Pulse

HealthONE: Secure Sign-on With Tap of Badge

Imprivata Reader
Users will be able to log in to HealthONE by tapping their badge and entering a password that enables them to tap in and out for four hours and 15 minutes without having to provide a password again. (Image provided by Imprivata)

(Updated March 27)

Physicians, nurses, and other providers will be able to quickly and securely access patient records simply by tapping their badge once UConn Health activates its electronic medical record system, HealthONE, in the spring.

The technology—which the vendor, Imprivata, calls “OneSign”—uses badge readers and prompts for a password. Once the password is entered, users will be able to log in to HealthONE by tapping in and out for four hours and 15 minutes without having to provide a password again.

“Using the ID badge instead of stopping to type in a name and password [every time] enables providers to get into the patient record instantly,” says Assistant Vice President for Information Technology Michael Catrini. “Those seconds saved really add up quickly over time and more importantly, you no longer have the patient interaction interrupted or delayed by keying in a password [at every encounter].”

It also enables a more a seamless transition from one provider to the next.

“In a patient room, the record is going to be up on the screen right where the nurse or the MA left off,” says information technology project manager John Virkler. “The nurse or the MA will go in and take vitals, they’ll put all that information in, and they’ll tap their badge. It’ll sign them out but it will leave the patient record up. The screen is blank, it locks up. The provider walks in, taps his or her badge, and it’s all ready for the provider.”

The technology will go beyond the EMR software and the associated ancillary programs that make up HealthONE. Kronos is one example.

“Users who already have a single sign-on ID will not have to enter their credentials to get into Kronos either, it’ll just automatically log them in to Kronos,” Virkler says. “The application just basically puts their user ID and password into any application that’s been profiled.”

Other planned components of this technology include e-prescribing and blood draw. It’s equipped to handle two-factor authentication for circumstances like that, when having a second person sign off is required.

“On the back end we’re building it out so we could easily add other workflows as they’re identified,” Virkler says.

Training on the new technology is part of the regular HealthONE training for users.

“There’s not much to it, you tap in, you tap out, it’s that simple,” Virkler says. “Like ‘wash in, wash out,’ we want to ingrain that. We want to get them into the habit of tapping in and tapping out. If they don’t tap out, it will eventually time them out.”

The idea is to have badge readers in every clinical area, and they eventually could be used in other areas too.

Watch for additional HealthONE updates in Lifeline, in the Pulse, at uconnhealthexpress.uchc.edu/emr, and now on Twitter @UConnHealthONE.

Looking at Us: Allan Peterson, Parking Czar

Allan Peterson, director, Parking, Transportation and Event Services (Photo by Kristin Wallace)

Parking has been known to be a polarizing issue on our campus. But most would agree that as the Bioscience Connecticut construction led to the addition of three garages, we’re at a much better place today. The man who oversees parking (and transportation, and event services) is Allan Peterson. Allan’s been at UConn Health for three years now. He lives in Griswold with his wife and the two youngest of their four children.

How has parking and transportation on our campus improved over the last few years?

In terms of parking the key improvement has been increased capacity (spaces) in high-demand areas. This has allowed us to offer additional Area 1 permits which in turn led to more convenient Area 3 spaces becoming available. We were also able to provide evening and weekend enhancements for our students and residents. And although smaller in scale, the repaving and restriping of several surface lots simply makes it easier to get in and out of spaces. We’ve also had some nice improvements in transportation services on campus with our new shuttles, well trained drivers, and the handy mobile app and desktop link which let you know where your shuttle is. CTtransit and CTfastrak have also been great partners by improving access to our campus from throughout the region. They are now carrying more than 4,000 passengers per month to and from our campus.

To what do you attribute that success?

To me it’s really a great story about teamwork. It all started with buying into our leadership’s vision of what Bioscience Connecticut and UConn Health would become. Then the people responsible for planning, safety, and operations worked together to understand the traffic and parking demands so we could create the best possible experience for the whole community. Of course there will always be bumps along the way when you undertake this type of amazing growth, but with everyone’s hard work, patience and perseverance we’re beginning to see some very good outcomes.

Allan Peterson

Favorite
sports team:
Go Huskies!

Favorite delicacy:
My wife’s grilled fish on top of spinach and mashed potatoes.

