STANFORD, CA – Data mining and electronic health records helped researchers at some of the country’s most prestigious universities discover a dangerous of a common drug combination. A widely used combination of two medications may cause unexpected increases in blood glucose levels, according to a study conducted at the Stanford University School of Medicine, Vanderbilt University and Harvard Medical School. Researchers were surprised at the finding because neither of the two drugs – one, an antidepressant marketed as Paxil, and the other, a cholesterol-lowering medication called Pravachol – has a similar effect alone. The study relied on an adverse-event reporting database maintained by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and on sophisticated electronic medical records used by each of the three participating institutions. They used data-mining techniques to identify patterns of associations in large populations that would not be readily apparent to physicians treating individual patients. Click here to continue reading.
Thursday, May 26, 2011
Data mining, EHRs help target dangerous drug combo
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
Estonia launches $10 EHR
BUDAPEST, Hungary – Large populations, geographic disparities and legacy infrastructure problems can derail national health IT projects. Estonia suffers from none of these factors. The Baltic state implemented a national EHR in 2009 at a cost equivalent to €7.50 (roughly $10 USD) per citizen. Madis Tiik, CEO of the Estonian E-Health Foundation, who managed the project, described the short path to a fully integrated EHR network currently used by 47 pecent of the country's residents. Launched in 2009, the EHR is built on Estonia's X-Roads network, Tiik told attendees of eHealth Week 2011. X-Roads is a secure gateway service architecture that hosts 3,000 e-services available to Estonian citizens. In January 2010, the eHealth Foundation launched a companion health insurance system for claims, reimbursement and prescription management. "In many countries, I have seen that the task is to integrate the healthcare system," said Tiik. "There is also the concept of the personal health record. In Estonia, we decided that all this functionality will be in our national EHR." All end-users of Estonia's EHR system can access their full personal health records. There's nothing a physician can see that a patient cannot. And with nearly half the country's residents using the system within two years of its launch, the project appears viable for the long term. Click here to continue reading.
Friday, April 15, 2011
HealthGrades launches new physician portal
DENVER – HealthGrades, a website for patients researching and selecting physicians, announced Wednesday the launch of a new Web-based tool that empowers physicians and practice administrators to take control of their online reputation. The free, secure Web application encourages ongoing physician engagement to verify and modify the information HealthGrades makes public in more than 750,000 online physician profiles. The HealthGrades Physician & Provider Portal is being officially unveiled at this week’s American Medical Group Association (AMGA) annual conference in Washington D.C. “As a physician, I understand the professional challenge doctors face in managing online information,” said Rick May, MD, HealthGrades vice president, accelerated clinical excellence. “But public reporting is here to stay and will likely only increase in scope. It is time physicians leveraged the power of the Web to benefit their patients and their practice. As the most heavily trafficked physician search site, HealthGrades is uniquely positioned to help.” HealthGrades’ enhanced Portal is designed to enable physicians to take control of their online reputation, offering them the opportunity to respond publicly to patient satisfaction ratings, and assisting doctors in actively attracting the most appropriate patients. For example, adding customized and detailed information about medical areas of expertise, and a brief description of practice style helps patients better match with the right physician who meets their specific needs and expectations. Click here to continue reading.
Friday, March 25, 2011
California Connects aims to put 61,000 people online
SACRAMENTO, CA – California Connects, a federally funded program designed to increase broadband access among underserved communities for improved access to resources like healthcare information, celebrated its official launch Wednesday at American River College in Sacramento. Officials said the debut of the program marks the start of a multi-year effort to address California's digital divide and help increase the number of broadband Internet users throughout the state by more than 61,000 people. [See also: Obama gives HIT the nod in State of the Union speech.] California Connects will involve intensive training and outreach to expand Internet usage in communities that still have limited access, with an emphasis on the Central Valley, where there is still a high concentration of residents not using the Internet. The program aims to provide thousands of underserved Californians with online tools and training to enhance their lifelong learning ability, improve their economic and healthcare status and advance their general quality of life. [See also: Studies: Health IT has big impact on rural and minority communities.] California Assemblywoman Susan Bonilla (11th District) joined California Community Colleges Chancellor Jack Scott, Los Rios Community College District Chancellor Brice Harris, and Foundation for California Community Colleges President Paul Lanning to commemorate the launch of the program, made possible by a $10.9 million grant from the Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP) administered by the U.S. Department of Commerce's National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA). Click here to continue reading.
