News 4/29/10

Regional extension centers may have difficulty finding staff with adequate experience in both software implementation and work-flow adaption, according to a new Health Affairs study. The authors also question the sustainability of RECs due to inadequate funding. Similar programs in Massachusetts and New York have spent $60-80,000 per physician; the proposed federal funding for RECs averages about $6,400 per physician.

Perhaps the Wide River Technology Extension Center in Nebraska has figured out a way to address the experience issue, as well as maximize training dollars. The HIE will offer physicians and staff discounted rates for online HIT and EHR training through Health IT Certification. Great way to train lots of folks at once.

The director of compliance coding at Hickory Cardiology Associates (NC) claims A/R days have dropped from 60 days to 45 since moving to ZirMed’s RCM solutions.

The Alaska EHR Alliance selects e-MDs and Greenway Medical as the “best choices” for the state’s healthcare providers. ACS Healthcare Solutions was the managing consultant for the selection process, which lasted eight months and started from a pool of over 250 EHR vendors.

Ingenix is integrating medical reference materials from Krames into its Ingenix CareTracker EHR system.

AdvancedMD Software adds Akamai Technologies’ Web Application Accelerator service to speed access of its Web-based solution across the Internet.

Three health clinics affiliated with Ephraim McDowell Health (KY) go live on LSS Systems’ practice management and medical records system. The clinics are also able to share data with the hospital’s Meditech software. The hospital plans to roll EHR to eight additional clinics by the fall.

The 58 employed physicians of Mercy Hospital of Portland (ME) are adding Allscripts’ EHR to run with the already installed Allscripts PM product.

The NYC Regional Electronic Adoption Center for Health names Greenway Medical one of its preferred providers of healthcare technology solutions.

Two Virginia practices, an internal medicine practice and a podiatry group, sign up for Benchmark Systems EHR.

Lourdes Medical Associates (NJ) selects athenahealth to provide its RCM services for over 100 providers in its network.

McKesson announces availability of 12 new templates for chiropractors for its Practice Partner, Medisoft, and Lytec MD physician systems. For the next 11 months,  McKesson is also offering chiropractors a rebate with purchase.

Sinai Medical Group (IL) is implementing NextGen’s EHR and PM products and expects to go live in August. Sinai’s faculty group practice includes almost 200 physicians.

A Practice Fusion-sponsored survey finds that patients see an average of 18.7 doctors during their lives. The 18-24 crowd averages a mere 8.3, while folks over age 65 have seen 28.4 physicians. Of course the point is that’s lot of clinical data, mostly on paper, in a lot of different doctors’ offices.

PHR vendor NoMoreClipboard partners with  Sevocity to offer Sevocity EHR clients an integrated patient portal option.

athenahealth celebrates Superhero Day, following the outcome of an employee bet. After being diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes, a 360-pound athenahealth employee asks the management team for some weight loss motivation. The execs agreed to dress up as superheroes for a day if the employee lost 100 pounds within six months. Spiderman wins the bet and Jonathan Bush has the opportunity to wear Spandex.

E-mail Inga.