IRVING, TX--(Marketwire -05/15/12)- As health care leaders struggle to manage myriad new payment models and other demands associated with health care reform, the need for enterprise-wide visibility and the synthesis of clinical, operational and financial data has become a critical business requirement. To deliver this level of insight, VHA Inc., the national health care network, has developed VHA IMPERATIV, an enterprise-wide performance management solution to be unveiled and demonstrated at VHA's annual Leadership Conference in Denver, Colo., May 20-23.

Powered by analytics, expert advisory services and industry-leading best practices, the concept for VHA IMPERATIV was originally conceived through a collaboration of member hospitals in the VHA network. The VHA IMPERATIV roadmap includes sophisticated data analysis across the entire continuum of care that is considered integral to managing population health on a broad scale.

"Our 1,500 hospital members find that they must balance the complexities of emerging payment models and other health care reform changes with the need for continued superior clinical care and patient experience within a cost effective and patient-centric model. To support this, we've built a comprehensive, multi-dimensional solution designed to help each hospital achieve its performance improvement objectives. This solution meets each member where they are today in their transformation journey and guides them where they need to go moving forward," said Steve Miff PhD, senior vice president for VHA IMPERATIV. "Given today's pressures, this holistic, data-driven and collaborative approach allows health care leaders to quickly make well-informed decisions that will significantly improve their overall performance."

IMPERATIV componentsMiff explains that the sum is greater than the whole of its parts, with VHA IMPERATIV components, including: Advisory servicesVHA IMPERATIV is differentiated from other hospital performance improvement tools by a critical element to success: the human touch. VHA's expert advisors work with subscribers to synthesize opportunities and recommend performance improvement strategies based on factual information from multiple data sources throughout the enterprise. AnalyticsVHA IMPERATIV employs integrated data from clinical, financial and operational domains, combined with proven strategies, to deliver the insight to support current and emerging population-based payment models. VHA IMPERATIV building blocksVHA partners with Thomson Reuters and UHC to provide hospitals with industry-leading clinical and operational benchmarking data in an additional subscription-based service called VHA IMPERATIV Advantage. VHA IMPERATIV Advantage provides all the service of the foundational offering plus more detailed analytics, robust data and advanced advisory services. VHA partnered with Thomson Reuters and UHC to include their powerful clinical and operational database systems into VHA IMPERATIV Advantage. VHA IMPERATIV Advantage incorporates clinical data tools CareDiscovery and CareDiscovery Quality Measures from Thomson Reuters and UHC's Clinical Data Base and Resource Manager, along with the operational data system from Thomson Reuters, ActionOI.

Thomson Reuters and UHC are recognized leaders at managing complex healthcare data and combing it with powerful analytics to uncover every opportunity to improve the efficiency and outcomes of healthcare services. Building upon existing relationships, these new collaborations unite information assets with the power of analytics, expert advisory services and industry knowledge to help hospitals improve their operational, clinical and financial performance.

KnowledgeMoving beyond data, VHA IMPERATIV leverages the VHA Leading Practice Blueprint library of more than 150 leading clinical and patient-centered practices including clostridium difficile, hand hygiene and urinary tract infections to help hospitals achieve CMS' Partnership for Patients improvement objectives as well as emerging national quality and cost improvement requirements on metrics such as 30-day readmission, care coordination, value analysis, reprocessing, inventory management and the patient centered medical home (PCMH).

Peer-to-Peer collaborationIn addition to data capture and analysis, VHA IMPERATIV encourages peer-to-peer networking and collaboration by expanding existing regional and national knowledge-sharing opportunities, which help to facilitate members' adoption of best practices. VHA advisors are available every step of the way to aid members in evaluating, prioritizing and identifying performance improvement opportunities.

To schedule a VHA IMPERATIV demonstration at the VHA Leadership Conference in Denver, contact Maxine Levy, 972.830.7845, mlevy@vha.com. For additional information on VHA IMPERATIV, visit http://www.vha.com/VHAIMPERATIV or call 800.842.5146 or 972.830.0626.

About VHA Inc. Based in Irving, TX, VHA Inc. is a national network of not-for-profit health care organizations that work together to drive maximum savings in the supply chain arena, set new levels of clinical performance, and identify and implement best practices to improve operational efficiency and clinical outcomes. Since 1977, VHA has leveraged its expertise in analytics, contracting, consulting and networks to help members achieve their operational, clinical and financial objectives. In 2011, VHA delivered record savings and value of $1.8 billion to members. VHA serves more than 1,350 hospitals and more than 30,000 non-acute care providers nationwide, coordinating delivery of its programs and services through its 15 regional offices. VHA has been ranked as one of the best places to work in healthcare by Modern Healthcare since the publication introduced this list in 2008.

Original post:

VHA IMPERATIV(TM) Gives Hospital Leaders Holistic Performance Improvement Advantage