Technology Optimization in the Era of CQMs and Population Health

Jessica Colarusso and Jeffrey Becker write about clinical quality measures, value-based reimbursement, and data capture strategy and electronic health record (EHR) management.

As health systems continue down the path to value-based reimbursement, CQM improvement efforts and population health initiatives will continue to hold a place on healthcare executives’ priority lists. Battle-hardened CMIOs will be quick to note that effectively managing an EHR platform that supports both CQM improvement efforts and population health initiatives runs a risk of driving the administrative burden on providers beyond a tolerable threshold. As EHRs evolve from tools used to automate clinical and administrative workflows to databases used to support significant data analytics projects, ongoing EHR optimization will be necessary and should be planned alongside each new project.