The Consumer eHealth Readiness Tool™ (CeRT)
The Consumer eHealth Readiness Tool (CeRT) was developed and is powered by HealthCAWS . The CeRT was brought to market in collaboration with the National eHealth Collaborative, now part of the HIMSS Foundation. Since, numerous hospitals and medical groups have used the tool in conjunction with their State Health Information Exchanges (HIEs), Regional Extension Centers (RECs) and commercial vendors.
CeRT is a comprehensive toolset including an organizational assessment, real-time progress reports, action plans and a resource center. CeRT is available 24/7/365 to users via the HealthCAWS Platform and Portal. Following the HealthCAWS 6 Step Quality Improvement Process, the CeRT helps organization advance their infrastructure to support consumer engagement and also be more equipped to address Meaningful Use requirements.
Thoughts from the field….
Organizational Readiness and Quality Improvement-Thoughts from the Field
“It’s a no brainer. Users of the Consumer eHealth Readiness Tool (CeRT)™ can see the Return on Investment within a week of getting started. We would expect that organizations that take advantage of all of the tools in the CeRT portal and advance through the full quality improvement process to capture more incentive and other pay for performance dollars and improve their clinical, consumer experience and cost outcomes.”
Gary Ozanich, PhD, Professor Northern Kentucky University and Finance and Budget Committee member for the Kentucky Health Information Exchange (KHIE).
“Overall the HealthCAWS CeRT tool was easy to use and contained valuable content and resources. The CeRT Reports helped us reinforce some priorities and identify new opportunities for advancing consumer engagement in eHealth using a multi-disciplinary collaborative approach.”
Mandy Coleman Bryant, CPP Director of Information Technology Twin Lakes Regional Medical Center
More About CeRT
Healthcare is currently undergoing an irreversible transformation thanks to new technology and the movement from pay for service to pay for performance. Quality and customer satisfaction are paramount to the success of any business, including healthcare. By engaging consumers in their healthcare, they are more likely to take better care of themselves, which improves health outcomes, cultivates consumer loyalty, and increases competitive advantage. Engaged consumers are healthier and happier. Consumer engagement also strengthens providers’ ability to meet meaningful use incentive requirements and criteria important to new accountable care and other patient-centered care programs.
The Consumer eHealth Readiness Tool (CeRT), developed and powered by HealthCAWS, is a support service delivered in a comprehensive SaaS portal, including an extensive survey-based organizational assessment, real-time progress reports and a comprehensive resource center. It is an online business intelligence tool that helps organizations through the HealthCAWS 6 Step Quality Improvement process from getting organized around consumer engagement to continuously improving for better results.
The CeRT assessment includes detailed questions in four Consumer Engagement Progression Dimensions:
- Informed consumer
- Empowered consumer
- Engaged consumer
- Partnered consumer
AND
Three Support Infrastructure and Outcomes Dimensions:
- Technology infrastructure
- Organizational infrastructure
- Outcomes measurement
The CeRT was initially aligned with the NeHC Patient Engagement Framework, a conceptual model vetted by over 150 healthcare stakeholders and a diverse set of health IT, standards and consumer advocacy organizations and now stewarded by the HIMSS Foundation. Overtime the CeRT was advanced to capture detailed and evolving Meaningful Use criteria and recommendations including the most recent 2014 recommendations that emphasize Consumer and Family Engagement plus three other major strategic areas to advance eHealth. This important advanced mapping is intended to help organizations keep those incentives coming and avoiding penalties in out years.
CeRT FAQs
How Does the CeRT Work?
Designated individuals within an organization (e.g. CMO, CNO, patient safety and/or quality executives) answer a series of questions related to consumer engagement strategies, capabilities, practices, infrastructure and measures. Real-time analysis, displayed in an easy-to-read progress reports, quantifies an organization’s capabilities and readiness to advance consumer engagement. Consumer eHealth improvement opportunities are identified and users are directed to specific items in the Resource Library for education and to inform improvement efforts Organizations can return to the password protected site anytime, 24/7/365, to access resources or update their assessment and refresh their progress reports.
Who Can Benefit from Using the CeRT?
Any organization with an interest in more effectively engaging consumers in their health: Hospitals, health systems, physician practices, health centers and clinics Accountable care organizations and patient centered medical homes looking to incorporate consumer engagement initiatives into quality improvement and marketing and retention strategies Health plans interested in supporting progress of their provider networks in implementing consumer engagement strategies Technology and population health management companies that want to assist their hospital, medical group and other customers develop effective consumer engagement strategies Health information exchanges and regional extension centers that want to bring additional value to their connected provider organizations.
What is the Potential Value of using the CeRT?
Process $ Saved
- Organized effort saves administrative dollars and valuable staff time on committee meetings and process research
- Allows focus of consultant/vendor dollars on advanced improvements and tools versus inventories of where you are and planning stage
Outcomes $ Gained
- Focus on consumer engagement improves clinical and cost of care outcomes
- Increased incentives $ from meaningful use and pay for performance programs
- Consumer loyalty ties to revenue maintenance and growth
Licensing Performance Boost
The Performance Boost is available as an annual SaaS Portal subscription or tailored implementation with set up and quarterly maintenance fees. Organizations can purchase one or more subscriptions depending on their needs. Each subscription provides a unique username and password for unlimited 24/7 access to the CeRT for a full year. This includes access to the assessments, real-time progress reports and resource library.
Annual pricing is tiered based on type and size of the organization from small physician group practices to multi-million member health plan or commercial entity.
For more information, please email info@healthcaws.com or call 860.673.0221.
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