March 2011 - EMR and HIPAA

Survey Says…Patients Want EMRs (Or Think They Do)

For years, public health officials and health leaders have been sounding the praises of EMRs, arguing that patients would enjoy safer, more effective care once providers went digital. For a while, it was a tough sell, with surveys repeatedly suggesting...

Published Wed, Mar 09 2011 11:13 PM by EMR and EHR

Guest Post: Meaningful Use and HIPAA

John’s Note: One of the requests I got in the recent survey I did was to cover more details of HIPAA. So, I’m glad to have John Brewer (yes, another John) providing some guest posts on the subject. Do they go together like peanut butter and...

Published Wed, Mar 09 2011 3:03 PM by EMR and HIPAA

Guest Post: The Meaningful Use Clock is Ticking

John’s Note: Much of this post will be child’s play for those of you reading the blog that are steeped in meaningful use, the HITECH act, EHR Certification, and the EHR stimulus money. However, I thought this guest post was a nice intro to...

Published Tue, Mar 08 2011 7:17 PM by EMR and EHR

Care360 EHR, MedPlus and Quest Diagnostics

While some might consider the following commentary an ad for Quest Diagnostic’s Care360 EHR, it’s not. I don’t even have them as an advertiser. Plus, you could easily submit a number of other companies name in the place of Quest. However...

Published Tue, Mar 08 2011 2:55 PM by EMR and HIPAA

Build Or Buy, EMRs Cost A Bundle

Ever wonder whether it would be smart to drop your vendors and grow your own EMR/HIT apps? Here’s some food for thought. Today, I ran across a very detailed analysis of the labor costs involved in developing EMR and HIT applications, straight from...

Published Mon, Mar 07 2011 9:51 PM by EMR and EHR

Meaningful Use Monday: Meaningful Use? – Not Yet

At the recent HIMSS annual conference, many statistics were released touting the early success of the EHR incentives/meaningful use program: 21,000 providers have registered, with many more having indicated their intention to do so. 62 Regional Extension...

Published Mon, Mar 07 2011 10:05 AM by EMR and HIPAA

Stimulus Money Poll and PHR Use Results

Last week I posted a poll asking how many readers of EMR and HIPAA used a PHR. Here’s the results of the PHR poll: Pretty interesting to see that about 77% of those voting have not started a PHR or started one, but didn’t add much to their...

Published Mon, Mar 07 2011 2:20 AM by EMR and HIPAA

EMRs and Paper Records: Natural Enemies

How useful is an EMR when large volumes of data don’t get entered into the system? It seems we’ll have plenty of chances to find out. As the following story illustrates, clinical staffers will often revert to using paper documentation at their...

Published Sat, Mar 05 2011 11:46 PM by EMR and EHR

Small Practices Don’t Really Have Someone To Trust When Adopting EMRs

If I were running a medical practice — and knew I had to roll an EMR soon — I’d be banging my head against a wall. While there’s plenty of talk about the reasons for EMR adoption (in some cases, 44,000 reasons) what consistent...

Published Sat, Mar 05 2011 12:39 AM by EMR and EHR

Compelling Case for Personal Health Records (PHR)

Which EHR Certifying Body?

Many of you will probably remember my post about Jim Tate and all his EHR certification experience. As I said in that post, Jim Tate knows his stuff when it comes to the EHR certification bodies (ONC-ATCB). So, I found his advice for EHR vendors on HITECH...

Published Thu, Mar 03 2011 4:49 PM by EMR and EHR

Great EMR and Healthcare IT Content

Today I’m happy to officially introduce readers of EMR and HIPAA to my latest project: The Healthcare Scene blog network. If you follow me on twitter (@techguy and @ehrandhit), then you’ve probably already come across one or more of the great...

Published Thu, Mar 03 2011 2:26 PM by EMR and HIPAA

In Intriguing Twist, EMR And Payroll Vendor Come Together

Today I caught wind of an interesting deal, in which giant payroll services vendor ADP acquired EMR/practice management vendor AdvancedMD. Here’s how the two justify the deal: “By leveraging the collective offering of AdvancedMD’s PM and EHR...

Published Wed, Mar 02 2011 11:38 PM by EMR and EHR

Healthcare IT Certifications that Matter

If you’ve been following this blog for a while, then you probably remember my many rants about the lack of value in EHR certification. In fact, Jim Tate asked me at HIMSS where my dislike of CCHIT came from. I think I told him that I probably got...

Published Wed, Mar 02 2011 7:40 PM by EMR and HIPAA

When Meaningful Use Isn’t That Meaningful

As you know, I regularly like to highlight some of the best and most interesting comments on my various websites. Especially since I know many of you don’t read all the comments (shame on you). This comment on meaningful use comes from someone who...

Published Tue, Mar 01 2011 7:44 PM by EMR and EHR