News 10/29/13

Athenahealth will implement Safety Event Manager, a safety reporting solution from Quantros, allowing athenaClinical users to submit patient safety data as part of their EHR workflow to the federally sanctioned Quantros Patient Safety Center

The Government Accountability Office reports that general practice physicians were 1.5 times more likely than specialty practice physicians to have been awarded a MU incentive payment in 2012. A total of 183,712 EPs were awarded payments in 2012, representing 31 percent of all EPs and an increase from the 53,331 (10 percent) of EPs awarded incentives in 2011; 75 percent of EPs awarded incentive payments in 2012 were new to the program.

Greenway Medical Technologies is named a finalist for the 2013 Intel Innovation Award in recognition of its PrimeMOBILE app for Windows 8.

A pediatric mental health study using athenahealth claims data reveals a 29 percent increase in the rate of mental health diagnoses between 2009 and 2013. ADHD accounted for more than half of all pediatric mental health diagnoses.

In 2011, office-based physicians using an EHR were more likely than non-EHR users to exchange lab results, send prescriptions electronically, and provide patients with clinical summaries, according to a study conducted by the CDC’s National Center for Health. Specific data exchange functions included:

• Viewing lab results online: 87 percent with EHRs vs. 67 percent of all physicians
• Sending prescriptions electronically: 78 percent vs. 55 percent
• Incorporating lab results into an EHR: 73 percent vs. 42 percent
• Providing patients with clinical summaries: 61 percent vs. 38 percent
• Sending lab orders electronically: 54 percent vs. 35 percent
• Exchanging clinical summaries with other providers: 49 percent vs. 31 percent.

Not surprisingly, data exchange capabilities varied significantly depending on the EHR: the ability of providers to exchange clinical summaries, for example, ranged from one-fourth of all physicians to three-fourths, depending on the EHR.

In an interview, eClinicalWorks CEO Girish Navani shares various observations and predictions for the industry. Some notable comments:

We are headed for consolidation, without a doubt. It’s not just going to be the smaller or the insignificant. I think you will find companies that have not built customer bases or are strongly relying on investors to fund their next generation of products having to either consolidate or merge. It happens in every industry, and it’s going to happen in our industry. I wouldn’t be surprised if you see some reasonably large businesses next year get acquired or merge with each other.

The right to earn a physician’s business is going to get harder, because you will be in what I would call a replacement market. You need to have a better product and a better service, and you need to be able to keep your customer base. I think size will matter, at some point, just like it did in the cell phone business. Verizon and AT&T built more connections, so they got more subscribers. I think you’ll see some of that, as well. I wouldn’t be surprised if a larger business that can’t invest in research and development, and can’t show the same top line growth will get pressured by stock prices or investors to merge with something else

I think in 2013 we are still amidst the transition where we now understand that our reimbursements will be tied to outcomes. I don’t think we have yet changed the consumers’ behavior around looking at those indicators in terms of how and where they derive their quality or care. But if you ask me, the question over the next 5 years, we’re definitely moving to consumer-centered care. The patients will make decisions based on price, quality, and also convenience in terms of how and where they get their care. Again, it will go faster than you and I expect. My gut tells me if we look back within 12, if not 18 months, we will be pleased that healthcare has moved past digitization of technology to using it as a vehicle for better decision making.

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News 10/24/13

A Forbes article highlights Practice Fusion’s possible privacy problems stemming from  their practice of emailing patients to request physician reviews. This is a topic we mentioned a couple times on HIStalk Practice, including in this post by Dr. Gregg. The article criticizes Practice Fusion for possible HIPAA violations, drawing the above response from CEO Ryan Howard. While Howard contends the accusations are “false,” Forbes’ Kashmir Hill stands her ground and a few other readers pile criticisms on as well (check out the comments at the end of the article.) Practice Fusion has added a new blog post further clarifying their patient survey policy, but I doubt we’ve heard the end of this story.

Rush Health (IL) endorses athenahealth’s EHR and PM services for its 300 affiliated private physician members.

CMS publishes the 2013 Interim Feedback Dashboard User Guide to assist EPs with accessing and interpreting the status of PQRS data to monitor claims-based individual measures and measures group reporting.

The 150-provider Rothman Institute (PA) selects White Plume’s ePASS product suite to automate the charge capture process and prepare for ICD-10.

