The Health IT Performance Challenge

Never before has the value proposition behind information technology investments in health care been so important.

A performance-based reimbursement landscape requires IT infrastructures that contain costs and boost quality. Three metrics in Title III of the 2010 Affordable Care Act -- value-based purchasing, the Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program and hospital acquired medical conditions -- establish a new paradigm for reimbursement at the federal level, where health care organizations must compete for a piece of the pie. This helps to ensure government is reimbursing for the best care available, but the smallest quality gap or error could impact a hospital’s performance ranking and, subsequently, payment.

Competition will likely get more intense if only those with perfect scores reap the benefits. Simply put, much is at stake for health care providers and there is little room for error. To meet the aggressive quality and cost metrics, IT infrastructures that are supported by clinical decision support applications and drive standardization of industry best practices must become a priority. Leveraging limited budget resources will depend on the way health care facilities use clinical decision support technology. That includes tailoring treatment plans for a specific patient and doctor through a combination of CDS tools -- including data-driven alerts, filtered referential information, order sets for specific diagnoses, care plans, surveillance technology and smart documentation forms.