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Novant Health becomes first health system to monitor patients’ health through Epic’s Healthy Planet Link

Healthy Planet Link provides patients, providers, care managers and affiliates with key health data, reminders and trends

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. ― Novant Health has become the first health system in the U.S. to provide access to Epic’s Healthy Planet Link module to allow care providers, affiliated with or unaffiliated with Novant Health, to access key health trends for patients.

“Healthy Planet Link is an analytical tool that gives health care providers information about our patients, such as historical prescription trends, frequency of hospitalizations or preventive care measures,” said Dave Garrett, Novant Health chief information officer. “Over their lifetime, most people will see multiple providers, undergo a variety of screenings and experience health emergencies. It is important that health care providers within the Novant Health system and those practicing outside of our system have access to this valuable patient information so they can provide appropriate preventive care.”

Epic’s Healthy Planet Link is a tool with an associated dashboard that provides health care systems and providers with information that can help coordinate care delivery, monitor quality and cost, reduce financial risk and engage patients through a centralized data warehouse. It also allows providers the opportunity to track performance on several utilization and preventive care quality metrics, which can assist in improving overall population health.

Novant Health has identified 15 trackable measures. Those include:

• Screening for future falls
• Poor control of hemoglobin A1C  (blood glucose)
• Diabetes eye exam
• Use of imaging studies for low back pain
• Control of high blood pressure
• Use of aspirin or another antithrombotic for ischemic vascular disease
• Depression remission over a 12 month period
• Breast cancer screening
• Colorectal screening
• Influenza immunization
• Pneumonia vaccine for older adults
• Body mass index screening and follow-up plan
• Screening and cessation for tobacco use
• Screening for clinical depression and follow up plan
• Statin therapy for the prevention and treatment of cardiovascular disease

Through Healthy Planet Link, Novant Health can provide health care providers with retrospective, real-time and predictive analytics; risk scoring tools; chronic disease and wellness registries; operational reports with clinical drill-down; and quality measurement.

“We are committed to securely increasing access to valuable patient information so that providers can offer our patients quality, coordinated care, when and where they need it,” said Garrett.