More than three-quarters of parents participating in a University of Michigan poll would likely seek email advice for their children’s minor illness if that service were available, though almost half feel the consult should be free. What’s unclear from the report is whether parents think physicians should not charge for this service, or, if they believe that insurance should pick up the tab for the consult. Regardless, we are clearly a society that believes we are entitled to many things.

The clever folks at NueMD produce a Miley Cyrus “Wrecking Ball” parody that satirizes how doctors at small medical practices are being knocked out by a “wrecking ball” masquerading as government regulation and payer obstacles. It might be funnier if it didn’t hit so close to home.

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News 10/22/13

From Helen Reddy: “Female doctors are better. These findings don’t surprise me a bit.”  A Canadian study finds that female doctors provide higher quality of care than male doctors, though men are more productive. Researchers looked at billing information for 870 providers relating to procedures with elderly diabetic patients and determined that women practitioners were “significantly “ more likely to follow clinical guidelines for required medications and to plan required examinations. Male physicians, however, had almost 1,000 more procedures per year than female doctors. Assuming the findings hold true for US physicians, perhaps we’ll see a boost in compensation for female doctors as payment models shift from production-based to outcomes-based.

Medical management and staffing firm Hospital Physician Partners will implement athenaCollector, athenaCommunicator, and athenaClarity. Shares of athenahealth, by the way, reached a lifetime high of $141.38 Monday, five days after reporting its Q3 results: revenue up 43 percent, adjusted EPS $0.29 vs. $0.30.

The Drummond Group certifies SRS EHR as a 2014 Complete EHR.

Vitera Healthcare Solutions connects to the Surescripts network to provide EHR users integrated Direct secure messaging capabilities.

Cardiac Consultants (TX) selects the VersaSuite EHR/PM platform.

Navicure reports a 31 percent increase in its third quarter results from a year ago and announces several new clients including Care New England Health System, Sumner Medical Group (TN), and Tanner Clinic (UT).

Miami Children’s Hospital (FL) will offer area physicians a private-labeled version of HealthFusion’s MediTouch EHR that will interface with the hospital’s IT systems.

Curious: a North Carolina doctor is accused of breaking into a neighboring practice where she was seeing patients and now faces charges of breaking and entering and felony larceny. The power had apparently been turned off in Felicia Brabham, MD’s office so she moved her medical records, lab supplies, and cat into an office that another physician used about once a month. Earlier this year Dr. Brabham was charged with insurance fraud and writing bad checks; she has now voluntarily surrendered her medical license.

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News 10/17/13

CMS extends the registration period for the PQRS administrative claims-based reporting option and the PQRS Group Reporting Option from October 15 to October 18, 2013 to give providers additional time to register. Failure to participate in PQRS for 2013 triggers a 1.5 percent reduction in Medicare reimbursements in 2015.

e-MDs will integrate Phreesia’s point-of-care check-in solution into its EHR platform.

CareCloud CEO Albert Santalo tells the Boston Business Journal that his company may launch an IPO next year. The company also just announced the hiring of R. Scott Lentz as CFO, who was the CFO for Picis when it registered for its IPO and who has been involved in fund raising activities for other organizations throughout his career. Lentz also served as CFO for Aprima Medical and PracticeOne.

Waiting Room Solutions changes its name to WRS Health “to reflect its major expansion of service offerings.” Reading between the lines I take this to mean that in addition to its PM/EMR platform, WRS has expanded its offerings to include  transcription, bookkeeping, practice marketing, and other services. The company also announced the integration of PDR Network into its EMR.

Medfusion rebrands its recently reacquired Inuit Health patient portal technology back to its original name and adds Vern Davenport (formerly of MModal) and Buck Goldstein (UNC Chapel Hill) to its board.

A North Texas publication profiles two physicians in the same practice who have differing views on EMRs. Calvin Simmons, MD has used paper for 40 years and believes that using an EMR makes a physician less focused on the patient and more attentive to the computer; he also believes an EMR would slow him down. Meanwhile Edward Kremer, MD uses Practice Fusion and claims he “couldn’t function” without an EMR. Interestingly, both doctors claim to have patients that have left their care because they don’t like their approach to technology: some have dropped Simmons because they wanted digital records while others have left Kremer because “they didn’t like his faced glued to the screen.” Proof that there’s no pleasing everyone.

Riverside Medical Group (VA) selects athenaCollector for billing and practice management for its 300+ physicians.

