Industry Insight

Tracking, Sharing ODLs Could Transform Chronic Care Management

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation recently named five teams selected for a new program to explore how patient-recorded observations of daily living (ODLs) can be captured and integrated into clinical care. New technologies, such as smartphones and sensors, make it possible to gather information such as diet, exercise, sleep patterns, medication usage, and pain from the flow of people’s lives. The foundation, through its Project HealthDesign: Rethinking the Power and Potential of Personal Health Recordsnational program, has awarded more than $2.4 million to five grantee teams to test whether and how information, such as the stress levels of caregivers of premature infants and medication-taking routines of seniors at risk of cognitive decline, can be collected, interpreted, and acted on by patients and clinicians in real-world clinical settings. Each team will receive a two-year, $480,000 grant.

Earlier Project HealthDesignwork revealed that the data needed to impact day-to-day health decisions came less often from the data contained in people’s official medical record and more from information gained by monitoring their health in everyday life. These data on what they ate, how they slept, what their mood was, how their medications made them feel, and other factors appeared to be a valuable platform for software decision tools that could help people record their data and make day-to-day decisions. Furthermore, sharing this information with their medical providers helped both parties determine how treatments were working and guide any needed adjustments.

“Data from ODLs can drive apps that help people eat better, manage their pain more effectively, and understand how their behaviors, their treatments, and their symptoms are related,” says Stephen Downs, SM, assistant vice president for the Robert Wood John Foundation’s Health Group. “In addition, they can give clinicians a much richer understanding of what goes on with their patients in between office visits and then they can base their treatment recommendations on better, more comprehensive information.”

Grantee teams will work closely with patients with two or more chronic conditions to capture and store several types of ODLs and analyze and interpret the data with a goal of integrating the information into the clinical workflow. They will first participate in a refine/design phase to share ideas, establish goals, and refine initial approaches. Project teams will then work with patients with complex chronic conditions to capture and interpret ODLs while establishing a relationship with a physician practice to share information. Over 12 months, clinicians will care for 30 to 50 patients who are actively monitoring ODLs and assess the value of including them in their real-world care processes.

In addition, the program provides legal and regulatory compliance support to grantees and contributes to the public discourse on the legal and regulatory aspects of capturing ODLs and integrating them into care processes. The program will develop resources around the cross-cutting issues regarding the use and safe integrations of ODLs as well as specifically advise grantee teams on applicable law and regulations that may alter the consequences of data-sharing between patients and clinicians.

— Source: Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Pioneer Portfolio

 

The Joint Commission Taps John Mache as CIO

The Joint Commission recently announced the appointment of John C. Mache as chief information officer for the enterprise, which includes The Joint Commission, Joint Commission Resources, and the Joint Commission Center for Transforming Healthcare.

Mache has 30 years of information management and IT experience, most recently serving as global vice president of the office products supplier ACCO Brands Corporation. He will be responsible for securing, promoting, planning, implementing, monitoring, and maintaining The Joint Commission’s information and technology assets. Mache will work closely with senior management, technical staff, end-user departments and external vendors, contractors, and consultants.

— Source: The Joint Commission

 

Glenn Tobin Joins CodeRyte

CodeRyte, Inc, a provider of computer-assisted coding technology, announced the addition of Glenn Tobin, PhD, to its management team in the newly created position of chief operating officer.

Tobin’s key priorities will be to drive execution, guarantee CodeRyte’s growth is hand in hand with client satisfaction, and ensure CodeRyte’s set of business partners can effectively deliver its solutions as part of their own offerings.

Tobin brings years of experience and leadership in HIT. He served as the chief operating officer of the Cerner Corporation from 1998 to 2004. Most recently, Tobin served as the general manager for the Corporate Executive Board Company, where he led the research and analysis firm’s information technology practice.

— Source: CodeRyte, Inc