THE WELCH COMPANY
440 Davis Court #1602
San Francisco, CA 94111-2496
415 781 5700
rod@welchco.com
S U M M A R Y
DIARY: July 9, 2010 11:30 AM Friday;
Rod Welch
VA research EMR computerized medical records improve health care.
1...Summary/Objective
........Developing an EMR Simulator to Assess Users' Perception of
........Document Quality
........The VA -- Best Care Anywhere (an update)
..............
Click here to comment!
CONTACTS
SUBJECTS
VA Quality Care Electronic Medical Records EMR Case Management Conte
2503 -
2503 - ..
2504 - Summary/Objective
2505 -
250501 - Follow up ref SDS 5 0000. ref SDS 4 0000.
250502 -
250503 -
250504 -
250505 -
250507 - ..
2506 -
2507 -
2508 - Progress
2509 -
250901 - Research on 091113 shows the VA has been recognized in recent years
250902 - for outstanding medical care. Many articles cite VA reliance on
250903 - computerized medical records for improving quality care. ref SDS 5
250904 - LS6G
250906 - ..
250907 - Additional research today on the Internet finds...
250909 - ..
250910 - 3. IEEEXPLORE Digital Library
250911 -
250912 - System Sciences (HICSS), 2010 43rd Hawaii International
250913 - Conference on
250915 - ..
250916 - Issue Date: 5-8 Jan. 2010
250917 - On page(s): 1 - 9
250918 - Location: Honolulu, HI
250919 - ISSN: 1530-1605
250920 - Print ISBN: 978-1-4244-5509-6
250921 - INSPEC Accession Number: 11205965
250922 - Digital Object Identifier: 10.1109/HICSS.2010.145
250923 - Date of Current Version: 11 March 2010
250924 - ..
250925 - Developing an EMR Simulator to Assess Users' Perception of
250926 - Document Quality
250927 -
250928 - Date of Current Version: 11 March 2010
250929 -
250930 - http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/Xplore/login.jsp?url=http%3A%2F%2Fieeexplore.ieee.org%2Fiel5%2F5428222%2F5428274%2F05428389.pdf%3Farnumber%3D5428389&authDecision=-203
250932 - ..
250933 - The paper presents difficulty implementing VA's information management
250934 - system, ref SDS 5 W45P, and also benefits of the system for making
250935 - sense of complex data. ref SDS 5 XG38
250937 - ..
250938 - Paper Developing EMR Simulator... continues...
250939 -
250940 - Efthimis N Efthimiadia, PhD,....... efthimis@u.washington.edu
250941 - Kenric W Hammond, MD............... kenric.hammond@va.gov
250942 - Ryan Laundry
250943 - Stephen M Thielke, MD
250945 - ..
250946 - Information School, University of Washington, Seattle, WA
250948 - ..
250949 - VA Pugetn Sound Health Care System, Tacoma and Seattle, WA
250950 -
250952 - ..
250953 - Abstract
250955 - ..
250956 - Simulators are used in research and training because they
250957 - provide a realistic and safe environment for participants. In
250958 - the course of conducting a comprehensive study of patient care
250959 - documentation in electronic medical record (EMR) systems we
250960 - found that use of a simulated EMR system could address logistic
250961 - and conceptual barriers encountered in deploying a research
250962 - instrument to assess user perceptions of patient care document
250963 - quality. Designed for use by practitioners, nurses, and
250964 - administrators at four VA hospital sites, the web-based EMR
250965 - simulator presents clinical documents as they appear in VA's
250966 - CPRS production EMR, and administers a document quality
250967 - assessment questionnaire. The EMR simulator was developed to
250968 - overcome the contradiction of studying computerized documents
250969 - with a paper instrument, to permit self-administration at
250970 - multiple sites and to manage data collection. This paper
250971 - discusses the motivation to evaluate EMR document quality,
250972 - development of the quality questionnaire, and how the design of
250973 - the simulator evolved and was pilot tested.