Friday, February 25, 2011
Health IT boosts Indiana's patient care, economy
INDIANAPOLIS – Indiana's health IT sector, which includes more than 72 growing technologies, along with health plans, life sciences companies, academic institutions, philanthropic organizations and state government, have bolstered healthcare and the economy of the state, according to a new report. The report, From Dishwashers to Digital Medical Records – Indiana's Leadership in Health Information Technology, from BioCrossroads, Indiana's initiative for investment, development and advancement of the state's signature life sciences strengths, was released Feb. 22 at HIMSS11 in Orlando. The BioCrossroads report lists 72 startups, 2,500 workers, and $202 million in company revenues as three new ways to measure the progress of Indiana's health information technology innovation cluster. It defines, for the first time, the HIT cluster as a specific sector of life sciences economic activity in Indiana, analyzing core assets and documenting a decade-long story of steady growth. Click here to continue reading.
Thursday, November 11, 2010
Tackling the EMR with planning and preloading
PORTLAND, MAINE – There is about a 50 percent failure rate for electronic medical record implementations, and most of those failures stem from poor planning and preparation, said a family physician who spoke at a regional extension center (REC) forum held for providers in Maine. Scott Patch, MD, practices in Yarmouth, Maine, and is part of a multi-specialty medical group called InterMed P.A., which has been using an EMR for about five years and is considered a “paperless” environment. Patch says when a practice is considering moving to an EMR the whole organization has to “buy-in.” In other words, everyone has to be onboard – even staff at check out. There is a “redistribution of work” said Patch. "There is going to be more and new work. For us it was our check out staff that required more training, The hardest part is maintaining good communication, said Patch. That is why it is important to identify a plan and choose a physician champion. “There is nothing more powerful” than choosing another doctor for this role, as doctors tend to listen to other doctors, he said. Part of an EMR plan is assessing what your practice does and doesn’t do well, said Patch. “The EHR represents a fundamental change to the way the office handles the movement of patients and information,” he added. Click here to continue reading.
Thursday, October 14, 2010
New program rewards top care from NYC docs
Here is a great article some new programs: NEW YORK – The Health Care Incentives Improvement Institute (HCI3) and the New York City Health Department's Primary Care Information Project have partnered to develop a program to recognize physicians who deliver high-value primary care to adult patients in New York City. The Adult Primary Care Recognition Program will help clinicians identify patients who need chronic care management and preventive services such as cholesterol management and blood pressure control – and encourage the doctors to take an active approach to treatment. Officials say the impact could be substantial, given the estimated 25 percent of New York City residents who suffer from hypertension, with less than half having their blood pressure under adequate control. By keeping people well, a key goal of this new program is to cut preventable hospitalization by 17 percent, reducing overall medical expenses in New York City significantly. "There are substantial avoidable costs associated with the management of chronic conditions," said Laurel Pickering, executive director of the New York Business Group on Health, a coalition of employer purchasers. "By reducing preventable complications incurred by most patients, we could considerably improve the health of employees and at the same time save employers billions of dollars." Click here to read more.
Thursday, September 30, 2010
Kaiser gives 'magic' of its technology to speed move to digital healthcare
OAKLAND, CA – Kaiser Permanente is donating its Convergent Medical Terminology (CMT) for open access to help boost the country's transition from paper-based medical records to electronic health records. CMT underpins the Kaiser Permanente electronic health record called KP HealthConnect. Terms are captured within the EHR and turned into terms that patients can understand, Kaiser officials explained at the Sept. 29 announcement of its gift. For example, MI (for myocardial infarction) turns in heart attack, or HT translates to hypertension. David Blumenthal, MD, the national coordinator of health IT, said, "It's like a continuous translation of different languages." The donation of the Kaiser-developed technology would enable any vendor to incorporate the capability into their products and make them available to their clients. Kaiser Permanente is donating CMT, the results of years of work at Kaiser, to the International Healthcare Terminology Standards Development Organisation (IHTSDO) for U.S. distribution through the Department of Health and Human Services so that all healthcare providers - large and small - can benefit from the translation-enabling technology. Click here to read more.
