Teams with MyCareTeam to Connect Patients and Care Providers
Through Remote Patient Monitoring Linked to Allscripts Electronic Health
Record
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 28, 2011
Rob
Brogna
508-793-5394
774-317-0422
robert.brogna@umassmemorial.org
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/umassmemorial
MyCareTeam
Donna Slattery
978-496-1794
donna.slattery@mycareteam.com
WORCESTER - UMass Memorial Health Care is aiming to improve
and lower the cost of diabetes care using a new approach that allows patients
and their care team to better manage their health remotely. UMass Memorial,
clinical partner of the University of Massachusetts Medical School, is the first
health care provider in the United States to integrate MCT Clinical, a new
web-based diabetes management system from MyCareTeam, with the Allscripts
electronic health record (EHR) solution used by UMass Memorial's physicians in
ambulatory settings. UMass Memorial has already enrolled more than 1,000
patients, enabling patients to upload their blood glucose meters from home or
from within UMass Memorial outpatient offices - and to have that data easily
added to the patient's medical record. The UMass Memorial diabetes care team has
already noted significant improvements in clinic patient flow and greater
efficiencies within the clinic, since blood glucose meters can be uploaded by
the patient at home and all meter uploads use the same system.
By capturing and presenting patient data in an easy-to-access format that can
be seen by the patient and his or her health care team, the integration of MCT
Clinical and the Allscripts EHR is expected to improve long-term diabetes
management, and enable collaboration among an interdisciplinary team of primary
care providers, nutritionists, endocrinologists, diabetes educators and family
members. Moreover, UMass Memorial providers using the integrated solutions will
be able to remotely monitor their patients' health from their EHR. As a result,
providers will be more intimately involved in care management and patients will
receive the information and tools they can use to better self-manage their
health.
"The current care delivery model of periodic patient visits to their health
care providers does not lend itself to the regular, disciplined self-management
and care required for successful treatment of diabetes," said David
Harlan, MD, codirector of the UMass
Memorial Health Care Diabetes Center of Excellence and the William and Doris
Krupp Professor of Medicine at University of Massachusetts Medical School.
"Integrating MCT Clinical with the Allscripts EHR revolutionizes our care for
patients with diabetes and provides efficiencies not previously possible. Not
only is it easier and faster than other meter upload systems, but the EHR
integration gives us a comprehensive view of our patients' health status and
enables better population health management."
Studies indicate that diabetes
patients benefit significantly from regular monitoring of simple parameters such
as nutrition, glucose levels and regular intake of prescribed medications.
Non-compliance with the recommended treatment regimen can lead to serious
complications and costly but avoidable emergency room visits. The MCT
Clinical-Allscripts EHR integration facilitates ongoing monitoring and can help
patients gain greater control of their condition.
"I like knowing that when I contact them, my entire care team at UMass
Memorial can now access my health records and from those records, also see my
"real time" blood glucose meter data which I can easily upload from home," said
Michaella Conlon, a 17-year old from Leominster, MA. "The fact that my care team
can now access all my diabetes relevant data to advise me gives me peace of
mind, and my health care team seems happy about it, too."
Michaella's parents are also pleased with the new approach. "We all feel more
empowered by this new system," said Michael Conlon, Michaella's father. "It
makes assisting her with the management of her diabetes so much easier."
The Allscripts-MyCareTeam integration is a part of Cornerstone,
UMass Memorial's multi-year, multi-entity corporate initiative to implement
common patient clinical and financial systems and to reduce variability in
processes and workflows across the system.
"Managing care for patients with diabetes is truly a team effort," said Ronald
Adler, MD, a family medicine physician, director of primary care practice
improvement at UMass Memorial's Center for the Advancement of Primary Care and
assistant professor of family medicine and community health at University of
Massachusetts Medical School. "This integrated approach promotes the view that
patients are the most important member of the diabetes care team and the idea
that some of the most important management of diabetes occurs between visits.
The opportunity to communicate efficiently between visits adds tremendous value
for patients and the health care team, as it enhances quality while conserving
resources. Communication through this innovative system may help resolve health
care problems and avoid extra office visits."
MCT Clinical is a new software
platform that was specifically integrated with the Allscripts EHR and can manage
other chronic diseases besides diabetes such as weight management, blood
pressure and in the future, asthma.
MCT Clinical is essentially a behavior modification tool that allows
individuals with type 1 or type 2 diabetes and their care providers to
collaborate and monitor glucose levels, insulin dosage, carbohydrates consumed,
exercise history and other factors known to affect glycemic control. The
software allows patients to download their blood glucose readings to MCT
Clinical from the vast majority of commercially available meters through a
secure, HIPAA-compliant web-based application directly from any personal
computer with Internet access. The data can then easily be imported and
presented in the appropriate place and time within the caregiver's EHR
workflow.
"We are extremely pleased to be an integral part of a revolutionary change in
patient care with respect to diabetes," said Jim Mingle, chief executive officer
of MyCareTeam. "MCT Clinical has been shown to improve the health of those who
suffer from diabetes, and now because of its integration with the Allscripts
EHR, patients and care providers will have an even tighter relationship which
will result in better overall health outcomes."
"This innovative partnership demonstrates yet again UMass Memorial Health
Care's leadership in finding opportunities to provide better care to their
patients and include them as a part of the entire care process," said Glen
Tullman, chief executive officer of Allscripts, who also serves on the
International Board of Directors of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation
(JDRF), the world's largest research organization devoted to finding a cure for
type 1 diabetes. "Active self-management paired with health monitoring by a care
team are two of the most critical aspects of controlling diabetes and preventing
long-term complications. By integrating remote monitoring with the Electronic
Health Record, we're delivering the insights that will drive improved care along
with the population disease management capabilities that healthcare
organizations will need to be successful in the coming age of value-driven
reimbursement."
About UMass Memorial Health Care
UMass Memorial Health
Care is Central Massachusetts' largest not-for-profit health care delivery
system, covering the complete health care continuum with UMass Memorial Medical
Center, its academic medical center, member and affiliated community hospitals,
freestanding primary care practices, ambulatory outpatient clinics, home health
agencies, hospice programs, a rehabilitation group and mental health services.
UMass Memorial is the clinical partner of the University of Massachusetts
Medical School. To learn more about UMass Memorial, please visit www.umassmemorial.org, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.
About MyCareTeam, Inc.
MyCareTeam, Inc. was founded to
provide software offerings that are designed to help people with diabetes,
hypertension, and weight management to collaborate and manage their illness
while reducing overall healthcare costs. The company's offering has been
successfully used for over seven years by patients, doctors and nurses to
dramatically improve the health and wellness of people with the aforementioned
chronic health issues to reduce overall healthcare costs. MyCareTeam is
headquartered in Chelmsford, Massachusetts and the company's website is http://www.mycareteam.com/