Media and Analyst Coverage

Mapping the impact of social determinants of health (Modern Healthcare)

View Healthcare IT News Article [By Virgil Dickson  |  March 31, 2018 ] At UAMS Medical Center in Little Rock, Ark., clinicians are prompted by their electronic health record system to ask patients personal questions about their home life and eating habits. Those inquiries over the past few years helped reduce the hospital's overall readmission rate to 10% from 13.8% before it began gathering data on social determinants of health—factors that are profoundly linked to overall health.The issue of trying to manage all of the factors contributing to a person's health is growing as providers work increasingly under... View Full Article Here

Health Catalyst Hopes New Cost Management Suite will Shed Light on True Cost of Care (Healthcare IT News)

View Healthcare IT News Article [By Bernie Monegain] Salt Lake City-based Health Catalyst, which provides hospitals with data analytics, decision support and outcomes improvement technology, today released its CORUS Suite to help facilities manage their costs. CORUS stands for Clinical Operations Resource Utilization System, and Health Catalyst executives call it “a breakthrough in cost management technology.” The new offering is a result, in part, of a partnership with UPMC. About a year and a half ago, Health Catalyst and UPMC agreed to take on the rising cost of healthcare by commercializing UPMC’s cost management technology. The technology is designed to help finance executives, physicians and service line leaders, and clinical and financial analysts understand the…

37 Workplaces That Stand Out From the Rest (Gallup)

AI, machine learning will shatter Moore’s Law in rapid-fire pace of innovation (Healthcare IT News)

VIEW FULL ARTICLE HERE [By Tom Sullivan] Artificial intelligence: Savvy hospitals are deploying AI and its technological brethren cognitive computing and machine learning in specific use cases at this point – while industry luminaries are predicting that their advancement will soon start happening more quickly than previously anticipated. "I've never in my career seen the acceleration of technology as fast as what we've witnessed in machine learning during the last two years," said Dale Sanders, executive vice president at Health Catalyst. Sanders, it's worth noting, has a U.S. Air Force background working on stacked neural networks and fuzzy logic, which used to be called deep learning, as well as serving as the CIO of both…

Providers ramp up use of IT to empower population health expansion (Health Data Management)

View Full Health Data Management Article [By Linda Wilson  | January 26, 2017] Texas Children’s Hospital uses a population health approach, fueled by data analytics, to manage care for 4,500 young patients with diabetes. The goal is to reduce hospital admissions and lengths of stay as well as to increase the number of patients whose diabetes is controlled, which the American Diabetes Association defines as a hemoglobin A1c level of less than 7.5. In 2014, the Houston-based hospital launched improvements in hospital care for children and teenagers newly diagnosed with either type 1 or type 2 diabetes. Those improvements included...  Read Full Article View Full Health Data Management Article

Big Data Helps Courage Kenny Connect with Patients (Health Data Management)

View Full Health Data Management Article [By Greg Gillespie | August 11, 2016] Care providers at Courage Kenny Rehabilitation Institute knew there had to be a way they could be more proactive with patients. The Minneapolis-based rehabilitation institute, now part of the 13-hospital, 61-clinic Allina Health system, annually treats more than 95,000 people trying to regain functionality after suffering strokes, spinal cord injuries and traumatic brain injuries, as well as other short and long-term disabilities. But too often, the institute found itself without the information it needed to take the initiative and connect with patients. “The traditional way we see patients is through a referral from a physician after discharge from one of our…

Engaging Physicians to be Good Financial Stewards (HFMA)

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PROVIDING CLINICIANS WITH EASY ACCESS TO TIMELY COST AND PERFORMANCE DATA BROADENS THEIR PERSPECTIVES BY ENABLING THEM TO ACCOUNT FOR THE ECONOMIC IMPACT OF THEIR CARE DECISIONS.

