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evidence

Clinical Decision Support Technology – Still Human

By Advocate, Caregiver, Clinician, ePatient, Informaticist, Podcasts, Researcher

Laura Marcial talks with us about making the tech sausage of Clinical Decision Support: Guidelines, evidence, rules, knowledge engineers. Clinical decision-making still depends on human trust time, talk, control, and connection. Read More

Paying for Value. I’m Overwhelmed. Please Read This

By Advocate, Caregiver, Clinician, ePatient, Researcher

As you may know from previous posts, I sit on a Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) panel about Quality Measurement Development: Supporting Efficiency and Innovation in the Process of Developing CMS Quality Measures. Jeesh! What a mouthful! In English, for me, this means, if Medicare is going to pay for value in health services, what is value? How will value be measured? How will value measures be created? And, should we care? We (people at the center of care – patients, clinicians, and those that support us) absolutely should care. First of all, we are the ones who are actually paying.  Medicare, Medicaid, and insurance companies write the checks, but their accounts are filled by us as taxpayers and employees.  The more money spent on healthcare, the less money is spent on our wages, public health, safety, everything. Hospitals and professional practices respond to how they get paid more than anything. When they are paid for volume – more treatment, surgery, days, and visits – they do more since it means more money for them. We know that more does not necessarily mean better for our health. The healthcare industry is creeping toward paying for value, not volume. Value should mean better medical care, better health, better relationships within our health teams, and better work life for those of us that are professionals. The definition and the measurement of value become critical. An example is readmission rates. Volume is paying for every admission. Value is not paying for a readmission to a hospital within a certain number of days. There are roughly 1,000 of such quality or value measures.

I want to share with you some of the recommendations made by the technical expert panel so far (this is from the second of four all-day sessions).  You can find the full report from the January meeting here on the CMS website, but it’s hard to get to the report, so I put it here to make it easier. I’m listing the recommendations below with my interpretation in italics of what they mean. Nobody at CMS or Battelle or the Panel has endorsed my interpretations. They’re all mine. But it’s no good if you don’t know what’s going on and I’m not sure if reading the report will help. So, here goes:

Recommendations

  1. Institute a governance process to help plan, develop, and manage shared measure testing resources. Measures need to be tested to see if they work. Working means that they measure what we want them to measure, that they measure the same thing every time, and that it makes sense. People developing measures use large sets of data to test to see if the measures work. Many organizations suggest measures, measure the measures, and publish the measures. This recommendation says that there needs to be a governance process (a clear and understandable way to make decisions) about how measures are tested. Right now measures are mostly tested using claims and electronic medical record data. It’s not enough. Data from patients and the experience of patients and clinicians are important too.  We don’t have much experience with using this kind of data for value. Lots of decisions ahead of us.
  2. Incentivize participation in measure testing. Everyone who creates measures won’t test measures out of the goodness of their hearts or because it’s the right thing to do. Incentives encourage people to test measures in new ways. Incentives for organizations can be similar to incentives for people. I am more likely to do something if it’s easier than not doing it; if it’s required with a penalty if I don’t; if people give me credit for my work; if I get paid or a discount on something else; if I get more business if I do it. You get the idea.
  3. Promote data element standardization and education. Measures are made up of data elements. A very simple measure is the fraction of females in a group (55% of the group are females). But it’s not so simple. How do you define the group and how do you define the data element, females? Is a female a person that can bear children, has two X chromosomes, self-identifies as female… What’s important with measures is that everyone using the measure defines it the same – there are agreed upon standards. A requirement to make the definitions and standards available for anyone to see helps too. Nothing hidden.
  4. Implement a framework with a long-term plan on how CMS will approach measurement.  Changes to the way measures are developed won’t happen by waving a magic wand. It takes time and effort by lots of people. Some things tried, won’t work. Something else will need to be tried. It takes a long-term plan, like retirement.  We need a picture of how the plan will move along and adapt to new knowledge.  That’s the framework.
  5. Institute an acceptable “quick path to failure” mechanism in the measure development process with well-defined steps. Developing measures is expensive and time-consuming. Whenever new things are tried, some don’t work.  We don’t learn to walk without falling. We need to know that something isn’t going to work as soon as possible so we can try something else. But if people are going to “fail early” they need to know how to do that and be paid for the work they do, even if it doesn’t turn out as expected. Again, incentives.
  6. To facilitate development of cross-program measures, consider a different organizing structure for measure development contracts/projects that cuts across programs.  Right now, most measures are diagnosis-specific for one setting (home, hospital, nursing home). But people aren’t their diagnosis and they spend time in many settings. Measures across diagnoses and settings are hard to develop. The science is young. They’re different and should be managed differently. As a patient, I care about this a lot.
  7. Provide funding for the development and implementation of a national testing collaborative. Changing how we develop measures is expensive and a risk. The government should pay for some of this experimenting with testing.  It’s an incentive.
  8. Develop an objective scoring system to evaluate measure testing concepts that are currently assessed subjectively such as importance, burden, and feasibility. Changing how measures are tested could end up like the Wild West- shooting from the hip, pretty wild, with those having big guns controlling the town. Having a scoring system (more points for helping patients and clinicians, more points if it’s easy to do it in many places, more points if I can do it the same way after you figure it out) really helps manage these new ways of testing measures.

