News 4/6/10

I did not buy one of the estimated 300,000 iPads that Apple sold over the weekend. It’s not that I wouldn’t like one, even if I had a spare $500+ to spend. Mostly I hate waiting in lines and can’t imagine wanting anything that badly. Plus, why not wait until there are more cool apps to become available for download? And for the 3G version. And for the price to drop when Apple comes out with the next generation unit. Why not let everyone else find those little product imperfections that synonymous with version 1.0 of just about anything? Then again, if anyone has a spare they don’t need, feel free to send it my way.

Meanwhile, a few buyers are already expressing discontent with their new iPads due to Wi-Fi connectivity issues. Some users report seeing solid Wi-Fi reception on their iPhones and laptops, but little or no reception for iPads in the same location. Bet we’ll here more on this issue.

Nuance is betting on the iPad’s success, announcing that Dragon Dictation is available for free at the Apple App Store. It supports dictation and sending e-mails by voice.

Hayes Management Consulting announces its assistance services for ARRA-funded regional extension centers.

In case you missed it, over the weekend we posted an interview with  Jeffery Daigrepont, SVP at Coker Group. He shared a number of great insights on HIT and the ambulatory EHR world in particular, and raised some interesting concern about RECs:

The other thing that I’m concerned about is whether or not there’s opportunity for conflict of interest. Let’s say Vendor A has a larger margin and is willing to share more in that margin or give up portions of the services that would ordinarily be done by the vendor, or through other strategic relationships — so hey, we’ll tilt business your way to the REC. Does that then induce more referrals or more friendliness from the Regional Extension Center to that particular vendor that wants to share more of their revenue, versus ones that might price their services a lot leaner and won’t have as much margin to share with these folks?

Regular use of IT systems, including EHRs, e-prescribing, and the Internet, results in only a modest increase in physicians’ knowledge of drug costs. A study of primary care physicians in Hawaii find that less than 20% of IT user knew drug costs when prescribing and less than 10% knew formularies and copayment amounts.

Capital Region Orthopaedics (NY) selects Allscripts EHR and PM solution for its 27 physician practice. The six-location practice will also deploy patient kiosks for check-in and Allscripts Remote for physician smartphone access.

I am excited to report that our number of monthly visitors, as well as our e-mail update subscribers continues to grow each month. I suppose my years in sales have made me hung up on watching “the numbers,” but really it’s nice to know that I am not the only one reading what I write. Thank you sponsors, for showing HIStalk Practice the love. And if you are reading this but not yet getting email updates, take a second to sign up (top right corner of the page.)

VersaSuite throws their guarantee hat into the EHR ring, saying its EHR software will meet ARRA’s Final Rule Certification of Meaningful Use. In fact, the company’s sales and marketing director is quoted as saying, “We are announcing this guarantee to give Doctors the comfort in knowing that they can purchase VersaSuite and will qualify for stimulus funding.” That’s a pretty definitive statement, even though the fine print says doctors must use the software “properly.”  Do physicians understand how meaningless these guarantees really are?

Speaking of Meaningful Use, a group of 37 senators ask HHS Secretary Sebelius to consider more flexibility in the meeting deadlines for a few of the MU guidelines. In addition to deferring some of the HIT goals, the senators want to ensure that outpatient physicians practicing adjacent to hospitals are eligible for incentives.

E-mail Inga.