Hielix Health IT Blog

Hielix Awarded Statewide HIE Contract by the State of Minnesota

Hielix, Inc., a national leader on empowering the seamless exchange of healthcare data, announced today it has been selected by the State of Minnesota to support the State’s plans for health information exchange (HIE) through Minnesota’s State Health Information Exchange Cooperative Agreement Program awarded by the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC), pending ONC’s approval. Hielix, Inc. was awarded a contract for $529,056 over 17 months.

Hielix, Inc. will form a Statewide Shared Services Collaborative with Minnesota health information exchange stakeholders to develop a governance plan, sustainability plan, policies, and specifications for the development and long-term sustainability of Minnesota’s statewide shared services technical infrastructure. The statewide, shared services technical infrastructure will support interoperability of Minnesota’s health care community through Minnesota’s State-Certified Health Information Exchange Service Providers. Minnesota’s statewide shared services technical infrastructure will include:

• Provider and entity–level directory solution
• Mechanism to manage consumer preferences
• Statewide record locator services

“We are pleased to have been selected by the State of Minnesota to support their efforts in creating a statewide HIE. Our approach to the development of HIE services is to be inclusive of stakeholders and focused on the operational metrics necessary to achieve long term sustainability,” said Patti Dodgen, CEO of Hielix. “Our HIE framework drives operational competency into the exchange of data and delivers value to all healthcare stakeholders. Our selection further demonstrates the company’s growing leadership in the HIE marketplace.”

The awarding of the Minnesota contract builds on Hielix's already well known national experience in the planning and creation of operationally sustainable, open solutions to seamlessly exchanging health information. Our national team brings a substantial portfolio of work with integrated delivery systems, regional and local communities; statewide HIE organizations and the provider community across the United States. No other professional services organization retains the core competency and direct expertise in what is a dynamic and emerging healthcare information exchange marketplace. In fact, Hielix has performed work for 1 out of every 5 statewide HIE’s in the country and territories.

Hielix Reaction: Possible ICD-10 delay

Yesterday the acting director for CMS, Marilyn Tavenner stated that the agency will take another look at the October 2013 deadline for implementing ICD-10. To read our reaction and analysis of the announcement click here to be taken to the HielixApps blog.

Benefits of the ICD-10 Transition

The transition from ICD-9 codes to ICD-10 is long overdue. We have essentially run out of codes and unfortunately the timing could not be worse for physicians, hospitals and the healthcare industry overall. There is no good time to take this project on. It will be expensive, it will be tedious and it will not happen overnight.

In 1993 the World Health Organization (WHO) implemented the ICD-10 diagnostic code set to replace the ICD-9 code set, which was developed by WHO in the 1970s. ICD-10 is utilized in almost every country in the world except the United States. This code set is not simply an increased and renumbered ICD-9 code set, it comprises greater detail, changes in terminology, expanded concepts for injuries, and other related factors. The complexity of ICD-10 provides many benefits because of the increased level of detail conveyed in the codes.

When the dust settles, the benefits from implementing the ICD-10 code set will be noted. We can expect a decrease in claims returned for “insufficient documentation.” Historically, approximately 20% of all claims are returned to the provider due to lack of documentation to support the diagnosis or procedure code. The increase in granularity the ICD-10 codes provide should contribute to a decrease in administrative costs that are currently incurred using the ICD-9 code set. There should be an increase in auto-adjudication processes and a decrease in the need for the constant manual review, which currently delays reimbursement at a minimum of 60 days.

The new code set will clearly provide a better identification tool for patient population, demographics, and the tracking of disease in greater detail. Improved tracking of disease will improve case management and enhance the opportunity to involve patients in wellness programs. The global sharing of best practice information will also improve patient care and decrease morbidity and mortality rates in addition to contributing to more research globally. It will allow healthcare costs to be analyzed, outcomes to be measured in greater detail and finally processes and performance from the caregiver to be measured.

Bottom line - Meaningful Use, accountable care and the patient centered medical home processes are changing the industry from pay for performance to a payment for quality of care model. The detailed coding system the ICD-10 code set offers will support this move to improve our country’s quality of care. Without ICD-10 the multitude of changes impacting our healthcare industry will be ineffective.

Know Your Terminology: M.D. vs. D.O.

Understanding the terminology you will encounter working in the healthcare industry is critical; and the first set of acronyms you face will be on the front door of any medical practice you visit, “Medical Offices of John Smith, M.D. and Jane Doe, D.O.”

What is the difference between a Doctor of Medicine (M.D.) and a Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine (D.O.)? In the past 20 years the lines between the two schools of medicine have become increasing blurred and up until about 15 years ago not all major healthcare organizations credentialed D.O.s into their system. For young people entering medical school the trend indicated those who were not accepted into a MD program turned to and were accepted into the D.O. program. Statistics supported this fact with the difference in GPA and MCAT scores that were recorded between the two entities. In 2010 the average MCAT and GPA for students entering US-based M.D. programs were 31.1 and 3.67 respectively and 26.49 and 3.47 for the D.O. curriculum [Source]. However, the scores do not tell the whole story. It is widely known that osteopathic programs are more likely to accept non-traditional students - who are older, coming into medicine as a second career, and are non-science majors. The D.O. medical schools believe the older applicants are more emotionally sound and culturally competent, thus making them a better candidate to becoming a physician [Source].

M.D.s study allopathic medicine – the practice of conventional medicine that uses pharmacologically active agents or physician interventions (surgery) to treat or suppress symptoms or pathophysiologic processes of disease or conditions [Source].

D.O.s study osteopathic theories which encompass all the benefits of conventional medicine including prescription drugs, surgery, and the use of technology to diagnose disease and evaluate injury; combined with the added benefit of hands-on diagnosis and treatment through a system of therapy known as osteopathic manipulative medicine. D.O. students take approximately 200 additional hours of med school to study manipulation therapy [Source]. D.O.s view the patient as a “total person” and treat the whole body rather than treat a specific illness or symptom.

There are several educational similarities and requirements between the two licenses.

• Both D.O.s and M.D.s typically have a four-year undergraduate degree prior to medical training.
• Both D.O.s and M.D.s have spent four-years in medical education. Both take the MCAT and are subject to a rigorous application process.
• D.O.s, like M.D.s, choose to practice in a specialty area of medicine and complete a residency program ranging from 3-7 years. Some D.O.s complete the same residency programs as their M.D. counterparts.
• M.D. students take the USMLE exam and D.O. students take the COMLEX exam. Both must pass a state licensing examination to practice medicine.

Understanding the difference between an M.D. and D.O. practitioner is not as significant as appreciating the time and dedication it took these individuals to achieve the status of “Doctor.” Both M.D.s and D.O.s are recognized and licensed in all 50 states. There are 20 schools of Osteopathic medicine in the U.S., 126 accredited U.S. M.D.-granting medical schools, and 16 accredited Canadian M.D. granting schools.

For further reading visit American Association of Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine (AACOM) and the American Association of Medical Colleges (AAMC).

Look for future installments of our primer in medical terminology for VARs! Once we complete the series we will offer a quick reference guide in PDF for for those we are interested, be sure to sign up to receive updates in the right hand column!