News 9/01/09

From Dr. T: “Re: Practice Fusion. I was under the impression that Practice Fusion did not have patient-to-MD e-mail.” Back in February, Vatsal Thakkar, MD participated in an HIT Moment and said, “Practice Fusion says it is in their future plan to incorporate e-communications to/from patients that are HIPAA-compliant and/or encrypted. What I am currently using is an add-on from my MS Exchange hosting service called SecureMail. It simplifies the process for users of Outlook such that encrypting a message is a simple click which prompts you to enter the challenge question that the patient can answer to open the email and write back. It also informs you if the message was NOT opened by the end of 30 days (at which point it expires). The vendor is at www.intermedia.net.”

Speaking of Practice Fusion, it is offering free integration with Quest Diagnostics for lab results.

Greenway Medical announces its 11th consecutive fiscal year of positive growth, ending its 2009 fiscal year with a 38% increase in sales over 2008 and 88% over 2007. Ever since I can remember, Greenway competitors have loved to discuss how the privately help Greenway wouldn’t be able to make it long term, that they would run out of money and never turn a profit. While higher sales do not necessarily equate to increased profits (or any profits for that matter), but, you have to hand it to Greenway for its tenacity and continued growth. There are a lot of sunset companies out there that would have loved eleven years of positive growth.

We are indeed fortunate to have Medicity as a new Platinum Sponsor of HIStalk Practice. The company was the first sponsor of HIStalk many years ago and continues as a Founding Sponsor there, which we certainly appreciate. It in inspiring to see how the company has grown, both organically and via strategic acquisitions that include a gem of EHR interoperability technology, the former Novo Innovations (now the Medicity Novo Grid). Other offerings include the ProAccess Clinical Application Suite and MediTrust Clinical Interoperability Platform. Ten years after its founding by Chairman and CEO Kipp Lassetter MD, the company leads the market and will undoubtedly continue its leadership role in RHIO, HIE, and national health network projects (it’s offering a September 4 Webinar entitled Maximizing New ARRA-Funded Federal Grants for Health Information Exchanges).Thanks to Medicity for its continuing support of HIStalk and HIStalk Practice.

Greenway also introduces its new partnership with RelayHealth, giving PrimeSuite clients access to lab results, radiology reports, and transcribed documents from their community health system through Relayhealth’s Virtual Information Exchange.

Supermarket chain Harris Teeter (found mostly in the eastern US) implements a PHR to improve prescription accuracy in its pharmacies. An agreement with Connectyx Technologies Holdings Group gives customers the opportunity to obtain a MedFlash drive for their PHR information, including medication specifics.

Claims clearinghouse provider Navicure adds three South Carolina practices to its client roster.

Physicians who perceive quality problems in their practices are more likely to experience dissatisfaction, isolation, and stress. Doctors in practices that have implemented quality initiatives and evaluated their effectiveness where less likely to feel that way.

eClinicalWork partners with Correctional Medical Services  (CMS) to provider EMR solutions to correctional facilities affiliated with CMS. ECW already provides EHR to Rikers Island in New York.

Speaking of ECW, co-founder Raj Dharampuriya  is interviewed by India Knowledge @ Wharton. He mentions that the company has opened a Mumbai support center to handle US customers that run 24 hours a day, such as a prison. The company will hire 500 people in the next two years, most of them in implementation and support, and will open an office next month in San Francisco. He credits the Indian culture of the founders in helping them focus on their goal of building a business and changing the delivery of healthcare. He still practices medicine part time and says he’s in the top 10% of performers according to BCBS.

If you are feeling the need to get up to speed on the upcoming ICD-10 coding system, you can review the new fact sheet being offered by CMS. I was sure it was going to be something I could use to cure my insomnia, by it’s actually nicely laid out, provides an easy-to-read overview, and includes plenty of graphics.

