A Connected POC Ecosystem Plays a Crucial Role in Measuring and Reporting

November 20, 2025

A fully connected point of care (POC) ecosystem is the foundation for a modern, resilient healthcare system where every connection is meaningful and adds value to the healthcare experience. It represents an opportunity for a paradigm shift to improve how care is delivered, coordinated and experienced across the healthcare continuum.

By playing a crucial role in measuring and reporting the quality and performance of healthcare services, a connected POC ecosystem serves as the backbone for data-driven decision-making. By improving data availability, care coordination, patient engagement, standardization and reporting accuracy, it helps with a number of performance metrics, including:

• Closing care gaps more effectively

• Ensuring timely delivery of preventive services

• Reducing errors and redundancies

• Increasing provider performance transparency

• Enhancing patient satisfaction and outcomes

• Improving accessibility and convenience of healthcare services

• Enabling better management of improvement activities

• Enhancing promoting interoperability (PI) performance

Measuring operational and clinical success

Ultimately, these types of performance improvements lead to better HEDIS (Healthcare Effectiveness Data and Information Sets), CAHPS (Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems) and MIPS (Merit-based Incentive Payment System) scores, which not only reflect higher quality care but also influence Medicare Advantage Star Ratings, payer reimbursements, provider bonuses, and patient satisfaction and retention.

According to the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA), HEDIS is one of healthcare’s most widely used performance improvement tools, with over 235 million people enrolled in plans that report the measurement results. This set of performance measures for health plans tracks clinical quality and preventive care outcomes across multiple domains, such as chronic disease management, preventive care, behavioral health and access to primary care services. HEDIS allows consumers, employers and regulators to compare health plan performance on an equal basis, with plans scored based on how they meet measurement criteria.

Patient experience is a critical dimension of quality in ambulatory care and is increasingly emphasized in the CAHPS family of standardized surveys, developed by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ). It focuses on how patients experienced or perceived key aspects of their care. This includes communication with doctors, understanding medication instructions and the coordination of healthcare needs. CAHPS results are typically reported alongside HEDIS metrics and contribute significantly to a health plan or provider group’s Medicare Advantage Star Ratings, value-based contracts and reimbursement.

MIPS, part of the Quality Payment Program (QPP) created by the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015, adjusts how healthcare providers are paid based on their performance in certain quality and efficiency measures. It is designed to reward high-value, high-quality care rather than the traditional fee-for-service model, which paid providers purely based on the number of services delivered. While MIPS remains a valid input to payor incentives, many of the key performance indicators (KPIs) mirror the HEDIS measures.

Leveraging a connected POC

One of the benefits of a fully connected POC ecosystem is that it helps ensure healthcare systems and facilities can utilize the latest technologies and innovations to drive operational efficiencies and enhance outcomes. Here are two examples of how a connected POC ecosystem can benefit these measurements.

1. Midmark® IQvitals Zone automatically connects to electronic medical records (EMRs) to facilitate data transmission and help ensure exact vital signs measurements are stored in the permanent record. This establishes a level of standardization that minimizes human variables and maximizes consistency and data accuracy.
   
   Connected diagnostic devices used in conjunction with a height-adjustable chair, including the Midmark 626 Barrier-Free® Examination Chair, allow proper positioning of patients to support more accurate blood pressure readings. Patient data, like an integrated Digital Scale to weigh patients quickly and discreetly from the comfort of the exam chair, is transferred directly into the EMR to adhere to clinical guidelines for best practice blood pressure measurement.
   
   This ties directly back to the Controlling High Blood Pressure measurement of HEDIS. It also impacts the MIPS Promoting Interoperability category that focuses on using certified EMR technology to improve care coordination and patient access.

2. Mobile workstations—such as Midmark® Workstations—are designed to enhance accessibility by enabling caregivers to be more present with patients during visits and supporting seamless patient/caregiver interactions. This helps reduce the communications barrier between patients and caregivers. Caregivers and staff can input information, access patient records or review diagnostic data without leaving the patient’s side and while maintaining eye contact. This allows them to keep the patient experience and interaction top of mind.
   
   This can directly impact the CAHPS measurements that look at how well clinicians communicate during a patient visit. It also ties back to the MIPS Improvement Activities category that assesses participation in activities that improve clinical practice, such as patient engagement.

To learn more about a connected point of care ecosystem, visit midmark.com.