Intelligent Healthcare Information Integration 2/11/11

Crossing Platforms

If you are a cloud lover, this story is for you. If you’re not particularly tech savvy or have a small practice and don’t want to bother with the maintenance of servers, licenses, backups, etc., this story is for you. If you like smart design, this story is for you. If you like reasonable EHR costs, this story is for you.

Recently, I have had the opportunity to demo drive a very clever EHR that has moved rapidly up my current list of “Worth Its.” It’s not one I hear discussed in many EHR circles all that often, but it should be. I’ll tell you why.

HealthFusion’s MediTouch – love the company name, not so much the product’s – is a relative newcomer on the EHR scene and you can tell they have gained by waiting to join the EHR party. Their screens are clean and clear and easy to navigate. They have less of the clutter which seems so rampant among most older EHRs.

They are Complete EHR-certified (Drummond) with practice management and clearinghouse solutions. They use the tagline “The EHR that Thinks like a Doctor™” and they may be closer to that than most I’ve seen. They built their EHR to work across multiple browsers, including Windows-based and Apple.

According to Seth Flam, CEO, “Our product is a web-based program… we built the interface so that touch could be the predominant method of data entry. Our team has worked hard to make sure that we have overcome many of the idiosyncrasies of Apple’s mobile Safari browser. We did not build an exclusive iPad "application"…our product works on a several browsers – including browsers that work on Windows PCs and Apple Macs – workstations, laptops and tablets.”

I can attest to its cross-platform workability. Granted a dummy account to test drive, I have successfully tested it on Internet Explorer 8, Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, and Apple Safari. And, it does indeed work quite well on the iPad.

As a small practice, one of the most important things I look for is the philosophy of the company behind an EHR. I want to know that I don’t get made to feel like a small practice, once they have my money. (Hellooo…support? Helloooo…is anybody there?)

Here are two items that bode well for HealthFusion in that regard:

1. Sol Lizerbram, HealthFusion’s CEO, is a physician. Knowing that a doc runs the shop is somehow comforting.

2. Their call center has two consecutive years of recognition by J.D. Power and Associates for providing “An Outstanding Customer Service Experience.” Another snuggly, feel-good piece of info.

They do a lot of things very well. As a pediatrician, I look for some of the harder-to-do pediatric-specific items. There are only a couple of systems that do these elements well, but HealthFusion does a lot of them and, those they do, they do very nicely.

Then there’s the whole cost thing. This is another very impressive plus for them. There are no upfront costs and the monthly fees seem very “small practice-friendly.”

I’m still looking, but HealthFusion is definitely “climbing the charts with a bullet!”

From the trenches…

“When I was crossing the border into Canada, they asked if I had any firearms with me. I said, "Well, what do you need?" – Steven Wright

Dr. Gregg Alexander, a grunt in the trenches pediatrician, directs the “Pediatric Office of the Future” exhibit for the American Academy of Pediatrics and is a member of the Professional Advisory Council for ModernMedicine.com. More of his blather…er, writings…can be found at his blog, practice web site or directly from doc@madisonpediatric.com.

News 2/10/11

Outgoing ONC head Dr. David Blumenthal takes issue with a recent study that concluded EHRs don’t significantly improve patient care. Blumenthal believes the study was flawed and technology has improved since the data was collected (2005 to 2007.) Blumenthal concludes:

There are plenty of strong studies that justify what we are doing [and] there are plenty of physicians who are using electronic health records who will never go back to paper.”I have used an electronic health record, I saw the value in my own practice, and beyond that the idea that in 21st century America we will withhold from patients the benefit of electronic systems when the rest of the world is zooming ahead with ever more powerful uses of information for the rest of their lives strikes me as inconceivable and also irresponsible.

Placer County (CA) Board of Supervisors approves the purchase of Epic EMR for its four community health clinics. Placer County Health and Human Service was awarded $115,000 in federal funding; this will be added to the county’s $28,000 contribution. Sounds pretty inexpensive, especially for Epic. The director of the clinics suggests that Epic was their pick since it is already in place at many area hospitals and clinics.

McKesson says it is working with over 25 RECs and is now offers a customized certification program to educate RECs on how to implement and optimize McKesson solutions.

Praxis donates supplies and equipments to The Villages Charter School, a high school in Florida that offers a Health Academy for students. The school is equipped with a health sciences classroom that includes a simulated clinic and working computer workstations running Praxis EMR. Donated gifts include a portable oximeter, clipboards, and lanyards.

The AMA develops a survey that  invites physicians to provide input on federal rules and regulations impacting medical practices. Specifically, the AMA wants to identify tasks that are considered burdensome without providing positive benefits.

Speaking of surveys, HIStalk Practice has developed one of its own. Would you do Mr. H and me a favor and take a minute to complete our annual reader survey? Your input gives us great ideas and helps us make the site better. Thanks.

