News 3/24/11

CDPHP, a New York IPA/HMO, says its patient-centered medical home pilot resulted in a 9% decrease in the rate of medical cost increases at its three participating practices. Hospital admissions were 24% lower than expected and advanced imaging utilization and ER visits declined. The practices also demonstrated improvements in quality measures, including the proper use of antibiotics and diabetic eye exams.

Dr. Edward Rippel is profiled in the Hartford paper as the first solo practitioner in Connecticut to earn NCAQ recognition as a patient-centered medical home. Rippel claims his $50,000 investment in eClinicalWorks EMR five years ago proved to be the game changer in terms of providing coordinated patient care with better outcomes. Since starting EMR, 20% more of his diabetic patients have hemoglobin A1C levels at treatment goal and none of his 200 diabetic patients are on dialysis. Streamlined workflows, increased productivity, and savings from moving his billing in-house helped Rippel recoup his EMR investment within two years and earned him additional revenues from P4P programs.

Urgent care software provider Practice Velocity partners with Healthagen to give consumers mobile access to Practice Velocity’s ZipPass functions. Patients using the Healthagen’s iTriage product will be able to schedule appointments and pre-register directly into the ZipPass application.

Five Rhode Island senators are sponsoring legislation that would require all physician notes and records to be typed, rather than handwritten. Of course the Rhode Island Medical Society opposes the bill. Of course it won’t pass.

Coinstar announces plans to invest in SoloHealth, a developer of health screening and information kiosks. SoloHealth is introducing SoloHealth Station, which will screen vision, blood pressure, weight, and BMI. The technology will support personalized advertising messages and kiosks will be placed in high-traffic retail areas. The service will be free to consumers. Coinstar, by the way, is the same company that provides self-service kiosks for DVD rentals in grocery stores. The company is betting that consumers will embrace the idea of one-stop shopping for a gallon of milk, the latest DVD, and a blood pressure check.

Sermo partners with Janssen Global Services to develop mobile and web services to facilitate physician referrals and ensure continuity of care. The first set of services for physicians will be rolled out this spring.

Lake Regional Health System’s (MO) first primary care clinic will go live on eClinicalWorks EMR March 28. Six more clinics and an urgent care facility will go live in April and May.

MedLink is selected as a preferred vendor to participate in Baptist Health South Florida’s EHR donation program. Baptist will subsidize up to 85% of the cost of the iSuite EHR for its affiliated physicians.

The 17-provider Orthopaedics East & Sports Medicine Center (NC) selects SRS e-prescribing application as a first step towards full EHR adoption.

Six oncology treatment centers are adding IntelliDose software to their Allscripts EHR to handle oncology-specific functions. Allscripts and Intellidose signed a partnership agreement last year.

MD-IT, a provider of medication documentation and software for physician offices, acquires Word for Word Transcription.

Quest Diagnostics launches a 12-week, 10-city Care360 EHR Road Test bus tour to provide live demonstrations of the Care360 EHR software.

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