Friday, September 24, 2010
EHR market projected to double by 2012
MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA – The U.S. ambulatory EHR market, which was at $1.3 billion in 2009, is forecast to reach $2.6 billion in 2012, according to new analysis from research firm Frost & Sullivan. The rate of electronic health record adoption among U.S. physicians expects to increase over the next two to five years due to a combination of changes caused by healthcare reform and financial subsidies from the HITECH program, the report notes. "Today, many public and private stakeholders are committed to harnessing the power of information technology to improve the quality and efficiency of our healthcare system," states Frost & Sullivan Senior Industry Analyst Nancy Fabozzi. "We are finally seeing providers make the transition from siloed paper charts to interoperable electronic health records." Growing complexities in managing the reimbursement process with both government and commercial payers that reward quality over quantity in the care provided will increase the use of EHRs and related solutions for physicians and other clinicians, Fabozzi says. She predicts HITECH will indirectly stimulate the market by enticing additional stakeholders like commercial payers, professional medical societies, healthcare manufacturers, and various nonprofit organizations to help physicians and other providers successfully adopt information technology in their practices. Revenues are expected to fluctuate considerably over the next five to seven years, resulting in significant year-over-year shifts. This fluctuation happens as the market matures and increased competition comes into play, causing a decrease in pricing, she says. Strategic partnering with a variety of stakeholders is important for survival in this market as consolidation on both the vendor and provider side increases. Innovative, provider-focused, and patient-centric technology companies that understand how to manage this industry's unique combination of risks and rewards will achieve business progression. "Branding and outreach must extend beyond physicians to include non-physician healthcare providers, as well as healthcare consumers," notes Fabozzi. "Both should be directly engaged as advocates for the use of health information technology. Patients need to understand the role EHRs play in driving quality improvements and care coordination among all of their (physician and non-physician) providers."
Thursday, September 2, 2010
Detroit Medical Center pegs EMR savings at $5M a year
It is the second year in a row in which computer-based healthcare information processing created major improvements in quality of care and cost-savings for DMC's eight hospitals, officials said.
The windfall in savings - triggered by highly effective electronic monitoring of critical tasks such as treating pressure ulcers and preventing medication errors - resulted in a healthy return on investment, they said.
The $50 million system powered by Kansas City, Mo-based Cerner Corp, has gone online throughout the DMC in gradual stages over a 12-year period, starting in 1998.
"The latest numbers are in, and we continue to see great strides in improving quality, treating patients more quickly and preventing error, which translates to dollar savings as well," said Chief Nursing Officer Patricia Natale. "This work with these results is very exciting."
"The savings are only part of the story," she added, "because EMR is also a major step forward on the road to better quality of patient care. Thanks to EMR, we're now seeing a dramatic reduction in the length of hospital stays due to pressure sores, along with a dramatic reduction of drug errors through EMR-enabled medication scanning."
"The latest surveys show that EMR has helped to reduce medication errors by up to 75 percent," said DMC Chief Medical Information Officer Leland Babitch, MD. "Obviously, that's a major gain for patients - especially given the fact that medication errors account for the majority of accidental deaths and injuries at U.S. hospitals."
The U.S. Institute of Medicine has estimated that up to 100,000 patients die as a result of hospital errors annually.
Treating pressure ulcers
The impact of the electronic medical record system on the treatment of pressure ulcers was especially noticeable, said DMC quality-of-care administrators.
They noted that the chronic sores often require extended hospital stays and thus drive up costs. But the most recent DMC Patient Care Services study of severe pressure ulcer cases showed that close EMR monitoring of bedsores reduced the average length of stay required to treat them by nearly three full days last year, compared with the average length of ulcer-triggered stays before EMR monitoring began in 2008.
