Personal Health Records Get a Public Boost Through a National Consumer Awareness Campaign
Television host John Walsh of America’s Most Wanted is helping the American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA) launch "It's HI Time, America!" campaign.
The campaign’s objectives include heightening awareness and educating health care consumers about the importance of improving the management of their health information by developing personal health records (PHR).
This campaign encourages people—especially caregivers, maturing adults, parents raising children, and individuals managing chronic conditions—to create and maintain comprehensive PHRs that contain information needed to make important medical decisions.
AHIMA chief executive officer Linda Kloss said, "As professionals who work with health information every day, here's what we know in our heart to be true: personal health records save the lives of some and improve the lives of everyone."
The campaign includes national radio and television public service announcements featuring veteran network television personality John Walsh, himself a survivor of a serious back injury.
A documentary with real‑life stories is also available to help health care consumers relate to the everyday necessity of managing their PHRs.
The myPHR.com website relaunched in January with new features and improved, streamlined resources more effectively designed to engage visitors interested either in learning more about PHRs or in creating a PHR for themselves or for a loved one.
AHIMA represents more than 51,000 educated and certified health information management professionals working throughout the health care industry. www.ahima.org
Metavante Seeks to Enhance Consumer‑Driven Health Care Payment Solutions by Acquiring Bensoft
Metavante (NYSE:MV), a provider of banking and payments technology, is acquiring the BenSoft Incorporated of San Diego, CA, and its software product, RepayMe.
Metavante plans to integrate RepayMe into its existing health care payment solutions suite. RepayMe provides a Web‑based tools for individuals who participate in various benefit programs to obtain reimbursement for eligible expenses that are covered by their benefit plans.
RepayMe is designed for third‑party administrators (TPA), health plans, and self‑administrating employers seeking a cost‑effective solution for flexible spending accounts, health reimbursement accounts, health savings accounts (HSA), and transportation (parking) accounts.
Frank D’Angelo, president of Metavante Payment Solutions Group said, “The acquisition of a leading Web‑based, easy‑to‑use, and cost‑effective flexible benefit system expands Metavante’s current consumer‑driven health care and benefit account processing services and represents our continuing investment in single‑source solutions for consumer, provider, and payer health care payments.”
According to Metavante, the merge also helps reduce costs, improve operational efficiency, minimize execution risk, and free administrators for strategic business management activities.
“BenSoft has an existing relationship with Metavante through its Health care Payment Solutions division. This acquisition now provides Metavante with additional cross‑sell opportunities for HSAs, payment distribution services, and business process outsourcing, as well as additional call center resources,” said BenSoft chief executive officer Tom Horan.
Terms of the completed transaction were not disclosed. Metavante claims that the transaction is not expected to have a significant impact on its revenue or profitability in 2008. www.metavante.com, www.repayme.com
A Medical Home Network Project is Piloted in New York
The Commonwealth Fund granted funding to Group Health Incorporated (GHI) and Health Plan of New York (HIP) to launch a project that provides adult primary care physician practices in New York the opportunity to become medical home practices.
The Medical Home High Value Network project is the first of its kind in New York. Expected results include higher quality care, increased efficiency, and better patient outcomes when compared to traditional practices.
The American College of Physicians and the American Academy of Family Physicians have proposed that all primary care physician practices transform themselves into medical home practices. The medical home concept employs a team approach to patient care led by a personal, primary care physician.
The team provides direct services and coordinates services among other physicians and licensed health care providers for each patient. Patients have access to enhanced appointment systems, telephone and email communication, clinical decision support tools that guide evidence‑based practice, health information technology, and support for informed decision-making and self‑care.
The Commonwealth Fund specifically is supporting evaluation of the project. To assess its effectiveness, participants will be divided into a supported and a comparison group, each comprised of 25 adult primary care physician practices. The total number of participants in the supported group is expected to include approximately 100 physicians and 20,000 patients.
The supported group will be paid using revised payment methodology and will receive technical support for office redesign and care management. Data will be derived from submissions of claims and performance measures of quality for procedures such as mammograms, diabetes testing, and cervical cancer screenings; outcomes for diabetes and hypertension; efficiency measures; and patient experience measures such as overall satisfaction, access, self‑care support, and physician communication.
The Ethel Donahue Center for Translating Research Into Practice at the University of Connecticut will track and assess the experiences and challenges faced by the medical practices as they transform into medical home practices. The National Committee for Quality Assurance, an independent, not‑for‑profit organization dedicated to measuring the quality of the United State’s health care, will track and assess the resulting impact on quality. www.ghi.com