The ACC Informatics and Health Information Technology Task Force is charged with the infusion, coordination and harmonization of informatics and health information technology (HIT) into the activities and policies of the College. While Task Force members hail from across the U.S., they are united in their dedication to facilitating, promoting and accelerating the transformation of quality cardiovascular care. These members are hard at work addressing data interoperability, promoting electronic health record (EHR) adoption, coordinating EHR vendor engagement, developing tools and strategies to improve the operational efficiencies and effectiveness of ACC registries, and providing leadership and outreach to internal and external organizations.

In addition to driving the ACC’s informatics and HIT efforts, Task Force members are also involved in projects in their hospitals and practices aimed at improving patient care. Here’s a snapshot of the projects two Task Force members have recently been involved in:

Taking on Structured Reporting at the University of Michigan Congenital Heart Center By Gerald A. Serwer, MD, FACC

The University of Michigan Congenital Heart Center has begun converting all procedure reporting to structured reporting in order to improve data entry efficiency, prompt physicians for specific data elements, and always place the data element at the same place within the report. Previously a general format was employed for reporting but it was essentially free text within each of the report sections. It became apparent that not only did this impede its use for data retrieval but more importantly diminished patient safety and was less efficient for the practicing physician to retrieve specific data. Patient safety issues arose as one could not always find the desired information without reading through the entire report and even then it was often missed.

We began the project with echocardiography reporting and device remote monitoring reporting. To get “buy in” from users we stressed the improved patient safety, patient care and increase research opportunities structured reporting can provide. We first defined the discrete data elements required and ensured that there was a free text element within each major category to allow for inclusion of information unique to an individual patient. We made sure to get as much data flow for the elements as possible from available sources such as the hospital EHR and data generated by the echo machine. This reduces to an absolute minimum the amount of manual data entry needed and also reduces errors inherent in any manual entry. Next, we designed the work flow from the originating systems to the physician completion and finally to the institutional EHR trying to make as few changes to existing work flow as possible.

While the transition to structured reporting is an ongoing process, we’ve taken the first steps in the right direction and I have no doubt it will pay off in the end.

Catholic Health Services and Beacon Health Partners Integrate to Improve Population Health By Alan S. Katz, MD, FACC

My organization, Catholic Health Services (CHS), in Melville, NY, recently announced that its Physician Hospital Organization (PHO) entered into a partnership with Beacon Health Partners. The newly formed CHS Beacon PHO will be a large, integrated physician-led organization with a governance structure that is heavily weighted with physicians—80 percent of the board members will be physicians. Beacon Health Partner's, which has one of the region's largest Accountable Care Organizations (ACO), was selected a few years back to participate in the Medicare Shared Savings Program (MSSP). According to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, only 29 of 114 MSSP ACOs achieved substantial savings and Beacon was one of them. Our new system will focus on measurably improving the health of patients throughout Nassau, Suffolk, and Queens Counties by reducing cost and enhancing quality.

This partnership will provide superior care across the entire community.

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