Getting physicians to become actively engaged in improving value is a critical concern for the nation’s hospitals. In many cases, achieving that goal—where physicians are willing to share in the responsibility for the financial implications of their clinical decisions—is necessary to ensure a hospital’s future survival. Each success story, therefore, serves as a beacon to guide the efforts of organizations that are still finding their way. For Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston, efforts to engage physicians in the pursuit of value have led…

Spotlight on 5 Women Making Waves in Health IT (Healthcare Dive)

View Full Healthcare Dive Article [By Meg Bryant | May 12, 2016] Health Data Management recently released its 2016 list of Most Powerful Women in Health IT. The list includes 75 honorees spread across three categories: thought leaders, provider/payer executives and chief information officer/IT leaders.  Healthcare Dive shines the spotlight on five of them. Holly Rimmasch, chief clinical officer, Health Catalyst in Salt Lake City Rimmasch thanks nursing and her time spent working as a case manager for sparking her interest in healthcare IT. Working with patients, she would see the same gaps in healthcare over and over as she helped them navigate the healthcare system. “I started to recognize that data and information…

Better clinical decision support depends on ‘population, protocol and patient’ (Healthcare IT News)

VIEW FULL ARTICLE HERE [By John Andrews] Clinical decision support is designed to deliver the most relevant patient data to the physician at the time it is most needed – namely, when a critical choice about care has to be made. It is not a new concept and the healthcare industry certainly has the technology available to make it work at an optimal level. Still, there is room for improvement on both the provider and vendor ends, say specialists in the CDS field. "The traditional definition of CDS is what you can do within the electronic health record to support better decisions, but across the industry the state of decision-making is really bad," said Dale…

How Partners HealthCare Manages Costs in At-Risk Contracts (HFMA)

VIEW FULL ARTICLE HERE Partners HealthCare utilizes an analytics infrastructure to 
manage risk and optimize value for high-need populations.

Risk-based contracting for population health management is grounded in simple math. Healthcare organizations that exceed total medical spending targets for these contracts absorb a penalty. Those that keep expenses below these targets create savings they can keep.

With multiple at-risk contracts in all major payer categories, Boston-based Partners HealthCare—the largest integrated delivery system in Massachusetts—is currently at risk for the costs of care for more than 500,000 patients. With so much on the line, medical expense management is crucial, especially for high-risk, high-utilization populations. Like most health systems, Partners does not lack for high-risk patients.…

150 Great Places to Work In Healthcare | 2016 (Becker’s Hospital Review)

VIEW FULL LIST HERE Health Catalyst named one of 150 Great Places to work in Healthcare by Becker’s Hospital Review Becker's Healthcare is pleased to release the 2016 edition of "150 Great Places to Work in Healthcare." The list features U.S. healthcare provider organizations, such as hospitals, health systems, ambulatory surgical centers and home health agencies, as well as other types of healthcare-specific companies, like consulting firms, health IT vendors, medical societies and more. The Becker's Healthcare editorial team determined the organizations included on this year's list. Organizations that submitted nominations were considered, as were organizations that received national, state or local recognition previously earned for workplace excellence, as well as benefits offerings, wellness initiatives, and…

How to Recruit for a Winning Work Culture (SHRM)

VIEW FULL ARTICLE HERE [By Roy Maurer] So your organization has been deemed a “best place to work.” Now what? How do you communicate the company’s winning culture and values to job seekers? And how do you ensure that new hires will be a positive complement to that culture? A useful barometer can be found by looking at the common attributes of Glassdoor’s employees' choice 50 Best Places to Work 2016. Award winners were determined using feedback shared on the site throughout the past year. The average employer rating on Glassdoor is 3.2 out of 5. Airbnb topped the 2016 list as a result of 276 employee reviews that rated the company…

Allina Health Saves $100M by Boosting Quality (Healthcare IT News)

View Full Article Here [Bernie Monegain, Editor-At-Large] Long before the government made the concepts of value-based care and population health management a must, Allina Health CEO Penny Wheeler, MD, as working on it - and documenting positive results. Today, the 13-hospital health system, headquartered in the heart of the City of Lakes, has boosted quality care - as measured by outcomes - across several service lines. This past year alone Allina's laser focus on eliminating variation in care adn to effect better results, alond with implementing operational efficiencies, has reaped $100 million in savings. "Our strategy is quality, and we think the way to make healthcare affordable is to make it consistently better," Wheeler said. Wheeler…

How a Startup Got Millions in Funding without Losing Control (Inc.)

