutic procedure costs.
The study, co-authored by fellows at State University of New York, Brookings Institution and University of Connecticut, evaluated data from a regional HIE in western New York. The authors limited their scope to procedures performed in the physician’s office, diverging from previous studies that have focused on the emergency department.
How well do you know the HealtHIE Nevada staff? We’d like to think we have some of the most talented and interesting folks around! In this Employee Spotlight, we cornered our unflappable account manager, Kevin Kelly.
What is your title and what do you do for HealtHIE Nevada?
My title is account manager. I engage in sales/outreach, as well as developing and managing relationships with some of our key accounts.
What did you do before coming to HealtHIE Nevada/HealthInsight?
I’ve worn a bunch of hats. I was in entertainment for a long time—I got to work with my wife as a producer on a project immediately before joining HealthInsight. Before that I sold cars. Before that I was a product support specialist for Disney Interactive (the video game company for Disney). I was a barista at Starbucks at one point.
What is the most rewarding part about your job; what makes it all worthwhile?
Sometimes it gets lost in the day-to-day grind, but we have the opportunity to affect people. We help doctors deliver better care. We help them save and improve quality of life.
What is something you are excited about in the future of HealtHIE Nevada?
The sky’s the limit when it comes to the HIE. Right now it’s a data repository and delivery platform – which is essential. But the potential on the analytics side can’t be overstated. In all of that data are connections and patterns nobody has thought of. The causes and cures for diseases and conditions are in that data.
Tell us a little about your hobby/hobbies?
I’m a media geek and a gearhead. Old habits die hard. I keep up with politics, entertainment, and science news. I also love to tinker around the house – I recently installed some WiFi enabled light switches in my house. My wife rolls her eyes and asks “do we need that?” Then a week later she remarks how cool it is to turn things on and off from her phone.
How do you keep a healthy work/life balance?
I don’t know that I do. Although we live in one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever been. Hiking in Red Rock Canyon, or even just walking my dogs with my wife in the morning or late evening—the sunrises and sunsets here are spectacular.
What’s your favorite movie and why?
Field of Dreams. I always lose it at the end when Kevin Costner says “Dad, you wanna have a catch?” I’m tearing up right now as I type this. Close second is Joe vs. the Volcano—the first movie Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan worked together on.
What’s something about you few people know?
I used to work for the CIA. Wait…no, that was Chuck Barris. I was an assistant for the Chairman of the Miss America Pageant from 2007-2010. Those were the years it was held in Las Vegas. I never got the chance to go.
Anything else you’d like to add about yourself?
Taurus, married, two kids from a previous marriage, two dogs from my current marriage. My son JUST graduated from high school.
One of the benefits of using HealtHIE Nevada’s HIE Web Access is the ease and efficiency of being able to update your user account with the new self-service account maintenance functionality. In addition to the practicality of self-service, it also saves you time by eliminating the need to contact the HealtHIE Nevada Support desk for something as simple as retrieving your password. You can make changes to your account anytime from anywhere.
The self-service feature allows you to recover account information in addition to:
Unlocking your account
Retrieving your username
Retrieving or resetting your password
Resetting your security questions
Updating your account profile
Things to remember when creating or changing your password:
Optum ID passwords must be a minimum of eight characters longs and must include one uppercase letter, one lowercase letter and one numeric character
In response to participant input, the September HealtHIE Nevada User Group meeting will focus on the new Direct Messaging features as well as patient consent at the quarterly meeting on September 15 at HealthInsight Nevada.
HealtHIE Nevada staff have been collecting frequently asked questions in order to give users information on the new features, and to address common inquiries.
In addition to in-person attendance, participants will be able to meet online using Adobe Connect.
If you are interested in attending the User Group meeting, please register at http://conta.cc/2cx98ZL. For more information regarding the HealtHIE Nevada User Group, please contact Kristin Cederlind at kcederlind@healthinsight.org or 702-948-0313.
The HIE-Learning Portal has grown to over 1,000 users with access to online training for our health information exchange. The users can use this convenient online tool to learn how to search, download, and view clinical patient information in HIE Web Access, and the Portal has also been expanded to offer additional training.
Users can now learn how to use the Direct Messaging services offered by HealtHIE Nevada, including viewing received message and sending messages.
The new HIE-Learning Portal Direct Messaging course includes six modules to introduce users to this exciting new function, including signing in, requesting records, configuring the inbox, and how to triage patient information. This course describes the details from beginning through usage of the Direct Messaging solution using interactive modules and videos to enable a user to successfully navigate the system. After completing the course, users will be able to transition paper processes like faxes to electronic records.
If you are interested in learning more about the HIE-Learning Portal, Direct Messaging or any other course, please contact us at HIELearning@healthinsight.org.
To help inform Nevada’s efforts in supporting the adoption of health information technology, the Nevada Department of Health and Human Services Division of Health Care Financing and Policy (DHCFP) is seeking feedback from providers, hospitals and other statewide stakeholders.
By completing a brief survey, you will be helping to identify challenges and opportunities in HIT adoption, and will be providing comprehensive information critical to review of the Medicaid Electronic Health Record (EHR) incentive program, and development of future HIT initiatives across the state. In addition, DHCFP is making a longer, more comprehensive survey available to those organizations wishing to go into more detail about their level of EHR adoption at the end of the survey.
After an extensive search search for the right candidate, HealthInsight Nevada today announced the hiring of Michael L. Gagnon, CPHIMS, as executive director of HealtHIE Nevada, the statewide health information exchange (HIE), managed by HealthInsight. Gagnon will take over the role on August 1.