News 6/24/10

Privately held AdvancedMD announces Q1 revenue of $8 million, a 29% increase over last year. The company closed on the purchase of PracticeOne EHR in December, so I assume some of the revenue growth can be attributed to that acquisition. The company also claims 26th consecutive quarters of revenue growth. Reading the financial highlights, I am reminded of one of the biggest advantages of being privately held: you can be much more creative in how you spin your results. AdvancedMD mentions big gains in revenues and clients, but I’m left wondering why there’s nothing said about profitability (or lack of it).

Speaking of spin, Practice Fusion reports a 72% jump in its EMR users so far in 2010, adding 200 medical professionals each day. Practice Fusion’s software is free and can be downloaded over the Internet (presumably only if you are a licensed provider). So just how many of those 200 new professionals a day are downloading the software and just taking it for a test drive? How many of the 43,000 users really “use” the system?

I don’t mean to pick on AdvancedMD and Practice Fusion because I know they aren’t the only companies, in HIT or elsewhere, that use their creative licenses to paint things especially rosy. I guess I’m just having one of those days when I’m weary of wading through the fluff.

Sounds like this West Virginia practice might have benefitted from a bit more fluff-filtering before they outsourced its IT services. The physician office is suing its former IT company, claiming backups were improperly performed and were withheld from them. Reps claimed the company had experience supporting eClinicalWorks software. The practice says they were lying and wants compensatory and punitive damages.

Electronic clearinghouse provider Health-e-Web expands its operations with the purchase of a competitor, Electronic Translations and Transmittals Corporation (ET&T).

Patients using a wireless electronic pill bottle to remind them to take medication have 27% higher medication adherence rates, according to findings from the Center for Connected Health. The study focused on patients with high blood pressure and utilized Vitality’s wireless GlowCap product.

United Healthcare and Centura Health launch Connected Care to provide rural medical facilities access to services using telehealth technology. Patients at four facilities in remote areas of Colorado will soon be able to connect with physicians in Denver, Littleton, and Pueblo for routine and specialty care.

Five new practices contract with PatientPoint for its patient kiosk solutions.

EMRs, better follow-up care, and more collaboration with patients and families would help pediatricians avoid errors in diagnosing illnesses, according to research from the Baylor College of Medicine and VA. Surveyed physicians admit to making diagnostic errors at least once or twice a month. These same doctors believe errors could be reduced with EMRs because they provide better care coordination and make clinical data more readily available.

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