The MGMA sends the CMS a 12-page letter, providing comments on the proposed 2010 Physician Fee Schedule. Topping the list: MGMA urges urges CMS to accelerate the use of reporting from  EHRs for 2010 PQRI participation. MGMA also believes that groups of any size should be able to report on proposed measures, using a properly structured group practice reporting mechanism.

Three-provider Walker Family Medicine (AZ) selects OminMD for its EMR and practice management solutions.

CMS reports that almost all of the 610 small practice and solo physicians participating in a pay-for-performance demonstration project earned bonuses. The practices are being paid a total of $7.5 million for meeting quality standards through the use of HIT. The average payment was $14,000, with some practices earning as much as $62,500. To qualify, practices had to show their use of HIT improved the quality of care for patients with chronic conditions.

A local paper reports that Outer Cape Health Services (MA) has had a “mass resignation at the senior level staff level” as a result of management reorganizations and cost-cutting measures. The article is published in The Wicked Local, which I envision as of of those freebie newspapers you pick up in the local coffee shop, the kind that includes a listing of what bands are playing at which pubs, and a wide assortment of personals that cover every conceivable dating choice. Anyway, the rather lengthy article places most of the blame for staff resignations and turnover on the  health clinic’s new CEO, who took over the financially struggling practice in January. A disgruntled staffer says the new CEO put morale “in the toilet.” Another says she “humiliates people who don’t agree with her.” Essentially, they all but call her “wicked.” It may not be a Pulitzer Prize-winning piece of journalism, but it’s certainly more juicy than anything in the NY Times.

E-mail Inga.

Intelligent Healthcare Information Integration 8/29/09

Of Spices, Garnish, and Flavor Integration

Cooking, while not my passion, is always something I love. HIT, my passion, is not something I always love. Despite the discrepancies in appreciation, the former can lend insight into the latter. To illustrate, let’s take a little jaunt around the chowder pot…

Not that I am one, but a good chef will tell you the right ingredients make or break the creation of any dish. So, first, we want to insure the freshness and quality of the components which are going into our dish. If we try to build our foundation upon stale or outdated stuff at the start, we’ll only end up overseasoning in an attempt to turn a poor base into something it just never can become: fresh.

Speaking of seasonings, spices cannot be overemphasized. Appropriate use of spices in an intelligent and relational blend is the pièce de résistance, the icing upon the cake. The cake must be scrumptious, but the icing provides the “wow!” So, too, the soup must be solidly constructed from the best stock and the most delightful amalgamation of the finest available elements; however, it is the right use of the spices which elevate mere cold soup to an elegant vichyssoise.

Underspice, and the outcome is bland, lacking in pizzazz. Overspice, and the palate is overwhelmed and confused. But, with attention to the interactions of the flavors – spices with spices as well as spices with main ingredients – the individual elements integrate to transform the dish into a starburst of flavor sensations only achieved by their proper integration.

The heat necessary, at the right moments and at the right temperatures, can bring about the conjoining of flavors we seek, but not if we are inattentive to its application. As with custard, we might even need a bain-marie (a protective pan of water) to help guard our creation from the onslaught of direct flame. But, don’t be mistaken: the flavor sensations we seek will never arise if not allowed the time to assimilate under just the right conditions or if not tempered with just the right fire.

Preparation to the moment of presentation is only partiellement fini. Without question, the garnish and overall appearance of a dish, just like the wrapping of a gift, can turn a meal into a masterpiece. A present may be appreciated, but beautiful wrapping heightens the anticipation of the gift within. So, too, what the eyes see even before what the nose smells or the tongue tastes can greatly enhance (or diminish) the appreciation of even the finest culinary concoction.

Now, for the clarification:

• HIT/EHRs need up-to-date (fresh) ingredients.
• Building upon outdated (stale) platforms and software (ingredients) will yield an EHR (broth) no amount of techno bells and whistles (spices) or gorgeous GUI (presentation) or marvelous marketing and support (garnish) can overcome.
• The oven of time and incubator of “in vivo” use of these tools has cooked a few to finesse, many others to overdone and perhaps best fed to the dog.

