The Hospital Industry Data Institute, the data company of the Missouri Hospital Association, recently announced that it had selected Collective Medical to upgrade HIDI's hospital-owned statewide platform and deliver care teams data in near real-time.

According to the MHA, the platform upgrade for HIDI participants includes the ability to identify, track and coordinate care for patients with COVID-19 – an issue of continued importance in a state with nearly 95,000 confirmed cases. 

The system also allows for notifications to be pushed directly into existing workflows to help care teams determine next steps for patients who need additional resources.

"Hospitals are investing in this system to improve the value of our state’s health care system, with an emphasis on the Medicaid program,” said Herb B. Kuhn, MHA president and CEO. 

"The HIDI-Collective partnership will create critical infrastructure to help accelerate this reform – bringing value and cost reduction in the near and long term for Medicaid and, as the program expands, for all stakeholders," he added.

WHY IT MATTERS

The Jefferson City-based HIDI currently supports more than 2,000 hospitals and parent hospital associations in making data-informed decisions. According to MHA representatives, HIDI's partnership with Collective will use analytics to identify risk and help reduce emergency department use and inpatient readmissions.

When fully implemented, the organization says, the platform will provide predictive "smart alerts" within HIDI providers' workflow about patients who need care, particularly those at a higher risk for being readmitted.

"Rapid delivery of data about patients as they move through the health care system can help improve quality and safety,” said Dr. Jonathan Heidt, board member of the Missouri College of Emergency Physicians, in a statement. 

"Data can enhance the health care system’s ability to build a team of providers and services around the patient, leading to better health outcomes," Heidt continued.

Collective, an ADT-based collaboration network headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah, integrates alongside electronic health records and health information exchanges to highlight patient insights for providers. 

THE LARGER TREND

The need to empower health systems and hospitals with patient data has become increasingly important amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. Earlier this year, some systems (including Missouri) reported periods of "data darkness" in response to a move by the U.S. Department Health and Human Services to overhaul the patient information reporting system.

Some vendors have stepped up to help make the response more robust, including Collective, which rolled out a new tool in March to assist officials in tracking, identifying and locating those across the country at risk of contracting the disease.

ON THE RECORD

"By facilitating the sharing of highly targeted, statistically significant predictive alerts with front-line providers who can immediately take action on behalf of a patient, and then by connecting those same patients with downstream primary and post-acute clinical resources, HIDI’s platform, in partnership with Missouri-area health information exchanges, ensures that stakeholders from different organizations can all operate as though they were on the same team, in some sense, with a crystal ball – because they are on the same team when caring for a shared patient,” said Chris Klomp, CEO of Collective Medical, in a statement.

Kat Jercich is senior editor of Healthcare IT News.
Twitter: @kjercich
Healthcare IT News is a HIMSS Media publication.