MedWorm provides a medical RSS filtering service. Over 6000 RSS medical sources are combined and output via different filters. This feed contains the latest medical blog items that have been tagged with 'electronic health record'. Sat, 03 Sep 2011 02:12:40 +0100 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5181958&cid=t_173369_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FEmrAndHipaa%2F%7E3%2F2ScUo2cTw1c%2F Many of you might remember my recent post about EMR Performance Issues (ie. EMR Slowness). Turns out, the post had a pretty big impact on some readers of the site. In fact, it sounds like it was partially therapeutic for some to realize that they’re not alone. I asked permission to share one of the responses with you so you could get some more first hand perspective on the issue of EMR slowness. I share it in the hopes that others can be aware and avoid it. Plus, I hope the EHR vendors that read this will take it to heart and be fanatically focused on EMR speed and customer support. I’ve removed the name of the writer and the names of the vendors. Plus, realize that it was written originally in an email communication and not necessarily to be published. OMG…you hit the na... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5181958 Thu, 01 Sep 2011 22:28:48 +0100 5181958 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5181959&cid=t_173369_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FEmrAndHipaa%2F%7E3%2FTHPZrzE1cCI%2F In a post on EMR and EHR about Social Media and EMRs, Andre Vovan, MD MBA from Mitochon Systems offered an interesting insight into the comparison between EMR and social media. Social media and EMR are a natural fit. Think about what social media really enables. The ablity to stay connected, following different strings of info/story weaved by connected people. Say for instance you and your friends went to the Grand Canyon, one person took pictures while the other did the cooking, planning, and was responsible for entertainment during the trip. When they try to retell the story to their friends, each will be able to add different aspect of the story and with social network platforms such as facebook, this is possible. Now take the story above, and insert 2 doctors and change the trip taken ... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5181959 Wed, 31 Aug 2011 16:44:38 +0100 5181959 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5181960&cid=t_173369_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FEmrAndHipaa%2F%7E3%2FGFmRr9VJvx8%2F Chuck Podesta is Fletcher Allen Health Care’s chief information officer. ICD-10 would not be so daunting if the deadline was not occurring during the rush to get EHRs for meaningful use. Add in value-based purchasing, bundled payments and transitioning to ACOs, and you can see why many CIOs are retiring early or migrating to the vendor or consulting world. We are just over two years away from the October 2013 deadline, and there is much work to be done. ICD-10 contains 68,000 codes, as opposed to the 13,000 currently used in the ICD-9 world. There is a code for every condition that exists on the planet. The revenue cycle system, which includes registration, HIM and billing/AR, will be the lynch pin to ICD-10 readiness. Having a solid vendor partner and a strong product is key to a succ... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5181960 Tue, 30 Aug 2011 17:56:35 +0100 5181960 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5174703&cid=t_173369_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FEmrAndHipaa%2F%7E3%2Fg_faMvFVu7k%2F Lynn Scheps is Vice President, Government Affairs at EHR vendor SRSsoft. In this role, Lynn has been a Voice of Physicians and SRSsoft users in Washington during the formulation of the meaningful use criteria. Lynn is currently working to assist SRSsoft users interested in showing meaningful use and receiving the EHR incentive money. Check out Lynn’s previous Meaningful Use Monday posts. A great deal of work, discussion, and debate by the HIT Policy Committee and its Workgroup members went into developing the recommendations for meaningful use Stage 2 (discussed in the last two Meaningful Use Monday posts). Meetings were frequent and lengthy, but I tried to listen in on most of them to gain some insights into the thinking behind the decisions being made and the future direction of me... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5174703 Mon, 29 Aug 2011 17:35:33 +0100 5174703 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5174704&cid=t_173369_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FEmrAndHipaa%2F%7E3%2FMJr4_oLHBIQ%2F Time to touch on a few popular topics that I found being discussed on Twitter. First, I’ll put the tweets and then a little but of my own commentary on these hot button issues in healthcare IT. @GovHIT Does a nationwide #EHR lower healthcare costs? Social media reactions | #GovHIT Blog http://ow.ly/64DL1 I always love when people talk about a nationwide EHR. I actually think that it’s a bad title by Government Healthcare IT, but that it’s a very good question. To me a nationwide EHR implies that there is one EHR for the entire nation. I think a number of other countries which are much smaller and less complex than the US have proven quite well that a nationwide government run EHR is a bad idea. I think the Government HIT article actually refers more to widespread adoption... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5174704 Mon, 29 Aug 2011 07:20:12 +0100 5174704 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5169597&cid=t_173369_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FEmrAndHipaa%2F%7E3%2FMv7wbsW1E7Y%2F Conclusion Don’t accept an EHR that’s slow. Make sure that the EHR performs at a satisfactory level. I know of nothing that frustrates a clinic more than a slow EHR. Related posts:Common EMR Implementation Issue – EHR Performance Issues We’re back again with our ongoing series on Common EMR... Common EMR Implementation Issues – Unexpected EHR Expenses This is the start of a new series of posts... Killer EMR Features According to EMR Vendors I previously posted a request to hear about the “killer”... (Source: EMR and HIPAA) EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5169597 Fri, 26 Aug 2011 19:49:29 +0100 5169597 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5159277&cid=t_173369_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FEmrAndHipaa%2F%7E3%2Fw2QBei4mkwo%2F For years, we’ve heard about how much clinical information is locked away in payer databases. Payers have offered to provide clinical summaries, electronic and otherwise, The problem is, it’s potentially inaccurate clinical information because it’s all based on billing claims. (Don’t believe me? Just ask “E-Patient” Dave de Bronkart.) It is for this reason that I don’t much trust “quality” ratings based on claims data. Just how much of a difference there was between claims data and true clinical data hasn’t been so clear, though. Until today. A paper just published online in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that searching EMRs with natural-language processing identified up to 12 times the number of pneumonia c... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5159277 Thu, 25 Aug 2011 21:47:57 +0100 5159277 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5159278&cid=t_173369_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FEmrAndHipaa%2F%7E3%2F6jLMN8ZSAok%2F We’re back again with our ongoing series on Common EMR Implementation Issues. Seems like readers really liked my first entry in the series about Unexpected EHR Expenses. To be quite honest, I was really happy with how that post turned out myself. It’s one of the most comprehensive and useful posts I’ve written in the 5.5+ years I’ve been writing about EMR and EHR. Hopefully we can continue that trend. Today’s Common EMR Implementation Problem: EHR Performance Issues I have to admit that this is a really tough problem to crack. However, it’s also incredibly common. The symptoms for this problem usually are described as, “THIS EHR IS SOOOOOO SLOW!” (This is appropriate use of ALL CAPS since they are often yelling this.) Followed by a *huff* and... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5159278 Wed, 24 Aug 2011 18:44:49 +0100 5159278 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5159279&cid=t_173369_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FEmrAndHipaa%2F%7E3%2FHNwIjbnhAi8%2F I recently had the great opportunity to go to breakfast with Valerie Migliore and Karin Eichler during my visit to my in-laws in the upstate New York area (Rochester specifically). Despite being very pleasant ladies I was also happy to see they could speak EMR speak with me. I’ve met a whole lot of different people over the years and far too often I go and meet with someone who is just getting into the EMR world and so they’re still learning the ways of the EMR (excuse the Star Wars reference). I still enjoy those types of visits, but I really enjoy meeting with people like Valerie and Karin who can share with me some other EMR perspectives. In fact, they often show me new ways that I hadn’t looked at something before. Turns out Val and Karin recently did a presentation a... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5159279 Tue, 23 Aug 2011 14:43:18 +0100 5159279 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5159280&cid=t_173369_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FEmrAndHipaa%2F%7E3%2FTRWtDdOJM_4%2F Lynn Scheps is Vice President, Government Affairs at EHR vendor SRSsoft. In this role, Lynn has been a Voice of Physicians and SRSsoft users in Washington during the formulation of the meaningful use criteria. Lynn is currently working to assist SRSsoft users interested in showing meaningful use and receiving the EHR incentive money. Check out Lynn’s previous Meaningful Use Monday posts. In addition to the Meaningful Use Stage 2 recommendations discussed in last week’s Meaningful Use Monday, the HIT Policy Committee proposed a new framework for the reporting of clinical quality measures that was designed by its specifically-tasked Quality Measure Workgroup. The recommended concept is depicted in the graphic below—the intention is to broaden the scope of reporting to address a wid... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5159280 Mon, 22 Aug 2011 15:19:08 +0100 5159280 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5159281&cid=t_173369_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FEmrAndHipaa%2F%7E3%2F_az5UonSHQ4%2F Discussion About EMR Study by Accenture One of the first people I talked with when I... Google Health Co-op (Making Google Health Portal Possible) This is a little late to be posting, but I’ve... (Source: EMR and HIPAA) EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5159281 Mon, 22 Aug 2011 05:11:50 +0100 5159281 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5159282&cid=t_173369_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FEmrAndHipaa%2F%7E3%2FU4K02LkFYNc%2F LinuxMedNews just posted the announcement that OpenEMR is now a certified EHR. Here’s the quote from their announcement: It’s official! OpenEMR has passed all ONC certification tests as a fully qualified emr that can be used to attest for incentive moneys. The official posting: http://onc-chpl.force.com/ehrcert/EHRProductDetail?id=a0X30000003mNwTEAU&retURL= appeared on the website 2011/08/19. Congratulations to all involved! OpenEMR 4.1 should be ready for download in a few weeks. This is a really big announcement for the open source ambulatory EHR community. A number of other open source EHR are certified, but they’re mostly for the hospital EHR space. So, it’s a great thing for OpenEMR to provide an open source EHR to the ambulatory space. Plus, I have to adm... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5159282 Sun, 21 Aug 2011 05:32:11 +0100 5159282 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5159283&cid=t_173369_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FEmrAndHipaa%2F%7E3%2F42OlfYrK2Vg%2F This is the start of a new series of posts that I plan to do over the next week or two. I’ll probably try and space them out so that they don’t overwhelm anyone. However, it’s going to be a series of common EMR implementation issues that I hear over and over again. This series was prompted by a post on HIStalk by Inga where she talked about her visit to the doctor and his complaints about his EHR implementation. As I read through the list of complaints, I realized that they were all complaints that I’d heard before. If I’ve heard them all before, then they must be pretty common and worth talking about more. Ideally the discussions in this EMR implementation series will help practices and doctors that are implementing an EMR to avoid these issues. I also know t... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5159283 Fri, 19 Aug 2011 19:45:47 +0100 5159283 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5139937&cid=t_173369_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FEmrAndHipaa%2F%7E3%2FIJjkpBY92iI%2F Every couple months I like to take a bit of an inventory on EMR and HIPAA along with recognizing new advertisers to the EMR and HIPAA family along. Not to mention send out a big thanks to all those advertisers who have renewed during that time period as well. EMR and HIPAA is still doing more amazing than I ever thought it could. During the slow summer months we’re still averaging about 4500 pageviews per day. In fact, we’re inching ever closer to 5 million pageviews since we first started tracking the stats. I think I might have to celebrate the day we reach that landmark. This will be the 1,139th post on EMR and HIPAA and we’ve had 5,590 comments made. That’s roughly 5 comments per post. So thank you to all those who contribute to the amazing community that exists... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5139937 Wed, 17 Aug 2011 17:49:39 +0100 5139937 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5139938&cid=t_173369_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FEmrAndHipaa%2F%7E3%2FYKYYdrcHm4s%2F I recently came across this really interesting Wall Street Journal blog post. In it a recent college graduate gives a nice rendition of the challenge of changing from student to employee. Turns out, this newly minted graduate has found work at the popular healthcare IT software company: Epic. Of course, the fact that Epic is hiring a recent college graduate should come as no surprise to anyone in the EMR and healthcare IT field. Epic has long been a haven for new graduates since their hiring practices seem to favor training new blood as opposed to hiring experienced EMR practitioners. However, reading the above post made me think back to when I first got hired for a job working with an electronic medical record. This part of the blog post really hit home (emphasis mine): Starting Aug 1, I ... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5139938 Tue, 16 Aug 2011 16:12:04 +0100 5139938 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5130856&cid=t_173369_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FEmrAndHipaa%2F%7E3%2F7izZd7JZcgo%2F Lynn Scheps is Vice President, Government Affairs at EHR vendor SRSsoft. In this role, Lynn has been a Voice of Physicians and SRSsoft users in Washington during the formulation of the meaningful use criteria. Lynn is currently working to assist SRSsoft users interested in showing meaningful use and receiving the EHR incentive money. Check out Lynn’s previous Meaningful Use Monday posts. A few weeks ago, the HIT Policy Committee forwarded its Stage 2 meaningful use recommendations to CMS. CMS is expected to issue a Proposed Rule in early 2012 and the Final Rule in mid-2012.  The first recommendation—intensely debated, but overwhelmingly supported in the end—is to delay the start of Stage 2 until 2014, recognizing the unrealistic time pressure that vendors and providers would fac... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5130856 Mon, 15 Aug 2011 16:43:35 +0100 5130856 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5130857&cid=t_173369_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FEmrAndHipaa%2F%7E3%2FOwSQ9eBjmd0%2F This was a great piece of advice that was given at my Health Tech Next Generation EMR 101 panel. @2healthguru – Gregg Masters We run from EMR vendors w/products that offer lots of free hours of training. Means EMR UI not Intuitive @brandrew0 #HTng11 I’d only clarify that unlimited free support is good, but it’s when they suggest you use a week of that free support that you run. Related posts:Advice for EMR Selection Consultants A recent comment asked me what I thought about this... Advice to Karen Bell, CCHIT Head I previously posted about the new head of CCHIT, Karen... Best Advice for Those Implementing an EMR Since it’s the weekend, I like to open it up... (Source: EMR and HIPAA) EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5130857 Mon, 15 Aug 2011 07:41:41 +0100 5130857 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5125825&cid=t_173369_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FEmrAndHipaa%2F%7E3%2FU55DsRRCd6E%2F I was hit by this comment made by Ciro on a LinkedIn group that I’m apart of (You can find the HealthcareScene.com blog network on LinkedIn if you want to join). My patients are discharged from hospitals and are seen in different offices. I have no clue what changes have been made when I open the patient’s record in my emr. We have to call to have notes faxed to us all the time. Then we scan the documents into the emr and attach it to the patient record as a tif file. If a patient has a reaction to a medication and is seen at urgent care facility, I will not know about it unless the patient tells me. There is no integrity in my emr data since changes are made all the time. Our hospital recently spent millions on a emr that does not integrate with any outpatient emr. Where is th... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5125825 Fri, 12 Aug 2011 13:47:51 +0100 5125825 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5118746&cid=t_173369_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FEmrAndHipaa%2F%7E3%2FQcpbBa3mVII%2F This is the next in a series of EMR and EHR interviews that will be done on EMR and HIPAA and EMR and EHR. The full EMR interview with Dr. Ho can be found on the new EHR and EMR interviews website. The following is a summary of that interview written by Kathy Bongiovi. After completing a family practice residency at the University of Rochester in 1989, Dr. Ho worked in a variety of settings before making her decision to open her no-staff “micropractice” in 2004. Ho defines micropractice as being “a small, low overhead, no staff, hightech-high touch practice.” Because Ho believes the current financing model of delivering primary care by cranking up the volume of visits in order to meet overhead and salary is broken she wanted to move to a model that would be better for patients and ... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5118746 Wed, 10 Aug 2011 19:18:04 +0100 5118746 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5118747&cid=t_173369_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FEmrAndHipaa%2F%7E3%2F-wzekic95sE%2F Patient Doctor Relationship It seems like this topic keeps coming up in my online and social media reading. Basically, the discussion usually centers around the role the patient plays in healthcare. Many people like to discuss what has been called the ePatient. I instead want to talk about the motivations of patients and their ability to influence the healthcare system. Patients in healthcare are unlike “customers” in many other industries. I can’t think of a single patient that wants to go and see a doctor. Ok, maybe they like the doctor and they want to get whatever’s ailing them fixed, but to a person I’m sure we’d say that going to the doctor is the last place we want to be. It’s not like going shopping for a new pair of shoes. There’s no... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5118747 Tue, 09 Aug 2011 19:12:45 +0100 5118747 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5118748&cid=t_173369_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FEmrAndHipaa%2F%7E3%2FjLM8hRYzQbY%2F Lynn Scheps is Vice President, Government Affairs at EHR vendor SRSsoft. In this role, Lynn has been a Voice of Physicians and SRSsoft users in Washington during the formulation of the meaningful use criteria. Lynn is currently working to assist SRSsoft users interested in showing meaningful use and receiving the EHR incentive money. Check out Lynn’s previous Meaningful Use Monday posts. At last week’s HIT Policy Committee meeting, Robert Tagalicod, (the new director of the Office of E-Health Standards & Services), presented an analysis of the attestation experience to-date [See John's previous Meaningful Use Details post for the slides and report]. The results lend themselves to some interesting observations—admittedly preliminary findings, but revealing nonetheless:  The ... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5118748 Mon, 08 Aug 2011 18:58:10 +0100 5118748 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5118749&cid=t_173369_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FEmrAndHipaa%2F%7E3%2FJZhjPfrltFs%2F Great counsel and advice for those still looking at various EHR software (especially specialists) @EMRAnswers Linda Lia Customizable content “offered”, doesn’t mean your specialty is available. Big difference. Ask for a “live” demo. #EMR #HITsm #healthIT EMR implementation in 6 weeks. Hospital EMR people will balk at this. However, it’s possible in the ambulatory setting. I wouldn’t recommend it, but one time I had to do it. @PediatricInc Brandon Betancourt New Post – Going from paper charts to EMR in 6 weeks; a summary http://bit.ly/npmSEH #EMR Everyone hates redundant work. So, this tweet caught my eye: @TheNerdyNurse The Nerdy Nurse In Case You Missed it: : Teetering Between EMR and Paper Charting: Frustration and Duplication – What ... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5118749 Mon, 08 Aug 2011 05:21:27 +0100 5118749 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5107647&cid=t_173369_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.emrandhipaa.com%2Femr-and-hipaa%2F2011%2F08%2F05%2Fpreliminary-meaningful-use-details-out%2F Brian Ahier has a great post up that had the presentation and report (embedded below) that CMS provided to the HIT Policy Committee. It has a lot of great information worth talking about. I’m going to embed the presentation and report below and pull out some of the key points in a post later. Let me know what catches your eye. The CMS Meaningful Use Presentation The CMS Meaningful Use Report Related posts:Meaningful Use Mondays – More 90 Day Reporting Period Details As a follow-up to last week’s Meaningful Use Monday, the... Meaningful Use Measures: Electronic Copy of Health Information – Meaningful Use Monday Meaningful Use Core Measure: More than 50% of all patients... Helpful Meaningful Use Resources – Meaningful Use Monday I spend a lot of my day answering questio... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5107647 Fri, 05 Aug 2011 21:38:20 +0100 5107647 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5107648&cid=t_173369_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.emrandhipaa.com%2Fneil%2F2011%2F08%2F04%2Frandom-thoughts-emr-projects-decentralized-problems-persist-despite-solutions%2F Once in a while, I run out of Big Ideas to share and resort to a rundown of short items. This is one of those times. Often, though, that approach turns out to be more interesting than a well-thought-out commentary. (Thus, the popularity of Twitter, right?) Speaking of Big Ideas, I’m thinking that the age of the massive EMR project may be coming to an end. You may have seen my piece in InformationWeek today about the reported end of the national EMR in England. London’s The Independent reported earlier this week that the Cameron government will announce next month that it will scrap the national strategy in favor of allowing local hospitals and trusts to make independent EMR purchasing and implementation decisions. This news comes on the heels of a decision by the government of ... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5107648 Thu, 04 Aug 2011 22:22:35 +0100 5107648 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5096205&cid=t_173369_87_f&fid=39187&url=http%3A%2F%2Fgetbetterhealth.com%2Fwill-patients-accept-the-patient-portal-as-the-next-big-thing%2F2011.08.04 There seems to be an inverse relationship between the amount of spin one hears about “the next big thing”…and reality.    First it was EMRs and virtual e-visits, then social media, and now patient portals seem poised to be next big thing.  The drumbeat of vendors and pundits is unmistakable….physicians that don’t adapt will be toast.   It can all sound pretty convincing until you ask to see the evidence.  What do patients think? Take the physician patient portal.   If you read between the lines, patient portals are frequently being positioned as the new “front door” to physician practices.   By signing on to a secure website patients will have real time access to the electronic health record and will be able to communicate with their physicians by e-mail.   