Product development focus groups are driving Hixny’s evolution.
It’s well-known in health information technology that electronic health records systems are often developed with no input or guidance from the very providers who will be tied to them for years after implementation. In April, Hixny expanded its effort to shift away from this model by launching regularly scheduled product development focus groups.
Over the years, we’ve occasionally convened a focus group to help us work through a specific idea or functionality. Now, we have a regular schedule of meetings that bring together users from different disciplines, in a variety of healthcare settings to discuss workflows, gather feedback about various initiatives in development or vet small enhancements.
Representatives from 25 Hixny-connected providers joined our focus group in 2002, including private primary care and specialty practices, hospitals and hospital departments, FQHCs, local departments of health, care coordination agencies, behavioral health providers and extended care facilities.
In fact, all of the enhancements made to the patient record snapshot this year, including the social referral tool, have flowed from focus group feedback. That includes a section of the landing page dedicated to recent visits and the information they generated, as well as one for vitals with additional details about how measurements were taken.
Hixny moderators have asked that participants speak freely and as a result, the groups have also steered our teams away from proposals that didn’t show sufficient benefit to the clinical side. For example, focus group feedback had us rethink how we were approaching reports about monkeypox and polio cases and vaccinations.
Make Hixny Obligatory
“Hixny isn’t just for the primary care doctor. If everyone is using the HIE in the same way, the concept of sharing the load of patient care and expediting that care is realized,” says David Skory, a provider in Women’s Health and Clinical Quality at Whitney M. Young Health, who is a frequent participant in focus groups. “Do you need to do a complete metabolic panel (CBC) this week if someone else saw them last week? Probably not, so pass that along.”
Hixny isn’t just for the primary care doctor. If everyone is using the HIE in the same way, the concept of sharing the load of patient care and expediting that care is realized.
As it relates to the patient record snapshot, Skory says, “There are a lot of ideas worth discussing, but cramming too much in makes the tool tricky to navigate. There’s been steady improvement—and I’m a big fan that you keep trying to make things better!”
“To make it an obligation to use it, we have to connect the pieces for users,” Skory continues. “My concept of what we could and should be doing has to do with working as a community and a team. Put the resources at our fingertips, and we should use the resources available. The snapshot could be useful for all patients if all providers tap into the to-do and done lists … It’s a collaboration tool as much as a view of a specific patient.”
An Ongoing Evolution
“The whole team is doing a great job. Hixny is a great resource and the tools they provide reduce care fragmentation and improve the overall quality of patient care,” explains Mikhail Torosoff, MD, from the Albany Med Department of Cardiology, another frequent focus group participant. “The snapshot is very useful. It’s become an indispensable tool in our daily practice. That’s why I joined the focus group. I wanted to help, even in the smallest way.”
The snapshot is very useful. It’s become an indispensable tool in our daily practice. That’s why I joined the focus group. I wanted to help, even in the smallest way.
Torosoff explains that his workflow, as a physician in a lower-volume academic practice, may be different from others in the industry, his specialty or even his office. “I look for a diagnosis list, medications, allergies, most recent admissions and office visits, labs and radiology. If I could have a custom page made for myself, it would support the way I use the information even more effectively.”
That’s just one of the ideas Hixny is working to accommodate in future iterations of the snapshot, and in consultation with our focus groups.
