Lumetra Healthcare Solutions

Every healthcare leader is faced with the daunting imperative to continuously do more with less.  Each year we are faced with decreased reimbursement, more uninsured people needing care, and worsening shortages of healthcare professionals. Our staff and physicians are stetched to the maximum, patient safety suffers, and our work is not as satisfying as it once was. How can we cope?

I suggest that we change our philosophy and re-define the problem. We have scarce resources, but, in comparison to most countries, our healthcare resources are immense. We can deploy our talented staff and innovative technologies to achieve more efficiency and better results.

I have had great success in applying “Lean Management” methods based on the Toyota Production Model within our company and with our clients. Lean management asks us to do the following:

• Allow the people who do the work to re-design the work processes
• Processes need to flow without interruption and add value to the customer
• The

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The Sacramento Business Journal recently reported on data that showed a more than 20% increase in the number of hospital-reported serious and preventable patient safety events in the previous fiscal year. Hospitals are not alone; medical errors are prevalent throughout California and our nation’s healthcare system. Regardless of the setting, the impact of serious and preventable patient safety events on patients and their families is unimaginable. To providers, they compromise patient care, increase economic burden, impair profitability, weaken organizational performance, and destroy staff morale.

After a more than a decade of attention to preventable medical errors, this increase is troubling.

In purely economic terms, recent calculations place the annual cost of accidental deaths and serious injuries for U.S. hospitals between $17 and $29 billion. The average claim related to liability for an adverse drug-related event is estimated to be between $376,000 and $668,000. In addition to the direct fiscal impact, providers across the continuum suffer additional personnel, regulatory, marketing, and… Read More

The Chairman of our Board of Directors, Richard Chambers, who serves as CalOptima’s CEO, has been appointed by the United States Comptroller General to serve on the Medicaid and CHIP Payment and Access Commission (MACPAC). He is just one of 17 commissioners appointed from a nationwide pool of stakeholders, including physicians, healthcare financing experts, consumers, health professionals and employers, and current or former Medicaid/CHIP officials.

The MACPAC was established as part of The Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) Reauthorization Act, signed into law on February 4, 2009. The Commission’s primary responsibility will be to advise Congress on current Medicaid and CHIP payment and access policies, and make recommendations on potential reforms.

“This commission will help ensure continued health care for millions of low-income families and disadvantaged children under Medicaid and CHIP,” said Mr. Chambers. “It is an extraordinary honor to be appointed by the Comptroller General, and I am eager to work with the other Commission members… Read More

The National Association of Professional Women is an exclusive network for professional women to interact, exchange ideas, educate, network, and empower.  The NAPW Board of Directors recently named the CEO of Lumetra Healthcare Solutions, Linda Sawyer, PhD, RN, as a 2009/2010 “Professional Woman of the Year” for her “leadership” and “commitment” within her profession.

As the fastest growing professional women’s association in the nation, NAPW satisfies the needs of its members for powerful business growth and effective professional and career development through interactive online networking forums, local face-to-face chapter meetings with other members, access to local and regional seminars, webinars, podcasts and keynote speakers.

Damien Mar Chong, a Manager in the Finance department of Lumetra Healthcare Solutions (LHS), was recently promoted to the position of Director, Finance. A six-year employee of the organization, Mr. Mar Chong has demonstrated his leadership by using analytical and financial analysis to guide our decision-making process, steering the company toward correct choices. Known for his astute problem-solving skills, Mr. Mar Chong has guided Lumetra Healthcare Solutions toward sound business development decisions.

Inasmuch as his judgement and point of view on many business and strategic issues is so valued, his talents are now being made available to LHS clients in their efforts to reduce business complexities and costs.

Mr. Mar Chong received his Bachelor of Business Administration in 1998 at the University of Hawaii. He recently was awarded his MBA from the University of California – Davis.

The end of calendar year 2009 brought Lumetra Healthcare Solutions several new contracts:

Bay Clinic, Inc. awarded a contract for providing technical support and maintainence services for its Electronic Health Records and HIT practice management systems to our Healthcare Services unit. The Hawaii-based community health center, with over 125 employees, has locations in Hilo, Puna, and Ka’u.  With over 48,000 patient visits annually, their EHR and EPM systems allow easy access to online patient records, offering methods that continually optimize quality healthcare.

The Healthcare Services unit, led by vice president Subrennia Jackson, also received a contract from Manatt Health Solutions for developing the ROI for e-Prescribing implemented in Safety Net Institute facilities.

Our Government Services unit, under the leadership of vice president Pat Daniel, renewed the contract with Oregon Independent Review, with a competitive bid that limits the award to five vendors. The unit also received a contract from the Department of Managed Healthcare for another health plan audit.