Addit... Better Health blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5096205 Thu, 04 Aug 2011 16:00:59 +0100 5096205 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5107649&cid=t_173369_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.emrandhipaa.com%2Femr-and-hipaa%2F2011%2F08%2F03%2Feprescribing-controlled-substances%2F Back on September 13, 2009 I wrote a post titled, “FDA Approves Pilot Electronic Prescribing of Controlled Substances.” I’d link to the post, but unfortunately the news got sent to me prematurely and so I had to take the post down. It was unfortunate, since there was and still is a lot of interest in being able to ePrescribe controlled substances. In fact, I’d say that not being able to prescribe controlled substances electronically is the current Achilles heal of ePrescribing. Fast forward to the recent announcement that DrFirst’s announcement of the Nationwide Launch of their ePrescribing Controlled Substances product. Their latest ePrescribing product for controlled substances is called EPCS Gold and is fully certified to meet the prescription processing re... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5107649 Wed, 03 Aug 2011 19:33:22 +0100 5107649 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5107650&cid=t_173369_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.emrandhipaa.com%2Femr-and-hipaa%2F2011%2F08%2F02%2Fan-opposing-view-of-carecloud-ehr%2F Turns out David, who manages the Smart Phone Healthcare, EMR Videos, EMR Screenshots and EMR News websites, didn’t agree with some of the devil’s advocate positions I took in my Carecloud EHR post. He said that after reading Dr. Blackledge’s post, I missed a number of things. So, the following is his commentary on what I missed in my previous Carecloud post. Pretty much every company out there has some good and bad about it.  There are a few that are completely useless, and a few that think they are perfect, but for the most part every company has some worthwhile traits and some things they need to work on. Last week, John wrote about a new EHR, Carecloud that has been talked about for months, but finally was released last week.  He referenced a post that was written... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5107650 Tue, 02 Aug 2011 14:48:52 +0100 5107650 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5107651&cid=t_173369_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.emrandhipaa.com%2Flynn%2F2011%2F08%2F01%2Fpublic-health-measures-meet-exclude-or-defer-%25e2%2580%2593-meaningful-use-monday%2F Lynn Scheps is Vice President, Government Affairs at EHR vendor SRSsoft. In this role, Lynn has been a Voice of Physicians and SRSsoft users in Washington during the formulation of the meaningful use criteria. Lynn is currently working to assist SRSsoft users interested in showing meaningful use and receiving the EHR incentive money. Check out Lynn’s previous Meaningful Use Monday posts. Last week’s Meaningful Use Monday identified the two meaningful use public health measures—electronic reporting of immunizations and electronic reporting of syndromic surveillance data—at least one of which EPs must include among their 5 menu measures. So, what do you do if you can’t meet one or both of the public health measures?  The requirement: EPs must accomplish at least one of these m... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5107651 Mon, 01 Aug 2011 17:15:34 +0100 5107651 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5107652&cid=t_173369_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.emrandhipaa.com%2Femr-and-hipaa%2F2011%2F07%2F31%2Fweekend-twitter-roundup%2F A quick look at some interesting EMR and healthcare IT related tweets I saw this weekend. This was timely after my recent posts about backup and disaster recovery. #bbpBox_96998476478558208 a { text-decoration:none; color:#0000ff; }#bbpBox_96998476478558208 a:hover { text-decoration:underline; } Don’t know how computer (EMR) dependent you are until the office power goes out for 2 hrs. Sheesh! (we’re back on now)…. July 29, 2011 10:40 am via webReplyRetweetFavorite @drmikesevilla Mike Sevilla, MD Interesting comparison for sure. #bbpBox_97644147334320128 a { text-decoration:none; color:#0084B4; }#bbpBox_97644147334320128 a:hover { text-decoration:underline; } Parallels w/paper vs EMR?? Fascinating MT @KentBottles: http://ow.ly/5Rrgi Paper calendar vs. electronic ... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5107652 Mon, 01 Aug 2011 05:10:59 +0100 5107652 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5107653&cid=t_173369_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.emrandhipaa.com%2Femr-and-hipaa%2F2011%2F07%2F30%2Fhealth-tech-next-generation-conference-see-you-in-san-francisco%2F I haven’t been to a healthcare IT conference in a little while. Mostly, because I hadn’t seen one that I really wanted to attend. So, I’m excited that August 12th I’m going to the Health Tech: Next Generation Conference in San Franscisco, CA. I’m actually going to be there the whole weekend since there’s a WordPress conference happening that weekend as well. Plus, there are a number of people I’m planning to meet with while I’m there. If you’re in San Francisco that weekend, let me know so we can get together. I always love meeting readers of this site. I’m really excited for this healthcare IT conference. They have the amazing Guy Kawasaki as one of the keynote speakers. He’s a dynamic person and I can’t wait to see ... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5107653 Sat, 30 Jul 2011 14:29:28 +0100 5107653 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5086318&cid=t_173369_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FEmrAndHipaa%2F%7E3%2F-7lsbU-z0_s%2F I’ve just turned in a story for InformationWeek Healthcare about the new “Essentials of the U.S. Hospital IT Market, 6th Edition” report from HIMSS Analytics. That report details the progress hospitals and integrated delivery networks have made in IT over the past year and gives an update on how far along providers are according to the HIMSS Analytics EMR Adoption Model. That’s the seven-level scale (eight if you count Stage Zero) that measures adoption of various EMR components. At the top of the scale, 1 percent of nonfederal hospitals in the U.S. attained Stage 7 in 2010, meaning that the EMR served as the legal medical record for all departments, was capable of exporting patient records as Continuity of Care Documents and had data warehousing and mining in place... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5086318 Thu, 28 Jul 2011 20:18:20 +0100 5086318 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5077816&cid=t_173369_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.emrandhipaa.com%2Femr-and-hipaa%2F2011%2F07%2F27%2Femr-and-meaningful-use-books%2F I must admit that I’m not much of a book guy. Especially since there’s so much free information available on the internet about just about any subject you could want. However, I’ve been quite intrigued by the number of healthcare IT related books that I’ve seen coming out of late. Here’s a quick roundup of some of the ones I’ve seen. Getting to Meaningful Use and Beyond: A Guide for IT Staff in Health Care by Fred Trotter and David Uhlman – I’ve been a big fan of Fred Trotter for a while. So, I’m glad he’s working on this book. Turns out the book isn’t even published, but in Fred Trotter open source style fashion, the book is available for free online right now. Of course, they’re hoping you’ll provide feedback. ... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5077816 Wed, 27 Jul 2011 18:46:01 +0100 5077816 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5077817&cid=t_173369_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.emrandhipaa.com%2Femr-and-hipaa%2F2011%2F07%2F26%2Fnew-ehr-company-ready-to-launch-carecloud%2F Aaron Blackledge M.D., founder of Care Practice clinic in San Francisco, sent me a link to a post he did back in April about a new EMR company called Carecloud. The irony of this is that Carecloud had just reached out to me for information about advertising their EMR on my sites since they are getting ready to launch their product. Their impending launch was why Aaron decided to share his post with me. I think Dr. Blackledge’s post about Carecloud is summarized in his final paragraph: My recommendation is if you are about to give up and lay down some hard earned cash on an EMR that is just good enough I would urge you to wait a few more months and compare CareCloud’s first iteration with other emerging platforms now gaining a foothold in the marketplace. Since Carecloud is about to... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5077817 Tue, 26 Jul 2011 23:11:03 +0100 5077817 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5069569&cid=t_173369_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FEmrAndHipaa%2F%7E3%2Fb5hGRxrAh3o%2F Lynn Scheps is Vice President, Government Affairs at EHR vendor SRSsoft. In this role, Lynn has been a Voice of Physicians and SRSsoft users in Washington during the formulation of the meaningful use criteria. Lynn is currently working to assist SRSsoft users interested in showing meaningful use and receiving the EHR incentive money. Check out Lynn’s previous Meaningful Use Monday posts. When selecting the 5 meaningful use menu measures on which to report—from the list of 10 possibilities—the only constraint is that the EP must include at least one of the two measures from the “public health” category: Perform a test of the EHR’s capacity to submit electronic data to immunization registries Perform a test of the EHR’s capacity to report electronic syndromic surveillance ... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5069569 Mon, 25 Jul 2011 15:46:09 +0100 5069569 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5062324&cid=t_173369_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.emrandhipaa.com%2Femr-and-hipaa%2F2011%2F07%2F22%2Ftop-5-ehr-contract-pitfalls-identified-guest-post%2F The decisions don’t end after deciding on an EHR system for your medical practice. An EHR contract is an important and legally binding document, and it’s absolutely essential to consider every line of fine print before accepting the terms. O’Toole Law Group founder William O’Toole strongly believes that contract terms should be one of the top criteria in the EHR selection process. Consulting with a lawyer before you sign is the best way to avoid difficult and expensive problems in the future. The following five issues arise frequently in EMR/EHR contracts, which are being rushed to execution by many practices that are aiming to qualify for federal funding under ARRA/HITECH. This is by no means an exhaustive list, but it aims to shed light on a few of the most frequent contract issu... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5062324 Fri, 22 Jul 2011 13:21:58 +0100 5062324 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5062326&cid=t_173369_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.emrandhipaa.com%2Femr-and-hipaa%2F2011%2F07%2F20%2Fwhat-if-they-get-hit-by-a-bus%2F A little while back I asked my wife what she would do with all my blogs if I was hit by the proverbial “bus.” Her answer made me laugh. She said, she’d log into my blogs and post that I had passed away and that if readers of the site would like to support my wife and kids they could do so using the PayPal button below. I guess it’s a good thing I taught my wife how to blog. I hope she never has to post that PayPal button. However, I’ve always loved the question of “what are you going to do if they get hit by a bus?” The “they” can be replaced by all sorts of things. Each organization will have a different set of “they’s”. Remember that the buses can come in all sorts of ways: re-location, new job, injury, illness, chan... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5062326 Wed, 20 Jul 2011 14:32:37 +0100 5062326 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5062327&cid=t_173369_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.emrandhipaa.com%2Femr-and-hipaa%2F2011%2F07%2F19%2Fipo-window-open-for-ehr-vendors%2F I’m pretty sure that many readers of this site haven’t found my new EMR related website called EMR and EHR Thoughts and so you might have missed the post I did about Greenway Medical filing to go public. This is obviously big news for Greenway, but I also think it’s a sign of things to come. I believe that Greenway is likely the first of many EHR companies that we’ll see go public over the next year or so. I’m sure that many of you haven’t followed the trends of tech company IPO’s and I’m far from an expert on this. However, the IPO window which was generally closed for tech companies now seems to be open after a number of successful public offerings from tech companies. I’m not sure why it took me so long to realize this, but I believe... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5062327 Tue, 19 Jul 2011 14:31:27 +0100 5062327 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5062328&cid=t_173369_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.emrandhipaa.com%2Flynn%2F2011%2F07%2F18%2Fmeaningful-use-measures-timely-electronic-access-to-health-information-%25e2%2580%2593-meaningful-use-monday%2F Meaningful Use Menu Measure: At least 10% of all unique patients seen by the eligible professional (EP) are provided timely (available to the patient within 4 business days) electronic access to their health information. This is a third meaningful use measure related to providing patients with access to their health information. Meaningful Use Mondays has already addressed the two core measures—clinical summary and electronic copy of health information—“timely access” is a menu measure.  