Advocate Health Care Deploys Certify Data Systems’ Interoperability Solution as Key Building Block of Its Enterprise Health Information Exchange

Feb. 9, 2011 (Business Wire) — Advocate Health Care in Oak Brook, Ill., has deployed Certify Data Systems, Inc.’s interoperability solution as the essential infrastructure for its enterprise health information exchange. Under its agreement with Advocate, Certify is offering its HealthDock™ interoperability product to Advocate’s 12 Chicago-area hospitals and affiliated physicians.
On Feb. 21, Certify will present an interactive discussion with John Norenberg, VP of Physician Services, Advocate Health Care, at the Peabody Orlando in Orlando, Fla. To register for this event or for other meetings with Norenberg and Certify executives, please visit http://www.certifydatasystems.com/norenberg/.
Advocate, the largest fully integrated not-for-profit healthcare system in Illinois, is nationally recognized both for its clinical quality and its progressive implementation of healthcare technology. Installed in physician offices across the country, Certify’s HealthDock™ appliance bridges the connectivity “last mile” in a manner that is uniquely easy to deploy, scale, manage and support, allowing hospitals to securely and seamlessly interface with their physicians’ electronic medical record (EMR) systems in real time. The Certify solution helps hospitals, health systems and eligible providers meet the “meaningful use” criteria issued by the Department of Health and Human Services, while improving delivery of patient care.
Installed in Advocate’s affiliated physician offices, the HealthDock™ enables the flow of critical clinical electronic data – such as lab results, pathology reports, radiology and transcription reports – between the physician practices and the Advocate hospitals even if they utilize different EMR systems. In the first six months, the HealthDock™ has been deployed in 29 of Advocate’s affiliated physician offices across 15 different EMRs.
“We chose Certify as our strategic partner because we believe their technology platform offers significant long-term advantages as we build our enterprise health information exchange,” said Norenberg. “Today, Certify is solving the very complicated problem of integrating disparate EMR systems and enabling the exchange of critical patient information among physicians at a transactional level so they can improve quality of care. Looking ahead, we see the Certify technology as a key component of our interoperability strategy and our efforts to build a true, patient-centric HIE that will enable us to reach out and connect with others, including the larger community, the government and other entities.”
“Advocate’s choice of the Certify technology is further affirmation of Certify’s ability to help healthcare organizations achieve full semantic interoperability,” said Marc Willard, Certify Data Systems’ Founder and CEO. “The Certify solution allows hospitals and health systems to deliver immediate value to their affiliated physicians by tackling the most difficult and time-consuming task of meaningful HIE from the outset. Successful HIE depends upon first connecting physicians electronically at the point of care. Making the investment now to provide ‘last-mile’ connectivity gives forward-thinking health systems like Advocate a competitive edge, especially as the number of physicians using EMRs will increase exponentially over the next several years.”
The Certify solution is easy to install and use and requires no additional software to be installed in Advocate’s affiliated physician offices. In its initial deployment at affiliated physician practices, the Certify solution significantly eliminated distribution of clinical data via paper, fax and Web portals, which required staff to manually scan or re-key this information into the EMRs. As a result, the Certify technology allowed the office to work within their current workflows while reducing labor costs, delays in interpretation and the potential for medical errors due to incorrect re-keying.
“The advantages we found with the Certify technology were that it was very easy to use and saved us a tremendous amount of time and effort,” said Arturo Chavarria, M.D., with PriCare Internal Medicine. “Having the patient data flow directly and instantly into our EMR – without our having to log in to a web portal to look for it or wait for it to appear via the fax machine – has made a significant difference in our ability to care for our patients. Not only are lab results and other reports available in a timely manner, the accuracy of the data has been improved since our staff no longer has to manually transcribe it into our EMR.”

About Certify Data Systems

Certify Data Systems, Inc. enables connectivity between hospitals and physicians in a manner that is uniquely easy to deploy, scale, manage and support. Certify employs sophisticated, proprietary technology that is fundamentally different from any other solution available today. Through the HealthDock™ appliance, Certify simplifies the time-consuming, resource-intensive and traditionally expensive process of interfacing with physician EMRs. Certify gives hospitals and health systems a new tool to seamlessly connect their physicians. The Certify solution delivers health information across the “last mile” of interoperability without changing the way hospitals or physicians work. Certify is headquartered in San Jose, Calif. For more information please visit the Certify website at www.certifydatasystems.com.
HealthDock™ is a trademark of Certify Data Systems, Inc.