250974 -
250975 - 1. Introduction
250976 -
250977 - Adoptoin of electronic medical records (EMRs) is at the
250978 - center of national health care reform strategy. The EMR
250979 - furnishes health care personnel with patient data captured
250980 - by health care information systems (HCIS). Its primary
250981 - function is to support health care decision-making by
250982 - serving as teh point of contact between human minds and
250983 - teh compels data stored in a HCIS. It provides a "viewing
250984 - window" for information access and a "transaction window"
250985 - for conducting health care business. The EMR interface
250986 - should present the "right" amount of information to users.
250987 - Otherwise there is risk of information overload and
250988 - "overlook" of important information that could lead to
250989 - degradation of decision quality{1}.
250991 - ..
250992 - Decision-making is a central cognitive activity for EMR
250993 - users. Many aspects of physician decision-making (e.g.,
250994 - problem formulation, diagnosis, and choice of therapy and
250995 - tests) have been described from a formal logical
250996 - perspective {2}. Also important, for physicians, nurses
250997 - and administrative staff alike, is naturalistic
250998 - decision-making {2}, and emerging area of cognitive study
250999 - which recognizes that expert decisions are frequently based
251000 - on pattern recognition and situation awareness rather than
251001 - formal logic. Both modes of decisoin making can be
251002 - supported by th EMR, Rule-based decision making requires
251003 - "facts" from the EMR: labs, demographics, studies and
251004 - events. Naturalistic decison making relies on decisions
251005 - cued by patterns of facts, many of which are expressed in
251006 - the narrative text that is written by the clinicians,
251007 - doctors or nurses, during patient care and found in notes,
251008 - reports and summaries in the EMR. In both cases, decision
251009 - making based on an electronic patient chart becomes
251010 - increasingly complex as the volume of data in the HCIS
251011 - increases {4}. Data display strategies that work
251012 - reasonably well with sparse data may fail when data is
251013 - abundant. Coping with the growth of data in successfully
251014 - implemented EMR systems is an emerging cognitive challenge
251015 - for EMR users.
251017 - ..
251018 - We use the term computerized patient care documentation
251019 - (CPD) to refer to the free text progress notes,
251020 - consultation reports and summaries that reside in the
251021 - electronic medical record. Free text narrative is signed
251022 - by an author and is an official legal document.
251023 - Categorical, numeric and image data (e.g., coded diagnoses,
251024 - lab reports, prescriptions, appointments, bills and x-rays)
251025 - are excluded. CPD is an important but problematic EMR
251026 - information resource: while it can vividly and succinctly
251027 - tell a patient's "story", clinical text in contrast to
251028 - published text is often hurriedly created, highly variable,
251029 - unedited, unstructured and voluminous. This poses a
251030 - significant challenge to the health care worker whose
251031 - decisions depend on an effective interpretation and
251032 - response to CPD text. Preliinary investigations of the US
251033 - Department of Veterans Affairs' (VA's) computerized patient
251034 - record system (CPRS) have revealed important quality
251035 - concerns that organizations adopting EMRs will face when
251036 - they fully implement electronic documentation. These
251037 - include the "copy and paste" phenomenon, poor formatting,
251038 - clutter, and propagation of inaccuracy {5-7}. Each of
251039 - these can negatively impact safety and human performance.
251041 - ..
251042 - To date, most studies of the impact of documetnation on
251043 - work activity in an EMR have relied on observations and
251044 - self-report. Paper-based study methods fail toreplicate
251045 - the computer experience, and practical and ethical
251046 - considerations (privacy, safety, time and cost) limit
251047 - controlled experimentation in production EMR systems.
251049 - ..
251050 - Given realistic data and EMR interfaces studies involving
251051 - EMR documetn review could be conducted without disrupting
251052 - operations. Because simulators provide a realistic and
251053 - safe environment for participants, they are useful in
251054 - research and training. The desire for a flexible,
251055 - non-disruptive experimental approach motivated the effort
251056 - to develop a simulated EMR testing platform capable of
251057 - presenting real patient data, and equipping it with
251058 - measurement tools such as questionaires, exercises and
251059 - timers. Also desirable was a method that could be applied
251060 - at muliple research sites, scheduled at staff convenience,
251061 - and conducted in the workplace. These considerations
251062 - shaped the decison to build a web-based system that could
251063 - eventually permit large scale interface testing involveing
251064 - many users at hundreds of worksites in the VA health care
251065 - network.