Favorite way to unwind:
Waterskiing

Favorite vacation:
A few days exploring a national park with family and friends.

Something about you today that your younger self would never believe:
I drive a Prius.

People may not realize, your work is about more than lots and garages. What else does your office handle?

Although parking is a big piece, it’s not everything. Here’s a snapshot of what we handle.

  • 6,500 parking permits for staff, students, residents and contractors
  • Parking for more than 2,000 patients and visitors daily
  • 5,100 campus wide parking spaces
  • Valet parking at the University Tower, Main Building & Outpatient Pavilion
  • Campus shuttles which transport over 40,000 passengers annually
  • Partnering with CTrides and CTtransit to promote regional transportation services
  • Maintenance of the garages and parking equipment
  • Room scheduling for more than 4,000 meetings and events annually
  • Coordination of special event services

What would you say is the most misunderstood thing about parking?

One of the most common questions we hear in the parking world is, ‘Why do we charge for parking’? You will hear this from time to time at many institutions and municipalities across the country, especially during times of major growth. There is a great book (for transportation geeks like me), The High Cost of Free Parking, written by Donald Shoup, Ph.D., professor of urban planning and economics at UCLA. The book examines parking’s impact on society, the economy and the environment, and how a shift in the approach to transportation planning, engineering and operations can lead to many long-term benefits. The gist of the book is that for many decades the real costs of parking—maintaining driveways, sidewalks, lots, garages, and signage—were hidden by free or subsidized parking spaces, which in many cases lead to additional costs driven by declining infrastructures, traffic congestion, pollution, lost time, etc. One of Shoup’s recommendations, which has been widely adopted, was to first understand the planned utilization and demand of parking areas, and then to set pricing based on the distance from the destination, traffic demands, and fair market rates. Among the benefits would be reduced traffic congestion and pollution (by cutting down on ‘cruising for parking’), time savings, and modest revenues that can be reinvested into the community for maintenance, repairs, and other sustainable transportation programs.

What’s left to do in terms of parking on our campus?

Over the coming year we will be installing a new wayfinding sign package and bringing two visitor parking lots back on line. We’ll also continue to assess traffic demand and where it makes sense to initiate programs that improve efficiency and sustainability. Nevertheless, the real key to our long-term success is our staff’s caring, attentive approach, and diligence in making sure that we are providing a clean, welcoming, and safe environment so that everyone’s arrival and departure is as seamless as possible. We have this saying that goes, “Every day we have an opportunity to create an exceptional first and last impression for everyone at UConn Health.” That’s what we’re striving for: everyone, every day!

 

New Signage Designates Upper, Lower Campus

A mock-up of a sign directing patients and visitors to the newly designated Lower Campus (Photo by Carolyn Pennington)

The transformation of signage on the UConn Health campus is underway.

Phase 1 of the project to install wayfinding signs that help establish destination zones to be known as “Upper Campus” and “Lower Campus” is scheduled for completion by mid January. It includes Main Road from the Farmington Avenue entrance to the main building and University Tower entrances, and West Road to the emergency department.

Upper Campus refers to the main building, University Tower, and academic entrance. Lower campus locations include the Outpatient Pavilion, Musculoskeletal Institute, and the UConn Health Surgery Center.

“Buildings on the Upper and Lower Campus are listed on the signs as you enter the campus, but after the initial listing, Upper and Lower Campus are the terms used to guide visitors,” says Tom Trutter, associate vice president for campus planning, design and construction. “This is similar in concept to airports using Terminal A and Terminal B where the airlines are listed for each terminal initially but dropped as you get closer to the destination.”

 Parking Area Redesignation

Currently Becoming
Lot K A1
Lot A/B A2
Lot C A3
Lot D A4
Lot J A5
Lot G M1
Lot F M2
Lot H H1
Lot L L1
Shuttle Lot 2 L2
Shuttle Lot 3 L3
Circle Road L4
ASB Lot L5
ASB Accessible L6

Phase 2 includes the rest of the campus, ideally completed by spring.

With the new signage comes a renaming of parking lots, with a letter representing the adjacent main building entrance, followed by a number. For example, Lot C, which is near the academic entrance, will become Lot A3. Lower Campus lots will have an L designation.

UConn Health is the first UConn campus moving to a university-wide standard for wayfinding signage.