About Advocate Health Care

Advocate Health Care, one of the nation’s top 10 health systems, based on clinical performance, is the largest health system in Illinois and one of the largest health care providers in the Midwest. Advocate operates more than 250 sites of care, including 10 acute care hospitals, two integrated children’s hospitals, five Level I trauma centers (the state’s highest designation in trauma care), two Level II trauma centers, one of the area’s largest home health care companies and one of the region’s largest medical groups. Advocate Health Care trains more primary care physicians and residents at its three major teaching hospitals than any other health system in the state. As a not-for-profit, mission-based health system affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and the United Church of Christ, Advocate contributed $462 million in charitable care and services to communities across Chicagoland in 2009
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Many area health providers have already made the switch to electronic records

Health care is one of few industries in America that still relies on paper records. That's changing due in part to a requirement in the 2009 economic stimulus package and last year's health care reform law that will start penalizing practices that don't use electronic records.
Many local medical providers have already made the switch, and both Cape Girardeau hospitals are working on it.
The cost of converting ranges from around $10,000 for an individual physician to $12 million to $15 million for larger health systems, said Diane Smith, director of information systems at Saint Francis Medical Center.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates up to $27 billion will be spent over 10 years to adopt electronic medical records. Congress set aside $19 billion to assist medical providers with the conversion in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. Beginning last month, providers who have converted to electronic records could begin applying for federal funding assistance. According to the CDC, the first payments are expected in May.
The law also imposes penalties beginning in 2015 for providers that do not move to electronic records. The first regulations requiring electronic records take effect Oct. 1, 2012.
Both SoutheastHEALTH and Saint Francis Medical Center say converting operations of their size to electronic records is a challenge. Both hospitals are using them already to varying extents. Saint Francis already uses electronic records in its emergency department.
Southeast will be using solely electronic records in its physicians' offices and new Cancer Center by the end of this year, said Jay McGuire, information systems director at SoutheastHEALTH. The hospital will be 100 percent electronic by mid-2013, he said.
"We are already using electronic medical records for the vast majority of patients. Physician order entry and documentation are the last and most complex pieces of the EMR [emergency medical records] that we have yet to complete," McGuire said.
Smith did not provide a specific timeline for Saint Francis' implementation of electronic records but said staff started to convert paper documents into an image format last year.
AWL Family Health Care in Cape Girardeau has been using electronic records since 2008. Family nurse practitioners there say using them improves accuracy, safety and efficiency.
"We don't have to spend time locating a chart. You would not believe how much time that can take," nurse practitioner Dolores McDowell said. "Before, transcription would take one to three weeks before they were able to type it up; now we can look it up instantly."
Previous problems with reading a physician's handwriting are no longer a concern when using electronic records, and McDowell can send patients' prescriptions to pharmacies electronically.
"Now they can read my writing," McDowell said. "Historically, inability to read a doctor's handwriting has led to most drug errors." The electronic system also helps ensure accurate dosages and avoids drug interactions, she said.
AWL is also able to link its systems with that of other medical specialists, which makes referrals and accessing test results done at other facilities easier.
The electronic records system also makes it easier for AWL to track patient demographics and submit information it is required to turn in to receive government funding as a designated rural health clinic.
Dr. Robert George is still using paper records at his small office on Broadway in Cape Girardeau but said he was considering an electronic system before the new government requirements.
"I think it will be a good thing in the long run," he said. "I think it will be a lot more work than I am used to doing."
McDowell said she isn't a "computer person" but that she found the switch easy to make because the benefits outweighed the challenges of learning a new system.
"We try to strive to keep up with all of the latest recommendation and trends to provide optimal care for our patients," she said.

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Outsourcing documentation and billing services for lowering healthcare costs

Physicians are under greater stress today than they ever were before, as more and more patients are in need of quality healthcare, and in order to not only provide that at a lower cost, other issues such as regulatory rules related to documenting medical records or overseeing medical practice coding and billing tasks are taking away their precious time.
The physicians can easily outsource these additional tasks to service providers and concentrate only in providing better healthcare services to patients. The need is to delegate major tasks, such as document management and billing responsibilities to outside agencies. The healthcare facilities not only will have additional time available for the welfare of the patients, they also will have the benefit of saving huge costs.
Let us evaluate the costs for both, documenting patient's records as well as billing and coding processes. A healthcare facility pays approximately $14 to $15 an hour to a skilled medical transcriber in the United States, and added to that are other cost such as setting up computers and software for the in-house medical transcription and billing divisions.
The healthcare facilities incur a cost of 35¢ for documenting a line of 65 characters of a patient's medical record. The outsourced companies based in India or Philippines are able to document the same line cost for just 9¢ to 10¢, this is a huge cost difference that can save hospitals or clinics millions of dollars annually.
Likewise, each medical coder and biller cost the healthcare providers $35,000 to $45,000 annually, and in comparison the outsourced companies that provide billing and coding service charge as little as 2% of the total claim reimbursed by the insurance companies, surely this operation too if outsourced can save huge revenue.
The medical transcription services including Medical billing and coding, is provided through the internet, the outsourced companies that are based in remote locations setup a Virtual Private Network with an EMR application that is in use by the hospital or a clinic. The IT division enables a login access for the medical transcribers and billers/coders for documenting the narrations of the physicians, for the billing process the insurance claims are documented by the logged in billers of the remote location company.
The advantage that this arrangement offers to a healthcare facility is that patient's confidential healthcare records stay within the hospital or clinics EMR application, which is a mandatory HIPAA regulation. Another benefit that these companies offer is a quicker turn-around-time, which is just 12 hours for documenting physician narrations and about 48 hours for billing documents. The sooner healthcare facilities explore the feasibility of setting up this arrangement the better it shall be for providing patient care at lowered costs.

