If any era demanded healthcare IT consultants, it’s this one. There is a greater need for expertise in more areas today than at any time in the past. The rapid pace of technology development, combined with a litany of new operational and regulatory initiatives, has left provider organizations dismayed, stressed out and exhausted.

 

North Chelmsford, Mass.-based Concordant is finding challenges everywhere in healthcare, with meaningful use, the ICD-10 conversion, RAC audits, electronic health records and regional extension centers heading up a very long list. As a result, executives expect to be busier than ever starting this year.

 

“We’ve been waiting for the uptick to occur – and it’s starting,” said Concordant President Chris Harding. “The industry is a year behind where everyone thought it would be.”

 

Concordant specializes in provider consulting, primarily organizations in the ambulatory sector. Physician practices and hospital-affiliated health centers are outliers that tend to get lost in the shuffle when it comes to the electronic health record initiative and the meaningful use component tied to ARRA stimulus funds, Harding said.

 

“When a large health system embarks on an ambulatory initiative, they go in with the right spirit and intent, only to find out that it is different than rolling out technology within the four walls of the hospital,” he said. “They are taking it to 50, 100 and even 500 practices, which by themselves are small businesses. They need someone who has worked in that world to take the solution into that market instead of at the hospital.”

Harding maintains his consultant role is about being a partner with a healthcare organization and not about outsourcing to a third party.

 

“We allow them to utilize their internal resources and use us to learn the process and methodology,” he said. “What we see is they need someone who is an expert that can work in conjunction with them.”

Vice President Janie Tremlett said the sheer scope of the meaningful use initiative has even veteran IT professionals asking for help.

 

“Some of our clients have 20 to 30 years in IT and they’ve never seen a project like this,” she said. “These groups are used to working in silos and don’t cross boundaries. They haven’t had to talk with anyone until now.”

 

Going forward, Concordant is involved in a merger proposition with Burlington, Mass.-based Arcadia Solutions, which both sides say will strengthen their organizations.

 

“This merger will boost our joint capabilities in a market where there are scarce resources to help organizations in a world increasingly driven by integrated care delivery and quality outcomes,” Harding said.

 

As Accountable Care Organizations become more prominent in healthcare, more providers are seeking assistance with preparation. As a result, Los Angeles-based Zynx Health is offering a consulting service for hospitals to examine their IT systems and help them gear up for ACOs.

 

CEO Scott Weingarten says what started with five pilot health systems has become much broader in scope.

“We’re rolling it out on a bigger scale now and there are a few reasons for it,” he said. “The healthcare system is clearly changing with the movement toward ACOs and payment reform. Clinical costs are determined by clinical decisions. To improve quality and costs, we need to focus on clinical decisions.”

 

The most critical challenge for providers, Weingarten said, is clinical standardization.

 

“The way we look at standardization is using evidence at the point of care to inform clinical decision making,” he said. “It is about providing context-specific evidence to physicians and nurses while they make decisions. For instance, with a patient that has pneumonia and diabetes, present the data that states which antibiotic is most appropriate for a diabetic. When you provide physicians with thattype of information, it makes healthcare more consistent.”

 

As a participant in the pilot program, Jonathan Morris, MD, is looking forward to seeing how much of an impact the Zynx system can make.

 

“We are excited to pilot this solution as it will give us the ability to see the direct impact of clinical decision support in achieving improvements in patient outcomes at a reduced cost,” said Morris, chief medical information officer of Wellstar Health in Marietta, Ga.

 

Greg Schroedl, MD, chief medical officer of Northwest Hospital & Medical Center in Washington, expects the program to assess the hospital’s clinical processes and workflows in order to determine peak efficiency.

“By identifying the clinical processes that represent the greatest opportunity, we will be able to target our efforts to achieve better outcomes clinically and financially,” he said. “This approach will help lay the clinical foundation for our healthcare reform journey.”

 

 

With all the attention being placed on regulatory issues, hospitals may be overlooking the critical necessity of IT security, said Ruvi Kitov, CEO of Burlington, Mass.-based Tufin Software Technologies.

 

“There is a lot of work to be done,” he said. “Hospitals are not much different than other organizations – problems exist everywhere.”

 

A lack of sound processes combined with the human element is a recipe for security lapses, Kitov said. Moreover, he said, the active hospital environment makes IT systems more vulnerable to invasion and other breaches.

 

“At any given moment, there are many people walking around the hospital,” he said. “That makes it easy for unauthorized people to have access to sensitive data.”

 

To help hospitals bolster security, Tufin provides expertise on network security change management (which Kitov calls “a major concern”), firewall audits and automation of manual processes.

 

“We are the safety net – the power tool of the network and security managers,” Kitov said.