August 19, 2019 | Modern Healthcare 19
Dr. Richard Milani
Chief clinical transformation offi cer
Ochsner Health System
Milani spearheads innovationOchsner, an innovation
lab and accelerator, which, among other things
has created new ways to care for patients with
chronic disease. Patients can send real-time blood
pressure and glucose data, for instance, from their
smartphones directly to their electronic health
record, giving clinicians an accurate picture of the
patient’s health status. Milani also launched the
O Bar. Modeled after Apple’s Genius Bar, the initiative
helps patients assess various apps and products for
their condition. Patients have benefi ted from these
initiatives—71% of hypertension patients were able
to get their blood pressure under control within 90
days, compared with 31% in usual care.
Dr. Rahul Sharma
Chairman and emergency medicine physician-in-chief
New York-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medicine
Sharma has implemented several programs to
improve emergency care, including ED Express
Care. This program treats low-acuity patients
via telehealth. Patients are seen within 35 to 40
minutes, versus the average wait of two hours in an
emergency department. Through NYP’s OnDemand
app and kiosks, patients can have video visits
with ED physicians. Under Sharma’s leadership,
the health system tallied 40,000 ED visits via
telemedicine in 2018. Patient-satisfaction scores for
the telehealth programs are high, 4.8 out of 5.Dr. John Loughnane
Chief of acute services and innovation | Commonwealth Care Alliance
Loughnane created CCA’s Mobile Integrated Health program, which is
aimed at helping patients avoid costly emergency department visits. It
taps into community paramedics to respond to calls and provide care
in the patient’s home. The specially trained paramedics can perform
such tasks as conducting physical exams, taking vital signs, and
performing lab work and EKGs on the spot. Over four years, 82% of
patients were able to avoid an ED or inpatient admission within three
days of the home visit. ED avoidance saves roughly $1,900 per visit.
Conservatively, the program generated $1 million in savings in 2018
and $6 million since its inception in 2014.
Matthew Muhart
Executive vice president and
chief administrative offi cer
Memorial Healthcare System
Muhart led a team that created a
price transparency tool. It’s part
of a broader effort to help patients
make informed decisions. The tool
offers out-of-pocket cost estimates
on more than 330 procedures. In the
fourth quarter of 2018, there were 7,000 searches. Of 307 quotes given, 24% of
consumers had procedures done at the quoted price; 42% were done close to
that price. Net revenue was $1.5 million from those patients.
COMMONWEALTH CARE ALLIANCE