The Sullivan Institute for Healthcare Innovation’s Patient Experience Council co-chair recognized among other renowned women leaders for achievements in advancing healthcare progress.

RESTON, Va. — September 15, 2014 — The Workgroup for Electronic Data Interchange (WEDI), the nation’s leading nonprofit authority on the use of health IT to create efficiencies in healthcare information exchange, in partnership with The Sullivan Institute for Healthcare Innovation, announces Kym Martin, MBA, CNC, CFT has been named as one of the 15 Disruptive Women to Watch in 2015. Martin is co-chair of The Sullivan Institute’s Patient Experience Council, an organization offering guidance to the healthcare industry on how to improve the consumer experience for patients and caregivers.

Disruptive Women in Health Care, an award-winning digital platform spotlighting women whose achievements and provocative ideas are advancing healthcare progress, annually names its list of top “Disruptive Women to Watch” for the coming year. Traditionally having focused on women who have broken new ground in health practice, research, technology or entrepreneurship, this year’s selections spotlight women who are shaping 21st century healthcare beyond those walls into legal, environmental and financial arenas as well.

Kym Martin is a three-time, 30-year cancer survivor who is passionate about enhancing the patient experience in healthcare. Martin is an appointed co-chair for the Patient Experience Council affiliated with the Louis W. Sullivan Institute for Healthcare Innovation and WEDI. The Patient Experience Council represents a collective voice of ePatients and eFamily Caregivers committed to elevating the patient experience from the patient perspective. They are charged with the implementation of the Patient Engagement recommendations set forth in the 2013 WEDI Report, a comprehensive document that the Department of Health and Human Services has adopted as the roadmap for the next generation of healthcare integration in the U.S.

As an ePatient, consultant and speaker, Martin has provided keen patient perspective for other various organizations such as the Defense Strategies Institute (DSI), American Medical Informatics Association (AMIA), HIMSS Connected Patient Committee and HIMSS National Capital Area chapter, as well as Health Datapalooza and mHealth Summit conference events.

“Kym is an invaluable contributor, advocate and leader to the Sullivan Institute’s mission of improving the patient experience in the healthcare system,” said Devin Jopp, Ed.D, President and CEO, WEDI. “She brings passion and perspective to all facets of the work the Patient Experience Council is doing, and she is incredibly deserving of this recognition alongside the other remarkable women making an impact on healthcare. WEDI congratulates her on this well-deserved achievement.”

Other Disruptive Women to Watch in 2015 include U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, television personality and activist Maria Shriver and Baroness Martha Lane Fox, tech entrepreneur and Member, House of Lords, among a dozen other great women. The honorees will be formally recognized at a gala reception at the Gaylord Conference Center at National Harbor on Tuesday, December 9 as part of this year’s mHealth Summit.

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Kym Martin

ePatient
Patient Experience Council Co-Chair

Kym is an ePatient, Consultant Speaker and Co-chair for the Patient Experience Council affiliated with the Louis W. Sullivan Institute for Healthcare Innovation and the Workgroup for Electronic Data Interchange. Kym Martin is a three-time, 30-year cancer survivor who is passionate about enhancing the patient experience in healthcare. She endured three different cancer diagnoses through three distinct stages of life and chose three different treatment protocols. Kym’s major advocacy message and effort revolves around the need for healthcare stakeholders to recognize ePatients and eFamily Caregivers as experienced partners in the design, development and implementation of healthcare policies, products and services who should be duly compensated for their expertise, insights and time. Her other key advocacy touch points center on patient data access, cost transparency, wellness reimbursements and broader adoption of integrative care models (the marriage of conventional and complementary therapy). Kym is also a humbled honoree on the esteemed list of Disruptive Women to Watch in 2015.

Gail Embt

eAdvocate

Patient Experience Council Co-Chair

Gail is an eAdvocate, and Co-chair for the Patient Experience Council affiliated with the Louis W. Sullivan Institute for Healthcare Innovation and the Workgroup for Electronic Data Interchange. As a sandwich generation caregiver, Gail has dealt with issues ranging from chronic degenerative disease to adolescent mental and behavioral health. Gail has experienced the spectrum of care delivery and understands how failures of the care delivery system frequently collide at the patient leaving patient and family caregiver feeling unprepared, and overwhelmed. Gail’s advocates for clearly articulating the role of the family caregiver in healthcare and defining the key workflows and informational needs to transform that overwhelmed individual into a fundamental pillar of care delivery and support so they become respected and engaged.

