Hospitals Slow to Go Paperless Despite Benefits

Guest Post: Hospitals Slow to Go Paperless Despite Benefits

If you are walking into an ER, you better have a reliable memory of your last doctor's visit, the medications you have taken, and any x-rays you've had in the last year. Unless you are walking into one of the very few hospitals in the United States that has gone paperless, your wait could be very long. This is because hospitals are still using an outdated method of managing information: paper.

Healthcare is far behind other industries when it comes to information technology and document management. Hospitals and patients could greatly benefit from the conveniences an upgraded IT system could provide. This isn’t wishful thinking or guesswork. The benefits for hospitals and patients have been proven.

In 2009, Johns Hopkins released a now famous statewide study that demonstrated the benefits of hospitals using paperless technologies. The study included over 40 hospitals and 160,000 patients and found a correlation between computerizing records and overall hospital safety and effectiveness.

The hospitals with the top paperless technologies in the state showed a 15% decrease in the odds of patients dying while hospitalized. Imagine if we could see this kind of decrease throughout the rest of the healthcare industry. Assuming this decrease would hold true for all US hospitals, going paperless across the country could save more than 100,000 lives every year.

Reflections from the HIMSS/AMDIS Physicians' IT Symposium at #HIMSS13

I am in New Orleans attending the 2013 HIMSS conference. Follow updates on Twitter by following the #HIMSS13 hashtag.

Today, I was in the HIMSS/AMDIS Physicians' IT Symposium: Reviewing the Past, Assessing the Present and Planning for the Future. Let me highlight a few key points and reflections I jotted down as I sat through several presentations about Meaningful Use (MU) and the future of clinical informatics:

Health IT is about improving clinical workflow efficiency and patient care. The HITECH Act was signed in 2009. How far have we come? New laws and regulations are forcing physicians and hospitals to change. They may not want to change, but they have no choice. The carrot and the stick approach is driving people to buy systems and force changes in workflow. Are these changes all beneficial for patients? Not necessarily. Some are clearly going to help patients as physicians rely on evidence-based information when they make clinical decisions. We should see a reduction in medical errors. Medication tracking and reconciliation will be easier. But, are we actually improving patient care? Or, are we putting too much emphasis on achieving Meaningful Use?

We've seen many physicians and hospitals achieve Meaningful Use (MU) Stage 1. Now, we are hearing growing discussions around Stage 2. It's probably a good thing that Stage 2 was delayed to 2014.

ONC Chief Scientist Google + Hangout

The following event was Streamed live on Feb 12, 2013 via Google + Hangout



Read more about it here.

A Meaningful Foundation for the Future of Healthcare – 2012 ONC Annual Meeting

Hot on the heels of a new survey that shows uptake of EHR/EMR is blasting by estimates; ONC is convening its annual end-of-year conference to talk up all of the accomplishments that have been made by ONC, grantees and other partners and stakeholders as well as the challenges of the years ahead. You can view the agenda for Dec. 12 or, if you are interested. You can follow the action through the webcast.

Follow all the action on Twitter (#ONC2012) and ongoing discussions on our LinkedIn page.

EHR & Open Source at OSEHRA Summit

What role does open source play in the landscape of health IT?

"Migrating to open standards supports cost containment strategies, and will increase VA's flexibility and ability to interoperate with multiple vendors."
Roger Baker, Assistant Secretary for Information and Technology, Department of Veterans Affairs

Don’t miss the exciting discussion on the future of EHRs and Open Source at the inaugural OSEHRA Summit & Workshop, Wed., Oct. 17, 2012, to Thurs., Oct. 18, 2012 at the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center.

Secretary Baker and more than 30 other speakers from government agencies, private industry and academia will discuss health IT innovation, industry trends and more.

Learn more about the OSEHRA Open Source EHR Summit here.

The Stage 2 EHR meaningful-use final rule is out!

The Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT (ONC) and The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) today released final requirements for Stage 2 Electronic Health Records Incentive programs.

The regulations can be found at:

• CMS - http://www.ofr.gov/OFRUpload/OFRData/2012-21050_PI.pdf
• ONC - http://www.ofr.gov/OFRUpload/OFRData/2012-20982_PI.pdf

A fact sheet on CMS's final rule is available at http://www.cms.gov/apps/media/fact_sheets.asp.

A fact sheet on ONC's standards and certification criteria final rule is available at http://www.healthit.gov/policy-researchers-implementers/meaningful-use-stage-2-0.

First Annual Open Source EHR Summit & Workshop

Yes, there are still open source EHRs that are out there!

