News 12/17/13

The Louisiana Senior Care Coalition selects eClinicalWorks Care Coordination Medical Record as its population health management solution for advancing its ACO objectives.

Athenahealth will integrate Merge Healthcare’s iConnect Network into its athenaClinicals EHR to allow users to receive and view exam results and diagnostic-quality images.

US physicians apparently aren’t the only ones concerned with a decline in compensation. Salaried GPs in the UK made an average hourly rate of $61 this year, down from $75 in 2012. The average US doctor, by the way, earned $80 an hour in 2010, not including benefits.

Practice EMR vendor drchrono releases an API that will allow developers to extend and enhance its platform.

Wolters Kluwer Heath integrates its Health Language Provider Friendly Terminology with Epic EHR for mid-size to large practices, as well as for hospitals.

A mere seven percent of psychiatrists were awarded MU incentives last year, a lower percentage than in any other specialty. Industry analysts blame poor usability of EHR systems, the exclusion of mental health centers from program incentives, and a relative lack of EHR vendors specializing in psychiatry.

In an unrelated study published in JAMA Psychiatry, almost 45 percent of psychiatrics refuse private insurance or Medicare. Sounds like another pretty obvious reason why so few psychiatrists qualified for MU.

CMS issues a final rule that confirms physicians who assign their reimbursement and billing to a CAH under Method II are now eligible to participate in the MU program as EPs.

Physicians participating in a Western NY Beacon Community study used technology to help their patients better control their blood sugar levels and reduce the number of avoidable hospitalizations. Participating physicians implemented new technologies and upgraded their workflows. The Beacon Community also used EHRs to generate diabetes registries to track lab and test results and to generate preventative care reminders and guidance. Among the 57 participating practices, the percentage of diabetes patients with uncontrolled blood sugar levels improved by as much as 10 percent over a one-year period.

Congressmen Erik Paulsen (R-MN) and Jim Matheson (D-UT) propose legislation that would mandate the use of clinical decision support software by physicians receiving Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement when they order diagnostic imaging tests. The goal is to provide doctors with immediate feedback and recommendations for the appropriate tests to order. Sounds like a great idea that would likely create a few administrative nightmares.

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