News 12/3/09

From Golden Creeper” “Re: MD salaries. While doing some research on physician wages, I came across this blog. Found it interesting and just thought I’d tell you.” While not really HIT related, the MD $alaries has an interesting variety of income data, including comparative figures from various parts of the country and other countries, plus suggestions for boosting income (or reduce expenses). The latest post says that physician executives with an MBA earn 11% more than those without a post-graduate degree.

The Kerlan-Jobe Orthopaedic Clinic, which serves virtually all the professional sports organizations in Southern California, agrees to pay taxpayers $3 million to settle a federal lawsuit. The Justice Department charged it with taking illegal kickbacks from HealthSouth Corporation in the form of stock option grants, donations to the Kerlan-Jobe Foundation, and loan forgiveness on equipment leases.

CCHIT certifies four new products under the newest programs announced in October. ABELMed EHR-EMR/PM, Version 11 received certification under the CCHIT 2011 Comprehensive program, while eHealth Made EASY, KIS Track, and Medios earned Preliminary ARRA 2011 certification.

Here’s the difference between the two certifications: the Comprehensive certification program “provides a more rigorous inspection of integrated EHR functionality, interoperability, and security in addition to full compliance with Federal standards.” CCHIT also includes an inspection process in the Comprehensive program that considers successful use at live sites and good usability. Additional certification announcements are pending, per CCHIT. And OK, I admit it — I’ve never heard of any practices using any of these products.

Claims clearinghouse Navicure recognizes four clients for their substantial improvements in RCM and billing using Navicure solutions. Winners of The Biggest Gainer Awards (love the name) included the 24-physician North Atlanta Primary Care, which cut its A/R days by 43% (less than 18 days) and raised its collection rate to 97.4%. The single doctor Spinella Orthopaedics Association, which has a single FTE for billing, reduced its A/R by 30% and cut its over-90-day A/R by 67%. Here’s a nice spiff: all the winners receive six months of free Navicure services.

Johnson Memorial Hospital (IN) will offer eCW to its employed physicians and use eCW’s Electronic Health eXchange to allow access for other physicians and hospitals.

Participation in quality reporting programs requires resources with measurable costs, a fact supported by a recent study in Annals of Family Medicine. A major problem is lack of interoperability among IT systems. Participation is especially difficult for small primary care practices, who often need to hire outside consultants. Physicians in smaller practices also spend more of their personal time after hours collecting the required data.

SK3 Group signs a letter of intent to acquire Medical Billing Specialists for $4.1 million from its owner, Healthcare of Today.

Maryland is spending $100,000 of taxpayer dollars to train observers to keep an eye on doctors. Specifically, the program will teach certain hospital employees how to covertly monitor the hand washing practices of healthcare workers as they leave patients’ rooms. I’m all for clean hands, but can’t figure out why it costs $100,000 to train people to observe other people washing their hands. And why Maryland is using federal ARRA dollars, because I don’t see the connection with economic stimulation. When will the insanity end?

The 18-physician Naugatuck Valley Radiology Associates (CT) claims it’s now 100% paperless following the implementation of a MedInformatix RIS, DR Systems PACS, and Nuance PowerScribe voice recognition.

Dialog Medical expands its partnership with A.D.A.M. to include A.D.A.Ms’ QuickSheets patient education solution in its iMedConent application.

Ping Inga.