First Annual Open Source EHR Summit & Workshop

The Summit will be hosted by Open Source Electronic Health Records Agent (OSEHRA), a nonprofit organization established by the United States Department of Veterans Affairs dedicated to accelerating innovation in open source electronic health record software.

Wednesday, Oct. 17 & Thursday, Oct. 18, 2012

Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center
201 Waterfront Street
National Harbor, MD 20745

Topics include:

• Open source initiatives in Federal agencies; VA, DoD, HHS and others
• Best practices in open source software development
• Lessons learned from related industries
• Open source software development in health care
• Trends in the open source software industry
• New open source initiatives

Learn more about this event here.

Physicians on Doximity are discussing EHRs

If you're a physician and you're considering various EHR (Electronic Health Record) systems, make sure to view the discussions on Doximity to see what other physicians have to say. You can get input from physicians who work in EHR companies and from users who have been using various EHR systems for the past few years.

To get to those discussions, click on the "iRounds" tab once you log into Doximity. You can also get the free Doximity app on your mobile device (iOS and Android).

Successful EHR Change Management (by HP)

Here is some information about a complimentary white paper by HP titled, "Successful EHR Change Management."

This informative paper monitors where your staff may be in terms of resistance or support for a new Electronic Health Records (EHR) system. It walks you through processes for assuring they have proper tools, training and support to accomplish successful EHR implementation, which includes:

• Assessing baseline skills and abilities
• Analyzing existing workflows
• Defining roles and expectations, and designing training.
• Building the transition team, and setting the EHR goals.
• Doing this right places you, as an IT professional, at the center of efforts driving an effective transition process.

You can get the paper here (PDF)

drchrono Releases New Product Bundle; Free E-Prescribing Now Available

Free Electronic Health Record App Offers Full Functionality for Achieving Meaningful Use Without Capital Investment in Software

Mountain View, CA – September 22, 2011 - drchrono, provider of the most comprehensive Patient Care Platform for the iPad, today announced a new product bundle for its Electronic Health Record (EHR) offering, which now includes free e-prescribing and additional medical companion tools to improve clinical workflow while enhancing quality of care for patients. With free e-prescribing, the complete functionality required for a physician practice to qualify for Meaningful Use incentives is now free from drchrono.

GE Webinar: EMR and Quality Management 9/7/11

Don't miss this upcoming webinar titled: EMR and Quality Management
September 7, 2011 | 2-3 PM EST

No doubt there’s a learning curve when a practice firsts adopts and implements an EMR, just like any type of transformational technology. But once providers get over that initial implementation hump, they can start seeing value not only at the time of care, but on many harder-to-manage aspects of how they care for patients.

To explore these questions, join us for a free on-demand webinar and hear from speaker Don McDaniel discuss the following topics:

Physician adoption:
• Change management – The cultural shift
• Vendor partner support – training & consulting

Technology:
• Support the workflow of the organization
• Benefit of an integrated EMR & PM system

Register for this webinar here.

Webinar on EHR Implementation and Optimization

Arcadia Solutions is presenting a HIMSS co-sponsored Webinar on Thursday, September 8, 2011 at 2:00PM, EST.

EHR Implementation and Optimization: A Consumer Software Approach

Implementing electronic health records (EHRs) to date has proved to be an arduous process for many healthcare organizations. Most adoption approaches have failed because they don't adequately take user behavior into consideration during or after an implementation. A new, innovative approach to implementation and optimization must be introduced in order to avoid the all-too-common adoption pitfalls.

Epocrates offering an Early EHR Adopter Special

Epocrates recently announced the launch of Epocrates EHR—the system designed with physician input specifically for small practices!

They are offering an Early EHR Adopter Special to help users transition to electronic health records. Start using Epocrates EHR for just $179/month—a savings of over 55% compared to the regular subscription rate of $359/month (price is per paid seat and will change to $359/month on April 1, 2012).

To learn more, call 1-877-423-4980 or visit www.epocratesehr.com for more details or to purchase.

Nuance unveils Dragon Medical Practice Edition

Nuance Healthcare Expands Dragon Medical Portfolio to Accelerate EHR Adoption Amongst Physician Practices
BURLINGTON, Mass., – August 17, 2011 – Nuance Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ: NUAN) today unveiled Dragon Medical Practice Edition, the latest addition to the Dragon Medical portfolio of medical speech recognition solutions. Dragon Medical solutions have been proven to support clinicians at healthcare organizations of all sizes in utilizing electronic health records (EHR) and accelerating Meaningful Use.

