News 5/2/13

Epocrates remains the most popular medical application on both smartphones (70 percent) and tablets (60 percent) among US physician app users. More than a third of the physicians launch Epocrates three or more times a day, with drug references being the primary resource accessed.

First-year guaranteed compensation for primary care physicians in 2012 averaged $180,000, up from $175,000 in 2011. Practices are offering a number of benefits to recruit physicians, including signing bonuses, paid relocation expenses, loan forgiveness, paid vacations, and continuing medical education.

Lahey Health (MA) selects athenaClarity for population health management.

TSI Healthcare recognizes Western Carolina Eye Associates (NC) with a Circle of Excellence award for its use of NextGen EHR to improve patient care.

Navicure reports that its first quarter revenues were 32 percent higher than the same period a year ago. Also in Q1, the company added 247 practices to its client base.

The American Society of Anesthesiologists sends a letter to CMS and ONC recommending that anesthesiologists continue be eligible for exemptions to the MU program. The ASA also asked for additional exemptions to specific MU criteria, such as providing patients with clinical summaries and electronic health copies, and implementing drug-drug and drug-allergy checks.

The 16-physician Steindler Orthopedic Clinic (IA) extends its RCM contract with MediRevv to include claims approval and appeals.

As of the end of March, 255,722 EPs had collected $5.2 billion in MU incentives, representing almost half of all EPs that have registered for the program.

The seven-clinic FQHC Christ Community Health Services (TN) contracts with Priority Management Group to provide RCM services, consulting, and coding training.

HealthTexas Provider Network partners with MediMobile to provide HealthTexas physician groups a mobile solution for billing, coding, and capturing data.

EClinicalWorks reports that 450 health centers, or 35 percent of all the country’s health centers, are eCW clients.

MMIC, a insurance liability provider that also offers HIT services and resells NextGen products, adds the InteliChart portal to its suite of EHR and PM offerings for physician practices.

The number of physician office jobs for medical billers, billing managers, and medical records clerks has declined 25 percent, 23 percent, and 37 percent respectively since 2011 as practices outsource more billing processes and add EHRs. At the same time, practices are now employing more professionals as care coordinators and nurse practitioners. While staff salaries have remained flat or declined in most areas, nurse managers are now earning 10 percent more than they were two years ago.

A Consumer Reports survey of 1,000 Americans finds the most bothersome aspect of doctor visits is unclear or incomplete explanations of problems. Other gripes include slow communication of test results, long waits in exam or waiting rooms, and doctors taking notes on devices without looking at patients.

An analysis of online reviews of healthcare providers finds that patients who post negative comments about their physicians are four times more likely to complain about poor customer service and bedside manner than about misdiagnoses and inadequate medical skills.

NextGen Healthcare launches Comparison Utility, a proprietary ICD-9/ICD-10 comparison tool that is available at no charge to its customers.

Greenway Medical revises its fiscal 2013 outlook because of declining sales and deferred revenues. For the year ending June 30, Greenway updates its earnings estimate of $0.10 to $0.17 on $145-$150 million in revenue to a loss of $0.11 to $0.13 on revenue of $132-$134 million.

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