More information about campus wayfinding is available at http://uconnhealthexpress.uchc.edu/wayfinding.

Wish Granted – MAs Get New Lab Coats

You may have noticed that our medical assistants are sporting new lab coats. The change has been in the works for more than a year after several MAs made the request during the “Under the Umbrella” discussions with VP of Ambulatory Services Anne Horbatuck. Now the medical assistants across campus and at all off-site locations have changed from blue to gray lab coats. Not only that, they now have more options – a scrub jacket long or short-sleeved and/or a scrub top. “It sounds like a simple issue but for many it was their top one, so we’re pleased we could accommodate their wishes,” says Horbatuck.

Preparing the Revenue Side of HealthONE

HealthONE application architect Trisha Faraday addresses analysts and subject-matter experts at the parallel revenue cycle testing kickoff meeting in the Massey Auditorium Dec. 4. (Photo by Chris DeFrancesco)

Five months ahead of the debut of UConn Health’s new electronic medical record system, UConn HealthONE, comes a shift in focus to the complicated world of health care reimbursement.

About 60 HealthONE analysts and subject matter experts are leading the effort known as “parallel revenue cycle testing,” which started this week and runs through early March.

“This is a key driver of our ensuring reimbursement,” says UConn Health’s Carolyn Orrell, who’s directing the access and revenue cycle portion of HealthONE. “It’s the next validation of what we built in the system, such as the charges generated from the tests, procedures, and supplies used to provide patient care that will be on the bill/claim sent to various payers.”

This testing phase involves scenarios created in Epic, the software at the heart of HealthONE, designed to measure the effectiveness how the system handles charges, claims, and coding to optimize how UConn Health collects reimbursements.

“This is where we push further and test how scheduling, access, coding, clinical operations, billing and our charge master all integrate with the final goal of getting a claim designed with the right charges and ultimately paid,” says UConn Health Chief Financial Officer Jeff Geoghegan. “This is an important test for the revenue cycle and will determine how well our foundation work has been designed.”

Many of the scripts will be based on services, both inpatient and outpatient, that translate into claims that are considered high frequency, high dollar, complicated, or some combination of those characteristics.

“It will get us to the point that we’ll have confidence that when the claim goes to the payer that we are going to get paid correctly,” Orrell says.

The plan is to run a half dozen scripts each week that represent professional (physician)-based claims and hospital-based claims. Those that don’t pass would be corrected and retested.

“We are shadowing claims that we generate from our current systems to make sure all our Epic processes have the same output, so we can bill correctly and get payment back,” Orrell says. “This will give us opportunities to identify what’s working and what needs to be fixed. It also will help ensure that we won’t be missing out on claims we’re collecting on now.”

The parallel revenue cycle testing will take place on the fourth floor of the Connecticut Tower, a testing area converted from an old John Dempsey Hospital patient floor.

“Success will be when every one of these scenarios is verified to meet our criteria so when claims go out they will look right,” Orrell says. “With minimal delays and accurate data on a claim, we’ll be able to receive payment in a timely fashion.”

This is the last part of the testing phase, which is followed by the training phase on the HealthONE timeline for the April 28, 2018, go-live date.

Watch for additional HealthONE updates in Lifeline, in the Pulse, at uconnhealthexpress.uchc.edu/emr, and now on Twitter @UConnHealthONE.

Researchers Calling for Health Insurance Simplification

Many Americans, even the most experienced health insurance “shoppers,” struggle choosing and using health insurance plans.

A 2017 study by the Health Disparities Institute of UConn Health showed that many patients across Connecticut don’t understand their complex, jargon-filled private health insurance plans nor use their plan benefits correctly. As a result, consumers often pay more for premiums and spend more out-of-pocket than they would if they only had simpler, more consumer-friendly choices and better decision-making tools.

On Wednesday, Dec. 13 from 8:30 a.m.-12:00 noon the Health Disparities Institute will host a Health Insurance Simplification Seminar at UConn Health’s Cell and Genomics Building at 400 Farmington Ave in Farmington, CT.

The event is gathering together the health insurance field’s top behavioral economists including George Loewenstein, Ph.D. and Saurabh Bhargava, Ph.D. from Carnegie Mellon University’s Center for Behavioral Decision Research. They will share their latest groundbreaking research about the consequences of health insurance complexity and evidence-based prescriptions for health insurance reform.