The DMC study concluded that the reduction in the length of pressure ulcer-related hospital stays - in a system that admits more than 75,000 patients each year - was now helping to generate more than $4.5 million in yearly cost savings.
"The data on electronic medical records and patient safety and quality of care are clear and convincing by now," said DMC Vice President for Quality and Safety Michelle Schreiber, MD. "Those data demonstrate beyond a reasonable doubt that EMR is an extremely powerful tool when it comes to protecting patients from hospital errors.
"But EMR is also proving to be an effective method for promoting quality of care - and the new numbers on bedsores and length of stays show how computer-based recordkeeping helps caregivers to take better care of patients day in and day out."
In spite of the savings to be had from hospital-based EMR, however, recent studies show that the majority of U.S. hospitals have either failed to implement top-to-bottom EMR systems - or are cutting back on information technology (IT) programs already in place.
As of August 2010, fewer than 4 percent of U.S. hospitals had implemented the level of system-wide electronic patient recordkeeping that is now in place at the DMC. In addition, a recent study at the University of Michigan School of Medicine showed that more than one-fourth of the nation's recession-affected hospitals have been cutting back on their already existing IT programs.
The cash-strapped hospitals were slashing IT budgets, reported the study in the Journal of Hospital Medicine, in spite of the fact that the Obama administration has recently made available more than $2.73 billion in Medicare/Medicaid bonuses for clinicians and hospitals that spend to improve their electronic medical records systems.
"The DMC has spent $50 million on building a powerful EMR system over the past five or six years, said Michael Duggan, president and CEO of the Detroit Medical Center, "and we did it because we like to think of ourselves as the 'hospital of the future' - as a state-of-the-art healing center where patients know they can get the best healthcare available anywhere today. "
"At the same time, the ability to greatly reduce healthcare costs via electronic medical records is an added bonus - which makes implementing EMR a win-win situation for everyone involved."
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Wednesday, August 25, 2010
ER wait times reduced 22 percent with advanced EHRs
"The good news is that if you choose a hospital with the best type of fully functional electronic medical records, you will probably have a shorter treatment time and a much shorter overall stay in the emergency room," said Assistant Professor Michael Furukawa, who authored the study. "However, I also found that if your hospital has just a basic electronic medical records system, efficiency could actually be worse than at emergency rooms with no electronic medical records at all."
Furukawa said he examined data from the 2006 National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey. The nationally representative survey included records from more than 30,000 patient visits to 364 hospitals nationwide.
The study examined three categories: hospital emergency rooms with little or no electronic medical records; those with only basic electronic medical records, which lack more advanced functions like online access to certain test results; and emergency rooms with the best, fully functional type of electronic medical records systems.
Furukawa found that hospital emergency rooms with the best electronic medical records had 13.1-percent shorter treatment times, 23.5-percent shorter stays in the ER for patients eventually admitted to the hospital, and 21.3-percent shorter stays in the ER for patients who were treated and discharged without being admitted.
The study also found that hospital emergency rooms with only basic electronic medical records had a 47.3-percent longer wait time for patients specifically dealing with urgent or semi-urgent medical issues.
"Surprisingly, basic electronic medical records were associated with longer wait times on average, especially for patients arriving at the ER with truly urgent medical needs," says Furukawa, "Therefore, the sophistication of health IT systems is important. Some hospitals may just plan to do the minimum necessary to get federal funding, and that may have unintended, negative consequences."
Furukawa said he believes efficiency may improve over time as hospital staffers and others become more familiar with the basic systems.
"Partial electronic medical records are not optimal," he said. "Don't expect to go halfway to achieve the same efficiency and benefits. As the government is announcing its standards for health IT, this should be kept in mind."
Furukawa's new study, "Electronic Medical Records and the Efficiency of Hospital Emergency Departments" was recently published by Medical Care Research and Review.
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Thursday, July 29, 2010
CCHIT announces three new certification programs for EHRs
The new programs focus on Behavioral Health – both as an optional addition to Ambulatory EHR certification and as a standalone Behavioral Health EHR used in other outpatient settings – Dermatology, and Long-Term and Post-Acute Care (which also includes optional add-on certifications for EHRs used in skilled nursing facilities and home health).