Americans are less concerned with the safety of their medical records than they are with personal contact information, according to a new Harris Interactive Poll. People are more fearful that internal negligence will result in medical record exposure, than hacking into a computer; 14% have no concerns about the security of their medical records. The information security firm that sponsored the survey obviously thinks everyone should worry.

E-mail Inga.

News 2/8/11

The FDA approves Mobile MIM, the first mobile radiology app cleared by the FDA for viewing images and making diagnoses. Mobile MIM passed FDA’s tests and its review of radiologist usage under variable lighting conditions.

Eye Faculty Practice (NY) selects the SRS EHR for its 13-provider practice.

Medical products company Sensus Healthcare partners with AZZLY to offer the Astrum EHR platform.

St. Vincent’s Healthcare (FL) selects athenaCollector for its network of 120 employed providers.

Regional accounting firm Blue & Co. (IN) acquires billing and consulting firm Medical Management Solutions.

Altex Business Solutions (TX) partners with ZirMed to offer ZirMed’s RCM solutions to is 2,000 physician clients. Altex is a reseller of Medisoft Clinical, LytecMD, and McKesson Practice Partner software.

I noticed that CalHIPSO has narrowed its list of preferred EHR vendors to eight companies. The REC has completed its “STAGE 1” evaluation, and so far, Allscripts, eClinicalWorks, GE, Greenway, NextGen, athenahealth, McKesson Practice Partner, and e-MDs  have made the cut. CalHIPSO is working with the vendors to negotiate standard terms and conditions and to establish discounted pricing for CalHIPSO members.

Meanwhile in Ohio, the Ohio Health Information Partnership (OHIP) announces that it has surpassed the 50% milestone towards it target of 6,000 physicians signing up for its services. OHIP’s preferred vendors are Allscripts, eClinicalWorks, e-MDs, NextGen, and Sage.

NextGen announces that Palm Beach Orthopaedic Institute will implement NextGen’s RCM services.

Are you a provider attending HIMSS? Drop me a note and tell me what you will be checking out and if you have any suggestions for sessions or exhibits.

Covisint extends the 2010 PQRI submittal deadline to March 15, 2011. While there are dozens of registries, many have already stopped accepting submissions.

CompuMed agrees to provide ECG telemedicine and CardioGram Kids services to the Saban Free Clinic (CA.) CompuMed will provide the clinic ECG telemedicine equipment and reads by CompuMed’s cardiologists. In addition, CompuMed is providing pediatric screen services as part of its CardioGramKids Pediatric Screening services. Good stuff.

1450, Inc. is named the exclusive North American distributor of Frisbee, a transcription workflow system that routes physician dictation to a transcriptionist and then allows the final Dragon-generated and approved transcription to be sent directly to an EMR. The video demo is here. There’s an iPhone version, too

Physicians are still relatively lukewarm when it comes to PHRs, citing concerns about patients’ privacy, data accuracy, potential liability, and the lack of payment incentives. Of 700 surveyed in this Health Affairs-published study, 64% had never used a PHR, though 42% said they would be willing. Another 24% admitted to be unwilling. Minority physicians, rural physicians, and those with EHR experience were most interested in using PHRs. The authors suggest using financial incentives to encourage adoption. I say let see how this how Meaningful Use thing goes before offering up more money.

E-mail Inga.

News 2/3/11

Microsoft announces new encrypted e-mail functionality that will allow users of the Quest Diagnostic Care360 EHR to transmit clinical information directly to patients. An encrypted copy of a patient’s clinical data is also automatically saved to  patients’ HealthVault account. If my doctor were to automatically download my records into a PHR, then I might actually consider using one. However, I predict patients will continue to resist HealthVault or similar technologies until most of their providers offer similar uploads.

Azalea Health Innovations partners with DrFirst to launch Azalea eRx. The electronic prescribing solution is available as a standalone product or integrated with both Azalea PM and Azalea Labhub.

MDBlackBox introduces a free, on-demand PM/EMR suite. I looked over their website and apparently the company offers some “pre-paid items,” though I never found a link that identified what those items were. There is a contact listed for “Business/Advertisement” so I assume the product has ads imbedded into the application. No demo or screen shots available, so I suppose the company is still ramping up.

Apello Technologies introduces Apello Physicians Network, a new iTunes app for doctor-to-doctor communication. The mobile app facilitates doctor-to-doctor sharing of patient data using a combination of tools including text messaging, voice memos, and fax.

eClinicalWorks is hosting a few road shows in coming weeks, showing off their new Version 9.0 and touching on the 25 requirements of Meaningful Use. Details here.

Physician Oncology Services and Vantage Oncology merge to form a network that includes 40 radiation oncology centers across 13 states and over 80 physicians.

