News 2/26/13

Memphis Obstetrics & Gynecology Association goes live this week on MED3OOO’s InteGreat EHR.

Medical practice plaintiffs who filed a class action lawsuit against Allscripts for its decision to not enable the MyWay EHR for future MU stages or ICD-10 will learn Tuesday whether they can continue with their suit or will instead be forced to accept binding arbitration. If the complaint is certified as a class action, Allscripts will be required to provide the names of all MyWay customers to the plaintiff’s attorneys, who say all 5,000 MyWay physician users would then be automatically included in the suit. Attorneys for Allscripts have filed a motion to block the suit, arguing that the doctors signed a contract requiring their differences to be settled by binding arbitration.

The Westboro, MA paper profiles a new mobile app from eClinicalWorks that will be offered free to consumers and eCW’s physician customers. It can send patient reminders to smartphones or computers, allow patients to access their medical records and lab results, and allow patient-provider messaging, including refill requests.

The medical director of HealthInsight Utah reports that use of specific HIT tools has enabled Utah Beacon Community providers to achieve a 10 percent improvement in hypertension levels for 2,000 patients. Some of the HIT tools used the development of registries, patient lists, and reminders; the creation of templates that capture data accurately and alert staff of particular requirements; the use smart clinical support tools that include reminders, alerts, and flow sheets; and, the addition of medication adherence assessment options within EHR templates to prompt providers to review e-prescribing lists and determine if patients are filling their medications.

The Maryland State Medical Society introduces the Center for the Private Practice of Medicine, which will provide resources to help independent physicians stay in practice, including assistance with HIT, office management, billing, and related tasks.

Curious: a study published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal finds that people of high socioeconomic status are 50 percent more likely to be able to schedule an appointment with a primary care provider than those of low socioeconomic status, even though Canada’s universal healthcare system pays physicians the same for either group. Researchers blame discrimination.

Greenway Medical announces that its PrimeSUITE EHR platform has achieved PCMH 2011 Prevalidation status from NCQA.

Rose Marie Nelson of MGMA Health Care Consulting Group discusses the need for population health management tools to effectively manage patient populations and qualify for reimbursement incentives. She notes that EHRs alone may not offer all the required functionality to identify and proactively manage and report on multiple unique populations. Duly noted. Nelson gave me the name of a couple PHM products that I will check out next week at HIMSS.

Another emerging HIT requirement for physician offices are tools for shared decision-making that include feedback loops that allow providers to verify whether or not patients follow through on recommended actions (tests, specialist consults, etc.)

New federal legislation is making physicians a larger target for healthcare fraud investigations. Of the 2,309 civil and criminal healthcare fraud cases opened in 2012, 21 percent involved physicians, compared to 15 percent in 2010.

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