A master chef knows a quality meal is only good for a brief period. Most grocery items have an expiration date. Even Budweiser has a “Born On Date” indicating that it has only 110 days before freshness has passed. Maybe EHRs, many of which are well past their prime and only capable of continued use by those tolerant of the dull and tasteless, should adopt a similar ethos to enable continued “freshness” of our HIT banquet.

I don’t even butter my bread. I consider that cooking.  – Katherine Cebrian

Dr. Gregg Alexander is a grunt-in-the-trenches pediatrician and geek. His personal manifesto home page…er..blog…yeh, that’s it, his blog – and he – can be reached through http://madisonpediatric.com or doc@madisonpediatric.com.

News 8/27/09

From Kathleen S: “Re: 100 Most Powerful. Another bogus list — besides, neither Mr. H or Inga were listed, so proof of hot air.” As Mr. H and all the other losers say, we were just happy to be nominated.

Should healthcare providers use Twitter to provide medical alerts and other healthcare information? Would it be effective? What about privacy? Of course the folks at Telemedicine and e-Health think it is a great idea and view it as a potentially valuable means of sharing real-time health information. I doubt I’d sign up.

To your right: details on a free live webinar on how to turn your dictation to data, sponsored by the folks at ALN. The webinar is on Thursday the 27th, so don’t delay.

Greenway Medical enters the community HIT space with the launch of PrimeEnterprise. The solution will enable a community of Greenway customers to share select clinical and financial data.

Real-time insurance eligibility authentication tools appear to be gaining in popularity. Atlanta Women’s Health Group is the latest group to announce it’s installing an application to validate eligibility information the time of service. Clearwave Corporation is the vendor working with the 50-provider, 26-location group.

Michael J. Barry, MD of Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School is named president of the Foundation for Informed Medical Decision Making, a non-profit organization that promotes the creation and use of audio-visual decision aids to enhance patient involvement in their own medical decisions. Also, ophthalmologist William H. Ehlers, MD takes over as president of the Joint Commission of Allied Health Personnel in Ophthalmology.

Covenant Medical Center (IA) agrees to pay $4.5 million to settle alleged violations to the Stark Law and submitting false Medicare claims. The federal lawsuit claimed the hospital paid the five specialists “above fair market value” for their services at rates that were “commercially unreasonable.”  The government claims the physicians, who referred patients to the hospital,  were among the highest paid hospital-employed physicians in the entire country. Records show the doctors were each paid between $633,000 and $2.1 million.

The Virginia Tobacco Indemnification and Community Revitalization commission extends a $1.3 million grant to provide EMR capabilities for 37 department of health clinics.

MGMA releases a white paper offering recommendations to promote safety within physician offices. The report discussions how to build a patient safety process and how to establish the practice administrator as a chief safety officer.

Stories like this make me feel like such an underachiever. A Princeton junior and his recently graduated brother are awarded a $100,000 grant to expand an iPhone application to monitor diabetes. Their iAbetes Web 2.0 Diabetes Management System allows patients to record food intake, blood sugar readings, and insulin injections. The application interacts with a Web site that can be accessed by patients and their providers.

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Durham University in England develops a Conscientiousness Index tool to measure the conscientiousness of medical students.The tool examines such things as attendance at lectures, timeliness of work completion, and extra volunteer opportunities. I suppose that if you are deemed highly conscious, you get an extra cord or something.

David Polly, MD the surgeon who famously earned $1.2 million as a Metronic consultant, resigns his board position with the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons. Polly says he didn’t want to be a distraction.

iMedX, a transcription provider and developer of TurboRecord and TurboScribe, purchases competitor Worldtech. The combined entity serves several thousand physicians in hospitals and medical clinics nationwide.

I’m not a clinician and thankfully not a regular patient, yet I appreciate the words of this physician who encourages his colleagues not to forget the human touch, despite the availability of so many high-tech tools. His point is that too many physicians forget the intrinsic value of the physician exam. Personally, I would to feel a human is caring for me and not just machines.

E-mail Inga.