Overwhelmed? No wonder. Me, too. I’m sitting at this table because I think it’s important stuff. I appreciate that CMS cares and included me. I respect the knowledge and passion of those around the table and they respect me. It’s government at its best. It helps when you understand this too. Even a little bit. Please ask questions, comment, and share. We’re pretty smart but not as smart as we think. We need your smarts.

Photo by Ashim D’Silva on Unsplash

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Trust

By Caregiver, Clinician, ePatient, Family man

I trust my primary care doc.  I trust my neurologist. I trust my instincts. I trust my gut. I do. I trust my wife. She trusts me.  That certainly doesn’t mean that we don’t question almost everything each other says. Trust is not blind faith. Trust is NOT no second opinions. Trust is for when I’m in a crisis and I can’t think clearly, I will listen to my immediate family and my two lead docs (in that order) and I’m likely to do what they recommend… unless I’m unsure. Trust is for when I need to make a decision but can’t or don’t want to. And these are all people’s opinions about what I should do with my life. I know I should lose weight. People I trust say I should lose weight.  It takes a certain alignment of the stars for me to lose weight. I lost 30 pounds eight years ago when the stars were in alignment. They were in alignment again three weeks ago. I’ve started to lose the same 30 pounds again.

I’ve questioned my primary care doc about taking cholesterol-lowering meds.  She wants me to take them. I’m not so sure. The evidence appears pretty clear. I’ve been taking them for nine years because I trust her. Now with Medicare, they’re going to cost me more. It has me thinking again.  I still trust her.  I’ve stopped taking them.

I trusted my doctors for twenty-five years as they worked me up, over and over, for cardiac issues.  Now I know I have multiple sclerosis, not heart disease. I’m a trusting fellow until I’m not.

A friend of mine had breast cancer. She asked her doctors, “Should I take chemo?” They all said yes. She trusted that they wanted the best for her, but wondered where their trust in that advice came from? Was their research current, reliable, and apply to her as an individual? She did the chemo.

Webster says, Trust = you can rely on the integrity, strength, or ability of a person or thing. Trust is respect + communication + context. Making choices about your health in a bed of trust is hard enough. Making choices in the swamp of distrust can be crazy making.

As a person, I try to build trust – in relationships. It starts with being trustworthy. I feel better in that bed of trust. Still, trust in myself, ourselves, is key. Ultimately, it’s our lives.  We face the consequences of our decisions. I’m greatly relieved that I trust I can adjust and make a different choice if the one I made didn’t work out. Trust.