The requirements are as follows: The measure includes a provision for EPs to claim an exclusion, but I don’t believe that many will qualify for this exclusion. They would have to attest that they “neither order nor create lab tests or information that would be contained in the problem list, m... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5062328 Mon, 18 Jul 2011 15:31:41 +0100 5062328 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5062330&cid=t_173369_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.emrandhipaa.com%2Femr-and-hipaa%2F2011%2F07%2F15%2Fehr-readiness-questions%2F In my interest of highlighting more EHR bloggers, I found this post by Ron Sterling on EHR Outlook quite interesting. In his post, Ron highlights a number of questions a clinic should ask itself to know if it’s ready for an EHR implementation. Here are the questions he lists: * Does your EHR effort have physician support? * Are you prepared to address ongoing problems? * Is your budget practical? * Does your EHR support your current workflow and operations? * Will your existing computer Infrastructure support an EHR? * Have you gotten your paper records ready? Check out the original post for Ron’s thoughts on each question and why that question is important. I think it’s a pretty good list to consider. I especially like the second question that addresses whether you&#8217... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5062330 Fri, 15 Jul 2011 15:14:37 +0100 5062330 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5062331&cid=t_173369_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.emrandhipaa.com%2Fneil%2F2011%2F07%2F14%2Fmostashari-plays-good-cop-unintentionally-making-cms-look-inflexible%2F Probably unintentionally, it seems like various HHS branches are playing good cop-bad cop right now. I’m in Ojai, Calif., right now (please don’t hate me because of it) for the annual Association of Medical Directors of Information Systems (AMDIS) Physician-Computer Connection meeting, a gathering of chief medical information officers and others in the field of what AMDIS likes to call applied medical informatics. That contrasts with the American Medical Informatics Association (AMIA), which tends to draw more from the academic side. The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) apparently is the good cop. National health IT coordinator Dr. Farzad Mostashari was unable to make it out here from Washington, but he addressed the gathering by teleph... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5062331 Thu, 14 Jul 2011 22:53:25 +0100 5062331 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5062332&cid=t_173369_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.emrandhipaa.com%2Femr-and-hipaa%2F2011%2F07%2F13%2Findependent-thinking-of-doctors-limits-ehr-vendor-consolidation%2F I’m not sure all the details of why this is the case (but I’m sure some will tell me why in the comments), but doctors are some of the most independent thinkers that I know. I’m not saying whether this is a good or a bad thing. It’s just an observation based on thousands of interactions with doctors from all specialties. This independence is shown in a plethora of areas from charting to treating to diagnosing to the business of medicine. Turns out, this independence is part of why I’ve heard doctors say hundreds of times that they basically want their own EHR and not a mainstream one. Doctors want an EHR that fits their unique practice style. Thus they have an expectation that whatever EHR they choose should understand that each doctor is different and natural... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5062332 Wed, 13 Jul 2011 15:08:26 +0100 5062332 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5028542&cid=t_173369_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FEmrAndHipaa%2F%7E3%2FU5Yy6DMMSVE%2F I recently was asked by Deanna from Mighty Oak to check out a demo of their Chart Talk EHR software (previously called DC talk). It’s always a challenge for me since there are only so many hours in a day to be demoing the more than 300 EHR companies out there. So, instead of doing a full demo, I asked Deanna to highlight a feature of Chart Talk that set them apart from other EHR software companies. She told me that Chart Talk’s killer feature was its integration with Dragon Naturally Speaking’s voice recognition software. I was very familiar with DNS and other voice recognition software, so I was interested to see if they really could create a deep integration of Dragon Medical over the other EHR software I’d seen that integrated it as well. I have to admit that I w... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5028542 Tue, 12 Jul 2011 15:08:17 +0100 5028542 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5028543&cid=t_173369_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FEmrAndHipaa%2F%7E3%2FHhgUwFu7e1U%2F Meaningful Use Core Measure: More than 50% of all patients who request an electronic copy of their health information are provided it within 3 business days. Exclusion: Any EP who receives no requests for this information in electronic format.  This measure is distinguished from  the clinical summary measure, (discussed in the previous Meaningful Use Monday post), in two major ways: 1)      “Electronic copy of health information” covers all health information that the provider has regarding the patient, whereas the “clinical summary” is a snapshot of a particular visit. 2)      This measure is driven by requests made by patients or their agents—electronic access must be provided in response to at least 50% of the specific requests received by a provider. By contrast, ... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5028543 Mon, 11 Jul 2011 14:18:26 +0100 5028543 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5028545&cid=t_173369_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FEmrAndHipaa%2F%7E3%2Fx2jHPP4ONKE%2F I can’t remember exactly where I saw someone talk about the “WIIFM” (What’s in it for Me) principle, but it really is an important principle that when understood can have an amazing impact for good. This post isn’t about whether you should live a life asking WIIFM. I’ll leave that question to people much smarter than me. Instead, I want to look at how applying the WIIFM principle to others can help those working on a successful EHR implementation. In most cases I’m talking about, the WIIFM should be changed to “What’s in it for Them?” Understanding the answer to this question can help you as an EMR consultant, an EMR vendor or even a practice manager or doctor that’s trying to work through an EMR implementation. One of the f... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5028545 Fri, 08 Jul 2011 19:48:02 +0100 5028545 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5008364&cid=t_173369_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FEmrAndHipaa%2F%7E3%2FxQq6eLbUOGU%2F When I learned that HITECH included funds setting up the regional extension center system to support small medical practices in implementing EHRs, I thought, well, that sounds OK. I wasn’t thrilled, mind you, as I wasn’t optimistic that a government-sponsored organization would produce the quick EHR adoption process HITECH demands, but it wasn’t a bad thing. Since then, I’ve gone from mildly interested to downright irritated.  While I wasn’t expecting the RECs to blaze a path to glory, I thought it would be nice if they produced great educational materials and sessions, made themselves highly accessible to physicians and offered clear guidance on vendor selection. As far as I can tell, we’re largely zero for three. Yes, as a recent a recent study notes,... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5008364 Thu, 07 Jul 2011 02:59:47 +0100 5008364 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5008365&cid=t_173369_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FEmrAndHipaa%2F%7E3%2FbrEuvSpFHdM%2F I think it’s quite easy to predict that 3-5 years from now, one of the top topics on this blog and in the EHR world as a whole is going to be around EHR data extraction or if you prefer EMR data conversion. I’ve previously predicted that by the end of the EHR stimulus money we’re be lucky to achieve 50% EHR adoption. So, you’d think that in 3-5 years we’d still be talking about EHR selection and implementation. Certainly, that will still be a topic of discussion. Not to mention, which EHR vendor they should go to for their second EHR. However, I am certain that 3-5 years from now we’re going to see a mass of doctors switching EHR vendors. As part of my EHR blog week challenge (if you’re a blogger, you should participate too), today I’m going ... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5008365 Tue, 05 Jul 2011 18:31:57 +0100 5008365 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4997645&cid=t_173369_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FEmrAndHipaa%2F%7E3%2FcStNIo4rV5g%2F I hope that everyone is enjoying this wonderful Fourth of July. I know I’ve had a great day so far and we’re gearing up to head to KFC and enjoy some fireworks with friends. Should be a great evening if the kids don’t get too cranky along the way. It has been a great day for me to remember how lucky I am to live in this wonderful country. There are plenty of things that are messed up in this country, but over all the freedoms we enjoy and benefits of living in America far outweigh the down sides. As I typed in the title of this post, I wondered what other things do I wish had their freedom when it came to the EMR world. First thing that came to mind was data independence. How beautiful would it be if our healthcare data was independent. I’m sure the ePatients out t... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4997645 Tue, 05 Jul 2011 01:04:08 +0100 4997645 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4997646&cid=t_173369_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FEmrAndHipaa%2F%7E3%2FAN87yAQ7xgw%2F I remember when I first started blogging about EMR and health care IT about 5.5 years ago, I searched out whatever EMR and healthcare IT blogs I could find. The first three blogs that I can remember finding (and loving) were Neil Versel’s blog, Shahid’s Healthcare IT blog and Will Weider’s Candid CIO blog. I loved reading Neil Versel’s blog because he was actually a professional journalist in the healthcare IT arena. I learned a lot by watching what he did. In fact, I think some of my writing style came from reading his blog. Along with his blog, Shahid provided HITsphere where I could see the posts from other bloggers. Plus, in the early days the traffic from HITsphere to my blog was really great. It’s hard to have a blog that no one reads. I loved the Candid... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4997646 Fri, 01 Jul 2011 14:13:23 +0100 4997646 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4997648&cid=t_173369_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FEmrAndHipaa%2F%7E3%2Fq_tng8IQnxo%2F HITECH Answers has just released the 3rd edition of Jim Tate’s The Incentive Roadmap® The Meaningful Use of Certified Technology: Stage 1 A Manual for Medical Practices. Version 3.0 of the manual that has been helping practices, consultants and vendors across the country understand the step-by-step process of achieving meaningful use is now available. Written by Jim Tate, a nationally recognized expert on the CMS EHR Incentive Program, certified technology and Meaningful Use objectives,The Incentive Roadmap® looks at what steps are needed to get ready for meaningful use and is downloaded immediately upon purchase. I consider Jim Tate one of the foremost experts on meaningful use and certified EHR. So, I was excited when he decided to publish a resource on the details of the EHR in... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4997648 Wed, 29 Jun 2011 16:59:38 +0100 4997648 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4975983&cid=t_173369_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FEmrAndHipaa%2F%7E3%2FGtKVYCOyv1U%2F I know I’ve written about ERP and EMR before, but the more I think about the EMR selection and implementation process, the more I see the same issues that are experienced with an ERP implementation. The one issue that is a bit different about EMR versus ERP is that there are only a small handful of ERP vendors to choose from. However, we have 300-600 to choose from in the EMR world. That’s an important and challenging difference. However, the similarities to ERP are many. One of the most striking is how the EMR like the ERP is something that’s going to be used and have an effect on the entire organization. As such, the need to manage the participation of multiple stakeholders is so key. The key to a successful ERP implementation is to have a great project leader.  