Online Tech to Host Landmark Implementation of Healthcare Incentives Bundled Payment Pilot
ANN ARBOR -- The Colorado Business Group on Health is on the frontline of transforming the way the United States pays for health care. And it's using a HIPAA compliant cloud computing system from Ann Arbor-based Online Tech to support the process in its corner of the country.
CBGH, a nonprofit coalition that represents large purchasers of healthcare services, has launched its landmark implementation of the Healthcare Incentives Payment Pilot in El Paso County (home of Colorado Springs) and Boulder County, Colorado.
Based on the Prometheus Payment model, the HIPP program offers incentives for healthcare providers to deliver greater value and encourages caregivers to work in teams with collective responsibility for a patient's health. The Prometheus model rewards health care providers who successfully deliver better patient outcomes and reduced costs. Healthcare purchasers, in turn, receive healthier employees.
Although the Prometheus model is being studied elsewhere on a by-plan basis, CBGH is the only organization implementing it on a community-wide basis for a number of chronic diseases, including hypertension and diabetes. The pilot program is funded by The Colorado Health Foundation.
The pilot program is geared toward providing self-insured employers the most health care value for the lowest cost by aggregating health claim data in each community and processing it to yield information on medical risk. A distinguishing characteristic of the program is that it uses a clinical rules-based risk assessment rather than the traditional and statistic-based actuarial method. For their role in the process, healthcare practitioners are incentivized to manage care at the individual patient level and reduce the incidence of potentially avoidable conditions, such as emergency department use or inpatient admissions. The protected health information that is collected and used to run the program analytics is secured by Online Tech's HIPAA compliant cloud servers in their fully redundant and high availability Tier III data centers.
"As a small nonprofit, we felt it was more economical and beneficial for us to use Online Tech's expertise in meeting HIPAA regulatory requirements," said Donna Marshall, CBGH Executive Director. "We were extremely impressed with Online Tech's risk assessment documentation they shared with us and their level of expertise in HIPAA compliance."
Added April Sage, director of health care industry business at Online Tech: "We understand the enormous pressure that covered entities and business associates face to meet HIPAA compliance – especially with the new rules that extend civil and criminal liability fully throughout the chain of trust. As a business associate ourselves, we offer our clients complete transparency with respect to the safeguards in place to protect PHI."
Every Online Tech client can view documentation showing detailed controls for all of the physical, technical and administrative safeguards of the HIPAA security rule. The controls were independently audited by UHY Advisors, LLP with no exceptions, using the framework of the OCR Audit Program Protocol. Online Tech also shares and signs a BAA (business associate agreement) with every healthcare client that clearly defines the obligations and responsibilities of both parties, and maintains insurance against PHI breaches.
"Online Tech's staff has a very realistic approach to getting complex things done," said Marshall. "They have answered our questions quickly and better than the competition."
Online Tech's HIPAA compliant cloud offers the flexibility and cost-savings of cloud computing with the security and data integrity of infrastructure, policies, and staff independently audited against the OCR HIPAA Audit protocols. Online Tech has an established culture of security, with a long history of independent audits to meet SOX, PCI, and HIPAA compliance in order to serve diverse industry standard needs.
Join Online Tech's Healthcare IT experts at HIMSS13 in New Orleans March 4-7, 2013.
More at www.onlinetech.com or www.coloradohealthonline.org.