Applications for certification of these products are now being accepted and final criteria, test scripts and certification materials are available at cchit.org.
CCHIT also offers special certification programs for Cardiovascular Medicine, Child Health and Emergency Departments. In addition, a certification program for EHRs used in Clinical Research will be available in fall 2010, and programs in Women’s Health and Oncology are in development for launch in spring 2011.
"These certification programs represent the Commission’s ongoing commitment to increase the value of health IT for patients and providers by addressing the needs of individual medical specialties, care settings and patient populations," said Karen Bell, MD, commission chair. “These independently-developed CCHIT Certified programs go beyond the current federal minimum requirements in order to meet the longer-term needs of healthcare providers for robust EHRs with integrated functionality, interoperability and security.”
Health IT developers who voluntarily participated in the pilot testing of these new CCHIT programs include: Answers on Demand, Inc.; HealthMEDX, Inc.; Netsmart Technologies; NextGen Healthcare; NexTech Systems, Inc; Texas Department of State Health Services; UNI/CARE Systems, Inc., and XLEMR
The criteria and inspection processes for the new CCHIT Certified programs were developed by work group volunteers, including physicians, hospitals, health IT developers, payers, healthcare purchasers and consumers. The certification development process included evaluating provider needs, understanding currently available standards, analyzing public response to drafted criteria and test scripts, and publication of a future roadmap of certification requirements for these new areas.
Applicants for CCHIT Certified product certification will be able to apply separately for testing and certification against the criteria and standards published as a Final Rule on July 13 by The Office of the National Coordinator (ONC) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), when that program is available.
CCHIT is currently certifying products in a preliminary ARRA program designed to test product readiness for final certification. Eligible providers and hospitals must use certified EHR technology certified in the HHS program to qualify for funding through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). “Last week we announced that we have applied to become an ONC Authorized Testing and Certification Body (ONC-ATCB),” Bell said.
ONC has said it expects the first ONC-ATCBs to be authorized in late summer.
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Wednesday, July 14, 2010
EHR developed for long-term care holds promise
According to the U.S. Administration on Aging, there will be about 72 million older adults living in the U.S. who will require care from a workforce that is already projected to be lacking.
Researchers from MU are currently working on a solution they say may help alleviate some of the burden. They're developing an EHR system that encompasses standard health assessments and those obtained through new technologies. The goal, they say, is to increase efficiency and accuracy, improve patient outcomes and reduce costs for long-term care.
"As the use of emerging technologies increases along with the older population, maintaining complete and accurate patient information can be overwhelming," said Marilyn Rantz, professor in the MU Sinclair School of Nursing. "A comprehensive system that encompasses all measures, old and new, is the key to enhanced and efficient clinical decision making."
The EHR is being tested at TigerPlace, an independent senior-living facility in Columbia, Mo. According to the researchers' initial findings, use of the EHR system can enhance nursing care coordination and advance technology use and clinical research.
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Wednesday, July 7, 2010
HealthPartners to Study EMR Use for Decreasing Heart Risk
BLOOMINGTON, MN – A HealthPartners Research Foundation team has received a National Institutes of Health research grant to develop and implement an electronic health record-based clinical decision support system to help reduce patients' risk of heart attack or stroke.
The team, which is led by Patrick O'Connor, MD, senior clinical investigator at HealthPartners Research Foundation, was awarded $3.7 million to conduct the five-year study, "Prioritized Clinical Decision Support to Reduce Cardiovascular Risk."
"This is the next generation of personalizing care with decision support that's meaningful to care providers and patients," said O'Connor, who is also an assistant medical director at HealthPartners Medical Group. "HealthPartners Medical Group physicians and clinics have been pioneers in this area and this new project will likely lead to further improvements in care for thousands of patients."
The team, in collaboration with the University of Minnesota's Carlson School of Management, will engineer a point-of-care system that identifies and prioritizes evidence-based treatment options for patients at moderate to high risk for a heart attack or stroke within 10 years. With HealthPartners physicians, they will test its effect on risk in a randomized trial that includes 18 primary care clinics, 60 primary care physicians and 18,000 patients.
