EHR implementation consultants and specialists

This is republished from NonClinicalJobs.com Electronic health record (EHR) vendors are looking for implementation consultants and specialists. The nice thing is that most of these EHR companies will train you, but you should expect to travel quite a bit for this type of job. The majority of these clinical informatics positions are being filled by nurses, but physicians can play a unique role when it comes to interacting with other physicians. You see, physicians generally like to learn from other physicians. They want a colleague to provide them with pointers and tips on how a system can improve the clinical workflow. Many hospitals are cultivating physician "champions." These champions are influential advocates and have a unique way of communicating with other physicians in the hospital system. We need more champions, don't we? So, if you're thinking about a career in health IT, consider how you can play a role in the EHR implementation process. Implementation is just the first step. Maybe you could be instrumental in helping physicians and hospitals reach "meaningful use" so they can receive financial incentives from the government through the HITECH Act (Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act) within ARRA. Who are some EHR vendors? Here are a few (in no particular order or preference): Allscripts, GE, Epic, McKesson, NextGen, eClinicalWorks, Practice Fusion, athenahealth, Cerner, ChartLogic, Eclipsys, Greenway, Ingenix, MedConnect, and many others.

Zynx Health and eClinicalWorks join forces: Zynx AmbulatoryCare

Headline: "Zynx Health and eClinicalWorks Enter Agreement to Offer Clinical Decision Support to EHR Software Users." They've joined forces and they've created: Zynx AmbulatoryCare order sets for eClinicalWorks clients. According to a recent press release, "the evidence-based content will provide an out-of-the-box solution to help eClinicalWorks clients improve quality of care and succeed in performance measure programs." Let's hope that we see improvements in patient outcomes as more healthcare providers make evidence-based clinical decisions.

“The new features in eClinicalWorks Version 8 made order sets a key part of clinical workflow,” said Scott Weingarten, MD, MPH, president and CEO of Zynx. “The fully integrated library of order sets from Zynx will help eClinicalWorks clients take advantage of this new EHR functionality. Evidence-based clinical decision support, such as order sets, is becoming increasingly important as physician practices work to demonstrate ‘meaningful use’ of EHRs.”

“eClinicalWorks offers its customers the latest technologies to help improve patient care, through both its solutions and its partners,” said Girish Kumar Navani, CEO and co-founder of eClinicalWorks. “Using Zynx with our EMR/PM system will offer providers additional resources in line with the latest performance measures.”

Zynx Health was founded in 1996 by thought leaders in evidence-based healthcare and healthcare quality improvement. Acquired by the Hearst Corporation in 2004, Zynx has grown to become a recognized leader in evidence-based clinical decision support, and offers a suite of online solutions that help clinicians treat patients based on the best available evidence from systematic research. The Zynx team of physicians, nurses, and allied health professionals rigorously reviews the latest peer-reviewed literature to develop clinically relevant summaries and distill evidence-based best practices.

eClinicalWorks® is a privately held leader in the ambulatory clinical systems market. The company’s unified electronic medical record (EMR) and practice management (PM) solutions are proven for every market segment: large practice groups, including Massachusetts eHealth Collaborative (MAeHC), Electronic Health Records of Rhode Island (EHRRI), and the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, as well as medium, small, and solo practices regardless of specialty.

eClinicalWorks, Dell, and Walmart

The eClinicalWorks package at Walmart will include Dell computers. Which Dell tablet PC will be included in the package? That's right, the expensive Dell XT2 Tablet running Microsoft Windows. No Apple tablet running OS X for those who are Mac lovers. I wonder if we'll actually get the chance to play around with an XV2 in the Walmart stores. People don't recognize the value of a tablet PC and most will probably use this convertible tablet as a notebook/laptop. However, for those who take advantage of the pen-based input system, they will quickly learn how efficient they can be by using the digital stylus. What about the ultra-mobile PC platform? Sometimes I wonder about these tiny devices and netbooks. Will they gain momentum in the healthcare field?

What's the Best Electronic Health Record (EHR) for My Practice?

What is the best electronic health record (EHR) or electronic medical record (EMR) for your clinical practice? Can you confidently answer that question? Which vendor will you choose? Nextgen? GE Centricity? Allscripts? Epic? Cerner? eClinicalWorks? e-MDs? MedPlexus? McKesson? Hopefully you're only considering EHRs that are Certification Commission for Healthcare Information Technology or CCHIT certified. ASP of server-based?

Maybe you're even considering some free EMR options like Practice Fusion. How do you plan to make your decision? Do you feel like you could make an informed, educated decision about EHR selection? When you start adding billing and other practice management capabilites. Have you considered e-Prescribing? What if you're a cardiology or oncology practice? Do you know what type of subspecialty solutions are available? I feel like there are so many questions that need to be answered for hospitals and clinicians who are looking for an EHR solution.

Walmart and eClinicalWorks: An Odd Couple?

I stumbled on an article that talks about Walmart and eClinicalWorks. It's an interesting perspective about how Walmart/Sam's Club and eClinicalWorks (eCW) are an odd couple with good intentions. Hence, it's approriately titled, "Wal-Mart + eClinicalWorks Electronic Medical Records | An Odd Couple with Good Intentions."

The author makes some interesting and probably accurate predictions about how physicians may get exposed to eCW by visiting Walmart or Sam's Club, but they probably won't buy the EHR solution on that first visit. If they do some price comparision and shopping around, are they likely to find a better deal (or better product) somewhere else? Physicians may purchase Quicken or TurboTax at Walmart, but what's the likelihood that they'll purchase an EHR from the shelves of a local retailer? Maybe the bigger question is: what's the return policy on eCW if you purchase it from Walmart?

Walmart to Sell Digital Health Records

You've probably heard that Walmart is getting into the e-health record space by selling eClinicalWorks. This Electronic Health Record (EHR or EMR) is a CCHIT Certified system (for 2008) and includes a suite of several different options. According to the NY Times, this move by Walmart is to target small physician offices. Speaking of Walmart, have you noticed that they've gotten rid of the hyphen between Wal and Mart? Now they're just Walmart. Anyways, the bigger question remains: will more and more physicians embrace EMRs just because it's available from Walmart of Sam's Club? Plus, what about all those people who hate Dell computers? (I'm not one of them, but I seem to meet them all the time. Some people really have strong opinions about specific PC manufacturers. Maybe that will change with the new Dell Adamo.) With only 17% of the physicians using EHRs, there is a huge marketplace to sell and offer EHRs to those who may lack those strong computer skills. Once BestBuy gets involved in this competition, you'll start seeing a lot more of those "Geek Squad" vehicles around. If you're looking to break into the Health IT industry, maybe you should get a job at Walmart selling EHR solutions and acting as an EHR consultant. I'm sure that eClinicalWorks is bolstering their support staff and preparing for all those phone calls.