DrLyle’s Meaningful Discussion about Meaningful Use 8/26/09

As we all know by now, our federal government is promising up to $44,000 to ambulatory physicians who use a “certified EHR” in a way that fulfills “meaningful use”. The smoke is swirling more than ever around “certification” right now, but things are beginning to get a bit clearer on “meaningful use”. However, there are some concerns from real-world physicians, so let’s hope there are still changes to be made.

Let’s dig into the three “areas” which the HITECH Act specifically says will define Meaningful Use: (1) e-prescribing, (2) interoperability, and (3) data reporting. I will review each one, discuss the potential downsides of current definitions from a “real world perspective”, and suggest some ideas which might allow for more effective approaches to getting the results we want.

E-Prescribing

First, there is the ubiquitous e-prescribing. Everyone understandably loves this term. It implies faster, better, safer prescriptions as compared to hand written scripts. They are legible and there is drug-to-drug interaction checking. My concern here is that the government seems to want to make this equivalent to EDI (electronic data interchange). In other words, they are saying e-prescribing is ONLY fulfilled if the prescription is sent electronically to a pharmacy. So if I use a system that creates and maintains a computerized prescription with decision support, but I print it out for the patient — that does not count??? Unfortunately, this is how the government defined eRx for past reward programs (e.g. Medicare e-prescribing bonuses).

I’ve been creating prescriptions with various EMR systems for almost a decade. I get drug interaction checking, I get legible prescriptions which are saved in my system forever, and I print them out for patients so they can take them to the pharmacy of their choice. It would seem this fulfills the real needs and ideals of e-prescribing, so why make us jump through the final hoop of mandating that I send it electronically to a pharmacy?

Realize I’ve got nothing against the concept, in fact – I sent the world’s first electronic prescription to a pharmacy in Jan, 2000 (really – check it out). However, there are a lot of limitations with this strict requirement. First, not all patients know which pharmacy they are going to use, which means we can’t send it, or we have to spend extra time with the patient looking it up – but unfortunately, PCPs are in short supply, and that is really not the best use of our time.

Second, not all pharmacies accept e-prescriptions. Seriously — even the big chains (e.g. CVS, Walgreens) have individual stores that are not yet set up to accept these. And as of today, they might not accept it for certain types of controlled substances.

Third, most EMR systems are not well designed for EDI (e.g. it adds extra steps to the physician’s workflow, if it is available at all). So why is the government not rewarding physicians who do all their prescribing within their EMR, but simply print out the prescription? My suggestion to is that the government needs to think about expanding the definition of e-prescribing to include any system that includes these three components: (1) structured storage of the medications, (2) some form of drug interaction checking, (3) fulfillment of a legible (e.g. computer-generated) prescription by printing, faxing, or electronic submission. And then let the marketplace and users determine the best way to make these things happen.

Interoperability

Second, there is the issue of Interoperability. I’ve commented before that I think we obsess too much on this topic in search of the perfect world that allows all doctors to have all information on all patients all the time. Guess what? We usually don’t need ALL the information and we certainly don’t have time to wade through it all. Rather we need the relevant information, and often in a summarized format.

For example, we would rather hear “Patient went to ER for abdominal pain 1 month ago, turned out to be a virus”, versus having to review every vital sign, note, and lab result done that day. In the former, the patient could tell me this in five seconds, while in the latter, I would have to wade through dozens of screens and documents to try and get to the same idea.

Of course, I’m not saying that it is useless for EMRs to talk to one another (there is research saying it may cut down on extra tests), but it certainly is not the panacea that is always depicted in the classic anecdote of a man traveling to California and then getting hit by a car (or having an MI) and going to an ER and everything could have been better — if only someone had his EMR data!

In actuality, this is a rare event. The reality is that when it does happen, the patient or family tells the ER what they need to know the majority of the time, or they call the patient’s primary care doctor and get a nice summary via phone or fax. Quite honestly, even if the ER doctors had access to some ultra-secure national database of information, it is unclear if/how they would use it, and the truth is they would still likely call the primary care doctor to confirm anything since there can be so much garbage in-garbage out in those systems.