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HealthSource Billing and Coding

Experience the GroupOne Difference!

The GroupOne Billing Center will help you take control of claims management processes and your entire practice workflow. Our billing and coding services eliminate unnecessary claim denials and delays through a complete integration of workflow, billing and reimbursement management. Along with a powerful electronic medical records package, this enables us to communicate effectively with your staff and third party payors. Clean claims and a practice-specific rules engine will dramatically increase your bottom line.

Overview of Billing & Coding Services
Superbill Redesign Fee Schedule Review
Coding & Abstracting Patient Registration
Insurance Verification Charge Entry
Electronic Claims Submission Payment Posting
Monthly Reporting/Financial Review Patient Statement Generation
Semi-annual E/M Chart Review Benchmarking
A/R “Clean-up” Program Spindown Projects
IT Conversion Projects Interim CBO Management/Staffing

GroupOne Billing Center – Key Features

We provide full workflow management, including online access to the provider’s office for patients, scheduling, document management, scanning, document routing, pharmacy callbacks, electronic fee tickets, electronic medical records, recall, etc.

The GroupOne Billing Center is staffed by professional coders to maintain the database and communicate with you regarding payor-specific, practice-specific and patient-specific information by CPT code. This produces extremely comprehensive, client-specific data that ensures clean claims and corporate compliance.

Our real-time rules engine updates CCI edits, bundling and LMRP updates, and searches for diagnosis compatibility.

Eligibility verification services are available, based on payor specific capabilities and access.

GroupOne Claims Management – How It Works

The GroupOne Billing Center creates the charge in the system after review and verification of the coded charges by Certified Professional Coders. The center submits insurance claims to the appropriate payors, generates periodic patient statements, and maintains data files. All claims are submitted electronically, except for those payors who do not accept electronic claim submissions or appealed claims that require additional documentation.

The GroupOne Billing Center allocates payments, denials and denial codes, and determines appeals in payment variance from negotiated contract to actual insurance payment.

Our team of reimbursement specialists follows every claim from submission to adjudication, ensuring proper handling of each submitted claim.

Claims status is tracked online and in real-time for continued reimbursement management. Claims submission dates, re-filing, as well as follow-up billing and collection notes are recorded and monitored by the billing staff, who are accountable for all activity in the system.

Reimbursement specialists promptly follow up on claims when payors fail to adjudicate within the specified time frame. At the same time, the center researches denied claims, re-files and updates the practice’s internal database to alert staff to changes in payor requirements.

The GroupOne Billing Center staff has online and immediate access to information requested by payors. This helps expedite claims adjudication with minimal interruption to the practice.

Powerful Tools and Reporting

Contract and fee schedule management tools provide a detailed picture of the accounts receivable for the practice, including the variance between scheduled and actual payments. These tools help the provider ensure that accurate and appropriate payments are received.

Tracking and management of denied claims helps uncover deficiencies in coding and billing practices. Denial management is used as a tool for the provider or office staff to address coding and billing errors and inconsistencies up-front, instead of correcting a denied claim. Clean claims translate to quicker, more complete payments and an improved bottom line.

The reporting package is developed and customized for each practice, based on the requirements and objectives of the physician(s) and administrative staff. Once in place, the system emails periodic reports to the appropriate recipients, including physicians, administrative staff and any outside parties such as the practice accountant.

Quality Medical Transcription for Medical Facilities

Medical Facilities Most medical facilitiesnow take advantage of thequality medical transcription services offered by professionaltranscription companies.These services efficientlyserve the medicaldocumentationrequirements of multi-specialty hospitals, long-termhealthcare centers, individual physicians, group practices,acute care clinics, nursing facilities and rehabilitation clinics.

Ensures Accuracy in Medical Reports

To ensure quality medical transcription services for medical facilities, the transcription companies maintain apanel of experts including transcription specialists, editors,quality controllers and proofreaders who are familiar withmedical terminology and jargon. With the help of the latestequipment, software technologies and procedures, theseprofessionals transcribe medical reports including patienthistories, clinic notes, diagnostic reports, consultation notes, laboratory reports, scan reports, procedure notes, operativenotes, ER notes, follow-up notes, physical examinationreports and more with outstanding accuracy.

Minimizes Workload of Healthcare Specialists

By utilizing well–organized medical transcription service
,healthcare professionals can save their time and effortneeded for preparing different medical reports. This helpsthem to focus on the treatment activities for their patients.Moreover, these services help medical facilities to reducethe investment needed for performing medical transcriptiont asks inside the practice. Quality medical transcriptionservices also offers benefits such as:

• Digital dictation machines and toll free number dictation facility
• Quality assurance at three levels
• Reduce paperwork in your practice
• Higher security and confidentiality for all data
• HIPAA compliance
• File transferring: secured FTP and browser based 256 bit AESencryption protocol
• Swift turnaround time
• Round-the-clock technical assistance

Depend on a Right Service Provider

If you are planning to outsource the medical transcription jobs of your medical facility, make sure to locate the right service provider. An established provider can offer quality services at competitive rates to meet your specific requirements.