News 5/30/13

From Weird News Andy: “Re: Dr. gives up all insurance. Lots of great quotes here.” A physician in Maine stops accepting insurance but anticipates his practice will continue to perform well financially, despite losing several hundred patients. Thanks to WNA for pointing out several of the doctor’s more interesting comments, including, “I’m freed up to do what I think is right for the patients.” That testimony alone should help business, since few patients prefer doctors who do what’s wrong for the patient.

Sibley Heart Center Cardiology (GA) selects MediRevv to provide A/R management services for its 40 physician practice.

ADP AdvancedMD launches MyICD-10, a Website to help practices prepare for the ICD-10 that includes Webinars, articles and news on the new code set, and a recommended preparation timeline.

Fifty-four percent of physicians say they are “satisfied” or “very satisfied” with their EHR vendor, compared to 63 percent a year ago, according to a Zirmed-sponsored of 1,291 physicians. Only 57 percent of EHR adopters report that their systems have made them more efficient and just 43 percent report a return on their technology investment.

Advocate Physician Partners (IL), a care management collaboration with Advocate Health Care, implements its 500th independent physician on SynAPPs, Advocate’s cloud-based version of eCW’s EHR.

PDR Networks, a provider of patient drug safety and support services for EHR and e-prescribing platforms, will market OPTIMIZERx Corp.’s eCoupon financial support technology, which integrates with e-prescribing workflows.

Clyo Internal Medicine (OH) selects simplifyMD as its EHR provider.

Practice Fusion announces preferred billing partnerships with ADP AdvancedMD, CollaborateMD, and NueMD. Absent from the list is Kareo, which was a long-time Practice Fusion partner that launched a competing free EHR a couple months ago.

The Texas Medical Association, Dallas County Medical Society, and Harris County Medical Society establish Physician Services Organizations for Patient Care, which will bring together providers, health plans, and technology vendors to test and develop new care models for physician practices.

Medical practice software and billing service provider Encoda is awarded a patent for automated direct-to-payer RCM technology.

Almost one-third of physicians buying EHRs today are replacing EHRs, compared to 21 percent three years ago according to a study by Software Advice. The top reason for replacing a legacy system: dissatisfaction with current EHR.

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