News 1/20/11

The 230-provider Summit Medical Group (NJ) picks athenahealth to provide RCM services. Summit will interface athenaCollector with its existing Allscripts EHR application. The Street apparently liked seeing athenahealth win business at the enterprise level: shares hit an all-time high Wednesday, reaching $49.30 and closing at $48.06.

 

Is this for real or perhaps a publicity stunt? Weno Healthcare issues a press release saying its ONC-ATCB application was denied without an appeal option. Apparently CEO Tina Goodman is unhappy with the situation and believes her company has the credentials to qualify as an ONC-ATB. Goodman says she has asked HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius to investigate “misconduct in the ONC’s ATCB application review process” because she believes ONC followed an unethical review process. She also suggests that Dr. David Blumenthal was involved in misconduct and believes her company’s application “threatened some who had political influence.” I can’t say whether or not Weno is qualified to serve as an ONC-ATCB, but it a quick tour of the Weno website indicates a business that’s not in the same league as Drummond/InfoGard/CCHIT and the rest. Weno’s primary service is a “free healthcare e community which connects healthcare organizations.” Just over a year ago, Weno announced it was offering a fully hosted, free EMR, but that product is no longer mentioned on Weno’s website. Something else interesting I found on Weno: the above press release from December 20th announces Weno’s approval as an ONC-ATCB; SpringCharts is lined up to be their first EHR tested.

Lenox Hill Radiology (NY) contracts with Healthcare Administrative partners to provide medical billing services.

EDI provider SSI Group partners with BNY Mellon to offer SSI provider clients a link to BNY’s electronic payment services.

The local paper claims that Norman, OK physician Cynthia Taylor is the nation’s first doctor to receive EHR stimulus funds. Whether or not Taylor was the very first, I’m sure she is pleased with her $21,250 check. Her office went live on eClinicalWorks in February of 2008.

Also from a local paper: Columbiana Clinic (AL) is moving its physicians to EMR. I’m guessing that’s pretty big news in a town that has a population of about 4,000. The four doctors are migrating one at a time and only two have made the switch so far. The first doctor reports her patient volume dropped from about 22-24 patients a day to as low as 10-12 per day, though it’s picking back up. The practice also plans to add a patient portal by January 2012.

PHRs have the potential to help patients manage their health, but technology needs to be designed with the patient in mind.That’s the opinion of two Virginia Commonwealth University family physicians whose editorial appears in JAMA. The physicians describe a new PHR model that goes beyond simply showing patients how to access health information. Key elements would include the collection and storage of information from patients and doctors, the translation of clinical information into lay language, informing patients how to improve their health based on personal information, and making actionable items for patients. In other words, leverage technology to make the PHR more relevant to individual patients. Great suggestions, but it still does not address the issue of who will actually enters the clinical data into the PHR.

The CEO for GW Medical Faculty Associates (MD) believes his practice’s advanced EHR (Allscripts) will help attract new physicians. The group is obviously pretty proud of its EHR usage which, according to the video on its Web site, is pretty extensive. The 550-physician GW Medical is negotiating to buy 15 different groups ranging in size from three doctors to over 100.

AHRQ will survey about 400 Medicaid providers over the next two years to identify barriers to the meaningful use of EHRs. AHRQ will tailor its technical assistance and support programs based on the feedback.

A pair of bariatric surgeons help create a free iPhone app that gives patients an idea of how they’d look with a few less pounds. Using the Thin Me app, patients can upload a photo and use the apps’ tool to reshape their figure. Patients can then forward the surgeons their before and after pics and ask for a price quote. The app was actually developed by Pixineers, a company specializing in medical apps to help doctors “increase patient interest and loyalty.”

E-mail Inga.