Medical Practice Trends

From our partners at SoftwareAdvice.com we bring you this free white paper on the Ten Steps to Selecting the Right Medical Software. Just click on the link below to download the pdf.

For those of you tasked with the actual implementation of electronic medical records in your practice or business - CIO, Director of IT, Administrator - here is a nice guide to EHR implementation courtesy of CHIME (College of Healthcare Information Management Executives). CLICK HERE to download the PDF Although it does present the topic from a technical perspective, it does also cover issues important to the CIO or Director of IT such as assessing the financial incentives weighed against implementation costs and a discussion about the importance of the 'people factor' as I have previously discussed: (see How to Prepare Your Team for EMR Implementation and The Right People for Your EMR Implementation)

From the folks of AHIMA (American Health Information Management Association) comes a nice and concise overview of the final rule of the Meaningful Use provisions for electronic medical records implementation. AHIMA is one of the largest associations of health information management (HIM) professionals and was founded in 1928 - which I am pretty sure pre-dates the use of electronic medical records. This first in a series of white papers offers a basic description of the final rules. We covered some of the specifics in previous posts CMS Final Rule Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3. But if you are new to all of this and just want to get your feet wet, here is a good place to start: CLICK HERE to download the PDF

According to a study from Harvard University, physicians who use electronic medical records systems may be less likely to be sued. "When providers use electronic records in the outpatient setting, the likelihood of a paid malpractice settlement was about two-thirds as high," said one of the lead authors, David Westfall Bates, MD, professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School in Cambridge, MA, and professor of health policy and management at the Harvard School of Public Health. The study group says their findings "support the hypothesis that EHR adoption and use lead to improved quality of care and patient safety, resulting in fewer adverse events and fewer paid malpractice claims. " In addition, EHRs may result in more extensive and more legible documentation leading to stronger legal defenses when malpractices lawsuits are filed.

EMR Update 7 - HIPAA, HITECH, and Protecting Your Patients' Information This Issue: What is data-at-rest vs data-in-motion? What do the new HITECH Act provisions mean to your medical practice? What are potential penalties for violating the HIPAA regulations? What proactive measures can you take to protect yourself and your practice?  

Some say that creating legislation is like making sausage: it's not a pretty thing to see (see The Inside Scoop on Healthcare Reform). And while there is no guarantee that the bill that was recently signed will ultimately go forward in its present form, here is a useful graphic to give you an overview of the timeline of its elements. Thanks go to the folks at the American Association of Neurological Surgeons. To download a copy of the pdf just click on this link: Healthcare Bill Timeline

  EMR Update 6 - eRx and PQRI: Are Your Leaving Money on the Table? This Issue: How can your practice qualify for 'Stimulus Bill' financial incentives? ePrescribing(eRx) & PQRI - what bonuses can you expect for each? How do you make a claim? Find out about PQRI Toolset, a tool that can help you claim bonus payments (Note: MPT has a financial interest in Protodrone LLC, creator of PQRI Toolset)  

Much of the new regulatory information coming out of Washington is getting increasingly more difficult to translate into English. I was recently asked whether a medical practice could use Google's free email service GMail instead of spending money on a mail server and its associated server software. After checking with our own head of IT, I discovered it is a bit more complicated than just picking where you want to store your emails. Buried deep within the HITECH (Health Information Technology for Clinical and Health) Act's Sub-Title D is the language on privacy directly related to HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act). Since most of us (health care providers) are considered "covered entities", we must ensure that not only our employees and staff abide by these rules but our "associates" do as well. If we started using GMail for our practice's communication, there would be patient information located on Google's mail servers and Google would, in fact, be considered one of our associates. This would require entering into a Business Associate Contract with Google, Inc. What do you think the chances are of Google, or a similar technology firm, signing a confidentiality agreement with perhaps thousands of medical practices across the country? I thought so. Digital Business Law Group has an analysis of the language found in HITECH's Sub-Title D - Privacy section that makes it a bit easier to comprehend.

Frank Polack of Eviton LLC, a project management firm, created this handy one-sheet for us with the basics of data backup. Keep it on file or laminate it and post it where your staff can refer to it as needed. {+} Click to Download the Backup Data Tip Sheet

Are you shopping for an EMR system? Before you open your checkbook, be sure to use this detailed checklist of important features your future software platform should have, thanks to the folks of Software Advice, Inc. {+} Click here to download the EMR Software Comparison Checklist

So, you're thinking about getting rid of paper charts and switching to an EMR system. Is it really worth the cost and aggravation?  Will it bring your people together or tear them apart? In the first of our EMR Video Tutorial series, we introduce the concept of "Going Paperless". We take a brief overview of the thought process which led a practice to take the plunge and move forward with EMR implementation. In subsequent videos, we'll break that process down into digestible phases. Get Adobe Flash player

Every day, businesses lose valuable data due to everything from a broken water main to a natural disaster. Most of the time, there was no process in place to recover that data. Frank Polack of Eviton LLC discusses what businesses in other industries already know about disaster recovery and business continuity and how your practice can quickly get back up and running after an unexpected event.

  Washington Update - Latest Healthcare & Regulatory Law from Alan Reider of Arnold & Porter LLP This Issue: The Federal Physician Payment Sunshine Act Feds and States cracking down on improper relationships between physicians and drug companies What medical practices should be aware of Can accepting a pen from a rep get you in legal hot water?