View Full Article Here [Erik Sherman, Contributor, Inc.com] Funding a startup is a tricky business. For every story of a Facebook or Zynga where the founders got the cash and kept full control of the company you can hear scores in which investors become the boss and founders essentially turn into employees. Unless you have the net worth to swing a sizeable loan, if you need a lot of cash to get your business off the ground, you generally have to give up equity. The question becomes whether your brainchild becomes someone else's property. Even if sales take off, if you don't go along, you may not get to stay. And if things don't…

30 percent of medical bills are waste, Utah company trying to find where it goes (KUTV)

Dan Burton, Health Catalyst CEO, sat down with Salt Lake City news station KUTV and made a bold statement. Instead of seeing the usual 15 or 20 percent annual increases in health insurance premiums, in 10 to 15 years from now some patients will find their premiums actually going down. By addressing and eliminating the $1 trillion that is wasted every year in healthcare, American health systems can improve care and value for patients. But hospitals have to find that waste first; a task that has proven extremely difficult in the past. To help in this endeavor, Health Catalyst has partnered with UPMC, a leading integrated healthcare provider and insurer in Pennsylvania. Using UPMC’s activity-based cost management system and Health…

The 12 Steps Health Systems Can Take to Achieve Population Health Management (H&HN)

Read the Full Article Here Only when provider organizations anticipate, lessen demand for and allocate medical services effectively among vulnerable groups can they achieve the best results. For the first time in history, the tools required to understand and mitigate the myriad contributors to ill health in a community are available. Computer systems endowed with artificial intelligence, or AI, are already hard at work — collecting, reading, digitizing and parsing massive amounts of data from disparate sources. These systems are even learning and refining their ability to categorize and draw inferences from the information as they churn through it, then reporting the results in natural language. Perhaps the most iconic of cognitive computers is IBM’s Watson, now…

At Thibodaux, Small Team Notches Big Wins (Healthcare IT News)

View Full Article Here [Mike Miliard, Editor] When asked what he thinks helped propel Thibodaux Regional Medical Center to the top spot in the "small" category of this year's edition of Best Hospital IT Departments, Chief Information Officer Bernie Clement says, "I don't think it's a single thing; I believe we work really hard to get our people feeling like they're part of the hospital and part of patient care improvement." When double-checking the number of IT staffers at the 185-bed hospital, deep in Louisiana Cajun country, Clement literally counts them one by one (there are 18). That's an intimate working environment and one that fosters a family-like feel, he says. Just the same, it's critical…

Health Catalyst looks ahead to 2017 IPO, more risk-sharing contracts (mobihealthnews)

Click to View Mobihealthnews Article [Posted Oct 6, 2015 by Jonah Comstock] Utah-based data warehouse company Health Catalyst is frequently mentioned as a candidate for the next digital health IPO, and CEO Dan Burton coyly addressed that chatter from the stage at Health 2.0 in Santa Clara. “Hard to be a fortune teller there, but we’re trying to think of 2016 as our last year as a private company,” he said. Part of the reason Health Catalyst is such a favorite to IPO is that the company has been very transparent about its unwillingess to sell. Burton told Michelle Noteboom, a writer for The Health Care Blog, that the decision to be so transparent cost…

How Data Transparency is Driving Analytics to Drive Value (Health Leaders Media)

Click to View Health Leaders Media Article [Posted September 15, 2015 by Scott Mace, for HealthLeaders Media] Measuring the value of healthcare and using the data to influence outcomes isn't a distant goal. It's happening now and physicians are starting to get the message. The message to physicians and healthcare executives couldn't be any clearer: Since your outcomes performance is more and more a matter of public record, you had better get a handle on the value you deliver before the public does. After attending the Health Catalyst Analytics Summit last week in Salt Lake City, I am convinced that health leaders are not just talking about measuring value sometime in the future. They are…

A health IT partnership like no other (Healthcare IT News)

