The GW Medical Faculty Associates

Provider Interview

The GW Medical Faculty Associates’ mission is to provide the highest quality of healthcare, advanced technology and world class services in an academic medical center dedicated to education and research.

The GW Medical Faculty Associates participates in the District’s Promoting Interoperability (PI)/Meaningful Use EHR Incentive Program (MEIP) with technical assistance from eHealthDC. We talked with Anna Abel, The GW Medical Faculty Associates Director of Population Health. During our conversation with Anna, she shared eHealthDC has collaborated with The GW Medical Faculty Associates on how to connect to area providers for referral exchanges to ensure patients receive timely care while also meeting the PI/MEIP Program requirements.

“eHealthDC’s partnership has been instrumental in multiple initiatives, including improving providers’ access to patient information by connecting to CRISP Health Information Exchange (HIE) with single sign-on, and successfully reporting for the District’s Promoting Interoperability/Meaningful Use EHR Incentive Program (MEIP).”

Anna Abel

A Conversation with GW Medical Faculty Associates

Q: How have you found that using health IT and/or HIE tools has benefited your patients?

A: eHealthDC’s partnership has been instrumental in multiple initiatives, including connecting to CRISP Health Information Exchange (HIE) with single sign-on. Doctors really enjoy single sign-on because it allows them to review data in a timely fashion, enabling them to provide more informed care for their patients.

Q: What kind of challenges has The GW Medical Faculty Associates encountered in its pathway to use these tools?

A: One of the barriers, as with many projects, has been working through technology implementation issues. However, since implementation, the technology has worked great. The GW Medical Faculty Associates is currently in the testing phase of the bidirectional interface [to CRISP].

Q: Are there any informational sources you would recommend to other providers?

A: eHealthDC provided resources that helped The GW Medical Faculty Associates access the SLR and understand the attestation process. The SLR improved significantly this year compared to prior years, especially in increased user-friendliness.

Last year, after uploading information to the SLR, I did not receive timely feedback if additional information was needed. If I needed to re-upload documentation, it was a time-consuming process. This year, I only needed to change one thing and eHealth DC proactively noticed what needed to be corrected and reached out immediately. The issue was resolved within a matter of minutes.

Q: Are there best practices you would recommend to other organizations hoping to achieve MU?

A: The GW Medical Faculty Associates organized a quality strategy team focused on promoting interoperability and ensuring quality measures are met. Additionally, we established goals defined by minimum targets, medium thresholds and stretch goals. Senior Leadership’s involvement and support has aided in the organization’s success in our quality programs.

The GW Medical Faculty Associates also worked with its’ IS&T education team to create informational videos on how to meet certain quality measures and which workflows providers and staff should follow. They also developed training sessions for using the single sign-on and methods for accessing patient data.

The trainings highlight the importance of how the information plays a role in making highly coordinated care decisions for patients, emphasizing that these measures serve a higher purpose, in addition to being a CMS requirement.

Q: How has eHealthDC assisted you with health IT and/or HIE? How has that assistance benefited your organization and/or patients?

A: eHealthDC has been a valuable resource when exploring the needs for meeting the HIE measures. The GW Medical Faculty Associates is in the workflow development/testing phase for meeting the new HIE requirements for 2019. eHealthDC has been in constant communication and has offered support to connect to referring providers once implemented.