Pathway to Meaningful Use: WellCentive EHR-M & AMAGINE e-Prescribe

Another upcoming webinar: Pathway to Meaningful Use: WellCentive EHR-M & AMAGINE e-Prescribe

Date: Wed, Aug 10, 2011
Time: 12:00 PM EDT
Duration: 45 minutes
Host(s): AMAGINE

This presentation will introduce you to the AMAGINE™ physician portal, which offers health IT applications to help physician practices meet their health IT needs. Featured in the presentation will be a demonstration of WellCentive EHR-M, an upgraded version of the WellCentive Registry, with more comprehensive certification for the ARRA/Meaningful Use requirements, in combination with AMAGINE e-Prescribe (powered by Allscripts).

Physicians who use WellCentive EHR-M along with a certified e-prescribing system can meet the requirements for Meaningful Use of Certified EHR Technology and qualify for their $44,000 incentive under the ARRA program-- at less cost than an EMR-based approach.

Register here.

The AMAGINE™ physician portal is the one-stop, web-based solution for your health IT needs. Select from more than 20 industry-leading tools. Start with just one. Or complete your suite with electronic medical records (EMR/EHR), e-prescribing, patient registry, lab ordering and results, or other clinical support tools. All for one low subscription fee. All on one secure website with single sign-on access. Contact us now to assess your priorities, craft a plan, and make health IT work for you. Imagine that.

Medical House Calls Revived with the Help of iPad and EMR

Nurse Practitioner Scharmaine Lawson-Baker in New Orleans uses Practice Fusion’s free, web-based EHR technology on her iPad to make house calls; defends patient records from natural disasters.

San Francisco, CA – August 2, 2011 - Scharmaine Lawson-Baker, a certified family nurse practitioner in New Orleans, relies on Practice Fusion’s free, web-based Electronic Health Record (EHR) system on her iPad to deliver care to patients in their homes. Lawson-Baker makes about 10 house calls every day, to senior and disabled patients who would otherwise go without critical healthcare. Lawson-Baker is profiled in Practice Fusion’s latest EHR case study video:



“I love making house calls because it really puts you on the frontlines of primary care,” said Lawson-Baker in the new film. “Technology not only makes my job easier, but makes me more efficient and I’m able to provide patients with information in real time. They love it.”

Texas Health IT Summit

If you live in Texas, don't miss the upcoming Texas Health IT Summit in Dallas.
Thursday, September 8 – Saturday, September 10, 2011

Sessions led by national and state experts including:

• Health information exchange
• E-prescribing
• EHR implementation
• EHR funding
• Stimulus funding
• "Meaningful use"

Educational tracks available for:

• Physicians, nurses, health care professionals, government agency representatives and others wanting to learn the basics and beyond of HIT
• Physicians and their staff considering adoption of EHR technology
• Those seeking a career in HIT

More information here.

A simple "meaningful use" table that outlines and defines the core and menu set measures for EPs

When you search on the CMS website for information about the meaningful use of electronic health records (EHRs), you'll get bombarded by a ton of links (some which don't work) and 276 pages describing the meaningful use rules. When you look for consolidated information summarizing all the meaningful use requirements, you may quickly get frustrated. If you keep digging around, you may eventually find this PDF titled, "Eligible Professional Meaningful Use Table of Contents Core and Menu Set Measures."

This PDF includes hyperlinks that take you to specific definitions of terms. So, if you're confused about the definition of "clinical quality measures" or "clinical decision support rule," you'll find those definitions quickly and easily by using this PDF.

There are 15 core measures and 10 menu set measures for eligible professionals (EPs). Are you achieving meaningful use?

Tech Rounds at a local hospital

Last week, I had the opportunity to visit a local hospital and to attend the "Tech Rounds" that is organized by the CMIO (Chief Medical Information Officer). I enjoyed the discussion about practical technology tools that can assist clinicians with daily workflow issues. The discussion also revolved around improving patient safety. Given that electronic health records (EHRs) and computer-based resources in the hospitals are designed to improve patient safety, we should make sure that we're properly educating clinicians about the best ways to leverage technology to improve patient care, reduce medical errors, and improve clinical workflow.

Next month, I'll have the opportunity to speak at Tech Rounds, so stay tuned as that date approaches.

Practice Fusion Passes 100,000 EMR Users

Practice Fusion Passes 100,000 EMR Users, Adding Over 500 New Medical Professionals Every Day

Fastest growing Electronic Medical Record community celebrates major user milestone by announcing plans for the Practice Fusion Connect conference on 11/11/11

SAN FRANCISCO – July 12, 2011 – Practice Fusion, the free Electronic Medical Records (EMR) company, announced today that it now has over 100,000 medical professional users serving 16 million patients. The company started the year with 55,000 users (82% increase) and 6 million patients (166% increase). More than 10,000 medical professionals sign up for the free, web-based EMR each month.