St. Joseph Healthcare taps HealthInfoNet HIE data to sketch a 'patient story'
St. Joseph Healthcare was the first hospital in Maine to run predictive analytics against data from the state’s health information exchange.
“The analytics tool is reviewed daily to assess our inpatients, determine who on our census is at highest risk for poor outcomes and assist our team in implementing interventions to help mitigate that risk,” said Amber Sloat the care transition nurse at St. Joseph.
St. Joseph effectively harnesses the HealthInfoNet data to create what Sloat called a ‘patient’s story.’
That patient story includes patient histories, medication profiles and patient visits and St. Joseph clinician use it to make more personalized and impactful treatment plans, Sloat said.
Maine’s HIE boasts data from nearly all of Maine's 1.3 million residents, which is collected from clinical information from 32 of the 36 state's acute care hospitals and 376 ambulatory provider sites like specialists, ACOs and mental health agencies, among others.
St. Joseph uses this data to drive daily decisions, Sloat explained. For example, it determines which people need an outpatient care manager to follow them after discharge. The data can also be used for pharmacy and palliative care consults.
Care transition nurses also use the data to determine high-risk patients to provide follow-up appointments with their primary care physicians within a week of discharge.
“Using this tool has assisted in reducing our readmission rate,” Sloat said. “It also improves efficiencies of the Care Transition Nurse as their patient list is now prioritized by patients at highest risk for poor outcomes.”
Sloat added that collaboration between St. Joseph’s care continuum team and the ambulatory care management team has been key in improving outcomes.
Sloat and Jessica Taylor, Care Manager for St. Joseph, are scheduled to present “Predictive Analytics: A Foundation for Care Management,” at HIMSS17 on Feb. 20, 2017 at 1:30 – 2:30 PM EST in Room 331A.
HIMSS17 runs from Feb. 19-23, 2017 at the Orange County Convention Center.
Related HIMSS17 articles:
⇒ A guide to population health at HIMSS17
⇒ A guide to precision medicine at HIMSS17
⇒ A guide to Women in Health IT happenings at HIMSS17
This article is part of our ongoing coverage of HIMSS17. Visit Destination HIMSS17 for previews, reporting live from the show floor and after the conference.