If successful, this approach will reduce the risk of heart attack or stroke for about 35 percent of adults in the United States and maximize the clinical return on investment for electronic health record systems. It could also be a model for using electronic health record technology to deliver personalized medicine in primary care settings.
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Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Poll: public isn't budging much on their attitudes about health IT
NORWALK, CT – Less than one in 10 American adults use electronic medical records or e-mail their doctor, according to a new Harris Interactive/HealthDay poll.
Nearly half of respondents of the poll, which was conducted among 2,035 U.S. adults online from June 8-10, weren't even sure if their physician offered these technologies.
The majority of those polled said they would like their doctors to access their medical records online, but only about a third (30 percent) believe their insurer should have the same access.
Overall, "the general public only has a vague idea, only a very limited understanding, of what all this is about," reasoned Humphrey Taylor, chairman of the Harris Poll, a service of Harris Interactive.
The poll results show that despite the Obama administration's campaign to expand the use of health information technology, public attitudes toward electronic medical records haven't budged much over the past few years.
In 2009, 78 percent of adults indicated that they "strongly" or "somewhat" agree that doctors should have access to their electronic medical records. In 2007, 80 percent were in agreement on physicians' access to those records.
The polls also shows that patients' use of various electronic functions remains very low. Only nine percent can communicate with their doctors by e-mail, up from four percent in 2006. Eight percent can schedule a doctor's visit online, up from three percent, and eight percent can get diagnostic test results by e-mail, up from two percent in 2006.
A little more than a quarter (28 percent) of those polled thought their doctor used electronic medical records, but 42 percent said they didn't know if their primary care physician had the technology.
According to experts, consumers remain skeptical about the inappropriate use of health information stored and accessed electronically.
"Ideally, the government only allows 'covered entities' access to your entire health history, called your 'personal health information,'" said Erin Stevenson, a digital health-care consultant at Redwood Medical Consulting in Bayside, Calif. But the law is vague and full of loopholes, he explained.
Yet Stevenson doesn't think consumer skepticism will impede wider use of the technology. In the end, he said, the technology "makes moving around a city, state, or changing doctors much easier," and it allows doctors to make quicker and better informed decisions.
But, as of now, Americans don't seem to appreciate the benefits of having their intimate health details stored in a computer vs. stowed away in file folders scattered across multiple doctors' offices, Taylor said.
"The policy wonks talk very persuasively about all of the improvements in quality that come from having a complete electronic medical record," he observed, but "that case has not really been made effectively to the public."
The survey also revealed regional differences, with more people in the West (35 percent) saying their primary-care doctor uses an electronic medical record than in other regions.
But with less than a tenth of American adults using electronic medical records, "the numbers are still very small," said Taylor, suggesting that the electronic "revolution" in healthcare is still in its infancy. But the numbers in some cases have doubled, and he expects that trend to accelerate over time.
"There's no question; it's the future," Taylor said. "The question is 'How quickly do we get there?'"
Thursday, June 17, 2010
New leadership steps up at EHR association
CHICAGO – Carl Dvorak, executive vice president of Epic Systems, has been elected chairman of the HIMSS Electronic Health Record Association, and Charles Jarvis, vice president of healthcare services and government relations for NextGen Healthcare Information Systems, has been elected to the vice chair.
The EHR Association announced its new chair and vice chair June 16, along with executive committee election results based on voting by the full membership during May and June.
The Association is composed of 44 companies that supply the majority of EHRs in use in hospitals and physicians practices in the United States.
Dvorak was a founding member of the association, now in its fifth year. He also served on the executive committee from 2004 to 2006, and was re-elected in 2009.
Jarvis was first elected to the executive committee in 2007 and has also served as chair of the Communications Workgroup, the Government Initiatives Workgroup and the Ambulatory Special Interest Group.
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Thursday, June 10, 2010
Survey highlights need for docs to talk to patients about moving to an EHR
The online survey, conducted for Norwalk, Conn.-based Xerox Corporation by Harris Interactive, polled 2,180 adults between Feb. 17-19, 2010.