In other words, while there are some administrative efficiency benefits of disparate EMRs talking to one another, no one has actually found that there are significant quality or efficiency benefits. So let’s focus more on getting them working in each office first, ideally integrating them with labs and other local systems, and worry about regional and national integration down the road.

So my simple suggestion for this topic is to reward physicians who can ensure they have their lab and practice management data in an electronic format. Don’t worry whether they share it with others, just make sure they can get access to it themselves. Now combine those with the prescription data above and you have the makings of data warehouse that can actually support quality improvement programs.

Of course, if you are looking for some national interoperability also, then how about funding these options? I’d suggest it would take less than $10 million to do either of them!

• Require all US citizens to keep a slip of paper in their wallet with their allergies, medications, major problems, and the contact info for their doctors. It’s cheap and ubiquitous. That’s the first place paramedics look whenever they find an unconscious person. If you want to be helpful, allow people to fill out this form online, store it online themselves, and then print in wallet fashion. Or if want to be really fancy, allow them to store it on their driver’s license. My driver’s license currently gets scanned when I pick up Sudafed for my kids, so surely the government can figure this out.
• Create a national repository of all medications prescribed by all pharmacies. I this is possible since some companies offer this service already and many states already do it for narcotics (i.e. I can look up any patient’s name and view all narcotic prescriptions they picked up in the past year). That way, if someone goes to the ER, the ER providers can access this government database to check on all the meds the patients have picked up at the pharmacy. And ironically, this is actually more reliable than getting access to a doctor-created medication profile since the ER wants to know what a patient is really taking, not just what was prescribed. Let’s face it, this would be much quicker, cheaper and more consistent than trying to get all physicians to use an EMR, keep all meds up to date, and then integrate all those systems together!

Data Reporting

Finally, there is the Data Reporting component. OK, no complaints there — that is a good idea. We can’t improve quality without measuring things. Just don’t require that the reports have to come directly out of the “certified EMR”. Similar to PQRS, if a doctor can get you the data by doing a manual review or using a separate database, then let them do that. Many EMRs do not allow for easy data reporting, so many organizations are already pushing data into an “Enterprise Data Warehouse” for reporting instead. Additionally, there are assorted companies that allow for high level quality reporting by interfacing with a physician’s practice management system, their lab system, the payor’s systems, and local pharmacies. They then allow the physicians to access and use that data in ways that quite honestly are better than anything their EMR can give them. And isn’t that what we want?

So in summary, let’s keep the focus on rewarding the ends, not just the means, and we will have a much greater likelihood of moving in the right direction, both with respect to EMR adoption as well as with other innovative ways in which we can use information technology in healthcare.

Lyle Berkowitz, MD is a practicing internal medicine physician, a healthcare IT consultant (www.DrLyle.com) and founder of the Szollosi Healthcare Innovation Program (www.TheSHIPHome.org). He blogs regularly at The Change Doctor (http://drlyle.blogspot.com/).

News 8/25/09

Open-source software for physician offices may be gaining popularity, but this AMA article provides insight to some of the potential pitfalls. Risk of failure is higher than with mainstream alternatives; however, risk can be reduced by selecting software that has been around awhile, has a significant number of developers, has a history of providing regular releases, and is installed in a good number of practices. I’ve yet to see any PM/EMR solutions for the ambulatory world that I’d consider a safe bet, though I believe that Practice Fusion has been fairly successful. Most practices would be safer to go with a mainstream solution unless they have a super-techy doctor involved who wants to spend time tinkering with the computer system.

Speaking of the AMA, President J. James Rohack, MD launches a new blog entitled, “On the Road with Dr. Rohack.” Rohack travels 200 days a year, thus the on-the-road reference. He plans to write about AMA’s efforts to make an impact on issues important to patients and physicians. The first post is a little bland, but maybe Rohack will let some personality come through after he’s been writing awhile.

