Inside Health Care #118: Collaboration Is the Key to Interoperability and Equity for All

Quality Matters: A Podcast by NCQA

In this episode, we explore a much-discussed Inside Health Care topic: interoperability. Within the process of health care digitalization, interoperability deals with the multi-lane, multi-directional transfer of electronic health records, or EHRs. But more and more, in that transfer process, companies discover data they hadn’t considered using, data needing refinement, and data that tells stories of patients being overlooked and left behind.

In the first interview, my guest and I discuss the best way to smoothe the road to health equity: form a patchwork of different types of health care companies that can safely and efficiently shepherd data along the patient journey. Later, I co-interview a team that discovered a disparity gap and closed it—permanently. Their secret? Ask the community how to reach those patients.

Mo Weitnauer is MRO’s Chief Product Officer. She drives its product strategy and roadmap. Throughout her high-level career, Mo has helped develop tech-based strategies for managing medical costs and patient bills, trying to even things out for both sides while still striving to advance care quality.

Mo graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Biochemistry and Economics from Smith College, and she got her master’s degree in Health Policy and Management from Harvard’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

Next, we hear a success story from a team from WellSpan Health, a health care that found a gap in health care equity and nailed down a solid and sustainable solution.

Jenna Jansen is Senior Director of Quality at WellSpan Health. She earned her BS and MPH degrees from West Virginia University. She is a Fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives and also a CPHQ.

Jodi Cichetti is Vice President of Quality, Patient Safety and Infection Control and Prevention at WellSpan Health.  She’s an RN with a background of working in the ICU. She holds an MS in Health Systems Management from the University of Baltimore, and her certifications include, among others, a CPHQ, a.k.a. she’s a Certified Professional in Healthcare Quality.

Jenna and Jodi presented a session at the Health Innovation Summit titled “STOP, Collaborate, & LISTEN! Improving Equitable Access to Care”. In the interview, they told the story of how their research revealed a gap in care delivery. Using various analytical tools including NCQA’s breast cancer screening measure, part of our HEDIS set of measures, they discovered a disparity among Spanish-speaking patients.