News 5/21/09

McKesson announces the availability of its Medisoft v15 version and its new Medisoft Clinical product, which includes the new version plus McKesson’s Practice Partner Patient Records. Medisoft Clinicals will be targeted to current Lytech and Medisoft clients and primarily sold through resellers.

A three-doctor family practice clinic in San Diego claims its automation tools are performing the work of one to two full time employees. Specifically, Del Mar Family Practice is using ReminderPro for automated appointment reminders and LabRetriever to deliver tests results. Both products are offered by Inphonite.

The Dartmouth-Hitchcock Clinic (NH) plans to roll out the MedAptus Professional application to 150 specialty providers. The clinic will deploy the MedAptus Practice Plus Edition to facilitate charge capture.

CCHIT approves its final 2009-2010 criteria, but says it will put the new certification process on hold until it can review the forthcoming ONC stimulus package requirements. The ONC has until August 26th to provide the requirements for ARRA reimbursement, including the government’s definition of a “certified” EHR.

When it comes to healthcare and medical records, what do patients want? A Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center study suggests that patients are looking for full access to all of their medical records, are willing to make some privacy concessions in the interest of making their medical records completely transparent, and going forward, fully expect computers to play a major role in their medical care, even substituting for face-to-face doctor visits. Patients say they not only want computers to bring them customized medical information, they anticipate in the future to rely on electronic technology for many routine medical issues.

HEALTHeLINK negotiates special EHR pricing on behalf of its physician members. The Buffalo-area HIE says the agreements are with six EHR vendors.

E-nagging apparently works. That is, people receiving regular e-mail messages suggesting modest lifestyle improvements do increase their activity level and make healthier food choices, according to a Kaiser Permanente study. If physicians adopt this tool, how long will it be before someone wants to begin billing for it?

I like to think I am fairly technologically savvy, so I was frustrated that I had no idea what this athenahealth press release was all about. The company announced that “it has completed a Statement on Auditing Standards No. 70, as amended, (SAS 70) Type II examination, which was performed by Deloitte & Touche LLP (‘Deloitte’) over its service operations. Under the SAS 70 Type II examination, Deloitte examined athenahealth’s design of controls and tested the operating effectiveness of such controls related to the Company’s revenue cycle management service operations and its centrally-hosted software platform.” The translation from athenahealth spokesperson John R. Hallock is that the company is demonstrating that their RCM operations adhere to the same level of security and privacy standards that are required of commercial banks and other fiduciaries. Ahh … like a CCHIT certification for RCM providers. Which now leads me to wonder if any/all/no RCM vendors have received similar seals of approval?  Should they?

e-MDs promotes Christine Homer from VP of Client Services to COO. In addition, e-MDs hires Mike Maldonado as the new director of support and Jeff Falwell as director of training and implementation.

Citizens Memorial Healthcare (MO) claims its 15 outpatient clinics increased new patient revenues 23% as a result of implementing the Medical and Practice Management (MPM) practice management and EHR suite. The EHR provided improved documentation, which enabled code levels and helped contribute to a strong ROI.

An AAFP survey confirms the negative impact the recession is having on American’s access to healthcare. Fifty-eight percent of AAFP members have seen an increase in appointment cancelations and 60% have observed increases in health problems because patients are forgoing preventative care. Overall, physicians report seeing fewer patients today than in January 2008, but most claim the number of uninsured patients has jumped.

Patients with high deductible insurance plans can now refer to an iPhone application to estimate their costs for medical procedures. The Mobile CDH application estimates the patient’s costs based on public programs as well as some commercial carriers. Canopy Financial, which traditionally provides banking technology for health insurers, is the creator of the $4.99 application. Sounds like something a small physician office might want to check out as well.

E-mail Inga.