251067 - ..
251068 - This paper focuses on design issues surround the
251069 - developmetn of the simulator. First we present the
251070 - conceptual foundations and the motivation for the
251071 - simulator. Then in section 2, we provide background
251072 - information regarding CPRS, the VA's EMR and in section 3
251073 - describe the large study that the simulator supports. In
251074 - section 4 we present the design methodology, and in section
251075 - 5 provide a descriptive technical overview of the
251076 - simulator. Discussion of the pilot tests and concluding
251077 - remarks follow.
251079 - ..
251080 - 1.1 Conceptual Foundations and Motivation
251082 - ..
251083 - This work is part of a larger VA Health Services Research
251084 - and Development effort to better understand and improve EMR
251085 - documentation: identifying problems, sources of problems
251086 - and possible solutions from the EMR user's perspective. As
251087 - part of theoverall goal of understanding threats to
251088 - accuracy and efficient processing of documetn-based
251089 - informatoin in health care, it was felt necessary to defin,
251090 - quantify and validate a concept of "information value" in
251091 - clinical documents. Recognizing that CpD is not the
251092 - exclusive providne of any single work role in a health care
251093 - system, we chose a user-centered approach, and conducted
251094 - focus group interviews of practitioners, administrators and
251095 - nurses to understand their experience with the CPD system
251096 - and to elicit user-oriented concepts of document quality
251097 - from a multi-role perspective. Using this information we
251098 - developed and refined a document quality questionaire.
251099 - Then, we developed a simulated EMR system to present the
251100 - questionaire. The research process is summarized by the
251101 - following steps:
251102 -
251103 - ......
251105 - ..
251106 - 2. Background
251107 -
251108 - 1. CPRS 0 the VA's successful EMR
251109 -
251110 - The VA's EMR development effort began in 1977 {9}.
251111 - In 2982, the VA nationally adopted a system that
251112 - supported administrative, lab, and pharmacy
251113 - operations and had some basic EMR functions. In
251114 - 1977, the system implemented a graphical user
251115 - interface. The on-screen presentation of the CPRS
251116 - was deliberately fashioned to resembel a
251117 - traditional chart, with tabbed sections for labs,
251118 - orders, notes, consults, etc. VA hospitals started
251119 - becoming "paperless" in 1999. By 2002 all 162 VA
251120 - hospitals were paperless and the system was
251121 - networked, permitting remote access to data between
251122 - all VA facilities.
251124 - ..
251125 - The graphical CPRS interface improved access to a
251126 - wide range of patient information {10} and
251127 - databases accrued from clinical operations both
251128 - provide a rich resource for research and drive the
251129 - VA's quality improvmeent {11-13}. VA's CpRS is
251130 - promoted as a model for other health care
251131 - organizations {14}, but CPRS users have also
251132 - experienced unwelcome consequences of its success,
251133 - notably information volume overload and input
251134 - burden.
251136 - ..
251137 - 2. Beginning around the year 2000 and counterbalancing
251138 - projections that new technology would save lives
251139 - and money {15,16} several investigators described
251140 - unforseen adverse consequences of introducing
251141 - health care information systems (HCIS) and EMRs.
251142 - These included increases in errors seen with
251143 - introduction of the HCIS {17-19}, problems with
251144 - documentation {5,6,20,21}, and even outright
251145 - rejection of the EMR by clinicians {22,23}. A
251146 - growing realization arose that existing information
251147 - systems fail to accomodate teh "complex
251148 - socio-technical systems" of health care.
251150 - ..
251151 - A recent report to the National Research Council
251152 - (NCR) commissioned by the National Library of
251153 - Medicine makes a similar critique. Its authors,
251154 - informatics experts who surveyed eight leading HCIS
251155 - systems, concludde that these systems {24}:
251156 -
251157 - 1. appear designed largely to automate tasks or
251158 - business processes
251160 - ..
251161 - 2. are designed in ways that simply mimic existing
251162 - paper-based forms
251164 - ..