Some... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4975983 Tue, 28 Jun 2011 19:00:50 +0100 4975983 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4975984&cid=t_173369_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FEmrAndHipaa%2F%7E3%2FjneuVa-B1fM%2F Meaningful Use Core Measure: Provide clinical summaries to patients for more than 50% of all office visits within 3 business days. Exclusion: Any EP who has no office visits during the reporting period. The clinical summary provides clinical information associated with a specific recent visit. (It does not encompass the entire patient chart.) This measure may appear daunting upon first reading of the requirements, but the guidance below should make it achievable.  The clinical summary can be delivered by one of two means: electronic media, (e.g., patient portal, secure e-mail, CD or USB fob), or a printed copy. According to advice received from CMS, the easiest way for a physician to meet this measure is to employ a patient portal as the default option. Following each office visit, the EP... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4975984 Mon, 27 Jun 2011 16:21:40 +0100 4975984 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4960144&cid=t_173369_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FEmrAndHipaa%2F%7E3%2FFICtFi3luZE%2F For those of you that are relatively new to EMR and HIPAA, you might not appreciate this post as much as long time readers of EMR and HIPAA. A few years back, I admit that I was pretty harsh on CCHIT and their EHR certification. I remember one guy stopping me at a conference and after realizing who I was asked, “so what’s your issue with CCHIT?” I was happy to answer that I thought they misled the industry (doctors in particular) by saying that the CCHIT certification provided an assurance that the EHR was a good EHR. They never came outright and said this, but that’s what EMR sales people would communicate during the sales process. In fact, EHR certification was incorrectly seen by many doctors and practice managers as the stamp of approval on an EHR being of highe... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4960144 Wed, 22 Jun 2011 22:33:18 +0100 4960144 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4953042&cid=t_173369_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FEmrAndHipaa%2F%7E3%2F4fJ7W88-ohk%2F I’ve had some interesting reactions to my post about the various characteristics of a Jabba the Hutt EHR Vendor. One of the more interesting conversations happened by email with a reader named Richard. Yes, I have lots of interesting back channel discussions. After a lengthy email exchange, I asked Richard if I could post our discussion on the blog so you could participate as well. He agreed and even commented, “I look forward to an expansion of our discussion.” So, here you go (or at least scroll to the bottom for a short summary of my feelings). The conversation started with this email that Richard sent me: I understand your reluctance to name names in your article, BUT… this is exactly what is needed. I’ve taken a few days to ruminate over what I was going... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4953042 Tue, 21 Jun 2011 17:49:40 +0100 4953042 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4953043&cid=t_173369_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FEmrAndHipaa%2F%7E3%2FFmpmcaEqcC4%2F Smoking is a major and costly health problem. Because it is such a high priority for CMS, smoking is addressed in the Stage 1 meaningful use requirements by three distinct measures, which has caused a fair amount of confusion. I will try to clarify. The first is a core meaningful use measure. Therefore, every eligible professional (EP) must satisfy this requirement, unless they can attest to meeting the exclusion. Core Meaningful Use Measure: Record Smoking Status More than 50% of all unique patients 13 years old or older seen by the EP have smoking status recorded as structured data. Exclusion: Any EP who sees no patients 13 years or older. Description: Smoking status must be recorded as one of the following 6 categories: current every day smoker; current some day smoker; former smoker;... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4953043 Mon, 20 Jun 2011 14:34:33 +0100 4953043 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4953044&cid=t_173369_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FEmrAndHipaa%2F%7E3%2FfDeOPTZnEYY%2F #bbpBox_82695997494530048 a { text-decoration:none; color:#0000ff; }#bbpBox_82695997494530048 a:hover { text-decoration:underline; } Looks like Estonia is the new model for system wide EHR http://bit.ly/liYLwe June 19, 2011 11:27 pm via TweetDeckReplyRetweetFavorite @boltyboy Matthew Holt I’m always fascinated by other countries EHR implementations. So many other countries are interesting to consider since they’re missing so many of the barriers that make EHR adoption and even more specifically health information exchange between EHR software so difficult. Nice to learn more about the success that Estonia has had adopting EHR software. I’d like to learn a lot more about what’s being done with international EHR implementations. #bbpBox_82462900882644992 a { t... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4953044 Mon, 20 Jun 2011 07:02:57 +0100 4953044 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4953045&cid=t_173369_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FEmrAndHipaa%2F%7E3%2FKaZsqQHRAoU%2F This is the second in a series of EMR and EHR interviews that will be done on EMR and HIPAA and EMR and EHR. The full EMR interview with Dr. Muir can be found on the new EHR and EMR interviews website. The following is a summary of that interview written by Kathy Bongiovi. If you’re a doctor, nurse, practice manager, EHR consultant, CEO or executive of an EHR vendor, etc with EMR experience that’s interested in being interviewed, let us know on our Contact Us page. Dr. Peter Muir of Springfield Center for Family Medicine was interviewed recently concerning his acquisition of the maximum Medicare Incentive for showing Meaningful Use of a Certified EHR. The Ohio based primary care practice has been using NextGen Ambulatory since 2003 and NextGen Management since 2006. Dr. Muir st... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4953045 Fri, 17 Jun 2011 21:43:07 +0100 4953045 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4953047&cid=t_173369_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FEmrAndHipaa%2F%7E3%2FI5q0SctUFvw%2F Boy, back in the good old days, protecting patient data was comparatively easy. All you had to do was make sure that nobody got their hands on a patient’s paper chart who shouldn’t be looking at it. After all, simple stuff like locking file rooms and making sure charts never get left in a public place are pretty easy to understand. Sure, paper records get stolen or rifled through now and then — no system is perfect — but putting processes in place to prevent unauthorized chart access isn’t that complicated. On the other hand, introducing electronic medical records  – plus e-prescribing, digital sharing of lab results and more — is a completely different kettle of fish. For one thing, providers must control access to medical information stored in t... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4953047 Thu, 16 Jun 2011 03:11:05 +0100 4953047 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4953048&cid=t_173369_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FEmrAndHipaa%2F%7E3%2FWutkdfC2Wvs%2F As much as I’d like to visit DC (I’ve never been), I wasn’t able to make it out there to attend the NIST workshop on EHR usability. However, Carl Bergman from EHR Selector did make it to the event and sent the following notes on EHR usability according to NIST.  Most of the speakers name link to their slides in PDF format. National Institute of Standard and Technology’s Workshop on EHR Usability This week I went to a NIST workshop examining the state of EHR usability. The workshop was at its administrative headquarters, a large 60s building on its sprawling Gaithersburg, MD campus about 20 miles outside Washington. You might wonder what NIST is doing in the EHR business? I certainly did. NIST’s mission is to promote commerce and technical innovation including method... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4953048 Tue, 14 Jun 2011 14:34:11 +0100 4953048 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4953049&cid=t_173369_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FEmrAndHipaa%2F%7E3%2F1TWLSkQ0aF0%2F CMS published a list (pdf) of the first providers who received incentive payments under the Medicare portion of the EHR program. What distinguishes these incentive recipients from those announced in early January—(See “Meaningful Use? Not Yet”)—is that these providers actually had to attest to earning these incentives by demonstrating meaningful use. The earlier recipients received their payments through the Medicaid program, which for the first year’s incentive only requires adoption, implementation, or upgrade of a certified EHR, not meaningful use. There are 320 providers on this first Medicare list. Here’s how the list breaks down: Approximately 40 are hospitals/health care centers. As anticipated, the vast majority of the physicians are primary-care providers—over two-t... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4953049 Mon, 13 Jun 2011 15:23:04 +0100 4953049 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4953050&cid=t_173369_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FEmrAndHipaa%2F%7E3%2FMzBp8c6lN5A%2F What happened in the M&A arena had interesting ramifications, but what didn’t happen might be equally significant: The overcrowded electronic health records market didn’t consolidate. Well over 200 EHR vendors are fighting for meaningful use business. How crowded is the field? As of mid-April, the federal government lists 393 Complete or Modular certified ambulatory EHR products, along with 182 certified inpatient Complete or Modular products. There were several good reasons for the non-event, but consolidation’s got to come soon, says Rob Tholemeier, senior research analyst at Crosstree Capital Partners, a Tampa-based corporate financial advisory firm. “There has never in the history of software been 200-plus companies selling similar functionality,” he ... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4953050 Fri, 10 Jun 2011 17:17:31 +0100 4953050 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4921554&cid=t_173369_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.emrandhipaa.com%2Femr-and-hipaa%2F2011%2F06%2F08%2Fhipaa-requirements-phi-in-natural-disasters%2F Brian Van Zandt, a long time reader of EMR and HIPAA and an account executive at a managed IT services company in New York, NST, sent me the following fascinating question. I’ve had a conversation with a few people recently about something that been on the news a lot recently. A tornado in the mid west destroyed a hospital and patient records, I heard about x-rays specifically, were found miles from the hospital. In extreme cases like that, are hospitals still liable for penalties from HIPAA for losing patient information? First, I have to start with my regular disclaimer that I’m not a lawyer, I don’t play one on TV and much prefer being a blogger. Consult a lawyer for legal advice. With that disclaimer, it’s a fascinating situation to consider. I remember from my busi... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4921554 Wed, 08 Jun 2011 17:16:08 +0100 4921554 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4921555&cid=t_173369_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.emrandhipaa.com%2Femr-and-hipaa%2F2011%2F06%2F07%2Fyou-might-be-a-jabba-the-hutt-emr-if%2F Many long time readers of EMR and HIPAA will know I like to call big, bulky, old EMR software systems, Jabba the Hutt EMR. I think comparing these old legacy EMR software to Jabba the Hutt is a great comparison. For those that don’t know Star Wars that well (and I’m no expert), Jabba the Hutt was a very powerful figure. Although, over time he’d grown so big that he wasn’t very nimble (to say the least). So, despite his power and prestige, there was little to admire about him. Does that sound a bit like some legacy EMR software? They’re big and powerful figures in the industry. However, their software has grown to the point that it’s clunky and not very nimble. Getting something changed on it is difficult and it’s built on a platform that makes it h... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4921555 Tue, 07 Jun 2011 17:48:25 +0100 4921555 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4921556&cid=t_173369_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.emrandhipaa.com%2Flynn%2F2011%2F06%2F06%2Frelief-may-be-in-sight-for-some-penalty-threatened-eprescribers-%25e2%2580%2593-meaningful-use-monday%2F Some physicians—most notably, surgeons and pain-management specialists—have expressed concern that they will be unfairly subject to the 2012 ePrescribing penalties, based on the fact that their opportunities to ePrescribe are limited by the nature of their practices. The Proposed ePrescribing Rule published in the Federal Register on June 1 offers a potential remedy for these providers.  The rule, which amends the (MIPPA) 2011 ePrescribing rule, affords providers several new arguments they can use to request a “hardship exemption” from the 2012 penalties. (These are in addition to the already existing reasons, i.e., rural areas that lack high speed internet access and/or rural areas that lack pharmacies that accept ePrescriptions.) The new justifications include:       1)  ... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4921556 Mon, 06 Jun 2011 17:35:42 +0100 4921556 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4921557&cid=t_173369_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.emrandhipaa.com%2Femr-and-hipaa%2F2011%2F06%2F05%2Femr-and-hipaa-quote-of-the-sunday%2F Lately I’ve been posting a number of tweets in a sort of Sunday Tweet roundup. I think it’s been fun to highlight some short Healthcare IT and EMR related tweets that people might find interesting. With a little bit of commentary of my own (let me know if you disagree). Today, I decided I’d just go with a small quote from a comment that Chris Paton made over on Neil Versel’s Meaningful Healthcare IT News. Here it is: We’re a long way from getting rid of doctors but they might find their role changes from being repository of all knowledge to being a trusted communicator and carer. I’d been trying to summarize this position in a coherent way and I think Chris hit it on the head. Not only the part about being a long way from getting rid of doctors, but his desc... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4921557 Mon, 06 Jun 2011 06:59:22 +0100 4921557 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4921558&cid=t_173369_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.emrandhipaa.com%2Femr-and-hipaa%2F2011%2F06%2F03%2Fsocial-media-indicators%2F I’m not sure how many of you have followed the announcement of the Google 1+ button. If you haven’t seen them yet, you’ll start seeing them sprinkled all over the internet soon. I just added them to a couple of my sites including EMR and HIPAA. You can see it next to the Facebook button on the right side of each post. Feel free to click it if you’re reading a post that you like. It’s a simple action which can tell me a lot about whether people like the post or not. Of course, I’ve been using social media indicators like this for a while. For example, I’ve known the number of people who tweeted out my various posts on Twitter. I often can see how many times an article gets published on Facebook. I always love to get feedback like this that tells me ... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4921558 Fri, 03 Jun 2011 22:24:34 +0100 4921558 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4921561&cid=t_173369_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.emrandhipaa.com%2Femr-and-hipaa%2F2011%2F05%2F31%2Fmeaningful-use-and-certified-ehrs-impact-on-emr-user-interfaces%2F In a previous post, Anthony made this basically off the cuff comment which hit me: “many a time, the functional requirements take priority over UI” We see this all over the software development world. In fact, it takes a really unique company to be willing to keep UI over functionality. Ask any salesperson and they’ll tell you that new functions are easier to sell than a great UI. So, it makes sense why this happens. Unfortunate, but makes some sense. However, this comment also had me asking myself the question, “I wonder how many meaningful use and/or EHR certification requirements caused issues with an EMR UI?” I’ve already had a few EMR demos where I said, what’s that button/function doing there. The response was, oh that was to meet meaningful ... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4921561 Tue, 31 May 2011 18:46:54 +0100 4921561 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4883706&cid=t_173369_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FEmrAndHipaa%2F%7E3%2F83qsSKCLxg8%2F The following is the fourth video in my inaugural run of EMR and Healthcare IT related videos. In this video I talk about some of the ways healthcare IT can help a patient be more active in their care. I’m sure there’s a number of e-Patients out there that can hop in and add a lot more to the discussion I start in this video. I must admit that as a relatively healthy individual I have a hard time really getting into the active patient (e-Patient if you like). However, I love the idea of patients being respectfully involved in their patient care. The following video is in response to this question: How can Healthcare IT help patients take a more active role in their care? View the Healthcare IT and Active Patient Care Video Here Related posts:EMR Scanning and Chart Retention ... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4883706 Sun, 29 May 2011 16:25:46 +0100 4883706 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4872203&cid=t_173369_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FEmrAndHipaa%2F%7E3%2F_z2iiXamZ4Q%2F As I mentioned in my previous post, I decided to try out some videos related to EMR, EHR and healthcare IT. I’m still not sure if it’s a good idea or not, but I created 4 videos in my inaugural experience. I just used a simple web cam to create the videos since I was also streaming it live on uStream. Maybe next time I’ll set up my HD camera and do it that way. Either way, here’s one of the videos I recorded where I respond to the following question: Once converting paper to digital in an EMR, how long do providers plan to keep their charts? Full Dislaimer: I’m not a lawyer, so be sure to consult a lawyer for legal advice:-) If you like the video, be sure to check out one of the other videos I posted on EMR and EHR about EMR Data Sharing. Let me know what you... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4872203 Fri, 27 May 2011 22:30:05 +0100 4872203 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4872204&cid=t_173369_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FEmrAndHipaa%2F%7E3%2FM2lKprj3Yl8%2F A blog post today by Microsoft’s Dr. Bill Crounse got me thinking again about the cloud. Crounse cited a new CDW poll showing that 30 percent of healthcare organizations could be considered “cloud adopters,” and for good reason. “The flexibility, scalability and lower costs associated with moving certain line of business applications to the cloud are compelling, especially for an industry like healthcare. After all, the primary focus of hospitals and clinics is caring for patients, not running an IT empire. There’s not a CIO, CFO, CEO, COO, CNO, CMIO, or CMO who wouldn’t love to shift some of their IT spending to delivering better care to the communities they serve,” Crounse wrote. They were more likely to turn to the cloud for “commodity” serv... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4872204 Thu, 26 May 2011 20:25:03 +0100 4872204 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4862665&cid=t_173369_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FEmrAndHipaa%2F%7E3%2FJa0I4VDCMDE%2F I’m sure like many of you, I was completely intrigued by the demonstration of the Watson computer competing against the best Jeopardy! stars. It was amazing to watch not only how Watson was able to come up with the answer, but also how quickly it was able to reach the correct answer. The hype at the IBM booth at HIMSS was really strong since it had been announced that healthcare was one of the first places that IBM wanted to work on implementing the “Watson” technology (read more about the Watson Technology in Healthcare in this AP article). Although, I found the most interesting conversation about Watson in the Nuance booth when I was talking to Dr. Nick Van Terheyden. The idea of combining the Watson technology with the voice recognition and natural language processing ... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4862665 Wed, 25 May 2011 15:59:50 +0100 4862665 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4862666&cid=t_173369_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FEmrAndHipaa%2F%7E3%2FVUYWB9SQsl8%2F Discussion of Obama EHR Stimulus Today the following videos came across my Twitter feed and... Video of Meaningful Use EMR Integrations and MU Dashboard Ever since I saw my first meaningful use dashboard in... (Source: EMR and HIPAA) EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4862666 Tue, 24 May 2011 17:17:49 +0100 4862666 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4862667&cid=t_173369_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FEmrAndHipaa%2F%7E3%2FYQ5fIAlOYqg%2F The fact that the CMS FAQ website contains 7 questions on clinical quality measure (CQM) reporting is an indication of the confusion surrounding this core meaningful use measure. Many specialists are concerned that very few, or none, of the CQMs are relevant to their practices. According to FAQ #10144, “In the event that none of the 44 clinical quality measures applies to an EP’s patient population, the EP is still required to report [but with] a zero for the denominators.” It would be logical, therefore, for physicians to conclude that they should report a zero denominator for quality measures related to problems or conditions they do not treat. For the purpose of meaningful use, however, it is not the physician who determines whether a particular quality measure applies—it is... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4862667 Mon, 23 May 2011 17:15:51 +0100 4862667 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4852975&cid=t_173369_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.emrandhipaa.com%2Femr-and-hipaa%2F2011%2F05%2F20%2Feffect-of-emr-stimulus-money-flowing%2F Yesterday on EMR News, we posted about the first case I’ve seen where someone has collected EHR stimulus money after attesting to meaningful use. It’s the day many have been waiting for. The first checks arrive for those showing meaningful use of a certified EHR (Medicaid had sent some EHR Stimulus checks previously). Yes, the government really is going to pay out the money. Yes, people really are getting paid. In fact, it seems that they’ve pretty much stuck to their schedule for meaningful use stage 1 and paying out the first EHR stimulus checks. Props to the people at CMS and ONC for being able to stick to that schedule (even if meaningful use stage 2 might be delayed). I do have to say that an electronic bank transfer isn’t nearly as exciting as a check in the m... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4852975 Fri, 20 May 2011 22:15:54 +0100 4852975 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4848027&cid=t_173369_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FEmrAndHipaa%2F%7E3%2FpcIyYud0Iss%2F One of my favorite EMR people, Matt Chase from Medtuity, wrote this interesting comment over on EMR Update. Times are achanging. I think a recent install is a good example. The group purchased a decently well-known EMR and it failed. So they went with a second well-known EMR and it failed. Both were certified. Both had a very active sales team. The second one flew in some upper level sales people from the coast when there was talk of deinstall. After spending half of the national debt and a looming closure of the practice, they called in a consultant. He made his recommendation. They did their demo and they asked the really hard questions– show me how to create new clinical content, show me how to create a new template, edit an existing one, how to fax a single encounter to another p... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4848027 Wed, 18 May 2011 18:18:18 +0100 4848027 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4848028&cid=t_173369_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FEmrAndHipaa%2F%7E3%2FKu2UJfCTGwo%2F Katherine Rourke, on my sister site EMR and EHR, wrote an interesting piece on Adding Genomic Info to the EMR. Here’s a short excerpt from the post. You should go and read the rest of the post as well. As the author notes, some specialties have already begun to tailor drug treatments to individual patients based on their genomic profile. For example, DNA sequencing of tumors in non-Hodgkin’s and Mantle Cell lymphoma can lead to personalized cancer vaccines that can produce great results, notes writer Gerry Higgins of the NIH. Such data can also be used for a growing number of clinical situations, such as tailoring Coumadin doses to specific patients and providing psychiatric patients with the appropriate drug. I’d been meaning to write about genomics and EMR for a while and ... