News 3/17/11

Main Line Health (PA) is implementing eClinicalWorks for its affiliated physicians.

WebPT EMR announces a certified billing partner program that includes integration with Kareo’s medical billing software, as well as with BMS.

National Billing partners with Practice Fusion to offer an EHR solution for its physician billing clients. National Billing uses Kareo’s practice management system.

RCM consulting services company TrustHCS partners with RemitDATA. TrustHCS will utilize RemitDATA’s business analytics and post-adjudication claims tools in its physician services practice.

Document management solution provider Accentus expands it ambulatory care service offerings through the acquisition of Mrecord, a speech recognition and medical transcription services company.

Doximity raises $10.8 million Series A venture capital to accelerate development of Doximity’s free communication platform for healthcare providers. Doximity, which is led by Epocrates co-founder Jeff Tangney, allows physicians to use their iPhone, iPad, Android device, or computer to connect with other providers to collaborate on patient treatment.

A big thank you to Dr. Jayne for pitch hitting on HIStalk Practice earlier this week while I was taking a few days off. I’m hoping to convince her to drop in more regularly and share more of her wisdom on ambulatory EHR and related topics. Meanwhile, I am guessing I am was not the only one Spring Breaking this week, given the slow trickle of news in the HIT world.

Academic faculty physicians in primary and specialty care reported slight increases in compensation from 2009 to 2010. Median compensation for primary care faculty physicians was $163,704 (up 3%) and specialists was $241,969 (up 2.7%.)

MED3OOO CEO Patrick Hampson will serve as a 2011 Ernest & Young Entrepreneur of the Year judge for Western Pennsylvania/West Virginia.

Allscripts opens two offshore development centers in Pune and Bangalore, India that will provide customer support and other services.

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A private investigator who specializes in preventing and detecting fraud against dentists shares a scary story of how a practice manager stole over half a million dollars from her employer. Most of the theft involved cash and over the years the practice manager developed a “duffle bag full of tricks,” including:

• Non-legitimate write-offs
• Not entering cash receipts into the computer
• Excess overtime pay, since the practice manager also handled payroll
• Tampering with check ledgers for cash disbursements

Since  the practice manager was a 20-year, trusted employee, her employers ignored plenty of warning signs, that included refusing to take vacation and often working in the office alone at odd hours. Plenty of good lessons here for any medical practice.

E-mail Inga.