251165 - 3. provide little support for the cognitive tasks
251166 - of clincians or the workflow of the people who
251167 - must actually use the system.
251169 - ..
251170 - 4. do not utilize human-computer interaction (HCI)
251171 - principles, leading to poor designs that can
251173 - ..
251174 - increase the chance of error
251175 - add to work load
251176 - compound frustrations completing tasks
251177 - cause new forms of error difficult to detect
251179 - ..
251180 - The NCR report also described insufficient support for
251181 - clinical cognition as a key challenge in present day
251182 - EMR systems {24}.
251184 - ..
251185 - 3. Prior work
251186 -
251187 - Our ongoing research project, VA Health Services
251188 - Research and Development project IIR 05-019, studies
251189 - the CPRS documetation system and how VA employees work
251190 - with it. As part of this study, we conducted 14
251191 - scripted focus groups at four VA sites, interviewing
251192 - 129 VA practitioners, nurses and administrative
251193 - personnel in 2007 and 2008. CPRS users gave examples
251194 - of the challenge they faced when navigating and working
251195 - in the large "information space" of clinical
251196 - documentation. A recurring theme was the EMR's
251197 - inabiity to present document information in ways that
251198 - were a good "cognitive fit" with tasks. Too often, the
251199 - information user's needed to complete their work was
251200 - scattered in different screens, or so combined with
251201 - irrelevant information that users were slowed down and
251202 - frustrated. Participants said they knew that the
251203 - information they needed was present in the HCIS, but
251204 - were stymied when it was hard to find or when access to
251205 - information needed to complete a transaction was
251206 - blocked. Other frequent themes included: poor support
251207 - for communication between memebers of the care team;
251208 - distress and irritation when copy-and-paste (which
251209 - users also stated they were driven to use by time
251210 - pressure) impeded use of the written record; and
251211 - suboptimal support for the infomration needs of ward
251212 - nurses. {25,26}. Themes from focus groups were
251213 - distilled to four major categories: (1) irrelevant and
251214 - redundant textual data, (2) difficulty with copied and
251215 - pasted test, (3) awkward navigation and (4) poor fit
251216 - with inpatient work.
251218 - ..
251219 - [On 100911 0800 VA credited for improving speed of
251220 - access to computer records; discussed "Knowledge
251221 - Management loop" that redundancy and ignoring the
251222 - record collapses productivity and vitiates care
251223 - because health care professionals do not have
251224 - command and control of the record on patient
251225 - history, ref SDS 6 OL50, citing case study of work
251226 - at VA today on 091021. ref SDS 2 FB5N
251228 - ..
251229 - The focus interviews revealed that VA users experienced
251230 - many benefits from CPRS. They cited CPRS as a reason
251231 - they liked working at the VA. They valued computerized
251232 - documentation because narrative helped "make sense" of
251233 - other data in the EMR. Because users reported
251234 - furstrations, stress and time pressure in their work
251235 - with CPRS, we anticipated their support in efforts to
251236 - improve the system's efficiency.
251238 - ..
251239 - Accordingly, we undertook to investigate document
251240 - review, and activity common to all users studied, and
251241 - in this instance, examined the impact of documetns
251242 - containing greater or lesser amounts of boilerplate and
251243 - inserted data (factors frequently cited by our subjects
251244 - as contributing to document "clutter"). Future studies
251245 - will explore specific enhancement strategies to
251246 - overcome other identified barriers. Use of a simulator
251247 - will permit experimental evaluation in realistic work
251248 - contexts.
251249 -
251251 - ..
251252 - 4. Gooznews.com
251253 -
251254 - The VA -- Best Care Anywhere (an update)
251255 - by GoozNews ~ 28 May 2010 12:05pm
251256 -
251257 - http://www.gooznews.com/node/3360
251258 -
251259 - 1. Journalist Phil Longman at the New American Foundation
251260 - recently updated his book "Best Care Anywhere," which
251261 - documents the 1990s rejuvenation of the Veterans
251262 - Administration's health care system. Between editions, the
251263 - wars in Iraq and Afghanistan placed strains on the VA not
251264 - seen since Vietnam. Here's his thoughts on the current
251265 - state of the system, and the lessons its transformation
251266 - holds for other delivery systems in the U.S.
