Exceptional Experiences at Community Health Network

I just read a great post over at the Greystone blog that uses some of the statistics I frequently quote but mixes them with others I don’t know to come to an interesting conclusion.  The quote that Neal discusses in his entry and one I hear a lot also is that “My patients don’t use social media“.

I like how he proves that the common stereotype that old people don’t use the Internet just isn’t true anymore.

From the reading I’ve been doing lately about personal health records I have collated/synthesized twelve characteristics that a personal health record (PHR) should have.

1. Provide patient education
Along with storing a patient’s health records, a personal health record should provide education about a patient’s conditions, surgeries, medications, etc.

2. Lifelong and comprehensive
The information in a personal health record needs to consist of the entire health history of a patient and include all health care providers the patient has seen.

3. Accessible from any place at any time
The personal health record needs to be accessible by the patient and the health care provider whenever and wherever it is required.

4. Provide health management tools
Features need to include tools that allow the patient to record their data and compare it to what it should be so that the patient can improve their health.

5. Private and secure
Obviously, this characteristic is very important.  The patient information, both entered by the patient and what comes from the Electronic Medical Record (EMR), needs to be kept private and appropriate (or even more than necessary) security measures need to be used to keep the data secured.

6. Capture self reported values
A personal health record must allow a patient to enter their own information if the data is missing or incomplete in what exists.

7. Patient controls what data is entered into their PHR
The patient is able to add items to their personal health record and is able to control what data is put into their PHR, like data from their electronic medical record.

8. Access to the patient’s EMR data
To increase patient adoption, a personal health record must have the ability to interact with a patient’s electronic medical record.  Information should flow to the PHR from the EMR and the patient should be able to send data to the EMR (which can be accepted or rejected by the physician as needed).

9. Secure patient-provider communications
Not only should a personal health record provide health management tools, but a PHR should provide patients a method to communicate with their physician(s) to ask questions, report health measurements, etc.

10. Patient controls who has access to their information in the PHR
A patient should be able to share data in their personal health record to whomever they feel is appropriate.  The patient should be able to control this at the level of each individual item in the personal health record, like a single condition, medication.

11. Transparent
An audit trail needs to be available to the patient to see where the data items came from that are in their personal health record, who entered it, who has viewed each item and when.

12. Interoperability
The information in a personal health needs to be in a format that can be exported or shared between personal health records, electronic medical records, etc.

See how Community Health Network’s Personal Health Record stands up against these criteria.

I just finished diversity training last week – a requirement of my employment at Community Health Network – and it got me thinking about our health network’s diversity initiatives.

Diversity training is admittedly not how I would have chosen to spend a full afternoon. I’ve lived lots of places, experienced many cultures, and engaged in similar training at former jobs–what would one more afternoon talking about it accomplish? But on reflection it was truly worthwhile. Community has created an engaging opportunity for employees to gather for a multi-disciplinary dialogue. Our instructor kept the energy level high and was willing to show her vulnerabilities to pave the way for others to participate. And who doesn’t need reminding that not everyone shares your cultural values and ideas of proper behavior?

I don’t have much interaction with patients, so I especially enjoyed learning about some of the tools available to clinicians when communicating with patients from diverse backgrounds. In addition to having Spanish language interpreters on staff, language differences can be overcome with the use of our language line phone service. These specially-designed telephones have two receivers that connect the clinician and patient with an interpreter who can facilitate the conversation. Additionally, Community recently implemented CultureVision technology, a web-based reference to help clinicians understand cultural preferences as they relate to health care. The best part is that it’s accessible from any of our network computers.

In addition to meeting the needs of our increasingly diverse patient population, Community also fosters diversity in the workplace. On one hand, that’s obvious–how could a workforce of over 10,000 employees not be diverse? But on the other, it is a choice that the network has made. An example is the recognition that Community Hospital North will receive at Noble of Indiana’s 2008 Annual Celebration. Community will receive the Employment Award for hiring persons with developmental disabilities and furthering their job growth.

While I have provided just a few of the many examples of Community’s commitment to diversity, you can read more on our Web site. It’s an evolving initiative that will continue to focus on creating exceptional experiences for our patients, families, physicians and employees.

We seem to be getting a lot of new videos posted lately. Here is an overview video of our Maternal Fetal Medicine program, featuring Lauren Dungy-Poythress, M.D and Deborah Skannal, M.D.

This post is a bit overdue, but since I am on a roll, I will feature some content that was recently uploaded to our YouTube channel.

Another quick post featured a recently produced video from our New Media Lab. One week ago, Jan Bingle, Community Health Network’s Cheif Nursing Officer, was honored by the Community Health Network Foundation with the Jack Heiney Award.

This post is overdue by a week, but better late than never.

Daniel Rench, Vice Preseident of e-Business here at Community Health Network, had the opportunity to present our myCommunity membership program to some local media last Wednesday.

Take a look a the overview video we produced for the event, as well as some of the coverage by the Indianapolis Star.

Community Hospital North was the title sponsor at the Flavor of Fishers on August 2, and in addition to hosting a medical tent at the event, the hospital’s Bamboo Cafe was one of the featured food vendors. At my exercise class earlier this week, one of the ladies mentioned how much she enjoyed the vegetable salad that was offered. I asked Chef Diana, food service supervisor at Community Health Network, if she would be willing to share the recipe, and she gladly obliged:

Summer vegetable rainbow salad
Makes about six 1-cup servings

3 cups shredded green cabbage
1 cup diced plum tomatoes
1 1/2 cups broccoli florets
1 medium zucchini, gut julienne
1 medium green pepper, cut julienne
1 medium red pepper, cut julienne
1/2 cup shredded carrots
1 1/2 tsp kosher salt

Directions: Combine all ingredients. Toss to combine. Add dressing and toss to coat. Cover. Chill. Best if made 2-3 hours ahead of time.

Dressing
2 T fresh squeezed lime juice
3 T red wine vinegar
1/2 tsp lemon pepper blend
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/4 tsp kosher salt
1/4 tsp minced garlic
4 1/2 T olive oil

Directions: Combine all ingredients. Whisk until well blended.

Click here for a video demonstration of the salad preparation, where Chef Diana provides some extra tips and variations on the recipe.

Flavor of Fishers was a one-day event, but you don’t have to wait until next year to enjoy Chef Diana’s creations. The cafes at Community Health Network’s hospitals offer flavorful and healthy food options year round.