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CEO Perspective: The Client Connection ...1

Clinical Insights: “Downward Trends” in Care Management Software Functionality ...1

Up Close and Personal: Matthew Fahner,

Director of Product Management ...2

C E O p E r s p E C t i v E

The Client Connection

Rob Pock, Founder & CEO TCS Healthcare Technologies

M

y last column addressed the importance of client communication at TCS and how we partner with our customers to develop products that meet their needs. We employed this strategy to develop ACUITY software, for example, as well as

a host of other TCS products. Allowing communication to flow between TCS and actual product users empowers us to deliver effective support tools for health care management. This philosophy also allows TCS to gauge client satisfaction—is our software meeting the needs of the organization and supporting its ability to effectively fulfill responsibilities to patients and providers? How can we alter our software products to improve client return on investment?

As TCS CEO and founder, I’m responsible for measuring our success in delivering health care software services that meet our clients’ needs. In addition to feedback received through daily interactions between the TCS team and our clients, I also look to industry reports as a way to qualify and test my assessments.

TCS recently joined other sponsors to analyze and publish the results of the 2012 Health Information

Technology Survey. As with past HIT Surveys, this

most recent one assessed case managers’ satisfaction with vendor-supplied software that they use to perform their duties. The longitudinal trend from each respective survey year—2008, 2010 and 2012—

C l i n i C a l i n s i g h t s

How to Explain “Downward

Trends” in Care Management

Software Functionality

Pat Stricker, RN, MEd Senior Vice President TCS Healthcare Technologies

T

he results of the 2012 Health

Information Technology (HIT) Survey have been very interesting.

Of course this is a key interest of mine, since I am both a care manager and a nurse responsible for helping to design care management systems.

While reviewing Trend Report #3, which was recently released, I was surprised to find that only 17% of the respondents felt their care management software allowed them “to spend more time with their patients”! That was a decrease from 22% in the 2008 survey. In addition, contrary to the expectation that we would see more functionality in care management systems this year than we did two or four years ago, the survey reported a decline in almost all areas.

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U p C l O s E a n d p E r s O n a l

Matthew Fahner, Director of

Product Management

M

atthew Fahner, TCS Healthcare Technologies’ director of product management and 2012 Employee of the Year, has worn many hats within the TCS family and is an integral part of the team. Fahner’s role involves utilizing business analysis

and market research, customer and user feedback, customer usage and competitive analysis to identify new product opportunities and enhancements.

Since joining TCS in 2005, Fahner has held several positions within the company. He started as a system administrator and advanced

to senior implementation specialist, overseeing the setup and configuration of TCS software for new and upgrading clients. Fahner then transitioned to product manager where he facilitated the ICD-10 conversion for all products in the TCS suite. As a result of his hard work and dedication, Fahner was promoted to director of product management.

“I’m responsible for all internal development, quality assurance and IT functions for TCS,” says Fahner. “This role is very challenging and rewarding because every day I have a direct impact on the product enhancements that will increase our clients’ efficiency and improve overall customer satisfaction.”

“Matt is a vital part of the TCS team and was the ideal candidate for our director of product management,” says Rob Pock, founder and CEO. “His ability to support corporate goals and objectives to develop and champion a product vision, product strategy and product roadmap is unparalleled.”

Fahner says he is looking forward to collaborating with customers and internal departments to evaluate and improve the TCS product line-up. “My position is exciting as it directly reflects on company values and standards,” he adds.

An Ohio native and graduate of Kent State University with a degree in computer information systems, Fahner enjoys spending time with his wife of 13 years, Erica, their two children, Audrey and Carson, and two dogs, Data and Indie. Fahner enjoys golf, making wine, and camping with his family. n

TCS is Heading to New Orleans!

We will be attending the 23nd Annual CMSA Conference & Expo, Lighting the Path…Leading the Way. Join us June

25–28 at the Morial Convention Center.

The TCS family is looking forward to the seminars,

educational sessions and networking with case managers and other industry professionals like you.

The Case Management Society of America’s

annual conference is designed to deliver clinical, professional, regulatory and personal growth for the present and future of cross-continuum case management. Come by and see us at booth A321; we would love to chat! n

Responsible for all internal development, quality

assurance and IT functions for TCS, Fahner

finds his job both challenging and rewarding.

Every day he has a direct impact on the product

enhancements that will increase our clients’

efficiency and improve overall customer

satisfaction.

