Clicky

EMR Daily News

News of the day in Electronic Medical Records, EHR and HIT

SRSsoft Announces New Name, Rebrands as SRS Health

By

SRSsoft, a Healthcare IT (HCIT) pioneer known for providing productivity-enhancing solutions for specialists, today announced that the company has changed its name to SRS Health. Following an in-depth strategic and creative review process, the organization has moved forward with a new name that better reflects its focus and offerings as a data solutions innovator. The name change announcement is accompanied by a new logo and the tagline, “Intelligent Data Solutions.”

“During our 20 years of innovation, the healthcare technology field has been radically transformed. So has SRS,” said Scott Ciccarelli, CEO, SRS Health. “While our focus remains the same — providing HCIT solutions to help support specialty practices — those solutions take on a very different form now than they did in times past. SRS is now a data solutions company that helps drive better care and better outcomes for our clients today, and in the future. That’s more than an evolution; it’s a revolutionary change that demands rebranding.”

The addition of “Health” to the company name comes from the ability of its solutions to help support patient health and practice health. SRS Health’s flexible data platform and integrated best-of-breed approach allows specialists to utilize HCIT in a way that improves the experience for their patients and their practice. The new tagline, “Intelligent Data Solutions,” communicates what SRS Health brings to the specialty marketplace: predictive, connective, and customizable solutions designed specifically for the needs of their practices instead of those of generalists.

Regarding the new logo, Helene Kaiden, SRS Health’s Vice President of [Read more…]

Filed Under: EHR

Cerner, Children’s National to Expand IT Platform with Revenue Cycle Suite

By

Cerner, a global leader in health care technology, and Children’s National Health System, an international leader in pediatric health, have expanded their relationship to implement a suite of revenue cycle management solutions.

Children’s National and Cerner will integrate Millennium Revenue Cycle™, a patient-centric financial management offering designed to optimize provider and user workflow, with the existing Cerner electronic health record (EHR) and scheduling platform across the 313-bed pediatric hospital and more than 50 outpatient facilities.

“We’re pleased with the success our relationship with Cerner has produced, and we’re confident these expanded offerings will continue to support our organization,” said Dr. Brian Jacobs, vice president, CMIO and CIO, Children’s National. “Incorporating financial data with our clinical systems, all on the same platform, makes sense and provides an integrated billing, analytics and decision support experience.”

Cerner’s Clinically Driven Revenue Cycle™ is designed to support clinicians and staff to update the billing, collection and analytics processes throughout the patient’s visit, enhance clinical documentation to help improve reimbursement and limit claims errors. Patients will benefit from [Read more…]

Filed Under: HIT

84% of Medical Practices Report They Are Not Certain What MACRA Will Require of Their Practice

By

However, 85% Say They Will Participate in MACRA to Best of Their Ability

Kareo, the leading provider of clinical and business management software for independent medical practices, announced today that a recent survey showed that 84% of independent physicians and staff aren’t sure what MACRA’s Quality Payment Program (QPP) will require of their practice. Despite this uncertainty, most of these same physicians expect to participate in it to the best of their ability. With payment adjustments potentially reaching plus or minus nine percent by 2022, this is good news. It means that most practices intend to do what is necessary to avoid an adjustment and/or try to get an incentive.

The survey was conducted by Kareo after the final rule was released in October, and over 170 medical practices responded. The overall results show that most practices expect to participate, but they still aren’t sure what the requirements are or how the program will impact revenue.

The proposed rule was announced in the spring of 2016, followed by a comment period. Industry groups, providers, and vendors responded with feedback, some of which was incorporated into the rule. The final rule came out on October 14, and it stated that the reporting period would begin on January 1, 2017 for those who want to fully participate and try to get a positive payment adjustment. That left just over two months for eligible clinicians and vendors to get ready.

“At Kareo, we felt that it was important to understand how prepared our customers really were to begin participating in the Merit-Based Incentive Payment System (MIPS), which is the QPP path most of them will follow,” said Dan Rodrigues, founder and CEO of Kareo. “Our survey highlighted that independent practices want to comply but they are struggling with the complexity and aggressive timing of the rule.”