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Imagine

By Clinician, ePatient

Clinician

Imagine sitting down with your patient and care partner to find them prepared to choose a treatment that works for them.

Imagine that they know their life priorities and their life challenges and can and will communicate them to you.

Imagine that you have a key to the Tower of Babel and can communicate with anyone.

Imagine that you have the latest research at your fingertips so you can have informed conversations with your patient.

Imagine that they understand that recommended treatments might work. It’s an experiment based on pretty good research, your clinical experience and training, and your sensitivity to them.

Imagine that you all accept the uncertainty of evidence and of life.

Imagine that they trust you.

Imagine that you have all the time you need together with no distractions for you or them.

Imagine that your practice runs so efficiently and effectively that most of your face time with patients is spent in relationship building, exam, and problem-solving.

Imagine that by spending a few minutes together, you can to input assessment and exam and their data seamlessly into their electronic medical record (EHR).

Imagine that they can and do submit corrections to the data in their records and that those corrections can be reviewed and entered quickly.

Imagine that it’s easy to track in the EHR how well the actions taken to treat actually worked over time using your entries and their entries.

Imagine that the recommendations chosen automatically populate a personal care plan for your patient along with all the other choices you made together about treatment and self-care.

Imagine that they will follow the plan, track progress, and let you know when they don’t and why.

Imagine that the up-to-date treatment plan and tracker is shareable in real time with anyone the patient chooses using any EHR or health app.

Patient and Care Partner

Imagine that you have all the information you need to make decisions about your medical treatment including the cost of those choices.

Imagine that the information can be shared with your family, friends, and advisors so you are prepared to advocate for yourself and make decisions with your doctor.

Imagine that you can talk about your life’s goals and challenges and that your doctor can hear you.

Imagine that all health professionals realize that they are guests in your life.

Imagine that you have time to talk and share with your doctor without distractions.

Imagine that your doctor trusts you to be the expert about you.

Imagine that your doctor helps you understand research and how it applies to you.

Imagine that you have a care partner who goes to doctor visits with you, listens and advocates for you.

Imagine that your health and wellness choices and plans can be found in your EHR.

Imagine that you can correct and update your health data and track your progress in your EHR.

Imagine you have one up-to-date EHR for all settings and providers and you control who has access to it.

Imagine that you have access to medical advice and can get questions answered when you need it, in a manner that you can digest.

Imagine that if you try something and it doesn’t work, you can adjust quickly with your health team to try something else.

 

Imagine

Photo by Bonnie Kittle on Unsplash

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A Vision of Paying for Value

By Caregiver, Clinician, ePatient, Family man, Researcher, Uncategorized

I’m the child, Custodian and Healthcare Proxy of my 89-year-old mother, Alice. I live in a different state. My mother has diabetes and is depressed. Her care team, beside herself and me, includes medical providers in various health settings, community support agencies, and a full-time caregiver that helps her schedule and get to health-related services. My problem is to understand what my mother wants for herself and to track who says they’re doing something for her (including my mother and me), what they’re doing, and when they’re doing it. I want to know what it takes to do it (Can she afford it? Can she get there? Does it agree with her? Who will be with her? etc.). I want to know if the actions have the effects we thought they would. I want to know what her risks are and how we plan to prevent or respond to them. I want to able to keep track of all this and keep it current. I want to share it or have it shared from day-to-day and from setting to setting even if I’m not present.

This scenario describes a vision of healthcare for a caregiver and his mother. The vision lives in a context of social circumstances, physical environment, individual behavior, genetics, and medical care – the determinants of health. In the best of circumstances, healthcare dollars pay for this vision of best health for people, their families, and communities.

