Image by taberandrew via Flickr I have been spending a lot of time in Washington, D.C., meeting with government officials at White House Forums and on college campuses, doing interviews, and speaking with members of health care panels; the trends in the industry are becoming readily apparent. Patient-centered care, supported by technology, is all the [...]
MTs believe medical transcription will aid EHR adoption
May 26, 2009 By 4 Comments
Image via Wikipedia The proven ability for medical transcription to facilitate accurate, cost-effective EHR adoption will be the key message brought by the members of the Association for Healthcare Documentation Integrity (AHDI) and the Medical Transcription Industry Association (MTIA) to federal legislators on Capitol Hill when the associations convene in Washington, DC, for their annual [...]
Forbes interview with Citizens Memorial Hospital CIO
May 26, 2009 By Leave a Comment
Image via Wikipedia Shifting health care from paper to electronic records could be one of the most important efficiency gains in our lifetimes, affecting everything from how quickly we can check into a clinic or hospital to how many specialists are available to monitor patients. Yet this presents some complex questions: What exactly is involved [...]
Could the EHR timeline in the stimulus bill be unrealistic?
May 19, 2009 By Leave a Comment
Image by Getty Images via Daylife Lawmakers might have underestimated how long it would take the healthcare industry to implement new healthcare information technology when setting a timeline for its adoption under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, one prominent healthcare official says. Under the ARRA, legislators set out a timeline for the adoption of [...]
EMR and EHR – Is there a difference?
May 19, 2009 By 6 Comments
By Leslie Ann Fox, MA, RHIA, and Patricia T. Sheridan, MBA, RHIA Leslie: I’ve noticed during the past several months that there is a discussion being played out in health care trade journals regarding the difference between the electronic medical record (EMR) and the electronic health record (EHR). It’s an interesting discussion. Patty: I don’t [...]
Is it time to get started on that EMR selection process now?
May 18, 2009 By Leave a Comment
The economic stimulus bill (the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, or ARRA) provides incentive payments up to a maximum of $44,000 per physician over five years for “meaningfully using health information technology.” Although we don’t yet have definition of “meaningful use,” we can be pretty sure doctors will need to be e-prescribing, exchanging [...]
The slow process of transfering health records to the digital world
May 18, 2009 By Leave a Comment
Image via Wikipedia Walk though a typical Kaiser Permanente doctor’s office or hospital, and you won’t find a paper chart lying around. Kaiser, with 450 hospitals and offices around the country, is almost entirely paperless. But as the rest of the health care industry rushes to follow in Kaiser’s digital footsteps, Kaiser’s paperless success story–a [...]
PWC study outlines the “carrot and stick” aspect of stimulus based EMR adoption
May 14, 2009 By 5 Comments
Image by The Library of Congress via Flickr A report recently issued by the PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC) Health Research Institute concludes that government incentives intended to spur the use of health information technology are a “small carrot” when compared with the amount of money it will cost hospitals and physician practices to implement and maintain electronic health [...]
Allscripts accounces EHR Stimulus Alliance to “educate” physicians on stimulus opportunities
May 14, 2009 By 4 Comments
Allscripts today announced the formation of a coalition of technology innovation leaders who are partnering to educate 500,000 U.S. physicians about opportunities aligned with the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009. The Act details President Obama’s plan to improve healthcare quality, safety and efficiency through the secure exchange of electronic health information and [...]
Interesting study results on physician productivity increases with EMR
May 13, 2009 By Leave a Comment
Image by Rogers Memorial Hospital via Flickr From an editorial in the Wisconsin State Journal. Health care is the next big debate in Congress. How do we control costs? How do we insure more people? How do we improve medical care? There are few easy answers. But one answer cannot be dismissed or delayed any [...]