A big welcome to Medicomp Systems, HIStalk Practice’s newest Platinum sponsor. Medicomp offers a variety of EMR tools, such as the MEDCIN clinical knowledge engine and the CliniTalk voice-to-data physician documentation system. They are also the terrific folks rolling out the red carpet (literally) for the HIStalkapalooza event at HIMSS. They seem like a very fun bunch and have been hugely supportive of all the wacky ideas we’ve dreamed up for the party. Medicomp will be introducing a new product or two in the coming weeks and we look forward to hearing the details and sharing with readers. Thanks Medicomp for supporting HIStalk Practice and for hosting a sure-to-be-fabulous party!

If you are a physician attending HIMSS, there’s a new Physician Executive Forum option this year. The track is designed for physician leaders in hospitals or the ambulatory environment, particularly those responsible for helping their organizations with such HIT issues as Meaningful Use and ICD-10 conversion.There’s no additional fee if you are already attending HIMSS. HIMSS is also offering an all-day Physicians’ IT Symposium ($285) on Sunday the 20th which will focus on achieving Meaningful Use.

MGMA says its membership grew almost 5% last year and now includes 22,500 professionals. Members lead 13,600 organizations and their 280,000 physicians provide 40% of healthcare services in the US.

D&H Distributing partners with gloStream to serve as a VAR and provide practices with a local support option.

Concierge medicine with a twist: the 31-physician One Medical Group offers a low-cost, concierge-style practice for a mere $150 to $250 year. In addition, the practice accepts a variety of insurance plans, including Medicare. Like a traditional concierge practice, patients can e-mail their physicians at no charge and are usually able to schedule same-day appointments. The physicians typically see about 16 patients a day, compared to the national average of 25. To keep overhead low, the practice relies on a number of automation tools including online appointments and prescription refill requests. One Medical Group was founded by Epocrates co-founder Dr. Tom X. Lee and has offices in San Francisco and New York City.

E-mail Inga.

News 2/1/11

NCQA’s new patient-centered medical home standards reinforce federal Meaningful Use incentives for primary care practices to adopt HIT. The PCMH 2011 calls for medical practices to be more patient-centered and includes Meaningful Use language embedded into evaluation standards. NCQA believes that practices meeting PCMH 2011 requirements will be well prepared to qualify for Meaningful Use and vice versa. Download here.

The 170-physician Florida Woman Care adds athenaClinicals EHR and athenaCommunicator. The practice is already an athenaCollector client. I also see from athenahealth’s blog that Dr. Catherine F. Vanderloos of Shreveport, LA was among the early recipients of a $21,250 EHR incentive check.

Amazing Charts releases AC OnCall, an app that gives providers access to their Amazing Charts records from an iPhone, iTouch, or iPad. Users can download the app for free for three months or pay a one-time fee of $24.99.

Delta Radiology Medical Group (CA) signs a three-year billing services contract with Zotec Partners.

Doctors Urgent Care (WV) installs Benchmark Systems’ EMR and PM system for its three urgent and primary care practices.

Most doctors want to share patient information electronically with other providers, according to a new Markle survey. Almost half of doctors would also like to share records with patients electronically and 65% believe patients should be able to download their personal health information online. PHR adoption continues to be slow, with only 10% of the public claiming to maintain one. But, that’s up from 3% in 2008.

Michael Last Internal Medicine chooses the Waiting Room Solutions Internal Medicine EHR and PM product.

Holy Name Medical (NJ) selects Aprima’s EHR/PM software as a recommended and subsidized solution for its affiliated physicians.

AMA announces it is working with Covisint to help physicians receive reimbursements from CMS’s PQRI program. AMA members are eligible for discounts for the Covisint DocSite, a web application for submitting data for 2010 PQRI reporting.

Epocrates looks to raise $75 million in its IPO, which is scheduled for February 2. Epocrates is seeking listing on the NASDAQ exchange under the symbol EPOC.

AMA spent more on lobbying efforts last year than any other healthcare group. AMA shelled out almost $22 million, which was a nine percent increase over 2009. AHA was also a big spender, with almost $18 million in expenditures.

Men and the chronically ill are most likely to support remote monitoring and virtual visits. Nearly half of the 1,000 adults in this survey are receptive if it saves time and money; 23% said they would never consider a remote visit with a doctor.

Doctors report that one in 18 patients are considered difficult and more likely than others to stay sick. “Difficult” patients were defined as those more likely to have worse symptoms two weeks after their visit. Physician experience makes a difference: doctors with less than 10 years of experience report that 25% of visits are difficult, compared to just 2% of visits for physicians with more than 20 years experience.

The Florida Academy of Family Physicians recommends Ingenix CareTracker as a PM/EHR solution to its members. FAFP members are eligible for discounts on monthly subscription fees and implementation services for the product through the HIT distributor CareTracker Partners.

Providers can buy insurance to protect themselves from financial losses associated with data breaches. Agents see small group practices as good targets since most offices lack internal resources to manage security concerns. It’s pricey though: $5,000 a year will get you $1 million of protection for up to five physicians. Insurance covers fines, patient notification costs, credit monitoring, investigation, legal defense, and even PR-related costs to rebuild the practice’s reputation.

E-mail Inga.