A celebration of dedicated North Texas hospital employees, the Dallas-Fort Worth Hospital Council Foundation’s (DFWHC Foundation) 17th Annual Employee of the Year Luncheon will take place April 18 at the Irving Convention Center. Tickets are now available. Please click on the graphic below to register.

You can also download the forms here.

Online registration can be found here.

The 2013 winners will be announced at the event from the pool of nominees turned in by hospitals. This year’s theme is “The HeartBeat of Healthcare,” with mystery guests to serve as speakers. Nominees are separated into four categories including hospitals between 0-99 beds, hospitals between 100-250 beds, hospitals between 251-499 beds and hospitals with more than 500 beds. Two recipients are selected from each category and receive trophies and cash awards. Additional honors include the Community Service Award, Physician Award, Hospital Corporate System Award and Volunteer Award. The Rex McRae Scholarship will also be awarded to a local healthcare student.

For information, please contact Chris Wilson at chrisw@dfwhc.org or Kristin Alexander at kalexander@dfwhc.org. You can also call 972-719-4279.

Winter E-Newsletter is now available

The winter edition of the Dallas-Fort Worth Hospital Council Foundation’s (DFWHC Foundation) e-newsletter was released to business associates last week. This issue highlights the DFWHC Foundation’s updoming Employee of the Year Luncheon, April 18 at the Irving Convention Center. The Foundation’s Hospital Engagement Network and a grant proposal for the Healthcare Workforce Research Center program are also detailed.

For this and more information on the latest activity in the DFWHC Foundation, please click on the graphic below.

Obesity is the cause of many preventable conditions such as high blood pressure, diabetes, heart disease, and much more. In a world of fast food and instant gratification, we have begun a trend of over-eating and malnutrition. It is easy to grab a bag of chips or drive through a fast food establishment when you’re hungry.

Recently, a study conducted by the University of Minnesota showed that people who in-take fast food four or more times a week increase their risk of dying from heart disease by 80 percent. The fat contained in fast food is significantly higher than what you would get from making a home cooked meal. For example, a hamburger from a fast food restaurant averages around 680 calories and 40 grams of fat, not including french fries or a drink, while a hamburger grilled at home averages around 400 calories and about 20 to 30 grams of fat depending on condiments.

You can almost cut your fat grams and calories in-half. Let’s be realistic, making home cooked meals are not practical for everyone’s schedule. The real key to a healthier heart does not have to be as dramatic as cutting junk food forever or going on a radical diet. It is simply to make an effort to lower your fat intake. According to health statistics published on the Healthy North Texas website, the percentage of overweight or obese adults in Tarrant or Dallas County is more than 60 percent. That means six out of 10 people we interact with daily is a candidate for heart disease.

Get familiar and know what a healthy weight range would be for your age group. According to the American Heart Association, just taking off a few pounds can increase cardiovascular benefits. Those few pounds can improve blood circulation and fluid levels while decreasing the likelihood of heart disease.  Eating healthier does not mean changing everything—just one thing at a time. Instead of grabbing regular chips when you want something crunchy, try baked chips. The point is getting our heart healthy and happy.





References:

American Heart Association

http://www.heart.org/HEARTORG/GettingHealthy/WeightManagement/Obesity/Obesity-Information_UCM_307908_Article.jsp

Healthy in Texas

http://www.healthyntexas.org/modules.php?op=modload&name=NS-Indicator&file=indicator&iid=232536

In my previous blog, I reviewed the framework of data analytics and how changing clinical practice requires first measuring it. Not only do you have to measure the thing you want to change, but you must be willing to accept the current reality. We’ve heard many providers say “the data is not accurate and does not apply to my patients.” The biggest obstacle to change is the unwillingness to face current reality.

As previously mentioned, before you start building a database, you need to know what questions or problems you’re trying to solve. For each question or problem, you need to ask key questions such as:

1. What type of data output or view of the data do I need to measure the change?
2. What data elements should I collect?
3. How often do I need to collect these data elements?
4. What is the structure of the data elements? Are they “fixed” or are any of these “free text?”
5. Can I collect this data element in the normal course of patient care using the Electronic Health Records (EHR)?

