The Direct Dispatch
A Newsletter For Healthcare Providers

September 2018
Greetings!

Read below for news and updates from Direct Difference, Inc, where Quality is the REAL Direct Difference!
Direct Difference Inc - ARMUS Partnership
Direct Difference proudly partners with ARMUS, our technolocgy partner. Although we are proficient at all data entry platforms we wanted you to be aware of some of the benefits of an ARMUS system. Much like Direct Difference Inc, ARMUS emphasizes collaborative partnerships. It is these partnerships with their clients over 25 years that have given life to the superb data entry and analytics of the ARMUS system. Their long history of supporting regional and national clinical data registries, combined with unique experience of successfully merging clinical and financial data sets, is the foundation for providing support across large health systems. ARMUS has robust reporting solutions, is continuously expanding based on clients’ needs and suggestions, provides confidence in differentiating the best internal care providers and identifying real opportunities to improve the quality of care with efficiency. While their products help to manage the day-to-day collection and maintenance of data quality and integrity, our clients can focus on making informed and meaningful decisions from their data.

Want more information on how the Direct Difference, Inc - ARMUS partnership can help you? Simply reply to this email to get more information.
Report Outlines Scorecard For Transition For Value-Based Care
A Press Ganey white paper makes the case for using a scorecard of value-based metrics important for a health care organization's success and outlines how to find incentives to achieve them. Press Ganey Chief Medical Officer Dr. Thomas Lee said hospitals make mistakes when they become overwhelmed and look for "a single magic solution" when transitioning to value-based care.

August GWTG PMT Updates
There were minor updates to the Get With The Guidelines Stroke PMT on August 29th. See attached for details of the update.

Here is the summary:

Discharge Data Elements:

A new data element, “Smoking Cessation Therapies Prescribed” was added to allow you to track the specific types of cessation therapies your institution is providing at hospital discharge.

EMS Form Group Data Elements:

Addition of BE FAST and MEND as options for Stroke Screen Tool used
Addition of optional data element “Initial Blood Pressure by EMS”

Pre-Hospital Care Report:

Update report outputs and naming descriptions based on UAT feedback

Acute Stroke Ready Data Elements now available:

A form group was added to facilitate the tracking of TJC Acute Stroke Ready (ASR) data elements. The data elements support tracking of the ASR inpatient and outpatient measures listed below.
NOTE:
While the data elements are available now, the measures will be added in a
subsequent release.
To turn on the form group, contact the IQVIA support desk
at  [email protected]  and request that “The ASR Form Group” be
added to your GWTG-Stroke Account. Please include your Hospital Name, Mailing
Address and Site ID in the email.

There was also an update to the Get With The Guidelines-Resuscitation PMT on the same date. Find the details here , here, and here and the summary below:

Updates to the CPA Newly born form: "Newly Born Epinephrine Dose" to accept 2 precisions after the decimal point (eg., .04)

Updates to CPA, ARC, and PCAC forms

New warning message on Admit Discharge form for CPC/PCPC scores to remind users to enter data in these fields

Coming soon are additional updates to measures, along with a new and easy-to-use report bundle! There will be a customer webinar which will cover information from both updates. Please keep an eye out for additional information about the next release and webinar.
Quality Reporting Center Upcoming Events
September 12, 2018
FY 2019 IPPS Final Rule Acute Care Hospital Quality Reporting Programs Overview - 1 C.E. Register here!

This presentation  will provide an overview of quality program finalized requirements for hospitals as addressed in the recently released Fiscal Year (FY) 2019 Inpatient Prospective Payment System (IPPS)/Long-Term Care Hospital (LTCH) Prospective Payment System (PPS) Final Rule. This discussion will focus on finalized changes to the Hospital IQR Program, Hospital-Acquired Condition (HAC) Reduction Program, Hospital VBP Program, and HRRP.
Drowning In Data Collection?
Measuring quality is necessary for improving healthcare. We understand that when providers are overly consumed with measuring and reporting quality metrics, it is difficult to actually apply results and focus on actions that lead to real improvements.

Why not smart source all of your data abstraction needs so that it is done better, faster, more consistently, and at lower cost and with less risk?

Did you know we provide abstraction services for core measures, non-core measures, registry, OPPE-FPPE, NHSN, peer review, pharmaceutical studies and others? If you have any data abstraction needs please contact us for more information. All you have to do is respond to this email to get started.

You can also visit our website for more information!
Adding Support Alerts To EHR's Cuts Spending, Boosts Quality
Integrating Choosing Wisely clinical decision support alerts into the Epic EHR system at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center resulted in lower spending, shorter lengths of stay, a lower 30-day readmission rate and fewer complications when clinicians followed the recommendations, researchers reported in the American Journal of Managed Care. Health care providers received immediate notification if they deviated from recommendations and were given an option to justify, change or cancel the order.

The Cost Of A Data Breach And Four Ways To Lower It
The results are in! The Ponemon Institute interviewed more than 2,200 IT, data protection, and compliance professionals from over 450 companies that had a recent data breach, and their 2018 Cost of a Data Breach Study: Global Overview reveals statistics and lessons we can all learn from. These days, it’s not a matter of if but when a breach will happen to you. Take a look at some helpful tips to reduce the cost of a breach.

Stroke Patient Readmissions Decreased From 2010 to 2014
A study that included data on more than 2 million stroke patients found the 30-day readmission rate decreased annually from 2010 to 2014 by an average of 3.3%. Researchers reported in JAMA Network Open that stroke patients treated at high-volume non-teaching hospitals had a greater risk of readmission than those treated at high-volume academic centers.

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