Only 16 percent of U.S. adults who have a healthcare provider/institution have been approached by their healthcare provider/institution to discuss converting to digital records, according to a release about the survey.
"Ultimately, it is the patient that controls the effectiveness of treatment, his or her overall health, and perceived quality of care," said Martin Reiser, manager, government affairs, Xerox. "Providers can help patients and their families become well informed participants in their own care and understand how EHRs will help them get more out of the healthcare system."
Because patients are not well informed about EHRs, they have little knowledge on how the switch can benefit them, the survey found.
Respondents ranked patients as last among groups that will benefit from digital records, reporting they have the least to gain (26 percent).
"There is much for the patient to gain when records go digital, it's just a matter of communicating and demonstrating the benefits – like improved patient safety," said Mara Bryant, associate vice president, organizational excellence and health information management, White Memorial Medical Center, a not-for-profit, teaching hospital in Los Angeles.
The survey also found that a discussion between providers and their patients about a digital switch is important in easing any concerns they may have about the security of their information.
Seventy-nine percent of adults who have concerns about digital medical records report stolen records to be their number one concern with regard to EHRs, followed closely by misuse of information (69 percent) and lost or damaged records (68 percent).
"Providers can ease this fear by discussing the security precautions taken to safeguard against data breaches," said John B. Jones, vice president, healthcare providers, Xerox. "By arming Americans with information on EHR basics, we can prevent some of the influence of the media hype cycle around potential security risks."
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Wednesday, May 26, 2010
Enterprise HIE market poised to soar
FRAMINGHAM, MA – A recent study of health information exchange solution vendors shows enterprise HIEs serving integrated delivery networks, health, or hospital systems will be the fastest-growing market segment of HIE organizations in the coming two years.
The study, "Vendor Assessment: Industry Short List for Health Information Exchange Technologies," was conducted by IDC Health Insights, a Framingham, Mass.-based market research firm.
IDC researchers said enterprise HIEs are unlike regional health information organizations (RHIOs) and statewide or national HIEs, because they can establish a sustainable business model and are not as encumbered by organizational and data governance issues.
For the study, IDC evaluated 14 healthcare IT vendors, including Axolotl, Browsersoft/Open HRE, Carefx, dbMotion, eClinicalWorks, InterSystems, MEDecision, Medicity, MEDSEEK, Microsoft, Oracle, Orion Health, PatientKeeper, and RelayHealth.
IDC researchers said they chose the vendors because they are representative of the market and include leaders in the industry.
According to Lynne Dunbrack, program director at IDC Health Insights, the HIE vendor market is volatile with new companies entering the market and with market consolidation.
"We can expect dramatic changes in the next 12 to 18 months as HIE technologies become a commodity and dominant players acquire their way into a crowded market currently made up of many small, privately held vendors," she said.
IDC researchers said they put the vendors through a rigorous assessment for the study that centers around three principles IDC Insights says are critical in today's selection of an IT supplier: fact-based research, industry focus, and evaluation transparency.
IDC said the analysis is intended to help providers find the vendor best suited to their organization's existing IT environment and business needs.
Leaders of Informatics Corporation of America said the report demonstrates the enormous growth potential of health information exchanges (HIEs) in the next two years.
"The IDC report predicts the paradigm shift toward collaborative care through HIE models, which we see as a pivotal opportunity to drive improvements in the quality of medical care delivery and patient outcomes," said Gary Zegiestowsky, CEO of Informatics Corporation of America.
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Tuesday, May 18, 2010
EHR extension centers launch work in Big Apple
Today, the New York eHealth Collaborative and the NYC Regional Electronic Adoption Center for Health (NYC REACH) are ready to hit the road to other parts of the state.
They head next to Long Island, Syracuse, Buffalo, Binghamton, Albany and Tarrytown.
The effort to get New York's doctors on board with electronic medical records, will be a marketing and education campaign first, said David Whitlinger, executive director of the New York eHealth Collaborative.
