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September 2015
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In this issue of REConnection...



Welcome to the September issue of REConnection! We have lots of great information to share with you. 
 
Here are some of the highlights:

As always, we welcome your feedback and story ideas. Just email us at REConnection Feedback.

Best Regards,

The RI REC Team
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Congrats to Claire Nadeau for Honorable Mention in Rhode Island Monthly's 'Nurse Practitioner of the Year' awards

The Rhode Island Quality Institute (RIQI) would like to congratulate Claire Nadeau, NP, for her Honorable Mention as 'Nurse Practitioner of Year' by Rhode Island Monthly magazine. She is the only nurse practitioner practice in RI working in Primary Care and GYN. She has a staff of two other nurse practitioners, Sharon Stager and Jo Ann Moore, and a counselor in her office. Her collaborative physicians are Dr. Salk for Women's Health and Dr. P. Wilfredo Canchis for Primary Care. 
This is an exciting moment for Claire as she is recognized for her hard work and establishing her own practice at a time when it is not the "norm" for an NP to do so. Although NPs can legally have their own practice, there are still obstacles, like some insurance companies requiring a collaborative doctor and pay lower reimbursement rates. Nonetheless, she persevered and is proud of her accomplishments and those of her practice.
 
Claire is proud to participate in Meaningful Use. She states that although there have always been peer collaborations, reviews and oversights, she feels Meaningful Use is a significant quality marker that will help her practice achieve its goal of high quality care. She also states the importance of RIQI's Regional Extension Center and how appreciative she is to have a Relationship Manager work with her practice to achieve Meaningful Use.
 
She also is very excited to start enrolling her patients in CurrentCare. She recently discovered how CurrentCare can enhance her practice in many ways. "It brings value to patient care and will assist my staff with workflow," Claire said. "I look forward to enrolling my patients and utilizing this great tool."

About:
Claire Nadeau, Nurse Practitioner
Owner and Operator of WellCare, Inc. in Johnston, RI
University of Rhode Island, MS, Nurse Practitioner 1988 - 1994
Rhode Island College, BS, Nursing 1976
Our Lady of Fatima, LPN, 1973

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The Impact of CurrentCare Hospital Alerts
Helping to manage care and reduce 30-day ED return rates
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CurrentCare's Hospital Alerts service is helping to reduce hospital readmissions and coordinate care. Analysis by the Rhode Island Quality Institute (RIQI) which owns and operates CurrentCare, Rhode Island's statewide Health Information Exchange (HIE), shows that among CurrentCare enrollees, the 30-day return rate to the ED is approximately 20% lower for patients whose providers receive Hospital Alerts versus patients whose providers do not. And, the difference between the two groups has held over time, even as the number of providers receiving alerts has grown. To read more about these results and learn how you can get started with Alerts, click here. And remember: We are offering $100 Visa gift cards to help defray the cost of a Direct Messaging account, which you need to use alerts.

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RIQI's Educational offerings for October:

Special Note: This webinar counts toward the annual HIPAA training requirement!
Webinar: HOT HIPAA Topics: HIPAA Compliance Update with Linn Freedman
When: Friday, October 2, 2015 - 7:30 - 9:00 am

Cost: RIQI/REC Members: Free* Non-Members: $10 per person
Not sure if your practice is a member? Contact us at RIREC@RIQI.org

Please make checks payable to RI Quality Institute and send to:
RI Quality Institute, 50 Holden St., Providence, RI 02908

*Fee waived if practice is participating in Medicaid EHR incentive program.




Description
This is a live Webinar presentation with industry leading privacy and security attorney Linn Foster Freedman of Robinson+Cole. Linn will focus her presentation on hot topics related to privacy and security and HIPAA compliance and how your practice can proactively mitigate risks often encountered in the healthcare industry. This session will also offer certification as compliance to fulfill the annual HIPAA training requirement. Certificates will be sent to attendees after the session. To learn more, click here.

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Webinar: Security Risk Assessments - What You Need to Know
Thursday, October 22, 2015 - 12:15 - 1:00 PM

Cost: RIQI/REC Members: Free* Non-Members: $10 per person
Not sure if your practice is a member? Contact us at RIREC@RIQI.org

Please make checks payable to RI Quality Institute and send to:
RI Quality Institute, 50 Holden St., Providence, RI 02908

*Fee waived if practice is participating in Medicaid EHR incentive program.





Description
If you participate in a Meaningful Use program, you are required to conduct a Security Risk Assessment (SRA) and implement security updates as necessary. Join RIQI's Brian Miller to learn how to conduct a successful SRA and maintain records in case of a future audit.  Learn about best practices to protect yourself and your patients against potential breach of both medical information and physical systems.
 
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Sue Uttley...

Congratulations to Sue Uttley, an Administrative Medical Assistant at Thundermist Health Center, who is the winner of the August On the Spot Award for the most patients viewed in the CurrentCare Viewer! Sue decided to share the spotlight with her teammates TJ Lindquist and Denise DaSilva, who were the 2nd and 3rd place winners, respectively. We met with them and their supervisor, Karen Mazzola, to learn how they were able to view over 3,700 patients in CurrentCare in the month of August! Wow!

