Newswise — Today the Department of Health and Human Services announced that Geisinger Health System will receive $16 million to create the Keystone Beacon Community as part of HHS’s Beacon Community cooperative program.
The funding will allow Geisinger to extend the benefits of its patient-focused health information technology (IT) initiatives to five rural Central Pennsylvania counties and deliver improvements in patient outcomes within a three-year period. The goal of this program is to illustrate that improved patient outcomes as the result of health IT can be achieved beyond the walls of institutions such as Geisinger.
“Through Keystone Beacon Community, we will not only deliver improved outcomes in low-cost, usable ways for the five initial counties, but we’ll be preparing to roll the service out regionally and beyond,” said James Walker, M.D., FACP, Chief Health Information Officer, Geisinger Health System. “The idea is to develop a self-sustaining business model that will improve healthcare for all people, not just those served by Geisinger.”
An announcement today from Vice President Joe Biden and U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius detailed Geisinger’s program to enhance the care of patients with pulmonary disease and congestive heart failure by creating a community-wide medical home, as well as the promotion of a health-information exchange (HIE) and the use of telemedicine and patient self-management to improve care for all adults, including those needing long-term care or home-health services.
Cooperative agreements have been awarded to 15 qualified non-profit organizations or government entities across the country representing diverse geographic areas, including rural and underserved communities. To qualify for the Beacon Community Program, participants must:• Build on existing an health IT infrastructure and exchange (HIE) to demonstrate care and cost savings; • Have rates of electronic health record (EHR) adoption that are significantly higher than published national estimates; and, • Coordinate with the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology’s (ONCHIT) programs for Regional Extension Centers and State Health Information Exchanges to develop and disseminate best practices for adoption and meaningful use of health IT.
“We thank our elected officials in Washington for seeing the importance of what Geisinger is doing with health IT,” said Glenn D. Steele Jr., M.D., Ph.D., President and CEO of Geisinger Health System. “Not only will this be beneficial to the participating communities, initially, but also for the future of healthcare in the United States.”
Geisinger is considered one of the country’s “most wired” healthcare organizations with an integrated EHR in all its outpatient clinics and hospitals, a networked patient health record (PHR) and other many regional health IT services. The EHR database contains information on more than 3 million patients, and these records are utilized by clinicians for both inpatient and outpatient records with integrated electronic scheduling, clinical lab and radiology system.
In addition, Geisinger leads the state’s Keystone Health Information Exchange (KeyHIE), which is a secure network that links doctors and other healthcare professionals and facilities throughout central and northeastern Pennsylvania to provide seamless and secure access to patients’ health information.
“Health IT on its own is not enough to improve healthcare delivery. We have to work together in partnerships such as these to improve care processes and coordinate care,” said Dr. Walker, “The Beacon Community Program is an incredible opportunity to extend the successes of Geisinger Health System to surrounding communities to improve the quality and efficiency of healthcare.”
Funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the Beacon Community Program will take communities at the cutting edge of EHR adoption and health information exchange and push them to a new level of healthcare quality and efficiency. The program will establish cooperative agreements with communities to build and strengthen their health IT infrastructure and health information exchange capabilities to achieve measurable improvements in healthcare quality, safety, efficiency and population health. The resulting experience will inform efforts throughout the United States to support the meaningful use of EHRs, the primary goal of the federal government’s new health IT initiative.
"The most important health care innovations are those that are designed and tested by providers and community leaders all across the country. Beacon Communities will offer insight into how health IT can make a real difference in the delivery of health care," said Secretary Sebelius. "The Beacon Community Program will tap the best ideas across America and demonstrate the enormous benefit health IT will have to improving health and care within our communities."
About Geisinger Health SystemGeisinger is an integrated health services organization widely recognized for its innovative use of the electronic health record, and the development and implementation of innovative care models including advanced medical home and ProvenCare ("warranty") program. The system serves more than 2.6 million residents throughout 42 counties in central and northeastern Pennsylvania. For more information, visit www.geisinger.org.
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