Mary Camp

ePatient

Executive Committee Member

Mary is an ePatient, seasoned User Experience (UX) professional and Executive Committee member for the Patient Experience Council affiliated with the Louis W Sullivan Institute for Healthcare Innovation and the Workgroup for Electronic Data Interchange. Mary is a TIA survivor and manages chronic pain caused by several motor vehicle accidents. Her UX experience and core sense of empathy helped Mary navigate the rocky waters of the healthcare system and compelled her to use her skill set to influence change and improve patient experience. Her focus is on empowering others to become better educated consumers in their healthcare, taking patient stories and engaging with key stakeholders to provide feedback. A self-professed technology geek, Mary’s interests include using technology to streamline care coordination, enhance access to care, reduce medical errors, improve health literacy and foster communication between patients, caregivers and providers to positively impact outcomes.

Donna Cryer

ePatient

Executive Committee Member

Donna is an ePatient, speaker, consultant, advocacy organization leader, and Executive Committee member for the Patient Experience Council affiliated with the Louis W Sullivan Institute for Healthcare Innovationand the Workgroup for Electronic Data Interchange. Donna Cryer is a 20 year liver transplant recipient and 30 year Inflammatory Bowel Disease patient who fosters patient participation and leadership in multi-stakeholder collaborations to improve healthcare experience, quality, and outcomes. Donna’s primary advocacy message to shift from a sick-care model to a coordinated and connected model of health and healthcare that addresses patient medical, psycho-social, and practical needs in the context of their lifestyles, values, families and communities. This model is predicated on secure, open, real-time data exchange; informed shared decision making, and expansion of mobile, home-based, and community-based services. Donna brings the perspectives of patients with complex and chronic conditions to several federal and nonprofit advisory committees.

Kait Roe

ePatient

Executive Committee Member 

eAdvocates

Christopher Jerry

eAdvocate

Executive Committee Member

Jodi Lyons

eAdvocate

Executive Committee Member

Jodi is an eAdvocate, Consultant Speaker and Executive Committee member for the Patient Experience Council affiliated with the Louis W. Sullivan Institute for Healthcare Innovation and the Workgroup for Electronic Data Interchange. Jodi Lyons is an eldercare advocate who is zealous about ensuring access to clear, correct, and unbiased information. She has a special interest in Alzheimer’s Diseases and related dementias and in other diseases affecting older adults. She is particularly interested in creating true patient-centered care which MUST consider the expertise, resources, and needs of family caregivers in developing care plans, healthcare products/services, and policy. Jodi is an ardent advocate for preserving dignity in patients who no longer can advocate for themselves while also protecting family caregivers from shouldering an undue and unsustainable caregiving burden. Caregiving necessitates a team approach, and Jodi is a tireless advocate for ensuring that the healthcare arena develops and respects this team.

Kristina Sheridan

eAdvocate

Executive Committee Member

Kristina is an eAdvocate, patient empowerment researcher, systems engineer and Executive Committee member for the Patient Experience Council affiliated with the Louis W Sullivan Institute for Healthcare Innovation and the Workgroup for Electronic Data Interchange. Kristina Sheridan is a long-term caregiver for two of her children who were diagnosed with Lyme Disease and experienced a series of co-morbid illnesses in 2006. As an experienced caregiver of chronic pediatric patients and a systems engineer, Kristina works to help the healthcare and health IT communities understand the complexities of managing chronic illness and to develop and provide tools that will ease the day-to-day burden of managing care. Kristina advocates for the development of tools and processes that allow the patient’s story and data to be captured and used to develop treatment plans that best meet the needs and goals of the patient.

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Volunteers sought to help develop a “virtual” clipboard for next-generation providers

RESTON, Va.  — The Sullivan Institute for Healthcare Innovation, in partnership with the Workgroup for Electronic Data Interchange (WEDI), the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) and the Medical Group Management Association (MGMA), announced a call for volunteers for the Health Benefits and Health Record Mobile Solution or Virtual Clipboard Initiative. The initiative is being designed to facilitate the patient intake process, including automating the collection of critical health insurance and demographic information.