The HIT Standards Committee recommends using either ICD-9 or SNOMED to meet 2011 EMR standards, but wants to incent providers to move to SNOMED by 2015.

An Epocrates survey of medical students has some interesting findings from tomorrow’s doctors. They like mobile devices, with 45% of them using an iPhone or Touch and 60% of the non-users saying they’ll buy one of those Apple products within a year. They give medical schools an A- (up from a B) exposing them to technology, with 84% saying they’ve had EMR exposure and 90% saying use of an EMR will influence their practice choice. Over 70% of them give the US healthcare system a C grade or lower, and 90% say that information from drug salespeople are not credible (Mr. H paraphrased this finding to say the students believed the drug reps were “scumbag liars”; however, I don’t believe that many people would consider former enthusiastic cheerleaders and hunky football players liars.)

A couple of large medical supply companies say their second quarter sales were up, leading some experts to claim better economic times are ahead for office-based physicians. On the other hand, the uptick may simply be the result of higher sales of infection control supplies and antiviral medications for the upcoming flu season.

Also on the rise: the cost of health insurance. Between 2000 and 2009, the cost of a family premium provided by an employer increased 95.2%. And, plans today have higher deductibles and co-pays. Unfortunately, our incomes have only grown an average of 17.5% over the same period.

The Canadian Medical Association has a new president who is pushing for all physicians to go paperless by the end of 2011. During Dr. Ann Doig’s inauguration speech, she stressed that EMR is one of the keys to fixing Canada’s healthcare system. (That line has a familiar ring to it.)

Much to the pleasure of many clearinghouses, CIGNA Healthcare announces it will drop its five-year exclusive claims clearinghouse contract with Emdeon Business Services as of January 1, 2010. CIGNA names Ingenix as one clearinghouse from which it will accept claims and says other connections will be announced next year.

Depressed? Try sending an instant message to your therapist. Researchers conclude that “online cognitive behavioral therapy” (which sounds like a fancy way of saying you are IM’ing with your therapist) is an effective means of treating depression.

A camouflage-adorned robot helps stateside physicians check on patients as far away as Baghdad, Iraq. Dr. Kevin Chung, who heads the Army’s only burn intensive care unit, uses the “Chungbot” to monitor remote burn victims and to train nurses.

Community Health Centers and FQHCs continue to take advantage of ARRA stimulus funds to upgrade and expand their centers. Last week we noted that NextGen signed on a number of facilities and now eClinicalWorks announces the  addition of 37 new sites. The stimulus package included $851 million in grants so centers could purchase new equipment or HIT systems. HHS anticipates almost 400 clinics will add or expand EHRs.

The state of California awards $1.5 million loan repayment grants to 16 physicians providing care in underserved areas. Isn’t California on the verge of bankruptcy?

Modern Healthcare releases its annual list of the 100 Most Powerful People in Healthcare. Mr. H is noticeably absent (despite my lobbying efforts). President Obama tops the list. Other notables: David Blumenthal at number six; KP’s George Halverson at number 12; CCHIT’s Mark Leavitt at number 58; and the AMA’s James Rohack at number 95.

A man hunting through a dumpster for aluminum cans finds a paper goldmine instead. A Greensboro, NC man comes upon 623 medical charts in an area dumpster, complete with Social Security numbers and copies of drivers’ licenses. The records originated from a practice that had hired a third party to move the charts to a warehouse. No word yet how the charts ended up in the dumpster.

Meanwhile, HHS officials and members of an HIT panel provide assurance that the privacy and security of electronic health records are a priority. In fact, last week the HHS rules that providers and insurers must notify patients if their EHR records are breached, and, alert the media if it affects more than 500 people. I’m guessing the ruling does not apply to paper charts found in dumpsters.

The Ohio Senate considers legislation requiring nurses, doctors, and other healthcare professions to take cultural competency training. Other states apparently have similar laws on the book. Why target just health professionals? Aren’t there also bigots in government, education, and the local grocery store?

E-mail Inga.