Allscripts, Humana partner to deliver clinical-decision support technology for physicians

Humana IncJun 17 2011

Humana Inc. (NYSE: HUM), in its continuing commitment to partnering with leading Electronic Health Record (EHR) vendors, has formed an alliance with Allscripts (NASDAQ: MDRX) - a national leader in EHR technology - to provide eligible physician practices with incentives for implementing EHR technology that enables delivery of advanced clinical-decision support at the point of care. The technology provides patient-specific, clinical-quality information to physicians that supports both preventive and chronic-condition management as well as improved care coordination.

Humana will provide financial assistance to selected physicians for adoption of the Allscripts EHR as part of Humana's Medical Home EHR Rewards Program. Physician practices that participate will receive valuable, timely clinical information - electronically - at the point of care, such as a notice of a preventive-care opportunity or information about a patient's medical history that may not appear in a particular doctor's patient chart. Humana will financially reward primary care physicians for improved clinical performance.

"We're excited about Humana's partnership with Allscripts. It enables us to work together to move the system toward a totally integrated, totally connected model that will improve our members' quality of life, improve outcomes and lower health care costs," said Bruce Perkins, senior vice president of Humana's Health Care Delivery Systems and Clinical Processes Organization. "Humana is committed to driving outcome-based collaboration that advances the dialogue between payers and physicians to help our health plan members achieve lifelong well-being."

Through Humana's Medical Home EHR Rewards Program, physician encounters are measured in conjunction with nationally recognized HEDIS quality measures, which are designed to improve the overall efficiency of the health care delivery system, while also evaluating other measures such as generic-drug dispensing rate, mail-order usage, readmission rate and health-risk-assessment completion.

"As we progress towards a value-based system of health, this initiative with Humana will deliver the real-time information that physicians and other caregivers need to make the best decisions for their patients," said Glen Tullman, chief executive officer of Allscripts. "Allscripts believes that the key to better health care is turning information into insights that physicians use to improve both the quality and cost-effectiveness of care."

Humana already delivers health information and clinical messaging about its members through the Availity® Health Information Network. This information is available to physicians online via the Availity ® CareProfile ®, a longitudinal patient record that includes care provided by multiple treating physicians and facilities. Going forward, CareProfile information will be integrated with participating EHR vendor systems and presented at the point of care, seamlessly integrating with the physician workflow.

"Availity is pleased to be working with Humana on this important initiative," said Russ Thomas, Availity president and chief operating officer. "We look forward to advancing access to the information we provide via the Availity network through this program."