251268 - ..
251269 - 2. How does contact with the VA healthcare system compare in
251270 - terms of medical outcomes for its patients? How about in
251271 - other measures of quality?
251273 - ..
251274 - 3. In study after study published in peer-reviewed journals,
251275 - the VA beats other health care providers on virtually every
251276 - measure of quality. These include patient safety,
251277 - adherence to the protocols of evidence medicine,
251278 - integration of care, cost-effectiveness, and patient
251279 - satisfaction. The VA is also on the leading edge of
251280 - medical research, due to its close affiliation with the
251281 - nation's leading medical schools, where many VA doctors
251282 - have faculty positions. The VA has its problems, but
251283 - compared to those found elsewhere in the U.S. health care
251284 - system, it offers "Best Care Anywhere."
251286 - ..
251287 - 4. How has the VA managed to create such a successful model
251288 - when government bureaucracy, political pressures and
251289 - limited funding would seem to make it impossible?
251291 - ..
251292 - 5. During the 1990s, VA health care underwent a quality
251293 - revolution. It was started by frontline doctors and nurses
251294 - who simply wanted to do right by America's veterans. It
251295 - was later propelled by the enlightened and charismatic
251296 - leadership of Dr. Ken Kizer, who took control of the
251297 - Veterans Health Administration under President Clinton.
251298 - The key to making it all work was the VA's near life-long
251299 - relationship with its patients, which means it has
251300 - incentives as an institution for investing in prevention,
251301 - disease management, and other protocols that keep patients
251302 - well-incentives that are sadly lacking elsewhere in the
251303 - U.S. health care system.
251305 - ..
251306 - 6. The VA's medical records are entirely computerized. Why
251307 - hasn't the private sector been able to do the same? What
251308 - are the effects?
251310 - ..
251311 - 7. As the VA has shown, digital medicine, when properly
251312 - implemented, vastly improves the quality of medicine.
251313 - That's great for the VA, whose institutional incentives are
251314 - aligned with those of its patients. But elsewhere in the
251315 - U.S. health care system, the business case for quality is
251316 - weak or doesn't exist. Improved quality means that fewer
251317 - patients get sick, and that when they do they experience
251318 - fewer complications. This is very costly to hospitals and
251319 - doctors who earn their money by performing procedures, as
251320 - opposed to keeping people well. Why invest it electronic
251321 - medical records if its means that ultimately you'll have
251322 - fewer heart attack patients to bill, or will earn less from
251323 - treating diabetic patients because you have properly
251324 - managed their disease?
251326 - ..
251327 - 8. Health care reform passed without creating a public care
251328 - option, a loss many progressives feel dooms the bill to
251329 - failure. Is that the case?
251331 - ..
251332 - 9. The Bill does concern itself primarily with expanding
251333 - insurance coverage, and not directly with reform of the
251334 - actual practice of medicine. But it also contains
251335 - provisions, which few people know about, that could provide
251336 - the ground work for something like a civilian VA health
251337 - system. Whether this actually happens depends heavily on
251338 - people at the local and state level taking advantage of the
251339 - opportunity the bill gives them. It's kind of like getting
251340 - just the toy you want for Christmas, only it says on the
251341 - box "some assembly required."
251343 - ..
251344 - 10. What are the prospects for that happening, and is the
251345 - funding adequate?
251347 - ..
251348 - 11. There is at least $12 billion available for anyone who
251349 - wants to set up what the bill calls an "Accountable Health
251350 - Care Organization." That means an organization that is
251351 - willing to accept getting paid for keeping its patients
251352 - well, and that is willing to adapt and integrate health
251353 - care information technologies of the kind the VA has
251354 - pioneered. The barriers to entry are remarkably low. The
251355 - VA's software, for example, is free to any health care
251356 - provider who wants to use it, because was written by VA
251357 - doctors on government time. It's also "open source," which
251358 - means that health care providers outside the VA can modify
251359 - it to meet their particular needs.
251361 - ..
251362 - 12. Would a civilian VA mean more and bigger government?
251364 - ..
