Leveraging Health IT to Achieve Patient, Physician and Cost Benefits

Advocate Selected as 2017 HIMSS Enterprise Davies Award Recipient

CHICAGO (January 15, 2018) – Advocate Health Care – one of the largest, clinically integrated health care networks in the country – is strategically utilizing health information and technology to empower patients and physicians while bending the cost curve.

By implementing the latest technologies to reduce transcription costs, systematize evidence-based guidelines for blood product utilization and prevent outdated test ordering, the system has realized measurable improvements in patient outcomes, contributing to Advocate’s reputation as a leader in providing the highest quality of care across the continuum of clinical need.

“Advocate Health Care is committed to delivering the safest and most effective care regardless of setting,” said Bobbie Byrne, MD, MBA, chief information officer. “To achieve that mission, we must embrace the most up-to-date technologies to help our health care team members perform their work in both routine and unique circumstances. We are honored to be recognized by HIMSS for our work in using technology to make Advocate a better place for our providers and, most importantly, our patients.”

Introducing Voice-to-Text Technology

Recognizing that doctors’ time is better spent taking care of patients than typing on a keyboard, Advocate leveraged advancements in voice-to-text technology to identify an electronic health record (EHR) solution that allows clinical users to document their findings in the medical record without relying on keyboard entry or telephone transcription. The technology permits physicians to speak at length about different diagnostic or treatment options for a specific patient with the information recorded in the EHR within seconds instead of hours. The clinical users embraced the new process and decreased transcription costs 50 percent in the first year and further decreases in subsequent years.

Additional Advocate information technology initiatives include developing workflows within the EHR that direct clinical users to reduce overuse and improve the patient experience.

Monitoring Blood Product Orders

In 2011, Advocate identified a high level of variability among patients who received blood products. Clinical leaders were challenged to develop guidelines to direct blood product use with real-time EHR decision support. Clinical users were presented with the system guidelines and the patient’s specific test results before blood products could be ordered. No user was stopped from ordering blood, but they had to enter a reason why they were ordering blood outside the guidelines.

The blood product leadership team circulated utilization reports generated by the EHR team each quarter to help identify outliers and encourage behavior change. The initiative reduced blood product utilization by nearly 50 percent over the first year with sustained reductions five years later. Advocate’s clinical leaders attribute the project’s success to a combination of effective project management, targeted EHR decision support and reporting to monitor and impact guideline adherence.

Ordering Lab Tests

Advocate also leveraged the EHR to reduce the likelihood its users would order tests deemed “low utility” by its lab utilization committee by hiding tests within the ordering window. The intervention has curbed improper utilization by two-thirds with a corresponding decrease in costs and a better patient experience.

HIMSS Davies Award of Excellence

HIMSS is proud to recognize Advocate Health Care for their achievement of the 2017 HIMSS Enterprise Davies Award.

The HIMSS Davies Award recognizes outstanding achievement of organizations that have utilized health information technology to substantially improve patient outcomes and value. The Davies Awards program promotes health information technology-enabled improvement in patient outcomes through sharing case studies and lessons learned on implementation strategies, workflow design, best practice adherence, and patient engagement.

“Advocate has demonstrated that even large health organizations can foster a culture that embraces change and is nimble enough to adopt new IT-enabled interventions needed to improve quality and efficiency,” said Jonathan French, CPHIMSS, senior director of quality and patient safety initiatives. “Advocate’s early efforts to create improved efficiency and deliver the right care at the right time are valuable stories that can assist other organizations starting the same transition.”

Updated July 13, 2018