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4848028 Tue, 17 May 2011 18:27:02 +0100 4848028 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4841660&cid=t_173369_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.emrandhipaa.com%2Flynn%2F2011%2F05%2F16%2Fhelpful-meaningful-use-resources-%25e2%2580%2593-meaningful-use-monday%2F I spend a lot of my day answering questions about the EHR incentives from SRS clients and also from users of other EHRs. The questions range from extremely basic ones posed by people who are dazed and intimidated by the scope of the program to nuanced questions from those already knee-deep in meaningful use. Since I began writing Meaningful Use Monday, the resources on the subject have grown in number and specificity. Here are a few that physicians and administrators have found helpful recently: Participate in a CMS Provider Call. There is one scheduled for this Thursday (5/19) at 2:30 PM Eastern Time. After the presentation, you will have an opportunity to ask questions and have them answered directly by CMS staffers. To register, click here. The Attestation Users Guide not only provides... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4841660 Mon, 16 May 2011 17:06:04 +0100 4841660 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4841661&cid=t_173369_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.emrandhipaa.com%2Femr-and-hipaa%2F2011%2F05%2F15%2Femr-twiter-thoughts-from-emr-answers%2F I found a couple interesting tweets from EMR answers. Some interesting advice for those interested in EMR and EHR. #bbpBox_69798257995431937 a { text-decoration:none; color:#220882; }#bbpBox_69798257995431937 a:hover { text-decoration:underline; } #EMR #EHR Vendors- busy w/ #MU R&D. Demo specific to #physician spec. & work flow. Watch for clicks, alert fatigue and “One size fits all” May 15, 2011 9:16 am via webReplyRetweetFavorite @EMRAnswers Linda Lia Stotsky Some good advice and scary thought that all the EMR and EHR vendors’ R&D is going to meaningful use. #bbpBox_69796911237959680 a { text-decoration:none; color:#220882; }#bbpBox_69796911237959680 a:hover { text-decoration:underline; } #EMR #EHR 101.Vendor Customization.”Fit” syst... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4841661 Mon, 16 May 2011 06:12:16 +0100 4841661 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4841662&cid=t_173369_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.emrandhipaa.com%2Femr-and-hipaa%2F2011%2F05%2F13%2Finteresting-balance-of-connections-vs-bias%2F Discussions at HIMSS Day 1 Today’s been a really interesting first day of HIMSS. I’d... Interesting EMR Data Conversion Story One of my readers sent me the following story about... (Source: EMR and HIPAA) EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4841662 Fri, 13 May 2011 22:08:54 +0100 4841662 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4820939&cid=t_173369_112_f&fid=34971&url=http%3A%2F%2Fblog.drmalpani.com%2F2011%2F05%2Fwhy-us-government-should-give-doctors.html The US govt is spending a huge amount of money to encourage doctors to use EMRs, in the hope that this will help to reduce healthcare costs. However, most doctors are quite suspicious of the whole deal. This is quite natural. After all, governments know very little about how to care for patients - and a lot of these government - sponsored incentives end up backfiring and creating a lot of additional work and heartburn for doctors.Rather than take this top-down Big Brother approach ( which failed so miserably in the UK), I'd like to suggest a simpler alternative. Of the 40000 odd dollars which the government is willing to gift each medical practise which starts using an EMR, I'd suggest they give doctors some money ( as little as US $ 500 ) to set up their own personal website. This would c... The Patient's Doctor blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4820939 Fri, 13 May 2011 02:44:00 +0100 4820939 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4820952&cid=t_173369_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FEmrAndHipaa%2F%7E3%2FD3BF4RAkszU%2F Healthcare and health IT are plagued by conundrums. Providers long have been the ones asked to make hefty investments in EMRs and other IT systems to help remove costs from the healthcare system, but payers and plan sponsors tend to enjoy most of the financial benefits. Clinicians wish their organizations would share data with others, but those in the executive suite have been reluctant to cooperate with competitors for fear of losing revenue. And, let’s face it, medical errors can be profitable if a routine procedure turns into an expensive inpatient admission. Portions of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act are intended to address these problems by providing financial incentives for “meaningful use” of EMRs (incl... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4820952 Thu, 12 May 2011 21:45:30 +0100 4820952 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4813405&cid=t_173369_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FEmrAndHipaa%2F%7E3%2F85sOFDSPdJM%2F I’m not sure where I came up with the following idea. I had stored it in my list of future posts and I didn’t have any reference for it. So, if I forgot to acknowledge who provided me the comment I’m sorry. This is the comment that I received from someone, “EMR provides benefits to the patient (better patient care) and payers (cost savings).” Of course, we could argue these two points until we’re blue in the face. In fact, feel free to argue either point in the comments below. That will be interesting. I’ll just say that there’s the potential for better patient care and the potential for cost savings to the payers. Whether the potential will become a reality will be a fun discussion in the comments. When I saw the above statement I started to... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4813405 Wed, 11 May 2011 22:45:06 +0100 4813405 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4813406&cid=t_173369_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FEmrAndHipaa%2F%7E3%2Fr3wFZXxDmWE%2F In conclusion, we know for a fact that the free EHR model works now and we believe it will grow and expand dramatically in the future. Related posts:When EMR Software Became Free…Or Does It Cost I’ve been meaning to write about a new Free EMR... Practice Fusion’s Free EMR Reaches Milestone I’ve recently been rather critical of Practice Fusion’s free EMR... Free HD TV Giveaway Winner at HIMSS Sponsored by Practice Fusion Many of you that I saw at HIMSS were aware... (Source: EMR and HIPAA) EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4813406 Tue, 10 May 2011 19:34:13 +0100 4813406 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4803273&cid=t_173369_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FEmrAndHipaa%2F%7E3%2FVGd_tZ72_Pg%2F To follow up on The “All 3” Vital Signs Dilemma and the posted comments, I want to provide some clarification regarding the vital signs measure and correct some common misconceptions about the requirements:  Meaningful Use Core Measure: Record Vital Signs For more than 50% of all unique patients age 2 and over seen by the EP, height, weight, and blood pressure are recorded as structured data.  The Exclusion: A physician who does not currently track height, weight, and blood pressure does not have to start taking vital signs solely for the purpose of meeting meaningful use. The point I made in last week’s post was that the exclusion may be difficult for some providers to take advantage of due to the “all 3” requirement—but it is available for those who attest that “all 3 vi... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4803273 Mon, 09 May 2011 16:18:48 +0100 4803273 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4803274&cid=t_173369_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FEmrAndHipaa%2F%7E3%2FMUB3BdSehPE%2F Much ink has been spilled discussing why physicians are resistant to adopting EMRs. The thing is, it’s really no mystery.  Researchers have arrived at what seem like sensible answers to the question, including a) problems changing their work habits, b) fear of the unknown and c) struggles with kludgy interfaces. So, why not take these problems on directly? While we can’t get inside clinicians’ heads and tell them how to think, we can address their issues concretely. If the anecdotes I hear are accurate, many are pushed into EMR use and forced to do all the adapting, rather than getting the help they need. So how can we help? Obviously, physicians and other clinical staffers need access to accessible, intelligent training — ideally, both Web-based and live — a... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4803274 Mon, 09 May 2011 03:18:19 +0100 4803274 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4797829&cid=t_173369_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FEmrAndHipaa%2F%7E3%2Fka_NcbsnQuo%2F #bbpBox_66820142193049600 a { text-decoration:none; color:#4d3dae; }#bbpBox_66820142193049600 a:hover { text-decoration:underline; } Whats Features in an EMR add value to the Appointment Workflow? http://bit.ly/EMRVOL2 May 7, 2011 4:02 am via webReplyRetweetFavorite @nrip nrip A good question with an interesting article that looks at the benefits that an EMR is providing Indian doctors. I think sometimes we talk so much about EMR, that we don’t talk as much about other things like patient scheduling, appointment management, patient management, etc. I’ll be interested to hear people’s thoughts on the above article. Related posts:Request an Appointment and Send Your Record Using a PHR I recently sat down with Jeff Donnell from NoMoreClipboard. We... EMR Implementat... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4797829 Sat, 07 May 2011 13:33:13 +0100 4797829 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4794927&cid=t_173369_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FEmrAndHipaa%2F%7E3%2FK8wwkSlT1Zg%2F Neils’ article about Unrealistic Expectations about Clinical Decision Support made me think of how important the ability to know where to find the information can be in so many different situations. In fact, memorization of where to search might be more valuable and useful than strict memorization of everything. The core point is that with very rare exception, the human mind can only store and recall so much information. However, if you only have to remember where to find a certain piece of information, it’s much easier to remember. For example, many of my readers probably don’t realize that I have a network of TV blogs. I get a lot of credit on those websites for listing out the music for those shows. Funny thing is that I’m not all that good at identifying songs. ... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4794927 Fri, 06 May 2011 17:43:44 +0100 4794927 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4794929&cid=t_173369_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FEmrAndHipaa%2F%7E3%2Frl9A2MkdeFU%2F My last meaningful use interview went over so well, that I decided that I should do some more. When I saw the news that a GE Centricity customer met meaningful use, I decided that would be a good opportunity for my next meaningful use interview. I’m certainly interested in doing more interviews from a variety of EMR vendors, specialties, and regions. I’d be happy to interview someone who’s deciding to wait or to forgo meaningful use completely. If you are a doctor or practice manager interested in being interviewed, just drop me a note on the EMR and HIPAA contact us page. Now some background on Barbara Watkins and HVCA. Heart & Vascular Center of Arizona (HVCA) Administrator Barbara Watkins, R.N., helped lead the practice’s six cardiologists through the process of... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4794929 Wed, 04 May 2011 17:40:45 +0100 4794929 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4794930&cid=t_173369_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FEmrAndHipaa%2F%7E3%2F-ppSubHmvlI%2F Things are rocking and rolling here at EMR and HIPAA and Healthcare Scene. As you have probably seen, I’ve been working really hard to provide a platform for the independent voices in healthcare IT. We currently have 8 blogs in the Healthcare Scene blog network and 3 more in beta that will be announced officially in the next week. If you’ve read this blog, you know that I’m narrowly focused on bringing good information to doctors and practice managers. I sincerely don’t have any particular agendas or hidden motives. My goal is to provide some amount of transparency and quality information to the masses mixed in with some thoughtful commentary on the world of EMR, EHR and Healthcare IT. Hopefully that’s what you see when you read. A couple of the new blogs I&#8... