OSIS, a nonprofit expertise companies group that serves group well being facilities, has expanded its partnership with EHR vendor NextGen Healthcare.
OSIS adopted NextGen Healthcare as its EHR vendor of selection in 2007. As certainly one of NextGen Healthcare’s largest companions, OSIS represents over 3 million affected person lives throughout greater than 500 areas in underserved communities throughout 35 states.
Below the expanded accomplice settlement, NextGen Healthcare shoppers could have entry to strong wraparound companies from OSIS, and the organizations will accomplice on joint advertising efforts, thought management, and outreach to group facilities nationwide.
The expanded relationship additionally presents entry to Uniform Information System (UDS) and UDS+ session and optimization companies.
Hundreds of group well being facilities — and the EHR distributors and IT organizations that help them — are within the midst of an enormous shift in how they report on high quality measures to the federal Well being Sources & Companies Administration (HRSA).
The brand new platform now being examined, UDS+, is predicted to change into obligatory in 2025 or 2026 and can overhaul HRSA’s Uniform Information System reporting methodology. HRSA makes use of UDS information to evaluate the influence and efficiency of the Well being Heart Program and to advertise data-driven high quality enchancment.
UDS+ will contain digital submission of de-identified patient-level information from well being facilities to HRSA via automated reporting platforms. HRSA stresses that automating UDS reporting will ultimately remove the necessity for well being facilities to have employees members manually enter UDS information, whereas concurrently permitting them to submit extra granular information about their affected person populations.
HRSA is hoping that UDS+ will enhance the utility of UDS report information by aligning with interoperability requirements and reporting necessities used throughout the U.S. Division of Well being and Human Companies and inside the healthcare trade. The brand new program makes use of customary software programming interfaces (APIs), and HRSA has developed a UDS+ FHIR information receipt and submission course of.
“NextGen Healthcare is a confirmed chief locally healthcare area and a trailblazer in UDS modernization,” mentioned Jeff Lowrance, CEO of OSIS, in a press release. “By way of this relationship, we hope to unlock the facility of well being IT investments with data-driven insights, enhance high quality scores, and decrease prices.”
In July 2024, Portland, Ore.-based OCHIN and Cincinnati-based OSIS, two nonprofit organizations with mixed well being IT operations that help greater than 39,000 suppliers serving over 9.3 million sufferers at group well being facilities nationwide, entered into a proper partnership. Though OSIS will change into a completely owned subsidiary of OCHIN, the organizations pressured that their manufacturers, operations, governance buildings, and nonprofit statuses will proceed to be unbiased. OCHIN will stay centered on Epic operations and collaborative members, and OSIS will proceed to help NextGen for its members and collaborating well being facilities.
Each established almost 25 years in the past, OCHIN and OSIS mentioned they’re dedicated to assembly members the place they’re, on their respective EHR platform of selection.
OCHIN’s Epic-based community now reaches greater than 6.3 million sufferers via greater than 34,000 suppliers at over 2,000 healthcare supply websites nationwide.
Whereas some present OSIS members could have curiosity in transitioning from their NextGen EHR to OCHIN Epic, others will stay on OSIS NextGen or can be free to pick out a unique platform and vendor in the event that they select primarily based on their particular wants. By way of this partnership, OSIS members could have entry to further service choices not presently accessible, corresponding to workforce help.
One other objective of the partnership is producing operational financial savings and manufacturing efficiencies via improved third-party contract pricing negotiations and value benefits derived from economies of scale. Harnessing this collective power is crucial to optimize and advocate for group well being facilities that as we speak are tasked with delivering each high-quality and high-volume care regardless of insufficient funding, OCHIN mentioned.
The partnership additionally presents the chance to carry higher group well being heart illustration to nationwide well being fairness analysis and advocacy by augmenting the OCHIN-led ADVANCE Medical Analysis Community and voluntarily contributing to practice-based analysis and innovation powered by the most important assortment of de-identified group well being information within the nation.