Re: Walmart Health: Just had a great dental visit this morning, which was preceded by helpful reminders from Epic, and…
News 9/27/11
Emdeon will transfer ownership and management of its US Healthcare Efficiency Index to CAQH. It monitors business efficiency in healthcare and tracks the transmission of electronic medical claims and payments.
The Chinese Community Health Care Association in San Francisco launches Apixio’s Community Search solution to provide clinical information retrieval from CCHCA’s NextGen EHR system.
Contrary to popular belief, older physicians who are clinically busier and see more complex patients use novel EHR functionality at a higher rate than younger clinicians. Score one for the old guys.
The AMA conducts an online survey through the end of this week that lets physician practices tell vendors what billing and collection functions should be incorporated into PM systems.
Dragon Medical Speaking reseller Medical Dictate partners with OminMD to sell its EHR suite.
ZocDoc, a provider of an online doctor and appointment service, receives a Series C investment from Goldman Sachs, bringing the startup’s total funding to $95 million.
EHR and PM provider MTBC promotes David Rosenblum from president to VP of its board of directors, Stephen Snyder from COO to president, and Brendan Harney from assistant general counsel to VP of mergers and acquisitions.
Tick tock: eligible providers must begin their 90-day reporting period for the Medicare EHR program by October 3, 2011 to receive payment in calendar year 2011. If you miss that deadline, you still have until February 29, 2012 to begin the 90-day reporting period and still participate in the 2011 program.
4medica launches the first version of its 4medica Mobile app for smartphones and tablets.
drchrono introduces a new product bundle for its HER that includes free e-prescribing, FreeDraw, and faxing.
athenahealth’s Jonathan Bush chats with CNBC’s Tyler Mathisen about athena’s strong stock performance (up 100% over the last year) and revenue growth (up 33% over the last year,) as well as about Meaningful Use and cloud computing.
From Archives of Internal Medicine: the use of electronic medical reminders improves the rates of vaccination, healthcare proxy designation, and bone density screening in elderly patients.
MED3OOO User Group Meeting Report
By Ulysses A. User
I just got back from MED3OOO’s three-day user conference in Palm Springs. There were some great speakers (Bruce Merlin Fried, former CMS director for the Center for Health Plans and Providers; Paul Mango, a director with McKinsey; Amit Rastogi,MD, CEO of PriMed), solid educational sessions, networking opportunities, and a bit of organized fun.
Fried was especially interesting. He provided a good explanation on ACOs (including the different flavors that have been proposed,) the benefits for providers, and the significant pitfalls for participation. His take is that based on CMS’s preliminary proposal for the Shared Savings plan, the government doesn’t quite get how difficult and expensive it will be for organizations to establish themselves as ACOs, meet all the required 65 quality metrics, cut care costs, and improve quality.
MED3OOO offered multiple tracks, including ones on their InteGreat EHR/PM products, another specifically for physicians, a leadership track, and one for its pathology services group. About a third of the sessions were not specifically related to MED3OOO products or services, but more general topics like health reform, transitioning to ICD-10, and improving practice efficiencies. The presenters were a mix of employees, customers, and a few outside consultants and vendors.
If I were to pick an unofficial theme for the conference, it would be collaboration. Not necessarily MED3OOO’s collaboration with its customers, although there was an element of that in certain discussions. As presenters provided insight into ACOs, bundled payments, and patient-centered medical homes, it hit home for me how vital collaboration will be for providers. In fact, providers risk their own financial survival unless they find ways to align with other providers and health systems. That does not bode well for those physicians who would prefer to remain in small and independent practices.
There were a number of good networking opportunities, as many of the sessions were relatively small and conducive to discussion. MED3OOO also hosted a fun offsite event at a ranch in the middle of the desert, complete with a live band, good food, and an open bar.
One of the few criticisms I have about the otherwise well-run event is that on both days, the vendors sponsoring the lunches had speakers during the meal. I’m sure the content was good, but after sitting in sessions all morning, people would rather have interacted with one another instead of hearing a product pitch.
I have attended bigger user group meetings with big-name keynote speakers and flashy entertainment. MED3OOO’s meeting was smaller scale, but no less educational, worthwhile, and fun.
“Tick tock: eligible providers must begin their 90-day reporting period for the Medicare “EHR program by October 3, 2011 to receive payment in calendar year 2011. If you miss that deadline, you still have until February 29, 2012 to begin the 90-day reporting period and still participate in the 2011 program.”
Your comment is a little confusing to me. I think what the CMS site said was that you have until 2/29/12 to “to register and attest to receive an Incentive Payment for calendar year (CY) 2011”. October 3, 2011 is the Last day for eligible professionals to begin their 90-day reporting period for calendar year 2011 for the Medicare EHR Incentive Program. So if you’re going to attest for 2011, you’d better get started next week!!