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NATIONAL #HEALTHIT WEEK: HOW VHI'S PROGRAMS KEEP CONSUMERS INFORMED
Last month, we celebrated National #HealthIT Week! Founded by the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society and the Institute for e-Policy in 2006, National Health IT Week is a nationwide initiative to generate change within the United States health system through the application of information and technology. In honor of this week, we wanted to highlight some of Virginia Health Information's (VHI) programs that are available in order to better inform the public.
But first, what is health IT and why should you care about it?
Health information technology (health IT) is an area of information technology involving the development, creation, design, use and maintenance of information systems for the healthcare industry. Interoperable and automated healthcare information systems will continue to improve medical care and public health, lower costs, reduce errors, improve patient satisfaction and increase efficiency (Techtarget, 2017). Data analytics has become a key player in health IT, giving all parties involved in the healthcare system the ability to collect and disseminate information. Here are a few (free!) resources that VHI produces with the data we collect:
Healthcare Pricing Transparency: This report includes regional and statewide costs of over 30 healthcare services from Virginia's All Payer Claims Database. Displayed as an interactive dashboard, users will see information organized by place of service, potential costs by cost category and median costs by region.
Avoidable Ed
Visits: Certain services at emergency departments could cost much
less if cared for at a lower cost healthcare setting, such as a physician's
office. This report details what these avoidable services are and organizes
them by region, county and insurance type.
Emergency Department Care Coordination
Program: Overseen by ConnectVirginia, a program of VHI, the EDCC
program provides a single, statewide technology solution that connects all
hospital emergency departments in the Commonwealth to facilitate real-time
communication and collaboration among physicians, other healthcare providers
and other clinical and care management personnel for patients receiving
services in the hospital emergency departments.
Industry Report:
Widely recognized as the #1 decision support tool for comparing the performance
of Virginia's healthcare providers, the Industry Report includes measures on
charges, costs, productivity, financial viability and community support.
These are just a few out of many resources that Virginia Health Information offer to the public. For more information, visit: www.vhi.org.
Stay Healthy, Virginia!