When asked if they understood what MACRA requires of their practice, 41% said they were not sure and 43% said they disagreed or strongly disagreed. Only four percent said they strongly agreed that they knew what MACRA required of them.

Similar results were seen when asked about the impact on revenue. Sixty-three percent weren’t sure if MACRA would reduce reimbursement. When asked about whether MACRA would increase reporting burdens, most were sure it would. Over 60% said the reporting requirements would increase for their practice.

“The survey results highlight a trend we have seen at Kareo in recent years,” said Rodrigues. “Independent practitioners want to stay independent so they want to participate in programs like MACRA and avoid possible penalties. But they need help to do it. The addition of the Pick Your Pace options in the final rule is a step in the right direction.”

[Read more…]

Aprima Medical Software Acquires EHR Reseller Healthcare Data Solutions

By

Aprima Medical Software has announced the acquisition of a former reseller Healthcare Data Solutions (HDS) of Coral Cables, FL. As part of the agreement, Aprima will assume full support for HDS’s customers, which include approximately 300 providers in 125 medical practices across 15 states. Financial terms were not disclosed.

HDS works with physician groups across the country to identify IT solutions that best fit their needs and to implement and support their ongoing system needs.

“We have worked closely with the HDS team since adding them to our reseller program in 2012,” said Aprima CEO and president Michael Nissenbaum. “When we first learned that HDS founder Rodney Barreto was interested in pursuing other business opportunities, we saw it as an excellent opportunity to expand our direct client base, while also continuing HDS’s longtime tradition of delivering excellent customer support and service.”

Aprima previously acquired RCM services provider Health Care Strategies in 2011. Since acquiring Health Care Strategies, Aprima has grown its RCM client base threefold and quadrupled the dollars under management. As a whole over the same period, Aprima has experienced annual double-digit growth in revenue and EBITDA and maintained a 98 percent customer retention rate.

“We regularly explore opportunities that we believe will provide our customers with complementary products or services, or align with our long-term strategy of building revenues and helping physicians achieve their financial and care delivery goals,” said Nissenbaum. “The acquisition of HDS [Read more…]

Host.net Launches HIPAA-Compliant Healthcare IT Package

By

Host.net, a multinational provider of cloud, managed infrastructure and network services, announces today the launch of its HIPAA-compliant Healthcare IT solution. The new Host.net HIPAA Compliance Package is designed to arm hospitals, doctors offices and healthcare service providers with secure ways to meet complex compliance regulations, protect patient privacy, establish and improve telehealth and telemedicine services and adeptly address critical healthcare IT requirements.

Through Host.net’s state-of-the-art HIPAA-compliant services – including colocation, physical security, cooling and power redundancies, multi-layer network redundancy and hybrid IT solutions – healthcare providers can ensure their complex data and voice infrastructure is compliant and secure. The new flexible Host.net HIPAA Compliance Package includes a variety of colocation options and offers several ways to further customize through hybrid cloud configurations, Internet service and Multi-protocol Label Switching (MPLS) layer two networking – a flexible and fast way to route data and voice traffic.

This integrated solution ensures patient and employee data is safe, while enabling multi-location doctors practices to connect their offices, quickly transfer Electronic Medical Records (EMR) and files, improve telemedicine capabilities, and ensure the utmost in security and reliability. Host.net also works closely with larger healthcare organizations that require storage and archival solutions that require HIPAA compliance.

“Host.net has seen increased demand from health institutions and healthcare service providers for fully compliant IT solutions that ensure their critical systems and IT infrastructure remain highly available and secure,” states Host.net CEO Jason Katz. “Host.net is agile and has a wealth of experience in meeting compliance needs for our clients, allowing them to focus on their core business, while we manage the infrastructure and deal with the complex and ever-changing compliance landscape.”

Priority Ambulance, which is a Host.net client, leverages a Host.net hybrid solution including compliant colocation, along with Host.net Smart Cloud Architecture and backup services.

“Maximum uptime is so critical for 911 dispatch services,” comments Robbie D. Stone, Chief Information Officer for Priority Ambulance. “With Host.net, we are confident our critical dispatch systems and applications are running at peak performance and always available.”