How has CurrentCare helped you do your job?
CurrentCare has helped us with a large quality project we are working on this quarter, to find pap smear results for over 7,000 patients. We have already found many pap results, and have documented them in our EHR. Good thing our team works well together because the work continues into September!
 
On the Spot winner Sue Uttley shares the limelight with colleagues TJ Lindquist and Denise DaSilva, who won second and third places respectively.
What information do you find most useful?
We are primarily using it to find pap smear results, but we have also used it to find mammograms and colonoscopies during pre-visit planning.

Do you have recommendations for others in similar roles?
CurrentCare is easy to use and user-friendly. We find a lot of information we didn't have in our EHR.





...and Beverly McNally!
Beverly McNally, Patient Care Coordinator
Quality Behavioral Health

Beverly McNally, Patient Care Coordinator for Quality Behavioral Health, received a CurrentCare On the Spot Award for increasing patient CurrentCare enrollment each month by including an enrollment form with new patient paperwork. She is also working on examples of "use cases" for the staff to encourage increased utilization of CurrentCare Viewer. She told us about a diabetic patient who had other conditions that were not revealed to the physician. CurrentCare gave them the full picture, which is critical to making treatment decisions.


 
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National Health IT Week starts Monday

The Rhode Island Quality Institute is a proud sponsor of the 10th National Health IT Week (October 5-9), organized by The Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS). National Health IT Week is a collaborative forum and virtual awareness week that assembles key healthcare constituents dedicated to working together to elevate the necessity of advancing health through the best use of information technology. Click here to see a listing of all virtual events.
 
a6CurrentCare Quick Bites
 
Webinar: Hop on the Train! - Get Your Patients to Enroll 
When: Wednesday, October 7, 2015 - 12:15 - 12:30 pm 
 
Description
At 475,000 enrollees, CurrentCare enrollment is really steaming along, but if your patients aren't enrolled, neither you nor your patient can benefit from CurrentCare's vast amount of patient health information. Still have patients who are not enrolled in CurrentCare? Join this session to hear from RIQI's Peggy Menna and enrollment expert Brian Miller, to learn about enrollment updates, best practices, and ways to encourage your patients to enroll. We'll also tell you how your enrollment efforts can earn some great prizes for your practice!

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Do you have a complaint about your EHR or exchanging data? ONC has a new tool that might help

Ever have a complaint about the inability to share electronic health information and didn't know where to turn? Have you ever needed to tell someone about your concerns with your certified health IT product, such as an electronic health record (EHR) and didn't know where to go? The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) recently launched a new website: www.healthit.gov/healthitcomplaints to address these concerns and be the single point of entry for you to report problems or complaints about your health IT product. The new reporting mechanism will help the ONC better triage, track, route and respond to your health IT concerns or challenges.
 
 
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The New England QIN-QIO: PQRS/VM Q&A Corner

 
Overview of the 2014 Annual Quality and Resource User Reports (QRURs)
 
2014 Annual Quality and Resource Use Reports (QRUR) Now Available
On September 9, 2015, CMS made available the 2014 Annual Quality and Resource Use Reports (QRURs) to every group practice and solo practitioner nationwide. Groups and solo practitioners are identified in the QRURs by their Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN). The QRURs are also available for groups and solo practitioners that participated in the Medicare Shared Savings Program, the Pioneer ACO Model, or the Comprehensive Primary Care initiative in 2014, in addition to those TINs consisting only of non?physician eligible professional (EPs). 

Click here for more information and to learn how to obtain a QRUR.

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Tap into our artery of experts: Become a REC Member today!
 
Becoming a Regional Extension Center (REC) member is easier - and more cost-effective - than you might think. For just $250 a year, your practice site gets an hour of Meaningful Use consultation, an annual HIPAA compliance training (offered in the Fall) and exclusive access to an online tool for managing your health IT project, like Meaningful Use or PCMH!
 
Also, for a low consultation fee, we offer hands-on assistance from a dedicated REC Relationship Manager. Call us at 888.858.4185, Option 5, for more information and to sign up!


 
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Rhode Island Medical Society Journal: September Edition
 
RIQI is pleased to share the latest edition of the Rhode Island Medical Journal, the monthly publication of the Rhode Island Medical Society. 
 

  

 

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The RI Regional Extension Center (RI REC) is a service of the Rhode Island Quality Institute, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to improving the quality, safety, and value of health care in Rhode Island. To learn more, visit www.TransformYourPracticeRI.org.

 

RI REC and its services and materials are made possible through a grant from the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology with US Department of Health and Human Services support. 

 

REConnection is intended to provide the Rhode Island healthcare community and other interested stakeholders with timely news and information about RI REC's programs, resources, and educational activities that support the adoption of health information technology.


To learn more about participating in RI REC's Health IT Adoption, HIE/CurrentCare, and Direct Adoption Programs, please call  888-924-4156 or write to rirec@riqi.org.