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News 10/15/13

From Colonel Henry: “Re: MGMA. I wanted to pass on word that I enjoyed reading your impressions of the recent national MGMA show.  My company was prepared to bring our entire expo team to San Diego but decided against it when we saw the shortened exhibit hours. There are just so many shows to go to (we got to many state MGMA shows this year) and you have to weigh the overall value at all times. The shortened hours at the national show were the main reason for us not going. Thanks again for the always lively commentary.” Thanks for the kind words. It will be interesting to see whether MGMA opts for longer exhibit hours next year.

From Elise St. John: “Re: Souvenirs. I made it home from MGMA and thought I’d snap a quick pic of my collected treasures. The sports cream was for my aching feet.” I didn’t buy any sports cream (though that doesn’t sound like a bad idea) but I did pay $5 for  packet of eight band-aids to soothe my blisters. Maybe I’ll expense them to Mr. H.

eClinicalWorks reports a sold out crowd at last weekend’s 2013 National Users Conference in San Antonio, which featured demonstrations of the eClinicalWorks V10 EHR release, eClinicalWorks’ population health management and patient engagement tools, and over 100 educational sessions.

A local paper profiles the EMR implementations at three Kearney, NE clinics and apparently finds few providers who are happy with the new technology. A 26-doctor practice reports that staff resignations are at an all time high since starting its $1.5 million implementation, and at least one physician claims the system has added 150 minutes to his day. Another practice says the transition from paper to electronic records has required the temporary hiring of 12 workers and physicians don’t expect to recoup the cost of the investment. The manager of one clinic, however, says all his physicians are on board and they’d “never go back.”

ADP AdvancedMD says that over 1,000 users have downloaded its iPhone app since it debuted two months ago.

Aprima Medical offers its customers an option for offsite hosting services through Technology Solutions Providers, Inc.

Virginia Hospital Center Physician Group selects eClinicalWorks EHR for its 100 employed physicians and Washington Health System (PA) chooses eClinicalWorks EHR for the 87 physicians and 21 residents in its family practice residency program.

A RAND study finds that the primary driver of job satisfaction for physicians is being able to provide high-quality healthcare. EHR use impacts doctor job satisfaction because of worries that EHRs interfere with face-to-face patient interaction and increase clerical work by doctors. Physicians also have concerns that medical record accuracy may be negatively impacted when templates are used.

SRS hosts its annual User Summit this week in Greenwich, CT.

ZirMed says that so far in 2013  it has added over 900 clients, recorded 30 percent growth, and processed more than 2.2 billion transactions.

Capario launches CaparioOne, a redesigned web portal application for RCM.

More than 80 percent of medical practices participating in an MGMA survey express concern that the ACA insurance exchanges will increase patient collection burdens and offer low reimbursement rates. Still, the majority of medical practices see the  potential for exchanges to provide care to underserved patient populations. Forty percent of practices are still deciding whether or not to participate with new exchange insurance products.

Epocrates introduces Provider Directory to help members easily identify other clinicians for consultations and patient referrals.

ADP AdvancedMD debuts AdvancedInsight, a business intelligence reporting suite that provides a dashboard view of a practice’s finances.

Athenahealth earns the #3 spot on the list of 2013 Best Places to Work in Maine in the large employer category.

Practice Fusion guarantees it will be 2014 MU-ready by the end of 2013 and will pay up to $5,000 in EHR costs for any new customer who switches to a different EHR if Practice Fusion’s certification timing is not met.

Emdeon will pay its former CEO George Lazenby $2.4 million over the next two years, following his September 30th resignation. Breaking up may be hard to do, but I bet a couple of million bucks softens the blow.

EClinicalWorks adds Elsevier’s ExitCare technology for evidence-based patient education and discharge instructions into its EHR.

The children of parents who use a PHR are 2.5 times more likely to be compliant with well-child visits, according to a Kaiser Permanente study. The same children were also more likely to receive all their immunizations.

During the MGMA conference last week, several sessions were filled to capacity, leading a number of attendees to voice their displeasure. MGMA did the right thing and responded with a discount code for one free on-demand session.

The 122-provider Elmhurst Clinic (IL) deploys Phytel’s population health management suite to help clinic case managers and nurses manage recently discharged patients and ensure appropriate follow-up care.

3M Health Information Systems introduces the 3M Outpatient CDI Program, which offers consulting services for outpatient facilities and physician practices needing to improve the documentation and coding process.

Nuance Communications announces the Clinic 360 suite, an outsourced transcription service and application for physician practices that manages the dictation, review, editing, and sign-off of patient documents. Nuance also introduces a new version of Dragon Dictate Medical for Mac.

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