News 7/26/11

The local press highlights Western Wisconsin Medical Group and its success implementing Cerner Ambulatory EMR. The paper notes the 55-physician practice is the “first medical group in Wisconsin – and perhaps the entire United States – to have all its doctors using electronic medical records.”  I am sure plenty of practices across the country would beg to differ.

Speaking of Cerner, I notice that Saint Barnabas Health Care Systems (NJ) is promoting its Physician Community Connect Program, which extends discounted pricing  for Cerner EMR. Saint Barnabas is subsidizing the purchase of Cerner EHR by the lower of 85% of implementation-related fees or $5,000 per physician.

e-MDs joins eClinicalWorks, Greenway, NextGen and Sages as Preferred EHR Partners for the New York eHealth Collaborative (NYeC) REC. The preferred partners offer special pricing and contract terms for REC participants. NYeC  also recognizes another dozen EMR vendors who have completed a vetting process and are designated as  “Meaningful Use Partners.”

The American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO) develops a list of EHR requirements for ophthalmologists seeking to achieve Meaningful Use incentives. The recommendations address how EHRs should accommodate certain areas of ophthalmic practice, including supporting documentation between the office and operating room; capturing and displaying vital signs of the eye; and incorporating hand-drawn sketches or annotations into records.

The AAFP partners with Avatar International to launch an online patient survey portal for gathering and analyzing patient feedback. The survey gathers information required for medical home recognition, including data on patient satisfaction, timeliness of providers, and provider accessibility and communication. Aggregated data is shared with AAFP. Price tag: $150/year for AAFP members.

The 50-physician St. Joseph’s Clinic (AR) adds MedQuist’s clinical technology and transcription services

The Tampa Bay Business Journal names Doctors Administrative Solutions, an ambulatory EMR implementation firm, to the region’s list of 50 fastest growing private companies.

UT Physicians, the 900-provider faculty practice for The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, expands its agreement with McKesson’s Revenue Management Solutions to include coding for the anesthesia and radiology departments.

The median compensation for practice managers remained relatively flat from 2009-2010, according to MGMA. Administrators in practices with six or fewer FTE physicians earned median compensation of $86,459, a slight decrease from 2009. Median compensation for administrators in seven- to 25-physician groups earned an average of  $115,000, which is 0.28% increase from 2009.  Large group administrators earned an average of $150,756.

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