Building off recommendations contained in the 2013 WEDI Report, the project seeks to leverage smart technologies to dramatically enhance the patient experience while improving patient safety. The Institute and its partners are working to create a solution blueprint for a “smart” mobile solution that will allow the provider’s “clipboard” of demographic, insurance and critical clinical information (e.g. allergies, medications and lab results) to be efficiency and accurately disseminated electronically to the provider. The goal is to design, launch and measure the Phase 1 pilot solution in 2015.

“We are encouraged by the resounding industry response during last month’s launch of this initiative, which included active counsel from more than 40 representatives from major health plans, providers, health IT vendors and government entities,” said Devin Jopp, Ed.D, president and CEO of WEDI. “Now we’re opening the call to action even further, welcoming more industry volunteers to serve as thought leaders and help guide efforts to drive this important initiative.”

To move the process forward, the following workgroups and workgroup leaders have been identified:

Pilot Design and Adoption

• Ryan Bosch, MD, Inova Health System
• Durwin Day, Blue Cross Blue Shield of IL
• Jon Zimmerman, GE Healthcare

Technical Solution

• Tammy Banks, Optum
• Paul Heter, Aetna
• Jean Narcisi, American Dental Association
• Nithin Sathyamoorthy, Epic

Privacy and Security

• Debbie Bucci, Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT, HHS
• Jim Daley, BCBS of South Carolina
• Deidre Rodriguez, WellPoint
• Richard Wagner, ABILITY Network

Measuring Success

• Chris Bruns, MedInformatix, Inc.
• Gail Kocher, Blue Cross Blue Shield Association
• Robert Tennant, Medical Group Management Association

“This important initiative would not be possible without such diverse, industry-wide collaboration,” said Robert Tennant, Senior Policy Advisor, Government Affairs for MGMA. “We commend the Sullivan Institute for assembling some of the most prominent names in healthcare to guide this effort as we endeavor to overcome what can be a financially wasteful, administratively inefficient, and error-prone part of the care delivery process.”

Along with industry experts and volunteers, there will be liaisons from Sullivan Institute for Healthcare Innovation’s Patient Experience Council involved with each workgroup so that the patient perspective is included in the design and implementation of the new “virtual clipboard.”

The scope of Virtual Clipboard Pilot will be in two phases to include both administrative and clinical information portions of the clipboard:

• Pilot Phase 1: Demographics & Benefits Coverage
• Pilot Phase 2: Medications and Allergies

The Sullivan Institute for Healthcare Innovation is calling all industry stakeholders to get involved in the effort. Please contact [email protected] to learn more about this initiative, express interest in serving on the solutions workgroup, or be considered as a pilot site.

About the Sullivan Institute

In 1993, the original WEDI Report brought together public and private industry to develop a roadmap for healthcare information exchange. In 2013, on the 20th anniversary of that original report and with Then Honorable Louis W. Sullivan, M.D.’s leadership, WEDI developed a new report which laid out the future of healthcare information exchange. The Louis W. Sullivan Institute for Healthcare Innovation is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, named in honor of The Honorable Louis W. Sullivan, M.D. Its mission is to bring healthcare leaders together to share knowledge needed to transform the quality and efficiency of healthcare delivery through education, cooperation, communication and innovation. To learn more, visit www.sullivaninstitute.org.

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In 1993, the original WEDI Report brought together public and private industry to develop a roadmap for healthcare information exchange. In 2013, on the 20th anniversary of that original report and with Then Honorable Louis W. Sullivan, M.D.’s leadership, WEDI developed a new report which laid out the future of healthcare information exchange.

As the 2013 WEDI Report was completed, it was evident that the future of health IT innovation must be driven by private industry. The Louis W. Sullivan Institute for Healthcare Innovation represents the first organization to undertake building a network of private institutions, at the CEO level, that will serve to quickly identify and spread innovative technologies across the US healthcare system. The Sullivan Institute’s goal is to accelerate the pace of health IT adoption across the US healthcare system, to realize efficiencies in healthcare information exchange, and to improve healthcare delivery and outcomes.

Louis W. Sullivan Institute for Healthcare Innovation Board of Trustee

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