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C l i E n t s p O t l i g h t

HealthCorp

H

ealthCorp, an Iowa-based subsidiary of Cottingham & Butler, has successfully implemented the ACUITY Advanced Care™ Management Software system (ACUITY) from TCS Healthcare

Technologies. ACUITY is an integrated care management system for performing utilization

management, case management, disease management, and prevention/wellness.

HealthCorp and TCS have been partners for 19 years, where TCS has been providing medical management solutions in support of HealthCorp’s services, and this partnership will continue with the new ACUITY care management software platform.

“Increasingly our customers are putting more emphasis on compliance and member engagement to make sure they are adhering to the recommended care,” says David Becker, president and CEO of Butler & Cottingham. “Thanks to ACUITY, we can more easily help our customers achieve their goals as the software more efficiently integrates our case management, disease management and utilization management functions.”

HealthCorp provides medical management services in three areas: utilization management, catastrophic case management and chronic care compliance. According to Chris Lambert, MSN, RN, CCM, HealthCorp nursing director, “All three areas are interconnected, so we can use the same software for all three functions.”

The company’s case management function focuses on complex, high dollar cases where RNs are not only ensuring the care that members are receiving is appropriate and timely, but also cost effective for the plan as well.

Accredited by URAC for CM, the HealthCorp team believes the next accreditation process will

be straight-forward due to the documentation and accessibility review functions of the ACUITY software.

Another top priority for HealthCorp is medication adherence. Chris notes that they reach out to

members to make sure they are getting and taking their prescribed medications and that members understand why compliance is important to their health.

The HealthCorp disease management program focuses on conditions that have a high component for self-management, such as diabetes, hypertension, asthma, COPD and other respiratory conditions.

As for the software implementation process, HealthHelp staff gives TCS high ratings. “We are appreciative of the way TCS met our needs with the assistance we received from the TCS technical team during the software transition,” says Vickie LaGrotta, HealthCorp’s director of information technology. “TCS helped us work through issues we encountered during the transition and everything is working well from a technical perspective.”

Rob Pock, TCS CEO and founder, stresses how much TCS values such dedicated clients. “A 19-year partnership for TCS means going the extra mile to insure everything is done right the first time,” he says. “The TCS clinical and technical staff worked closely with HealthCorp’s implementation team to ensure a successful transition, and we would do nothing less for any client that trusts us with their business.” n

Follow us on LinkedIn to find out the latest news from TCS Healthcare

Technologies, participate in discussions and hear about product updates!

“Thanks to ACUITY, we can more easily help

our customers achieve their goals as the

software more efficiently integrates our case

management, disease management and

utilization management functions.”

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CEO Perspective

from page 1

product, it is imperative our clients realize the investment they made in vendor software was a wise decision.

It’s interesting that numerous case managers who participated in the survey said they were only “somewhat satisfied” or “not satisfied” with

the software provided by other vendors. In fact, respondents to all three surveys since 2008 rated TCS as number one in user satisfaction. No other vendor can make this claim. TCS maintains close contact with its clients to ensure we stay in the “satisfied/ very satisfied” category. When we talk with people who are actually using our software daily as part of

Allowing communication to flow between TCS

and actual product users empowers us to deliver

effective support tools for health care management.

their workflow, we know first-hand they are pleased with the way the software works and the many ways it can be customized to meet their specific requirements.

The Health IT Survey is a valuable guide to choosing health care software. In fact, the key message for case managers is “buyer beware.” In evaluating vendor software you must look beyond

a product’s marketing and strive to fully understand precisely how software is being used in a health care environment similar to yours, and determine whether the software users are satisfied with the results. Ask for multiple references and speak directly to case managers who use the system.

If you haven’t seen the survey results, obtain a copy by visiting www.tcshealthcare.com. You can read the feedback to learn why TCS ACUITY users are “very satisfied,” supporting the likelihood that your relationship with the TCS team will be equally rewarding. n

Case Manager Satisfaction

(Composite Vendor Scores)

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Clinical Insights

from page 1

Can this be true? Can we really say that using a system with automated workflows, letter generation, automated care plans, templates that document standard notes, and one-click access to the health record to check previous history, etc., etc., etc., doesn’t save us time? Or is it that the extra time it gives us isn’t devoted to “more time with a

patient,” but rather “more patients to care for?” Using

a system has to be better than documenting manual,

hand-written notes that get filed in folders and file

cabinets; and using Word to manually prepare each letter,

email to track follow-ups and tasks, and Excel to do

manual reporting. Please tell me an automated care

management system is more efficient than this!