The goal is to help at least 10,000 primary care providers convert from paper to digital records over the next two years. The centers are two of 60 at work across the country. Together, they aim to target 100,000 physicians who have not yet gone digital.
"With one of the nation's largest healthcare systems, New York State is leading the way for the adoption of electronic health records," said Amanda Parsons, MD, assistant commissioner of the Primary Care Information Project at the New York City Health Department. Parsons oversees the NYC REACH program, which served as model for the government's regional extension centers.
"We deploy EHR technology to improve healthcare and save lives across our health care system," Parsons said.
"The federal subsidies supporting adoption of EHRs will be available only for a couple of years, so it's important for primary care providers in New York to act now to take advantage of these programs while there are still funds available," Whitlinger said. "These free summits are a great way for clinicians to learn more about all the resources available to help them implement electronic health records in their practices. The sooner they start using EHRs to enhance patient care, the more stimulus funds they can earn."
The latest data shows that electronic health record adoption is picking up rapidly, with an estimated 27 percent of physicians using some kind of EHR, compared with 17 percent in 2007 and 21 percent in 2008.
"More than two-thirds of U.S. ambulatory physicians work in solo or small group practices, and this program will help providers in small practice settings, community health centers, public hospitals, and settings that treat underserved populations implement electronic health records to enhance care for their patients," said Parsons. "Our team of experts can provide valuable hands-on assistance to providers every step of the way, from evaluating and selecting an electronic health record system to implementing it most effectively to improve patient care and qualify for federal funds."
"It's crucial for healthcare providers to learn how to leverage electronic health records to improve patient care, and we are committed to giving them the concrete guidance they will need to do this most effectively," said Rachel Block, deputy commissioner for the New York State Office of Health Information Technology. "EHRs will help improve quality of care for New Yorkers while boosting efficiency and enhancing patient satisfaction. Today's health care consumers expect and deserve to receive care that is safe, convenient and tailored to their needs."
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Wednesday, May 12, 2010
Hospitals look to smart technology for EMRs
ARMONK, NY – Capella Healthcare, the Memorial Hermann Hospital System, Trillium Health Centre and Vanderbilt University Medical Center are all turning to smart technology for their electronic medical records.
Hospital officials are using IBM to integrate and access new intelligence to improve their EMRs. IBM's open technology provides real-time access to clinical and business information spanning multiple systems, as well as sources of information like digital imaging and laboratory results.
"Now is an important time for industry leaders to step up and contribute to healthcare reform and transformation. To accelerate achievement of such goals, IBM is teaming with our many business partners, alliances and key clients to drive the creation of integrated delivery systems, including electronic medical records, that help the worldwide healthcare system become more interconnected, instrumented and intelligent," said Dan Pelino, general manager of IBM's Healthcare & Life Sciences Industry. "In this regard, the enablement of EMRs as envisioned by the Obama Administration will help to link diagnosis, drug discovery and healthcare delivery systems to insurers, employers, communities and patients themselves."
The Houston, Texas-based Memorial Hermann Hospital System adopted IBM software and services in concert with IBM Business Partner CGI's Sovera solution to provide 24/7 Web-based access to patient financial information. Hospital officials said they realized more than $1.2 million in operational cost savings in 20 months of use.
Mineral Area Regional Medical Center, one of 14 of Franklin, Tenn.–based Capella Healthcare hospitals, is using IBM and IBM Business Partner BlueWare's Wellness Connection offerings to share digitized information for all outpatient services, including laboratory services, electrocardiograms (EKGs) and diagnostic imaging, as well as physician and nursing notes.
Trillium Health Centre, one of Canada's largest hospitals, is using IBM business intelligence to provide real-time insight into patient length of stay, patient safety, service accessibility, staff retention and budgets. Hospital officials say staff can now link the key performance indicators that impact one another to identify potential problems and show process gaps. They can also map into external databases from the Canadian Institute of Health Informatics and the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care to benchmark their performance.
Nashville, Tenn.-based Vanderbilt University Medical Center is using IBM technology, built on ILOG, for the organization's new alerts and notifications system, through which Vanderbilt doctors are automatically informed when lab results indicate a critical situation.
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