Georgia Project Quarterly e-Newsletter
Volume 2, No. 2 - June 2008
The Healthy Georgia Diabetes and Obesity Project
We are extremely proud to announce that two groups in Georgia have received grants from the Microsoft® Corporation’s ‘Be Well Fund.’ The HealthVault Be Well Fund is designed to assist academic and research health organizations in the creation of innovative online health applications for patients. These applications are designed to make use of shared health data and connected home health devices to improve the potential for positive health outcomes for individuals. We are excited to continue our collaboration with Microsoft® and the grant recipients in Georgia as we view these partnerships key to creating an individual-centered 21st century intelligent health system.
Grant recipients in Georgia are the Columbus Research Foundation and Morehouse School of Medicine.
The Columbus Research Foundation’s winning application is entitled The Columbus Model for Childhood Obesity Intervention: A Computer-Based Initiative Integrated into HealthVault. Addressing the childhood obesity problem in America, the project will offer the opportunity for 7th grade students in Columbus, Georgia to learn positive lifestyle choices and follow and record their own personal lifestyle modifications.
The winning application from Morehouse School of Medicine is entitled Integrated Mobile Health Solution for Diabetes Care. Addressing the issue of health disparities, the application will enable patients with Type II diabetes to control their risk factors (blood pressure, cholesterol, blood glucose, weight, physical activity levels) using a Microsoft® HealthVault™ enabled mobile personal health record (PHR) application and data from home monitoring devices collected through HealthVault Connection Center. Patients will receive on-the-go reminders for medication adherence and coaching sessions, share information through social networking, and have mobile access to their health data and trend analysis for coaching sessions and disease management.
We look forward to sharing the outcomes from these innovative projects with you!
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21st Century Healthy Communities Project
Savannah as a Healthy Community
CHT’s e-prescribing project in Georgia is working with the Savannah Business Group (SBG), community leaders and healthcare providers in the coastal Georgia area to create the Savannah Healthy Community Project. “We are excited to be expanding our healthy communities project to Savannah,” said Nancy Desmond, CEO of the Center for Health Transformation. “Savannah is a perfect fit for an electronic prescribing initiative as the entire community has embraced health information technology as a strategy and solution to improve the quality of care.”
The CHT Georgia e-Prescribing working group has established a goal of creating a healthy community focused around e-prescribing. CHT Project Director Wayne Oliver recently met with employers and healthcare providers in the Savannah area to propose the idea of an implementation site in Savannah. Among Savannah’s employers, e-prescribing is viewed as a way to reduce medication errors and improve the quality of care provided to patients. Additionally, there have been several recent HIT grants awarded in the area which create opportunities for e-prescribing expansion. The Georgia Department of Community Health (DCH) has provided support through transformation grants for HIT projects in Savannah and near Swainsboro.
In addition to the Savannah Business Group, CHT is working closely with the Georgia Medical Care Foundation and the Georgia Health Information Exchange as well as Savannah’s two hospitals, Memorial Health and St. Joseph’s-Candler and other community providers. “The health community has come together to support e-prescribing,” said Mr. Oliver. “We believe that Savannah offers the perfect place to focus on expanding e-prescribing. The pharmacies are ready, the hospitals and their physician practices are moving rapidly to implement HIT solutions with e-prescribing capabilities and the employer community has expressed strong support for quality improvements.” A kickoff of the Savannah Healthy Community Project is being planned for early fall.
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Advancing the Adoption of Electronic Health Records
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt announced that Georgia is one of the 12 communities selected for a national Medicare pilot program that will provide bonuses to physicians for using electronic health records. CHT CEO Nancy Desmond, and Project Directors Laura Linn and Wayne Oliver attended the event at the Georgia State Capitol. The demonstration project will provide an additional opportunity for Georgia to serve as a model for the nation as we move to a 21st century intelligent health system.
CHT Publishes White Paper on e-Prescribing:
Earlier this month, CHT released a comprehensive white paper on e-prescribing.
Download the PDF document >>
Mission Accomplished:
Legislation Aimed at Reducing the Number of Uninsured Georgians Passes
During the 2008 Session of the General Assembly, the legislature passed and Governor Sonny Perdue signed legislation which reforms the Georgia health insurance market. The Center for Health Transformation (CHT) helped lead efforts to develop innovative solutions to make health insurance coverage more affordable and accessible to the uninsured. Since late 2006, the Center has also worked specifically to address and reduce the number of Georgia’s uninsured. In an editorial published in 2005, CHT founder Newt Gingrich and project director David Merritt said, “To put it simply, insuring all Americans is a moral imperative because people are dying. … Every year, an estimated 18,000 Americans die unnecessarily because they have no health insurance.”With more than 47 million uninsured Americans – and 1.7 million of those residing in the State of Georgia – CHT has been focused on creating real world, private sector, market-driven solutions which can be adapted and implemented in the short term. In 2007 and 2008, CHT’s vision for implementing such solutions started to become a reality. Georgia State Senator Judson Hill introduced SB 383 to begin a dialogue around market-based health insurance reform. “The issue is how to best address solutions so that those without coverage can afford coverage,” said Senator Hill. “We need to fundamentally change the way we look at reforming the health insurance market.” CHT created the Georgia Uninsured Work Group which strongly endorsed the following provisions which were included in the legislative package:
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Eliminate state and other municipal premium taxes on HSA-eligible high-deductible health plans.
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Equalize the state income tax deductibility of premiums for individually purchased HSA-eligible HDHPs.
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Provide a tax incentive for small employers (fewer than 25 employees) that maintain an HSA eligible HDHP coverage for employees.
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Provide for expediting review and processing of HSA eligible HDHPs and conducting a market survey of creative fully insured health products offered in other states not yet sold in Georgia.
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Identify any financial, administrative, and procedural barriers for new health insurance product approvals and/or to new insurers to enter the Georgia market.
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Remove state legal and regulatory barriers to offering flexible fully insured HSA eligible HDHP designs that provide financial rewards or incentives for compliance, participation, or healthy outcomes using health management and disease management programs.
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Allow use of Health Reimbursement Arrangement Only plans so pre-tax employer contributions can be used to pay for IRS designated Qualified Medical Expenses or the purchase of health insurance.
SB 383 and HB 977 were signed into law on May 7, 2008. CHT founder Newt Gingrich spoke at the bill signing ceremony which was held at an Atlanta hospital. CHT is developing a toolkit which will document the approach taken by CHT in Georgia during the 2008 legislative session which focused on the importance of a market-based, patient centered approach that emphasizes personal responsibility, portability, transparency, and prevention and wellness policies. CHT’s goal is for all Georgians to have access to affordable health insurance within five years.
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From The Art of Transformation
21st Century Implementation Key Number Six: Continuous Innovation
Constantly creating or acquiring information and quickly turning it into new tools or solutions for rapid distribution is central to the innovative excellence that is at the heart of transformation. It is through this continuous process of innovation that we create new solutions, new projects, new processes, and new products and services.
Transformational teams have to look outside the plan they’ve created to constantly monitor changes occurring in the external environment that may mean a change in what they are doing. Innovation has to be practiced by every member of the team. The need for innovation is most likely to be discovered by those on the front lines, and successful organizations don’t wait until the need is so obvious that it has reached top-level management.
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