Host.net’s solutions, are compliant with all PCI, SOC, HIPAA and Visa requirements, so healthcare organizations of all sizes can rest assured their unique IT requirements are met and create an environment that is secure, reliable and 100% redundant. With 24x7x365 support, Host.net also has a full suite of Disaster Recovery as a Service (DRaaS)solutions enabling clients to securely recover data and minimize downtime in the event of an outage.

Allegiance ACO Generates $2 Million in Medicare Shared Savings Using HealthEC’s Population Health Management Solution

By

Allegiance ACO of Allegiance Health Group, a full-service family practice of multi-specialty physicians in New Jersey, has generated approximately 6 percent or $2 million in healthcare cost savings among its 2,867 Medicare patients. The ACO relied on HealthEC’s population health management technology solution and management to transform participating physician practices’ operations, achieving significant efficiencies in patient care management and cost utilization.

Allegiance ACO ranks among the top 12 accountable care organizations with a 2014 start time accruing the most federal savings for Medicare patients. Currently, 433 ACO qualify for the Medicare ACO Shared Savings Program as of April 2016.

Allegiance ACO provides care services to economically disadvantaged patients and their families at or below the poverty level who reside in suburban and underserved urban communities in Mercer County, N.J. Since the ACO’s formation in 2013, Medicare patients have increased from 2,867 to an estimated 12,000, and 52 physician members are expected to grow to a projected 120 in 2017.

“We are a small group of providers working with patients from the inner cities of central New Jersey who still managed to achieve federal savings, reduce spending and significantly have an impact on cost utilization,” said Marc Whitman, M.D., Allegiance ACO’s CEO. “From day one, HealthEC’s best clinical practices and deep knowledge of population health management enabled Allegiance ACO to be successful. Its technology solution eliminated the burdensome back office work so that our physicians could focus on what they do best – delivering high-quality patient care to their patients.”

From the beginning, HealthEC’s population health management solution helped launch and assist Allegiance ACO to manage care coordination of its high-risk stratified Medicare beneficiaries in Trenton and surrounding areas. Specifically, the ACO’s patients have a higher rate of kidney dialysis utilization compared to the national average dialysis patient population. However, with support from HealthEC, Allegiance ACO is able to keep dialysis costs under control.

HealthEC’s solution captures, aggregates and normalizes clinical and financial data from diverse ambulatory and acute electronic health records, claims and ancillary systems onto a single, comprehensive platform. Its granular analytics applied to large data integration identifies Allegiance ACO’s high-cost, high-risk patients, requiring close medical attention—by provider and by practice. It also provides strategic insight into which risk-rising patients have the greatest impact on minimizing cost utilization.

Allegiance ACO’s large-scale data integration also laid the groundwork for the development [Read more…]

Vital Monkey – Medical Billing Software Announces Its “Open” Philosophy for EMR Partners

By

Exxemplar EDI, Inc’s leading technology, known as “Vital Monkey” (medical billing and practice management software) is pleased to announce that it will be providing its complete web-based, practice management & billing application to all clients that are using a separate EHR (Electronic Health Records) software.  Vital Monkey’s executive and technology team has committed to making Vital MonkeyVM an “open-for-integration” application for those clients that love their EMR application, but are searching for a more affordable medical billing application.

Over the last 24 months, Vital Monkey has built and delivered a competitive practice management solution for small and medium sized health care practices nationwide.  With robust insurance claims billing functionality, tracking, e-statements with credit card processing, patient portal, patient retention/marketing, ease of use, and without a contract or support costs, Vital Monkey is becoming a popular alternative to the larger, higher cost practice management software programs.

Bryan Towns, President & Founder of Exxemplar EDI, Inc. and chief architect of the Vital Monkey application has always seen and agreed “competing with the amazing EHR option [Read more…]

Healthcare Professionals Say Trump Administration Will Improve U.S. Healthcare System

By

Blank Survey Template 2Aprima Medical Software today announced the results of a post-presidential election survey of healthcare professionals, which explored predictions for healthcare under a Trump administration. The majority of the 312 physicians and practice staff participating in the survey (52%) believe a Trump presidency will improve healthcare in the U.S, while 48% anticipate a positive financial impact on their practice.

