The article about Pediatric Associates in CA has a nugget with a potentially outsized impact: the implication that VFC vaccines…
News 10/13/11
PedsPal, the physicians group purchasing program for Cook Children’s Health Care System (TX) collaborates with athenahealth, Microsoft, Sanofi Pasteur, and Merck to establish the use of 2D barcodes on vaccines. The technology will allow physicians using athenaClinicals to scan a vaccine’s barcode and have the information automatically added to a patient’s chart.
The employed physician group of Lehigh Valley Health Network (PA) selects Phytel’s care management tools for its 487 physician practice.
Hospitals and health systems continue to employ more physicians, with 70% planning to hire more over the next 12-18 months. Once employed, the majority of hospitals are linking quality outcomes to physician bonus compensation and providing non-monetary compensation in the form of IT and EHRs.
A reported 56 million US adult consumers have accessed their medical information on an EHR maintained by their physicians. That’s about 24% of the adult population, which definitely sounds much too high to me. Regardless, consumers most likely to access their EHRs online include those that are younger, more educated, and more likely to use the Internet and own a smartphone.
Facey Medical Group (CA), a 150-provider multi-specialty group, engages LancetHealth to provide data analysis and BI consulting services.
On tap next week: HIStalk’s Must See Vendors for MGMA 2011. Our annual guide will include details on a number of giveaways (lots of iPads!) and contact information for several of our vendor sponsors who are attending but not exhibiting. I’ve already been invited to one party, which means I’m that much more excited to head to Vegas.
Kareo names Bob Nichols to its National Advisory Board. Nichols is president of Medical Billing Services & Solutions.
Healthcare Information Xchange of New York announces that it has successfully connected its HIE to athenaClinical EHR.
RepuCheck introduces technology that sounds promising because it offers a solution for practices needing to increase new patient referrals. However, I’m not sure that RepuCheck’s Review Buildr quite hits the mark. The online tool includes various alerts to remind front-staff to encourage satisfied patients to complete online reviews. The program also offers back-end analytics. The objective is to increase the number of positive patient reviews, but simply reminding staff to remind patients doesn’t sound like a very effective strategy. Maybe I am missing something.
