In partnership with HealthCAWS, National eHealth Collaborative launches online assessment to measure progress in consumer engagement
Washington, DC (November 27, 2012) – Last week, National eHealth Collaborative (NeHC) released its NeHC Patient Engagement Framework to great fanfare. Today, NeHC announces the launch of an affiliated online assessment tool that truly brings the Framework to life. The NeHC Consumer eHealth Readiness Tool (CeRT) offers an extensive organizational evaluation tool, real-time progress reports and a comprehensive resource library designed to gauge the strength of organizations’ patient engagement activities and help them prioritize their improvement strategies.
“The NeHC CeRT is a concrete resource created to help healthcare organizations measure and grow their patient engagement strategies,” said NeHC CEO Kate Berry. “We hope the Patient Engagement Framework in combination with the NeHC CeRT will raise visibility and build awareness for the importance of consumer engagement and help the industry make progress in this direction. We are pleased to work with HealthCAWS to bring this tool to the market.”
The NeHC CeRT is a cost-effective business intelligence solution for organizations seeking help to accelerate their consumer engagement efforts. The NeHC CeRT provides a structure and support for organizations to measure their progress over time and its helpful resource library will stimulate the development of creative new initiatives. This tool will benefit a wide variety of stakeholder organizations, including health systems, provider groups, hospitals, health plans, health information exchanges, regional extension centers and others interested in using eHealth to improve their connection with patients.
Increasing consumer engagement is a strategic move that cultivates consumer loyalty and increases an organization’s competitive advantage in addition to improving health outcomes. It can also be profitable. On top of being mapped to the phases of the NeHC Patient Engagement Framework, the NeHC CeRT is also aligned with Meaningful Use consumer engagement criteria and several accountable care incentive programs.
“It has been exciting to work with the NeHC team and their many colleagues to advance consumer engagement in eHealth,” said Rose Maljanian, founder and CEO of HealthCAWS. “Dr. Farzad Mostashari, National Coordinator for Health IT, said it best when he commented at a recent meeting that ‘consumer engagement is the blockbuster drug of the century.’ As an industry, we need to focus our resources on programs and tools that encourage our patients to maintain their personal best health, avoid unnecessary care and partner closely with their providers to achieve the best possible outcomes.”
NeHC and HealthCAWS thanks the many industry experts who provided feedback on the tool during the validation process:
- Kelly Faley, Vice President, Web Strategies, Sharp HealthCare
- Randy Farmer, Provider Relations Director, Delaware Health Information Network
- Elizabeth McKnight, Health Informatics Specialist, Alliance of Chicago
- Dexter Shurney, MD, MBA, MPH, Medical Director, Employee Health Plan, Vanderbilt University
The NeHC Consumer eHealth Readiness Tool will debut at the Technology Crossroads Conference this week in Washington, DC. For more information about the NeHC CeRT, please visit www.nationalehealth.org/CeRT or contact Jenna Bramble at jbramble@nationalehealth.org.
About National eHealth Collaborative
National eHealth Collaborative (NeHC) is a public-private partnership focused on accelerating progress toward widespread, secure and interoperable nationwide health information exchange to improve health and healthcare. NeHC’s neutrality and diverse multi-stakeholder participation provides a unique platform for collaboration. NeHC educates, connects, and encourages healthcare stakeholders to advance health information technology and health information exchange (HIE) nationwide through its NeHC University web-based education program, its Consumer Consortium on eHealth and its HIE Learning Network.
National eHealth Collaborative is a cooperative agreement partner of the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
About HealthCAWS
HealthCAWS is a health care services company focused exclusively on helping payer, population health and delivery system clients improve health and reduce health care costs. By Combining Accountability With Support in an adaptable technology Platform, HealthCAWS mobilizes consumers and providers in a unified effort to achieve the common goal of high quality, affordable care – “the CAWS™.”
About the NeHC Consumer eHealth Readiness Tool (CeRT)
The NeHC Consumer eHealth Readiness Tool (CeRT) is an online business intelligence service that measures a healthcare organization’s consumer engagement capabilities and practices through a survey that addresses four Progressive Consumer Engagement Dimensions, as well as technology, infrastructure, culture and outcomes measurement. The CeRT provides real-time progress reports and customized feedback that ties to a comprehensive resource center. The CeRT is mapped to Meaningful Use criteria and the NeHC Patient Engagement Framework.
