THE 2023 INNOVATOR AWARDS PROGRAM One goal was to achieve measurable


improvement in overall satisfaction with AEHR by adopting evidence-based inter- ventions to improve proficiency and reduce time spent in AEHR after work hours Northwell developed a program that


focuses on end-user efficiency and adop- tion with specialty-specific learning plans. They launched an online site designed to provide AEHR users with personalized and on-demand resources to help them best navigate the AEHR. They created an exclusive group of AEHR experts who help providers and team members elevate their skills and knowledge within the application The organization also created a network to communicate new resources available due to new best practices or changes within the AEHR. To measure results, they identify KPI metrics that demonstrate the value-add of the Home for Dinner workstreams using concrete data points. A cross-functional workgroup was


created to support the implementation of the new program deliverables. Due to the magnitude of each deliverable, Northwell arranged them into work- streams with designated management leads. Each workstream was first charged with understanding and adapting the recommendations by their consultants, determining resource requirements, and creating specific goals and deliv- erables to ensure completion of all program components. Since launching in October 2022, the new Ambulatory EHR Learning Center has received more than 2,000 views. This comprehensive online learning center is comprised of videos, job aids, and FAQs designed to enhance users’ understanding of various AEHR features. The site has received over 14,000 site views since launch. Fourteen physician specialty-specific advisory groups have been created, with over 50 participating physicians, to assist in the design of specialty-specific learning plans. The AEHR Super User Community launched, with over 65 Super Users since the October 2022 launch and a 94 percent average meeting attendance rate. Northwell says the effort shows the


power of collaboration in convening ambulatory operations, clinical informat- ics, the AEHR Solutions Group, end-users, Physician Partners, project management and physicians. Home for Dinner will offer ongoing support and opportunities for physicians to regularly share ideas to make things easier for everyone. It will


also help inform how the organization approaches learning for future programs and platforms across Northwell Health Physician Partners.


Penn Medicine’s Cancer Registry Case Finder Although Penn Medicine uses a com- mercial third-party vendor tool to collect and store its cancer registry data, it still needed to determine how to cohesively identify, manage, and report on all the potential cancer cases from its large aca- demic medical center. Penn Medicine’s Abramson Cancer Center consists of six hospitals, many clinical departments, and divisions and has approximately 75,000 to 100,000 related encounters as well as 30,000 to 35,000 unique patients related to the treatment or diagnosis of cancer each month. Penn Medicine built an in-house appli-


cation to automate, organize, and manage this process, empowering the organiza- tion to identify which patients qualify for inclusion in the registry. In the previous process, the cancer


registry management team received an Excel report from its electronic medical record (EMR) system on a monthly basis, containing all potential encounters. The management team normalized these data prior to dividing and distributing the large spreadsheet across the Tumor Registry- Registrar team. Registrars worked on their individual spreadsheets each month and then reported their progress to the manag- ers. Any outstanding potential encounters were added to the next month’s list, creating a perpetual backlog. This manual process required numerous Excel spreadsheets and e-mail exchanges between approximately 25 to 30 employees. The application Penn Medicine built


to solve this business problem is called the Cancer Registry Case Finder (CRCF), a web-based application that was built in PHP using the Symfony framework and supported with an Oracle database back end. This application was fully designed and built by the Penn Medicine Software Development - Database and Applications Group (DAG). All software used to build and maintain the CRCF is open-source, can be used with any major database, and uses the BSD-style and MIT licenses. The business problem was addressed


by implementing the following improved process: This application has been consis- tently used in the Cancer Services Line’s


24 hcinnovationgroup.com | MARCH/APRIL 2023


Cancer Registry, which is an American College of Surgeons (ACOS) Commission on Cancer-accredited program. The CRCF application was integrated with the EMR for source data, and the cancer registry tool allowed Penn Medicine to import and export to streamline the full abstraction process. The application immediately began to save approximately 3 to 5 person-hours per month just in the management of the current workflow (eliminating numerous Excel files and hundreds of emails). Additional benefits are still being real-


ized. The application provides: • Real-time data reporting, which decreases data delays • Analytics to assess appropriate staffing • Improved data quality • Data for research Although unexpected, the CRCF


application also successfully identifies previously missed cases. Over five months of working within the application, an estimated 386 previously missed cases are now identified with a year of first contact ranging from 2021 cases back to 2000. Since the application is showing all encounters for each facility up through the latest import of data (currently set to load new encounters once a month), there are significantly fewer chances of cases being missed across organizational facilities moving forward. Michael Restuccia, senior vice presi-


dent, and chief information officer at Penn Medicine, remarks, “The development of the Cancer Registry Case Finder applica- tion is the result of the trustful collab- orative efforts between the Corporate IS team and the Cancer Center representa- tives to produce a solution that improves operational efficiency, enhances patient care and has the ability to benefit not only Penn Medicine but also other lead- ing institutions throughout the country. Such a unique and far-reaching initia- tive is only possible through leveraging a deep partnership with the Cancer Center subject matter experts and applying the best technical approach to generate such a successful outcome.”


UnityPoint Health’s Use of Machine Learning to Predict Census The COVID-19 pandemic forced unprec- edented challenges on healthcare providers spanning clinical, financial, and operations domains. Perhaps chief among them was balancing a precarious


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