Hello everyone:
For our most recent Azara Community poll, we asked you – our community health center (CHC) audience - to share with us which measures or metrics you would like added to your current reporting capabilities. We are very pleased with the significant number of votes cast, and equally pleased to share the results with you. Below is a percentage breakdown of the results. We selected several options for you to choose from, but also allowed respondents to write in answers.
Here's what you told us about the measures/metrics you most want:
Operational: 22%
Transitions of Care: 16%
Behavioral Health: 15%
Risk Information: 13%
Total Cost of Care Information: 12%
Dental: 10%
Financial: 8%
Other: 3%
Others receiving votes: Clinical guidelines, preventative measures; quality; clinical quality measures for pediatrics (i.e. ADHD); expanded functions in the Visit Planning Report.
The survey results definitely align with what we’ve been hearing and seeing from customers in the marketplace, particularly the need for more operational reports and tools that can be used to take action toward improving the operational efficiency. In light of this, we have been testing some financial and operational measures that were previously developed with one of our clients and we are now determining the best ways to make them available to all of our clients.
Transitions of care is an extremely important issue for numerous reasons, including continuity of care, which is a key piece of the patient centered medical home (PCMH) concept. Ensuring patients don’t get lost during transition between facilities and/or providers is a critical element to improve care and reduce cost; there are also several programs including Medicare & Medicaid that have tied reimbursement funds to facilitating those transitions in a more effective manner, with the goal of minimizing readmissions.
To this effect, we have conducted significant work within the transitions of care realm. For those clients that are collecting data around transitions, whether it’s collected manually by recording it in an electronic health record (EHR) or getting admit/discharge transfer (ADT) feeds from a preferred acute care facility, Azara is equipped to work with both methods and provide appropriate metrics.
Thanks again to all who participated in the poll. We will be sure to have more in the coming months and will are eager to hear and to meet the needs of our CHC audience.
Jeff Brandes is CEO of Azara Healthcare.