AxSys Health Blog Post on Carl Mercurios Inside View on the Business of Healthcare By Alan Gilbert Vice President, Business Development AxSys Health Managed Clinical Networks (MCN) are an important component in the support of better patient access and treatment through a coordinated care approach.  The MCN concept was created in Scotland in 1999 by the Scottish Department of Health. Their definition of MCNs is defined as “linked groups of health professionals and organizations from primary, secondary and tertiary care, working in a coordinated manner, unconstrained by existing professional and Health Board boundaries, to ensure equitable provision of high quality clinically effective services throughout Scotland.” Like a fine wine, this definition has aged well and seems to translate into the current goals of ACOs. Some features of a MCN include: The application integrates primary, secondary and tertiary care services A care plan is established which will serve all network stakeholders The care plan has the capability to incorporate evidence-based medical practices All participating members of the multi-disciplinary care team will have equality of access to the care plan (access rights can be granted, partly or whole) Multi-disciplinary team meetings are facilitated through the telemedicine and teleconferencing. Experts at remote sites are able to discuss the patient review patient notes simultaneously Automated generation of referral letters, summary documents and discharge letters Educational and patient advice leaflets can be accessed and distributed A specific client example is a Gynecological MCN for the West of Scotland that was established in 2000 to ensure the highest standard of care for all patients with gynecological cancers across the region. This was to be achieved by enhancing the referral system for specialist opinion and treatment, encouraging a multidisciplinary approach and educating all clinicians involved in the care of these patients by open discussion and debate. Participants would include medical & clinical oncologists, gynecologists, radiologists and pathologists. A weekly videoconference was instituted to enable clinicians from across the region to participate in discussions on their patients. The patient data was redacted so that the care-giver did not know if the patient was in their hospital or one of the other 9 hospitals in the region. Benefits Realized by implementation of the Gynecological MCN included: Reduced travel and delays – The MCN was able to discuss individual cases without extensive travel and patients are able to be referred and seen without delay Equitable access to care – Patients are guaranteed that they will receive specialist review regardless of geography and that all clinicians involved in their care participate in establishing and reviewing their care plans Improved care delivery – The speed of delivery of the treatment plan has improved as all relevant information such as laboratory reports and pathology is recorded and collated through one central system Improved education – Clinicians have benefited from the sharing of knowledge through the cross specialty discussions and the meetings also provide an excellent training ground for junior doctors and other clinical staff who attend Improved data quality – through a central repository with better audit trail and introduction of standardization and accountability I believe that as ACOs continue to form collaborative patient care in a community, that models like Managed Clinical Networks should be studied.  more...

AxSys Health Article in HIMSS News - Viewpoint: Technical Strategy By Alan Gilbert Aetna's acquisition of Medicity, Ingenix's acquisition of Axolotl, and the IBM/ActiveHealth Management partnership are three recent indicators of the changing healthcare IT vendor landscape - one that is in the process of consolidating to more sharply focus on the needs of collaborative and coordinated care. These merger and partnership agreements validate the need for an overall technology platform to support the rapid rise of healthcare models like Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) and the revitalization of established approaches such as Patient-Centered Medical Homes (PCMHs). Emerging constructs for care coordination require technology to facilitate data sharing across organizational boundaries--a paradigm shift that will soon characterize healthcare. However, there's one major problem: Despite the industry buzz these company consolidations have created, there have been very few resultant technology platforms that have seen real-world implementation; and even fewer that have demonstrated true cross-organizational, comprehensive care coordination.   Anticipating the "market of the future," some technology vendors are taking a MacGyver approach: a little bit of twine, a bent paperclip and some chewing gum to create a workable IT solution. By cobbling together various software products, they hope to string together an approach that will permit customers to meet the goals of new models and regulations - and cement their own position in the marketplace. A superior approach may be found in a cohesive system that was built from the ground up to specifically serve the needs of a collaborative and coordinated care platform. The challenge facing forward-thinking healthcare leaders is where to find a solution that addresses the technology needs of today…and of tomorrow.  We’ll explore alternatives available in our next column – and examine questions and requirements savvy executives will consider before making any sizeable investment in technology that claims to provide the care coordination they seek. Alan Gilbert is the vice president of Business Development for AxSys Technology, Ltd., which specializes in the development and implementation of clinical solutions to improve and coordinate the delivery of healthcare. NOTE: Content repurposed courtesy of Porter Research/Billian’s HealthDATA; http://www.PorterResearch.com; http://www.BilliansHealthDATA.com  more...

ACO Watch: A Mid-Week Review with Alan Gilbert On the Thursday, April 13th broadcast, at 11AM Pacific and 2PM Eastern, my special guest commentator is Alan Gilbert, Vice President, Business Development, AxSys Health Corp, a unit of AxSys Group founded in 1997. AxSys Health's goal is to utilize information and communications technology to improve the delivery of healthcare.  For details see: http://bit.ly/eQEDg6 Gilbert recently published the thoughtful piece titled: 'Today’s McGyver Approach to Coordinated Care Technology Falls Short', we'll discuss his thoughts in this piece as well as the trends in the move towards collaborative, patient centered care coordination. Quoting Alan: 'Aetna's acquisition of Medicity, Ingenix's acquisition of Axolotl, and the IBM/ActiveHealth Management partnership are three recent indicators of the changing healthcare IT vendor landscape - one that is in the process of consolidating to more sharply focus on the needs of collaborative and coordinated care. These merger and partnership agreements validate the need for an overall technology platform to support the rapid rise of healthcare models like Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) The market is consolidating, while the 'proposed rules' governing ACO's have only recently entered the 60 day comment period. We expect some of those comments to be rather 'lively'. For the complete article, see: http://bit.ly/gj6UOG Please join us for insights from Alan Gilbert.  more...