Archive
EMR and Healthcare Quality
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The rationale behind the inception of EMR is quality healthcare. Through automation of medical records, the healthcare community seeks to establish the use of dynamic health information. Analyzing issues and derive plausible solutions. The portability of health information would not only enhance medical response time, but would also ensure best care for the patient.
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Healthcare Leaders Advocate for ACO Development at ACHE of Massachusetts Spring Conference in Needham – PR.com
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Healthcare Leaders Advocate for ACO Development at ACHE of Massachusetts Spring Conference in Needham – on PR.com
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Physician Focus: The evolution of health IT
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Technology has increased productivity, reduced costs and led to better services and products for most industries and professions, but health care is just beginning to catch up.
Information technology –– the use of computers, other electronic devices and software designed to support clinical decisions –– is now becoming a pervasive and critical part of health care delivery for the benefit of both physicians and patients.
Diagnostic technology, such as MRIs (magnetic resonance imaging) and CAT scans (computed axial tomography) have been around for a while and are wonderful tools to help us look inside the human body and diagnose and pinpoint conditions.
Technology in healthcare, however, has now progressed to allow for such advancements as electronic health records (EHRs), electronic prescribing and even telemedicine –– tools that can improve care, reduce medical errors, help to reduce costs and put patient information at the provider’s fingertips.
This new area of health information technology, or health IT, is considered so important today that the Federal government is providing incentive payments to health providers to adopt these new tools, and health policy makers, licensing organizations and even state governments are starting to establish competency requirements.
Health IT is still developing, however, and some physicians, particularly those in small practices, are wrestling with its inception: the cost of introducing it into a practice can be daunting, and learning how to use it and transferring patient information can be time-consuming.
Further, the lack of interoperability –– the ability of systems used by different hospitals or different physician practices to talk to each other –– is often nonexistent.
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Cloud-Based EHRs, Telemed Come To Rural Colorado – Healthcare – Electronic Medical Records – Informationweek
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Colorado Telehealth Network’s broadband connectivity offers access to cloud-based EHRs, telemedicine, and a statewide information exchange.
See on www.informationweek.com
EHR training often rushed, overwhelming – FierceEMR
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FierceEMR: “Improper and rushed training has long been a bugaboo in the implementation of EHRs.” The article gives one expert’s advice on how that problem can be remedied.
See on www.fierceemr.com
Confusion and Uncertainty: Healthcare Investing in 2012
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Over the last year, healthcare investing has become a tricky proposition. The Affordable Care Act and the Recovery Act have significantly affected the way healthcare is delivered and funded in the US. Over the course of the coming year, with an election coming up and an ongoing Supreme Court case pending, there is the potential for healthcare investing to remain turbulent.
To get a deeper understanding of the market and what could happen during the year, we spoke with Kevin Barnes, Vice President Strategy and Corporate Development at Premier Inc. He took part in our Healthcare Teleconference a few weeks ago along with Charles Anderson at Exaltare Capital.
During the teleconference, you said there’s a lot of confusion and uncertainty in the markets right now. Can you explain what you meant by that?
Kevin Barnes: I think there is confusion due to the uncertain regulatory environment that we’re in. That is with a major piece of legislation before the Supreme Court that may either get struck down completely or sent back to Congress for modification. We also have a market where health care providers are consolidating and a potential change of power in the Executive and Legislative Branches of our government. Some of that uncertainty will settle down after the elections and the ruling from Supreme Court this summer but healthcare, especially those with reimbursement risk, will continue to experience uncertainty for some time.
You also said that one major question you have is “Do you have the rights to your data in a way that allows us to expand the company the way we want to expand it?” What did you mean by that?
Kevin: The issue is with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) of 1996, a law that focuses on personal healthcare information (PHI). Today, everyone who walks into a doctor’s office typically signs some sort of statement allowing the provider to use your PHI. When you are a vendor to providers, you have to ask the provider what rights they have to PHI so that you can determine what you can do with the data you are sent. Supply chain data, outcome data, safety data, payor data etc. Can I take the data and clean it so that I can follow individual patients or only aggregate data? What restrictions on use are there once I have the data. Some providers will let vendors use their data but not if it is combined or benchmarked against data from the competitor provider across the street.
Data ownership in the healthcare space is unclear – the players that lock down rights to the data and find meaningful ways to use it will be the winners of tomorrow.
You also talked about how the election doesn’t seem to have a very big effect on healthcare because both candidates seem to be roughly the same on healthcare. What effects do you see happening?
Kevin: I would not say they have the same view on healthcare but their differences are not that stark and neither one of them are going to be able to cram anything down on Congress. I think the make-up of Congress is going to be more important. But as I stated earlier, the happening that will affect healthcare is the upcoming Supreme Court ruling on the 2010 Affordable Care Act. The outcome of this Supreme Court decision will have the greatest near-term impact on what happens in healthcare.
What major questions do you have in the coming year?
Kevin: Are the HIT companies really worth the high multiples? Will this exuberance continue or is there a bubble? There are a lot of factors involved, but as we bid on a number of these companies—we wonder if the multiple is staying where it is because PE needs to put their money to work instead of being true valuations.
Do you anticipate HIT multiples staying high the rest of the year?
Kevin: As an acquirer today, we hope not but we expect over the next 12 months it will probably stay high. We think there will be a correction at some point though
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Johns Hopkins research — EHR Quality Measurement In Its Infancy
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Johns Hopkins research describes some of the other electronic performance measures that could be used with EHRs: Quality performance measures based on data in electronic health records are still in their infancy and have yet to tap many of the unique features of EHRs, according to a new study in the International Journal for Quality in Health Care. The study, which was re-published in Medscape, provides a conceptual framework for defining levels of electronic quality measures, or e-QMs.
See on www.informationweek.com
Strengthening the Healthcare Safety Net in Cambridge, Massachusetts
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CAMBRIDGE — The new chief executive of Cambridge Health Alliance says he wants to improve the way medical care is delivered and paid for at the system’s three so-called safety net hospitals, but is also open to forging partnerships that may fall short of outright mergers.
See on articles.boston.com
The Emerging IP Law of Health Information
See on Scoop.it – Hot Topics in Healthcare Law and Regulation
The law of health information is neither more “open” nor more “closed” than information law generally. Free access should be dictated in areas of extreme personal or societal need; in other cases, it may be right to force high payments, either ex ante via taxes, or ex post via high prices, from those with the ability to pay. Privacy should play a far more important role here than it does in the usual Wild West of internet data collection and processing. But once data is truly anonymized, the research imperative for access is perhaps more pressing than in any other area of law (except, perhaps, national security.).
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Treating You Better for Less – New York Times
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Treating You Better for Less — New York Times: A growing number of hospitals, doctors, employers and health insurers are finding ways to reduce the cost of delivering medical care while maintaining or improving quality.
See on www.nytimes.com
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