What type of data output or view of the data do I need to measure the change?

For example, if I’m looking at a numeric data element over time, I need to view the data as a graphical chart. This allows me to view changes or trends in data over time. Another example could be related to simple “yes-no” questions – like asking the patient if they smoke. In this case, you want to know the percentage of patients asked the question. You are looking for a simple bar chart showing percentage of patients asked versus total patients on the vertical axis (hopefully driving toward 100 percent). So, before collecting data, think about the data view necessary to implement the desired change.

What data elements should I collect?

What seems like a simple question can be deceiving. There is good news and bad news when it comes to an EHR. The good news is the EHR can be setup to collect many data elements. Unfortunately, that’s the bad news as well. With too many data elements, you may introduce errors into the database, since you are unable to review and correct aberrant data. For a database to be useful, you must dedicate time to keep the data clean. If you are just starting out in data analytics, I recommend you be specific on exactly what data elements you want to collect to solve a problem. Be focused and you will have better results.

How often do I need to collect these data elements?

Again, depending on the problem to be solved, the frequency of data collection can vary. The temptation with an EHR is to collect all of the data elements all of the time. The problem with this approach is you will quickly populate a database, causing the unnecessary purchase of more electronic storage. Oftentimes, you find out later you have data elements you’ll never use. This is a waste of time and money. So, if you have answered the first question above accurately, you will have a much better idea of how often to collect the data element.

What is the structure of the data elements? Are they “fixed” or are any of these “free text?”

This is a basic question to ask, since you can only do data analytics on “structured fixed” data elements.  Many EHR’s allow for the entry of “free text.” I highly recommend you convert as many free text fields as possible to structured data. A major benefit of using structured data is it forces more standardization with physicians/providers. That is, instead of allowing five terms for the same clinical condition, you have structured the data to allow for only one term. In the long run, this greatly simplifies the ability to extract meaningful data from the database.

Can I collect this data element in the normal course of patient care using the EHR?

The biggest problem with clinical healthcare data is the process of collecting the data. I’ve heard many times “just show me the outcomes,” without any thought as to what it takes to collect the inputs. There are more obstacles when collecting data than in analyzing data. I recommend looking at your EHR and determining if the data can be collected in the normal course of using the system during patient care. It may be that to answer or solve a particular problem, you have to add data elements to a particular screening routine (i.e. to the computer screen).  So make sure your EHR system has the ability to easily modify screens if this becomes necessary.

As experts have noted, without analytics we will neither know where we are, where we’re going or how to get there. Make sure you ask the right questions before jumping into the data analytics pool!

In this month of love, many texts and valentines use shorthand to say I Love You. We have come to equate the iconic heart with love and emotion. I recently went to a chocolate shop and rather than the heart shape, they had an anatomical heart molded from chocolate. I thought it was great! But what about a broken heart?

The Dallas-Fort Worth Hospital Council Foundation readmissions data indicates the highest readmission rates in our area are for people with heart failure. While the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ (CMS) fee for service patient readmissions from pneumonia or heart attack in the metroplex have an average 30-day readmission rate of approximately 15 and 13 percent (the 2010 national rate is 18.4 percent for pneumonia, 19.8 percent for heart attack and 24.8 percent for heart failure), average readmission rate for heart failure is 18-19 percent. Our area is doing better than the national average, which is great, but with all the attention to hearts, heart attacks and cardiac resuscitation, there has been little information provided to the public about heart failure.

I was thrilled to receive a notice yesterday from the American Heart Association that they are now partnering with the Heart Failure Society of America. One of their statistics is that “5.7 million Americans are currently living with heart failure, and 670,000 new cases are diagnosed each year.” This is a sobering trend as heart failure requires a fine balance of diet and lifestyle adjustments, along with prescribed medication to manage this chronic disease. Patients must be part of the team to implement the necessary modifications to maximize quality of life.

So, take the time to learn how best to take care of you and your heart!