News 8/30/11

athenahealth launches a patient-centered medical home (PCMH) accelerator program , which includes the loading of  pre-existing data into a practice’s EHR in order to speed the PCMH certification process.  athenahealth created this video highlighting how one of its clients achieved PCMH status.

The Allscripts Client Experience (ACE) kicked off Monday in Nashville with over 4,700 attendees. I watched a bit of the opening session, which was streamed live over the Web. ONC Coordinator Farzad Mostashari, MD participated remotely as a keynote speaker.

CDW Healthcare and HIMSS introduce plans for a series of eight educational sessions to provide support for physicians interested in qualifying for Meaningful Use incentives. The next session is August 31 in Seattle.

Sage announces that a dozen healthcare facilities have recently chosen to implement its EHR and PM software.

The 57-physician Capital Digestive Care (DC) selects gGastro by gMed as its EHR solution.

Retail medical clinics have grown from 175 in 2006 to 1,250 now. CVS dominates the market with 600, including 45 Minute Clinics opened this year. Eastern Maine Medical Center  bucks the trend with the announced closing of five Clinic at Walmart sites.

Marshfield Clinic (WI) attributes its success in CMS’s Physician Group Practice Demonstration to its well-developed EHR (Cattails, which is homegrown and now sold commercially.) Marshfield was one of only two large physician groups out of 10 participants to qualify for shared savings during each of the five performance years.

Medicomp announces the initial distribution of ICD-10 mappings and functionality in the new version of its MEDCIN Engine. It includes a new user interface to make it easier to use ICD-10 within EMRs, providing clinically contextual, problem-oriented views of incoming data using standard reference terminology.

Kareo introduces a Patient Billing and Portal service that will allow practices to e-mail statements to patients.

Speaking a Kareo, Mr. H and I would like to thank them for their decision to upgrade their  HIStalk Practice sponsorship from Gold to Platinum. Kareo offers Web-based practice management and medical billing software and does not charge setup fees for it services, requires no long-term contracts, and is available with an integration to Practice Fusion EHR. Note that if you are in the market for a medical billing option, Kareo is offering a 25% discount for HIStalk Practice readers through the end of October. For more details on the promo or company, click on their ad to the left. We appreciate Kareo’s support of HIStalk Practice!

eClinicalWorks customer New York City Department of Health & Mental Hygiene wins a 2011 HIMSS Public Health Davies Award of Excellence for its Primary Care Information Project, which includes 541 independent practices, 38 community health centers, and three hospitals.

Reston Radiology Consultants (VA), Washington Radiology Associates (VA), Shady Grove Radiological Consultants (MD), and Advanced Diagnostic Radiology (MD) add Merge Healthcare’s RIS.

Holston Medical Group (TN) selects Phreesia’s check-in solution to integrate with its Allscripts EHR.

Is it me or have there been very few reports of damage to physician offices and hospitals as a result of Hurricane Irene? Obviously even if medical facilities suffered little damage, plenty of homes and businesses weren’t as lucky. With officials suggesting that some areas may not have power restored for several days, the story of Irene is not quite finished.

E-mail Inga.