June 4, 2013 — HealthHelp’s MedTree ODS offers a transparent clinical decision support system that allows providers to self-govern the ordering process and receive approval for most decisions in less than one minute, 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Providers access the system, which integrates with HealthHelp's Consult program for radiology, cardiology, radiation therapy and oncology benefits management via an intuitive web or tablet interface. It shows the up-to-the-minute, evidence-based appropriateness rating for a chosen test or treatment plan as well as additional information relating to the procedure, including cost and percent utilization for stated indications. MedTree QDS covers more than 400 conditions.
If a test or treatment plan receives a low rating, the system displays comparisons to local and national averages and offers more suitable options. The provider then can provide justification for orders of borderline appropriateness online or request live peer-to-peer consultation with an academically affiliated subspecialist.
Physicians also can see statistics for their specific appropriate usage, allowing the system to serve as inherent benchmarking. MedTree QDS also collects feedback, which the benefits management provider incorporates into the system's collective medical knowledge, thus improving care for subsequent patients and user experience for providers. This serves as just one example of how HealthHelp's programs meet federal medical loss ratio requirements, resulting in additional savings for payors.
Initial usage studies demonstrate a decrease in utilization with an increase in appropriate use, specifically a 3-5 percent decrease in imaging utilization over that of a traditional radiology benefits management pre-certification process, with a decrease in inappropriate ordering by 51 percent and an increase in appropriate ordering by 38 percent.
For more information: www.healthhelp.com