Click to View Healthcare IT News Article [Posted June 1, 2015 by Bernie Monegain] Allina/Health Catalyst VP talks about the health system-vendor union to take care to new level Ross Gustafson has two vice president titles, one at Minneapolis-based Allina Health, where he oversees the Allina Performance Resources unit, the other at data warehousing and analytics company Health Catalyst in Salt Lake City. Allina and Health Catalyst announced Jan. 6, an unprecedented partnership between a health system and a vendor – a $100 million deal over 10 years with shared risks. Roughly, Health Catalyst earns $2 million per year if it's able to deliver savings that both Allina and Health Catalyst…

Holly Rimmasch recognized by Utah Business Magazine in 30 Women to Watch

View Utah Business Article From the banking sector to the healthcare sector, the women we’re honoring in the Utah Business 2015 30 Women to Watch program span a myriad of industries. Though their career paths have been uniquely different, each of our honorees is a tenacious leader, community advocate and strong example to her peers. Join us as we celebrate these 30 women who are working tirelessly to make Utah businesses and communities better for everyone. Holly Rimmasch Senior Vice President/Chief Clinical Officer, Health Catalyst In her 30-plus years working in healthcare, Holly Rimmasch has dedicated her career to improving operations and care. She began her career as a cardiovascular registered nurse and transitioned into case…

CHA To Pilot Analytics To Target Triple Aim Goals (Healthcare IT Outcomes)

View Health IT Outcomes Article The analytics pilot program is anticipated to help the Children’s Hospital Association’s 220 member hospitals enhance their comparative analytics. [Published May 6, 2015 by Christine Kern] The Children’s Hospital Association (CHA) announced it has entered an agreement with Health Catalyst to enhance comparative analytics for its 220 member hospitals, thus helping achieve their goals of improving care and reducing costs for pediatric patients. “This strategic relationship with Health Catalyst will enable the Association to deliver the next generation of our data and analytics programs to meet our members’ needs and support improved child health,” said Mark Wietecha, president and CEO of Children's Hospital Association. Leveraging Health Catalyst’s Late-Binding Enterprise Data…

In Tacoma, Harnessing Data for Clinical Performance Improvement (Healthcare-Informatics)

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[April 23, 2015 by Mark Hagland]

Leaders at the Tacoma-based MultiCare Health System are harnessing data for clinical performance improvement

Exciting things are happening these days at MultiCare Health System, an integrated delivery network based in Tacoma, Washington, and serving the Puget Sound metropolitan area. MultiCare Health operates five hospitals and is building a sixth; it encompasses 11,000 employees, and is the largest private employer in the second-most-populated county in Washington. MultiCare also encompasses n employed provider group of 600 physicians and practitioners.

Leaders at MultiCare have been moving forward to leverage data warehousing, data analytics, and knowledge management, to reduce mortality from septicemia, demonstrate promising results in reducing readmissions for congestive heart…

Key Tips for Tracking Hospital Revenue Metrics (Healthcare Finance)

Click to View Healthcare Finance Article [Written April 2, 2015 by John Andrews] As clinical and financial lines blur, CFOs need to constantly keep tabs on which ones are integral to maximizing income. Tracking metrics for revenue analytics is a key part of any healthcare organization’s financial operation and CFOs need to constantly keep tabs on which ones are integral to maximizing income, specialists say. In the current provider landscape, the metrics lines are blurring between the clinical and financial, said Bobbi Brown, vice president of financial engagement for Salt Lake City, Utah-based Health Catalyst. “It’s a new world and there needs to be collaboration between the clinical and financial people,” she said. “It goes…

Data Analytics: Paths to Value-based Care (Clinical Innovation+Techonology)

View Clinical Innovation+Technology Article [Written March 23, 2015 by Laura Pedulli] It’s becoming increasingly clear that absent analytics, the movement toward value-based care is a nonstarter. Without data analytics to identify gaps in care, improve efficiencies and tailor treatment plans, healthcare organizations are blind. “We wouldn’t know where to begin without data analytics,” said Bob Sehring, chief ministry services officer at OSF Healthcare in Peoria, Ill. “You can’t begin to build programs without it.” Large organizations committed to accountable care all have their own approach to health analytics. Some are building internal tools to analyze data within their extensive network and others are outsourcing their analytics operations to vendors or health information exchanges. As the federal government…