251365 - 13. For those who are concerned about the growth of government,
251366 - and I am one, the most important single objective is to
251367 - control the cost of health care, which is driving up
251368 - spending at all levels of government. The more Americans
251369 - have access to the VA model of care, the lower health care
251370 - costs will be, while at the same time health care quality
251371 - will improve. Done right, the widespread adoption of the
251372 - VA model of care could free up enough resources to pay for
251373 - tax cuts, or to start making serious down payments on our
251374 - national debt.
251376 - ..
251377 - 14. What effect would such a system have on health insurance
251378 - costs for American businesses and families?
251380 - ..
251381 - 15. It's estimated that one-third of all health care spending
251382 - outside VA goes for over-treatment, such as redundant
251383 - testing and unnecessary surgery. Because the VA model
251384 - gives doctors no financial incentive to perform operations
251385 - people don't need, and empowers them with the information
251386 - technology to keep track of test results and coordinate
251387 - care, it's widespread adoption could well cut health care
251388 - spending by a third. Insurance premiums would fall
251389 - commensurately.
251391 - ..
251392 - 16. Would such a healthcare system mean that doctors and
251393 - patients would lose the freedom to decide which treatments
251394 - and medications they wanted to use?
251396 - ..
251397 - 17. Most Americans have very little choice of doctors right
251398 - now. Just try finding a primary care physician who is
251399 - still taking patients. Every VA patient has a primary care
251400 - physician who coordinates their care among specialists.
251401 - Unlike most other health care providers, the VA does
251402 - extensive research on what works and doesn't in medicine,
251403 - including by using the outcomes data available from its own
251404 - electronic medical records. This, ironically, provides its
251405 - patients with insurance against one of the leading health
251406 - hazards in the United States, which is being subjected to
251407 - unnecessary treatment. Of course, no one is compelled to
251408 - receive their care from the VA, nor would anyone be
251409 - compelled to join a health care plan that adopted its model
251410 - if it didn't fit their preferences.
251412 - ..
251413 - 18. What can the average citizen do to make VA quality medical
251414 - care available for themselves and their communities?
251416 - ..
251417 - 19. Start by talking to veterans about the care they receive
251418 - from the VA. It's rare to fine a vet who has been treated
251419 - there recently who isn't a big fan. Then start questioning
251420 - your health care providers about why they can't deliver the
251421 - same quality of care. People all over the world, including
251422 - the people in Uganda, enjoy the benefits of electronic
251423 - medical records, but few in the U.S. do. Demand to know
251424 - why your doc is still using 19th century information
251425 - technology. Finally, be open to the many people both in and
251426 - outside U.S. medicine who are calling for wholesale reform
251427 - of the delivery system, even if what they say at first
251428 - seems counterintuitive or contrary to conventional wisdom.
251430 - ..
251431 - 20. How did you get interested in the VA and what did you think
251432 - you would find out when you began your research?
251434 - ..
251435 - 21. Several years ago, Fortune magazine asked me find out who
251436 - was providing the most innovative and effective health care
251437 - in the U.S. Having lost my first wife, Robin, to breast
251438 - cancer, and having seen much of the dysfunction of the U.S.
251439 - health care system up close during that ordeal, I was eager
251440 - to take the assignment. No one was ever more surprised
251441 - than me to find that that the long troubled VA had become
251442 - the bright star of American Medicine. What would you like
251443 - to see the American health care system look like in 20
251444 - years?
251446 - ..
251447 - 22. If all goes right, we will have a health care system in
251448 - which the interests of patients and providers and aligned,
251449 - as they are in the VA. Both individuals and policy makers
251450 - will pay much more attention to prevention, and to the
251451 - environmental and behavioral factors that play by far the
251452 - greatest role in determining our health and longevity. We
251453 - will also come to understand that many of the procedures
251454 - performed by today's profit-maximizing surgeons and other
251455 - specialists have no scientific basis and, worse, cause much
251456 - needless death and suffering. And we will wonder why it
251457 - took us so long to open minds to these truths.
251458 -
251459 -
251460 -
251461 -
251462 -
251463 -
251464 -
251465 -
251466 -
2515 -