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4794930 Tue, 03 May 2011 17:51:22 +0100 4794930 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4789379&cid=t_173369_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.emrandhipaa.com%2Flynn%2F2011%2F05%2F02%2Fmeaningful-use-measures-the-%25e2%2580%259call-3%25e2%2580%259d-vital-signs-dilemma-meaningful-use-monday%2F How does a physician meet this measure if only one or two, but not all three, of the vital signs are a routine part of their practice? This is an issue on which I have sought clarification since before my first Meaningful Use Monday post.  The question has now been asked frequently enough to warrant a formal answer on the CMS FAQ site—and the answer is problematic. Meaningful Use Core Measure: Record Vital Signs For more than 50% of all unique patients age 2 and over seen by the EP, height, weight, and blood pressure are recorded as structured data. Exclusion: Any EP who either sees no patients 2 years or older or who believes that all 3 vital signs of height, weight, and blood pressure of their patients have no relevance to their scope of practice. You’d think this measure would be... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4789379 Mon, 02 May 2011 18:08:44 +0100 4789379 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4775447&cid=t_173369_112_f&fid=34971&url=http%3A%2F%2Fblog.drmalpani.com%2F2011%2F05%2Fhappy-with-emr.html About 42% physicians use an electronic health record solution to document their patient care and about 1 in 3 uses an EHR during a patient encounter. Overall, 62% of physicians and 81% of patients have a positive perception of documenting patient care electronically. Forty-five percent of patients had a "very positive" perception of their physician or clinician documenting patient care with a computer or other electronic device. More than 60% of physicians feel the best benefit to using EHR is the access they have to patient records in real time. Physicians also believe that the ability to seamlessly share information with other doctors, pharmacies and payers are one among the most important benefits. (Source: The Patient's Doctor) The Patient's Doctor blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4775447 Mon, 02 May 2011 12:35:00 +0100 4775447 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4775448&cid=t_173369_112_f&fid=34971&url=http%3A%2F%2Fblog.drmalpani.com%2F2011%2F05%2Fit-drives-patient-education.html " In an earlier column, I complained that IT spends a lot of time providing electronic tools for clinicians--electronic health records (EHRs), computerized physician ordering systems (CPOS), etc.--but not enough time developing tools to improve patient education. I was wrong. Digging deeper into this area has convinced me that there are all sorts of practical technology-based resources to help patients understand their treatment and how to comply with their doctors' advice. Computer-generated questionnaires, medication resolution programs, and sophisticated videos are making a difference in patient care. "India can be a market leader in this space ! (Source: The Patient's Doctor) The Patient's Doctor blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4775448 Mon, 02 May 2011 12:07:00 +0100 4775448 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4789381&cid=t_173369_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.emrandhipaa.com%2Femr-and-hipaa%2F2011%2F04%2F29%2Finterview-with-allscripts-president-and-xerox-executive-vp-about-500-million-hosting-services-contract%2F Many of you probably already saw the announcement of the $500 million contract that was signed between Allscripts Healthcare Solutions and ACS, A Xerox Company, to provide hosted IT service for the Allscripts’ Sunrise Enterprise Suite. Considering the size of the contract, I thought it would be interesting to do an interview to learn more about the Allscripts and ACS (Xerox) relationship. The following is an email interview with Lee Shapiro, President, Allscripts and Chad Harris, Executive Vice President and Group President, ACS Healthcare Provider and IT Applications Solutions. They duck a few of the questions, but provide some information about their relationship that I think’s useful and interesting. Lee Shapiro, president, Allscripts What percentage of Allscripts Sunrise E... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4789381 Fri, 29 Apr 2011 15:39:47 +0100 4789381 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4789382&cid=t_173369_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.emrandhipaa.com%2Fneil%2F2011%2F04%2F28%2Fchicago-hospitals-embark-on-long-hie-journey%2F I live in Chicago, a highly competitive healthcare market with some world-class medical schools (Northwestern, University of Chicago, Loyola, Rush) and a pretty decent record of EMR adoption. At least four major institutions/health systems run similar Epic EMRs: University of Chicago Medical Center, Northwestern Memorial Hospital, Rush University Medical Center and, in the northern suburbs, NorthShore University HealthSystem (formerly Evanston-Northwestern Healthcare). Three NorthShore hospitals–Evanston Hospital, Glenbrook Hospital and Highland Park Hospital–were among the first in the country to reach Stage 7 on the HIMSS Analytics EMR Adoption Model.(NorthShore’s Skokie Hospital since has reached Stage 7). Several others, notably Rush, Advocate Lutheran General Hospita... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4789382 Thu, 28 Apr 2011 21:01:25 +0100 4789382 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4789383&cid=t_173369_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.emrandhipaa.com%2Femr-and-hipaa%2F2011%2F04%2F27%2Fmeaningful-use-medicaid-overview%2F A regular reader of EMR and HIPAA, Wes Kemp, sent me an interesting set of slides/PDF file that gives a meaningful use overview from a Medicaid perspective. I always transgress Medicaid when it comes to meaningful use and the EHR incentive money. Plus, I thought he had an interesting way of displaying the meaningful use overview. Since I hate PDF’s, I did it as an embedded document below. For best viewing, click on the Full Screen button, or you can always download it as well. var docstoc_docid="78110108";var docstoc_title="Meaningful Use Medicaid Overview";var docstoc_urltitle="Meaningful Use Medicaid Overview"; Related posts:Meaningful Use Mondays – Participation Under Medicare vs. Medicaid Physicians who are eligible for both programs will likely find... Meaningful Use Mon... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4789383 Wed, 27 Apr 2011 16:50:54 +0100 4789383 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4789384&cid=t_173369_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.emrandhipaa.com%2Femr-and-hipaa%2F2011%2F04%2F26%2Ftell-me-something-i-dont-know-with-jonathan-bush-from-athenahealth%2F When I got the request at HIMSS 11 to be able to sit down and talk with Jonathan Bush, CEO of AthenaHealth, I knew that I had to take it. Him and I had a very interesting conversation and he’s a fascinating individual since you never know what he might say next. On that note, I decided that I better get Jonathan Bush on video at HIMSS. In fact, I think it might have been the only video I did at HIMSS. Although, once I saw how easy it was to upload this video from my phone, I might have to do more EMR related videos on the future. Although, I’ll probably need to hold it the other way. Now to the video. The basic idea of “Tell Me Something I Don’t Know” comes from the Sunday show that Chris Matthew’s does. In the segment, the people try and tell you someth... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4789384 Tue, 26 Apr 2011 19:03:25 +0100 4789384 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4753798&cid=t_173369_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FEmrAndHipaa%2F%7E3%2F0KFMueXj3ss%2F CPOE (Computerized Provider Order Entry), is the direct entering of orders into a computer (or mobile device), so that the order is documented in a digital, structured, and computable format. Meaningful Use Core Measure: CPOE More than 30% of unique patients with at least one medication in their medication list seen by the EP have at least one medication order entered using CPOE. Exclusion: providers who write fewer than 100 prescriptions during the reporting period. CPOE is one of the measures that elicited quite an animated response from the provider community. When initially proposed, this measure required 80% of all orders to be directly entered by the provider. To overcome objections to the scope of the requirement and the burden it would impose, CMS ultimately limited the measure to ... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4753798 Mon, 25 Apr 2011 15:41:02 +0100 4753798 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4753799&cid=t_173369_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FEmrAndHipaa%2F%7E3%2FjBXbmtWKn1I%2F You know on the weekends I love to through in a little round up of some interesting things said about healthcare IT, EMR and other topics on Twitter. Hopefully, they’ll educate, entertain and inform. If not, tomorrow’s another edition of Meaningful Use Monday. #bbpBox_62326577878417408 a { text-decoration:none; color:#A08574; }#bbpBox_62326577878417408 a:hover { text-decoration:underline; } T2: I used to read 4 newsletters, now I don’t. I’ve chg’d to read tweets & blog post – so much more current. #hcsm April 24, 2011 6:26 pm via TweetDeckReplyRetweetFavorite @Colin_Hung Colin Hung I’ve been talking about this quite a bit lately on this blog (see my post about social media EMR information). However, I love how the described their shift... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4753799 Mon, 25 Apr 2011 06:49:58 +0100 4753799 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4747701&cid=t_173369_112_f&fid=34971&url=http%3A%2F%2Fblog.drmalpani.com%2F2011%2F04%2Fwhat-american-health-care-system-can.html " In Denmark, we’ve developed communication thus far for almost all IT systems in the health sector. We have implemented all prescription and medication information, and all discharge letters and summaries from hospitals. This also includes outpatient notes, injury reports, x-ray reports, lab reports and lab orders. Reimbursements from health insurance have been made electronic, along with referrals to hospitals and private specialists, and referrals to psychologists. All private physicians have electronic health records today so they can communicate and transfer documents electronically, as well.From the beginning it was a grassroots effort; we thought it was a good idea to exchange information electronically. And now it has become mandatory that you must communicate electronically. The... The Patient's Doctor blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4747701 Mon, 25 Apr 2011 05:02:00 +0100 4747701 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4747722&cid=t_173369_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.emrandhipaa.com%2Femr-and-hipaa%2F2011%2F04%2F22%2Fim-a-plumber-despite-just-wanting-to-be-an-emr-blogger%2F About a month ago, the market finally fell enough for my wife and I to buy our first house. It’s pretty exciting to finally be able to do it since we pretty much tried to buy a house every year since we moved to Las Vegas 6 years ago. Thankfully, we never did until now (although that’s another story). After purchasing the home, I found myself spending a fair amount of time having to repair a number of things around the house. One day I pretty much spent all day being a plumber as I (and a nice friend) replaced the garbage disposal, fixed a leaking sink, replaced the mechanism (whatever it’s called) in the toilet. Turns out that none of these things are really all that difficult. Although, it definitely had the initial learning curve for me to realize that it’s prett... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4747722 Fri, 22 Apr 2011 18:57:58 +0100 4747722 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4747724&cid=t_173369_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.emrandhipaa.com%2Femr-and-hipaa%2F2011%2F04%2F20%2Frural-vs-city-medical-record-perspective%2F While at the ACP conference in San Diego (yes, it’s fun for a tech person to attend a medical conference), I had a really interesting conversation with a medical records lady from Cardone EHR Solutions. In our discussion she highlighted an interesting difference between the rural and city perspectives on a medical record. In essence… Rural clinics want to keep the medical record forever. City clinics want to get rid of as soon as possible. When she said this idea, it really rang true to me. Of course, the real issue has to do with liability. The real issue is how litigious our society has become and I think it’s fair to say that those in the urban environment are more litigious than those in the rural setting. That’s why clinics in a city generally want to dispose o... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4747724 Wed, 20 Apr 2011 17:07:43 +0100 4747724