The Trend Report indicated that more respondents said their systems did not contain some of the basic, key functionality that we have come to expect. It showed dramatic declines in the availability of functions in care management systems reported by the respondents in the 2012 survey compared to the respondents in the 2008 survey (2008>2012):

n Generates pre-defined care plans (28% > 21%) n Stratifies data based on business rules to promote

screening or identification of program candidates (37% > 30%)

n Automatically assigns, schedules, or executes

follow-up tasks based on stratification results (33% > 24%)

n Allows all fields or data collected to be used in

reporting (53% > 41%)

n Tracks/reports clinical outcomes (47% > 30%)

Keeps track of follow-up items (61% > 44%)

n Uses a “task manager” to track daily activities or

automated scheduling (63% > 53%)

n Automatically calculates patient severity or acuity

score (51% > 40%)

n Calculates patient caseloads (44% > 24%)

Can these statistics be correct? Aren’t these the main reasons for having a care management system— to automate and streamline workflow and processes so you can be more efficient and have more time to focus on what’s really important—your patients and their needs? It made me wonder why this downward trend was noted and I felt I had to analyze the data in more detail.

While the respondents in all three HIT surveys (2008, 2010, and 2012) were similar, there were some slight differences that could account for some of the downward trends:

n The total number of respondents each year were

similar (521, 670, and 642)

n Respondents from larger companies (100 or

more) increased each year (66%, 68%, and 70%) while those from smaller companies (under 100) decreased in 2012 (21%, 21%, and 17%)

n Fewer respondents in 2012 were CMs (-4%) and

Operations staff (-7%) who work with the systems on a daily basis versus more respondents who were administrators (+5%) or physicians (+2%)

n Less respondents from Health Plans (-16%) in

2012 compared to those from Provider or Facility Settings (+8%)

There were fewer health plan respondents and more providers in 2012. Could this mean health plans had more sophisticated care management software, which accounted for more reported usage of these functions in 2008? Could the increase in providers (physicians and facilities) in 2012 indicate they don’t have the sophisticated care management technology yet that support the unique needs they have for ACOs, patient-centered medical home programs, and other new provider-oriented programs? Could their use of care management modules in electronic health record systems (EHRs)

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T C S C O n T A C T

Jason Scruby

Business Development Executive TCS Healthcare Technologies 11641 Blocker Drive, Suite 200

Auburn, CA 95603 (530) 886-1700 ext. 211 jscruby@tcshealthcare.com W E b S I T E www.tcshealthcare.com S u b S C R I b E

To subscribe to this newsletter, email newsletter@tcshealthcare.com.

Newsletter published quarterly.

Editing and Production by: Schooner Healthcare

Services Communications Department Please send comments or questions to Garry Carneal at gcarneal@tcshealthcare.com. account for the decreases in functionality reported,

since the EHR modules are not as robust as systems distinctly designed for care management? Likewise, could the slight decrease this year in CM, QI, and Operations respondents, along with the increase in administrative respondents mean that there

were fewer respondents with specific knowledge of care management

systems and how they are used day-to-day?

So I wound up with a lot of questions and no specific answers. It is difficult to determine exactly what has caused these downward trends. I tend to think we are not dealing with systems that have less functionality or organizations that have terribly outdated systems with limited functionality, but rather that the changing health care field is moving so quickly that it is difficult to always have the needed functionality, especially if you are an innovative organization that is on the leading edge. We are also moving into more provider-focused programs with different, unique needs and not everyone has those systems yet.

I’m convinced the technology is there for 80–90% of the functionality needed to streamline and automate workflows and processes, but we need to quickly develop the other 10–20% that would make the systems even more efficient, especially for the new emerging programs.

On a positive note, the Trend Report did show an increase in the integration of the Case Management Adherence Guidelines (CMAGs) into care management systems (14% in 2008; 16% in 2010; and 17% in 2012).

Of course the Trend Report also highlighted other positive or neutral findings. To review the full report or the series of nine Trend Reports go to

www.tcshealthcare.com or www.cmsa.org. n

Clinical Insights

from page 5

The 2012 Health IT Survey was conducted by TCS Healthcare Technologies (TCS), the Case Management Society of America (CMSA), the American Board of Quality Assurance and Utilization Review Physicians, Inc. (ABQAURP) and Trajectory Healthcare LLC. These organizations teamed together for the third time to sponsor the survey, which examines how various health IT applications are changing the care management field. Schooner Healthcare Services and Trajectory Healthcare assisted in the 2012 analysis and an advisory panel of volunteers also supervised the administration, analysis and reporting of the survey. Originally published in CMSA’s Member eNewsletter (April 2013)

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