News & Events
Physicians Engage at LSS Data Systems' Provider Development Forum
October 13, 2009
LSS Data Systems hosted its eighth semi-annual Provider Development Forum on Friday, October 2, with physicians, CIOs and other healthcare executives participating from around the country. Joined by senior LSS staff and product developers – as well as staff from MEDITECH, Zynx, DrFirst, Perot Systems and Dakota State University – the full-day event included presentations, roundtable discussions and opportunities to network.
Highlights of the meeting included a presentation and discussion led by Charlotte Hovet, M.D., of Perot Systems regarding physician engagement with EHRs; an update on the evolving interpretation of "Meaningful Use;" an overview of new functionality for Zynx Health's clinical content offerings specifically designed to address expected meaningful use requirements; a presentation and demonstration of EHR usability testing by professors at Dakota State University; and a series of roundtable discussions featuring significant future enhancements planned for LSS's Medical and Practice Management (MPM) Suite.
"This meeting is a great forum to discuss the rapidly changing healthcare landscape, including information technology's role in this transformation," said Greg Osmonson, LSS Vice President of Programming and Software Development. "It is an arena to both inform physicians 'in the trenches' on where the industry is trying to go as well as get their input on their ideas and needs in the IT products they use day to day."
Charlotte Hovet, M.D., Medical Director of Clinical Informatics at Perot Systems, agreed that ongoing physician input and engagement through the software implementation phase and into regular use is essential for full adoption of Electronic Health Records. "Without adoption there will be no benefits, and without benefits there will be no high quality patient-centered care," said Dr. Hovet, who reviewed common barriers, identified successful adoption strategies and stressed the culture change necessary for effective use of EHRs.
Another forum highlight was a collaborative presentation and demonstration by Dakota State University (Madison, SD), Avera Health (Sioux Falls, SD) and LSS regarding EHR usability. Dan Friedrich (DSU Director of Technology Support) and Maureen Murphy, Ph.D. (Associate Professor of English) were joined by Dr. Tad Jacobs, Chief Medical Information Officer at Avera Health, for a live demonstration. Dr. Jacobs performed a series of functionality tasks within LSS's MPM Suite while Dr. Murphy monitored his mouse movements, clicks, errors, etc. with their usability software. The demonstration was very well received by the audience, who found the concept of usability testing applied to an EHR an effective way to validate the usability requirements of a 21st century EHR product.
During a lively roundtable discussion session, LSS Senior Medical Advisors Tim Arnold, M.D. and John McGuinness, M.D., and LSS Senior Project Manager within Development Michelle Swofford (RN, FNP-C) discussed future designs for enhancing patient medical summaries, advanced care management and decision support, and result task management. Michael Blackman, M.D., provided an update on the groundbreaking pilot for e-prescribing controlled substances taking place at Berkshire Health Systems (Pittsfield, MA), where he serves as CMIO.
To wrap up the day, Ken Carlson, LSS CEO and Chief Technology Officer, discussed the increasing role that Personal Health Records (PHRs) are playing in healthcare today. Mr. Carlson even provided the audience a glimpse at a prototype of the LSS Patient Portal as seen from an Apple iPhone.
Physicians will continue to be engaged on these and other topics through LSS's web-based Provider Feedback Portals, and planning for next year's Spring Provider Development Forum is already underway. Physicians and executives from LSS sites interested in participating may contact Matt Giles.
LSS Data Systems
6423 City West Parkway
Eden Prairie, MN 55344
952.941.1000
www.lssdata.com