The goals of any payment method should be to reward high-quality care and to permit the development of more effective ways of delivering care to improve the value obtained for the resources expended. These goals are relevant regardless of whether care is delivered in a predominantly competitive or regulated environment, and whether the ultimate purchaser is an employer or the patient/ consumer. Payment policies should not create barriers to improving the quality of care. Institute of Medicine (US) Committee on Quality of Health Care in America. Crossing the Quality Chasm: A New Health System for the 21st Century. Washington (DC): National Academies Press (US); 2001. 8, Aligning Payment Policies with Quality Improvement. Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK222279/

This means that payment systems for treatment and services recognize quality (best health), support improvement and reward stakeholders (patients, caregivers, clinicians, institutions, and insurers) for the process and outcomes of best health. Read More

Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute

Reauthorize PCORI. We Need It!

By Advocate, Caregiver, Clinician, ePatient

I care about what works for people on their health journey. How do lay people make choices for themselves in partnership with their clinician partners? So much affects our health choices, not just our medical decisions, but our behavior, our communities, the environment and the systems we use to survive and live well. I’m very interested in research, but I’m also a skeptic: How does this study help me?  How does it help my family? How does it help my clinician partners? How does it help the people who support and care for us? We are the people at the center of care. Just because we found out that something might work in a lab, does that mean will it work for us? Read More

CMS Quality Measures for People

By Advocate, Caregiver, Clinician, ePatient, Informaticist, Leader, Researcher

Payment for medical services is shifting from paying for volume (more visits, tests, visits, days = more money) to paying for value (quality of care). Makes sense. But what does value and quality of care mean? It means that physicians get paid an incentive (more money) for certain results (outcomes, process, actions). An example is readmission rates. If a physician’s patients are readmitted to a hospital after discharge more than most physicians, they don’t get the extra payment. There are roughly 1,000 of such quality measures. These quality measures are very important to us – people at the center of care (patients, caregivers, parents, direct care clinicians and staff) – because measurement strongly influences people and organizations who get paid for medical services. Following the money doesn’t necessarily mean better medical care, better health for us, better relationships among our healthcare teams, or better work life for our health professional partners.

I was nominated to sit on a CMS (Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services)/Battelle Quality Measurement Development Technical Advisory Panel (TEP). The TEP had its first meeting in Baltimore last week. I was one of 19 Panel members (and one of two with expertise in all four of the selection criteria -Consumer Perspective, Clinical Content, Performance Measurement, Coding and Informatics).  The TEP seeks to improve the process of developing measures. It isn’t trying to develop measures. The good news is that the TEP gelled as a team and the CMS/Battelle leaders seem open to, if not eager for, actionable advice. I am honored to have been asked to sit at this table.

As a Patient Activist and a change catalyst, I appreciate the formidable forces of inertia and the current business realities of the medical care industrial complex. What can little Danny van Leeuwen hope to accomplish? My goal in accepting this appointment is to find one lever that can move the Value-Based Measurement battleship three degrees toward value to people at the center of care. My superpower is to accept what is and go from there. After listening to my esteemed TEP colleagues, my perception of what is is:

  1. Measures serve to evaluate the performance of individual practitioners (not measure whether patients attain optimal health or how the team is functioning),
  2. Inertia is heading to further measure specificity by specialty and diagnosis (not toward the patient with more non-medical than medical determinants of health who is more than a sum of their diagnoses),
  3. Data for measurement exists primarily in claims, diagnostic systems, and Electronic Medical Records (much less patient-generated data and experience/perceptions of people at the center of care),
  4. Physicians bristle at the idea of being held accountable for anything they deem out of their control (rather than what can I do to contribute to improving whatever?),
  5. People at the center of care, insurers, and policymakers all feel ill at ease with uncertainty,
  6. Few, if any, incentives exist for data vendors to integrate their data (So patients, caregivers, and parents using the most health care dollars provide the bulk of communication at transitions in care, if they can do it at all),
  7. Testing measures in real-life seems to be an almost insurmountable challenge (so the link between measures and what they seek to measure and the link between measurement and value to patients is tenuous),
  8. Direct care clinicians are stressed and burning out – the proportion of time they spent documenting rather than caring is growing while they feel pressure to increase productivity (rather than technology helping to reverse those trends),

Jeesh. Houston, we have a problem. Read More

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