The majority of healthcare professionals (62%) also expect changes to some aspects of the Affordable Care Act, though less than one-third expect a total repeal. Fifty-nine percent are optimistic that physician practices will experience a decrease in regulatory burdens, though respondents were divided regarding the potential impact on provider compensation models and on patient access to care.

“This presidential election cycle was one of the most unpredictable in recent history, and we were curious to understand what customers and prospects believe the impact will be on our industry,” said Michael Nissenbaum, CEO, and president of Aprima. “I think it’s particularly notable that the majority of the survey participants expect a Trump administration to be better for healthcare than what we’ve experienced under the Obama administration, though 30% predict it will be worse. Healthcare providers, like the rest of the country, appear cautiously optimistic, though not overwhelmingly convinced that we’ll see positive changes under the new administration.”

The survey, which was emailed to almost 19,000 healthcare professionals following the November 8th election, allowed participants to clarify why they believed healthcare would be better or worse under a Trump administration. Many expressed predictions that certain aspects of Obamacare will be repealed and replaced with programs that include fewer regulatory burdens on providers and lower premiums for consumers. Other healthcare professionals voiced concerns that the number of uninsured patients will increase and create [Read more…]

Filed Under: EHR

Dizzion Achieves HIPAA/HITECH Compliance for Secure Virtual Desktops

By

screen-shot-2016-12-06-at-5-01-27-pmDizzion, Inc., a full-service end user computing (EUC) provider, today announced that it has been independently validated by cyber risk management advisors, Coalfire, who found that Dizzion’s control posture is in accordance with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) and the Breach Notification Rule. Dizzion, having met HIPAA and the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (HITECH) requirements will assist healthcare organizations, covered entities and business associates in attaining and maintaining compliance with HIPAA and HITECH.

Dizzion’s HIPAA compliant virtual desktops provide access to applications and data, including protected health information (PHI), from any device, anywhere by securing the desktop experience in the cloud. This type of availability is increasingly critical for successful mobile workforces, telemedicine, work at home programs and third-party collaboration. An increase in PHI breaches and evolving end user computing landscape are driving the demand for security and compliance:

  • 1 in 3 Americans were affected by a healthcare data breach in 2015 at an average cost of $363 per lost/stolen medical record.
  • Unauthorized access/disclosure (38%), theft (29%), and hacking/IT incident (21%) were the top three causes of healthcare breaches reported in 2015.

“In today’s cyber threat landscape, properly securing PHI and remaining compliant should be a top priority for all covered entities and business associates,” said Steve Prather, CEO and Co-founder, Dizzion. “This can be a massive undertaking for many organizations and becomes increasingly complex when you consider disparate employee locations, device mobility and the use of third-party contractors. Our virtual desktops help to solve those challenges and address many of the related risks associated with endpoint devices like laptops, tablets and smartphones.”

“One in three companies are projected to adopt DaaS in the next three years, and Dizzion continues to pave the future [Read more…]

MacPractice Updates Beta Clients and Provides Sierra Compatibility for MacPractice MD, DDS, DC and 20/20

By

MacPractice announced today that it is providing its beta clients with macOS Sierra and El Capitan compatible versions of macOS native MacPractice MD, DDS, DC and 20/20 software. Earlier versions of MacPractice have been compatible with El Capitan since December of 2015. This makes it possible for MacPractice users who want or need new Macs to purchase them from Apple, as new Macs come with Sierra pre-installed.

Doctors and staff who are the sole users of a Mac and who have an iWatch can configure Sierra so the operating system senses their proximity and logs them in or out. This is a unique Apple advantage available to MacPractice users.

Apple publicly released macOS Sierra on September 20, its most recent update is version 10.12.1, and 10.12.1 beta 5 was released to developers and public beta testers in October. MacPractice does not recommend that practices using MacPractice software install beta software on the same computer with MacPractice.

MacPractice uses an all-in-one design philosophy to assist practices to more easily house and protect their patient’s identity [Read more…]