The seminar will address questions such as:

  • How and why simplify health insurance plans and their language?
  • Why so many people, whether low income or the sickest, choose health plans that are economically disadvantageous to them?
  • Are there ways consumers could predictably make “smarter” health insurance choices?

Register for the free seminar (Note: limited seats available) at:
https://health.uconn.edu/health-disparities/health-insurance-simplification-seminar-series-2017-2/.

The event is co-sponsored by HDI and the CT Health Foundation.

 For more information contact: Dr. Victor G. Villagra, HDI’s associate director at victorg.villagra@gmail.com.

 

 

Looking at Us: Debbie Baril, Friendly Face in the Gift Shop

Debbie Baril, manager of the Connucopia Gift Shop at UConn Health (Photo by Tina Encarnacion)

If you’ve been to the Connucopia Gift Shop, either in its old location in the main lobby, its current location on the University Tower mezzanine, or the kiosk in the Outpatient Pavilion, chances are you’ve exchanged smiles with Debbie Baril. Debbie has been managing the gift shop, which is part of the UConn Health Auxiliary, since 2006. She lives in Winsted with her husband, Marcel, and their two dogs, and has three grown children.

How has the first year been in the new location, on the mezzanine of the University Tower?

The gift shop was in the main lobby of the original hospital building for more than 35 years. The transition to the new building was both bittersweet and exciting. We loved our old location but we’re now in a new, lovely, light-filled space. We are also lucky to have great neighbors, Starbucks!

How would you describe your customers?

We cater to visitors, patients, staff and students alike. I would estimate staff and students make up about 70 percent of our business at this time. We see fewer visitors and patients at the new location, but we’re always thrilled when we can help them find that special gift or at least provide a place they can come, take a break, window shop and regroup. It’s always humbling to receive a thank you note from a customer telling you how much you helped at a difficult time. We have many “regulars” who frequent the shop. We have everything from women who wait for the new apparel to arrive to get the best selection to staff who come in for their daily pack of gum. It’s been a challenging road with the move, but our regulars have remained loyal.

Debbie Baril

Favorite musical:
“Aida”

Favorite musician:
James Taylor (Our annual Fourth of July tradition at Tanglewood!)

Favorite time of year:
Definitely the Christmas season. In our house it begins with caroling on Thanksgiving night and ending with a “new year around-the-world” party on New Year’s Eve at my house with friends and family.

Favorite delicacy:
A recipe for gravlax given to me by a retired Connucopia volunteer. It has now become our annual “tree trimming” dinner.

Favorite vacation spot:
One of my favorite places on earth is Martha’s Vineyard. We vacation there every year and now my children will continue the tradition when they have their own families.

What should people know about the kiosk in the Outpatient Pavilion?

In 2015 we opened a small satellite shop on the first floor of the Outpatient Pavilion. We staff that shop from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. during the week and are closed at that location on the weekends. We carry a small selection of gifts, accessories, UConn products and edibles.

What is the connection with the UConn Health Auxiliary?

The Connucopia is owned by the UConn Health Auxiliary. All profits from the two Connucopia Gift Shops as well as the UConn Health Auxiliary Thrift Shop benefit the Auxiliary, which supports UConn Health in many ways. The shops are the major source of revenue for the Auxiliary, which also benefits from membership dues, special events and vendor sales. We host vendor sales on campus anywhere from one to as many as six times a week during the holiday months. We’ve recently been lucky enough to host two farm trucks, Harvest Bakery and Truffles Food Truck, thanks to Allan Peterson [director of Parking, Transportation and Event Services].

How do you staff the Gift Shop locations?

It takes six paid employees to staff both Connucopia shops. We have one paid employee on every shift including nights and weekends. We’re fortunate to have the help of two to four volunteers per day. They assist in the main gift shop by waiting on customers, checking in and marking new products, as well as merchandising and restocking.

What’s something about the Gift Shop most folks should know but probably don’t?

Our merchandise updates constantly so our customers see something new at every visit. We’ve worked hard making the Connucopia into a mini department store. We sell everything from the new dress you need because you forgot about an after-work event, flowers, cards and gifts to brighten a patients room to UConn apparel to wear to the game. We stock a full array of sundries and tech accessories. We also carry books of stamps. As the Connucopia is not for profit, there is no sales tax charged!