Lumetra Insights
In the March 2010 Issue
March 7-13 is National Patient Safety Awareness Week, an education and awareness-building campaign for improving patient safety at the local level. Planned activities will focus on educating patients on how to become more involved in their own healthcare, and events will foster partnerships between healthcare providers and their patient community.
The 2010 theme, “Let’s Talk! Healthy Conversations for Safer Healthcare,” underscores the importance of communication.Healthy communication between provider, patient, and families helps assure treatment adherence and reduces unnecessary care. Participating hospitals will engage their staff, patients, and community with activities and events that emphasize the critical need for communication for a safe healthcare system.
Lumetra Healthcare Solutions has promoted patient safety at the local level for many years. We worked with managed care and pharmacy plans to develop patient brochures on medication management in several languages. Full communication with their attending physician and pharmacist about all the prescribed and over-the-counter medications being taken is critical,… Read More
Pat Daniel, BSN, CPHQ, Vice President of Government Services for Lumetra Healthcare Solutions, understands challenges facing government administrators who contract for our services. “Generally, they are seeking sustainable changes with better patient outcomes that are provided in a cost-effective manner,” she stated. “By providing professional and cost effective solutions, we’re able to identify and correct inefficiencies in care processes, while improving outcomes and patient safety.”
Lumetra Healthcare Solutions has extensive experience handling confidential records, which meets government requirements regarding security and privacy. Most government agencies now utilize electronic records, which also play to our organization’s strengths. “Moreover,” Ms. Daniel added, “our experience of 25 years in assisting customers in improving healthcare efficiency and effectiveness enables them to implement lasting changes throughout the continuum of care.”
Combining our expertise in clinical excellence and analytics also provides government clients with important reporting and performance monitoring capabilities.
Value proposition
- Twenty-five years experience with government contracts at all levels
- Panel of 250+ experienced
A Central Valley community hospital has contracted with Lumetra Healthcare Solutions to conduct a full evaluation of their Quality Improvement Program in order to maximize operational structure and program outcomes. The scope of work will focus on efficient and effective collaboration between Quality Management and other departments, including but not limited to, Nursing, Case Management, Risk Management, Patient Safety, Infection Control, Medical Information Services, and the medical staff. This client had earlier engaged LHS to assist with their mortality data interpretation and action planning. The hospital’s leadership team has long-term confidence in Lumetra Healthcare Solutions, as they had participated in our collaborative programs in previous years. They also appreciate the individualized attention that we bring to these consecutive consultative contracts.
In addition, Lumetra Healthcare Solutions received a subcontract from the University of California at Los Angeles to participate in the Go Grant that was awarded to them by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. LHS will perform the following tasks:
- Assist UCLA in building the infrastructure for comparative
Lumetra Healthcare Solutions is pleased to welcome Barbara K. McDougall to our staff. A registered nurse professional with more than 25 years of progressive and diversified medical management experience, Ms. McDougall returns to LHS, having been part of the organization in the late eighties when we were CMRI.
Most recently, Ms. McDougall was a Clinical Review Specialist at a 550-bed facility and a Supervisor at Catholic Healthcare West-Medical Foundation, where she oversaw quality management at one of the largest hospitalist programs in Northern California.
Her experience also includes managed care, preparing for Joint Commission and NCQA audits, HEDIS, and appeals and grievances. Ms. McDougall’s role at Lumetra Healthcare Solutions will be as a Managing Consultant, working with clients on their quality management needs.
An article, “Raising Awareness of Medicare Member Rights Among Seniors and Caregivers in California,” by staff members Rebecca Olson, PhD, Ruth M. Grossman, BA, Patricia L. Fu, MPH, and Fabio Sabogal, PhD, was published in the January 2010 edition of the American Journal of Public Health.
A special study conducted by Lumetra Healthcare Solutions featured a multifaceted outreach program to increase beneficiary awareness of QIO services and of the right of beneficiaries to file quality-of-care complaints and discharge appeals. Layered outreach activities to Medicare members and their caregivers in two targeted counties (Fresno and Santa Cruz) consisted of paid media, direct mailings, community outreach, and online marketing. Calls to the QIO Helpline and visits to the Web site—measures of beneficiary awareness of case review services—increased by 106% and 1214%, respectively, in the targeted counties during the four-month outreach period. Only small increases occurred in nontargeted counties.