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Study finds U.S.
lags in electronic medical records
The United States
lags at least a dozen years behind
other industrialized countries in adopting electronic
medical records, according to a study being
published today in the journal Health Affairs.
The United States
lags at least a dozen years behind other industrialized
countries in adopting electronic
medical records, according to a study being
published today in the journal Health Affairs.
Gerard F. Anderson, a professor at the Johns
Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Bianca
K. Frogner, a graduate student there, Roger
A. Johns, a professor at the Johns Hopkins School
of Medicine, and Uwe Reinhardt, a professor
of economics at Princeton, are the authors of
the article. It's the latest in a series of
annual looks by Anderson and colleagues at health
spending in developed countries.
The report finds that the United States spent
$5,635 per person on health care, two and a
half times the average for industrialized countries
of $2,280, although it has fewer doctors, nurses
and hospital bed days than average. U.S. spending
was 48 percent higher than Norway, the second-highest
spender at $3,807 per capita. Past comparisons
by Anderson and his colleagues have also found
spending much higher in the United States than
in other developed countries, and have attributed
the difference in spending in large measure
to higher prices for health care goods and services.
This year's article is based on 2003 data compiled
by the Organization for Economic Cooperation
and Development, a Paris-based organization
of industrialized countries.
The use of information technology,
such as electronic
health records, is believed to reduce costs
and improve patient safety, but the article
notes that there are no definitive studies on
cost savings.
M. William Salganik
Computerized
Medical Records Could Save Billions
Report urges
government and private industry to upgrade technology
Robert Preidt
WEDNESDAY, Sept.
14 (HealthDay News) -- Computerizing medical
records could save the U.S. health-care system
more than $81 billion a year and improve health
care, according to a study by the Rand Health,
an independent health policy research program.
Our findings strongly
suggest that it is time for the government and
others who pay for healthcare to aggressively
promote health information technology,
study leader Richard Hillestad, a Rand senior
management scientist, said in a prepared statement.
The findings from the two-year
study were published Sept. 14 in two articles
in the journal Health Affairs, and were funded
by companies involved in health information
technology. The researchers say it's the most
detailed analysis ever conducted of the potential
benefits of electronic medical records.
According to Hillestad, the
U.S. health care system would save $77 billion
annually if 90 percent of doctors and hospitals
across the country used health information technologies.
Much of those savings would come from shorter
hospital stays for patients, more efficient
use of nursing staff, and better use of drugs,
labs and other resources.
Another $4 billion annually
could be saved due to improved safety, with
patients and doctors better alerted to prescription
errors and other mistakes.
Hillestad's team recommend that
the U.S. government speed up efforts to set
universal standards for health information technology
to encourage wider adoption of electronic medical
records. The study authors also suggested that
the federal government consider financial incentives
to healthcare providers and institutions who
use approved electronic medical record systems.
These financial incentives could
include increased Medicare payments to doctors
and grants to institutions who use the information
technology.
"A national system of electronic
medical record keeping could take a significant
bite out of healthcare costs. These systems
are expensive, but it doesn't take long before
the benefits surpass the costs. People may choose
to take the savings, or savings may be used
to provide insurance to the uninsured. Savings
might also be invested to make further improvements
in the quality of healthcare," Hillestad
said.
More information
The American Health Information
Management Association has more about personal
health records.
acentec Employees
Admit They Suffer From OCD
Obsessive Compulsive
Disorder (OCD) is no joke, unless you work at
acentec. The staff at acentec has been diagnosed
with OCD by it's clients..
The symptoms range from
clients having 24/7 access to employee cell
phones to employees working through the night
to further enhance a user's experience. Off
the record, CEO Jeff "MONK" Mongelli acknowledges
that he discreetly looks for OCD tendencies
in prospective employees. The net result is
a ravenous group of people that are single minded
in their relentless pursuit of perfection. The
prescribed treatment has been a total immersion
in the needs of our established and pending
clients. The result - happy employees and a
very happy, and rapidly growing, list of clients
being serviced by a neurotic group of insomniacs.
If you think you can benefit from working with
a first class team that is as obsessed with
your success as you are, then give us a call,
we're ready and waiting.
Anthem Announces Significant
Change in Reimbursement Policy
Anthem recently announced
a major change in it's reimbursement criteria
to providers. The change blends two different
reimbursement rates into a single rate. The
net result will be a reduction in reimbursement
for many providers that are using EMR. Read
the full story and what you can do about it
here.
The announcement by Anthem
will have a dramatic impact on the providers
in it's market. Here is what you can to stay
ahead of the changes. You can read the full
story here.
As stated in the article referenced
above, the change will impact providers that
are using Electronic Medical Records. Many providers
using EMR realize anywhere from moderate to
significant increases in E&M coding levels
primarily due to the ability of a good EMR system
to allow for more thorough documentation. Some
of our clients have seen Level 4 visits increase
as much as 70%. While our software can withstand
the scrutiny of an audit, the eventual "blow
back" from this increased coding is inevitable.
At acentec we recognize that revenue increases
from increased coding will likely be temporary
gains. To achieve long term revenue growth you
Electronic Health Record system needs to do
more for you than just increase coding levels.
For that reason acentec works with each client
to develop a complete better patient care package.
This package ensures that acentec users will
be ahead of the increasing downward pressure
on reimbursement rates. To find out more about
our software and our Better Care Package, contact
acentec, inc. at 800-970-0402.
President Participates in Panel
Discussion on Health Care Initiatives
 U.S.
Department of Health and Human Services
Washington, D.C. , Feb. 16 2006 - President
Bush addresses EMR and record portability in
a panel discussion:
MR. EVANS (Dan Evans is the
president and CEO of Clarion Health Partners
in Indianapolis, Indiana.) It requires willing
partners, for starters. Everybody in this room
can relate to the kid who breaks her leg on
the soccer field, goes to the quick-check place
for pain, ends up at the ED at a suburban hospital,
turns out to be a multiple fracture, is life-lined,
or taken downtown to the academic medical center,
and you carry your data with you, right? You're
your own mule. The information technology will
knit all that together so the doc downtown can
pull up my mom's data, my daughter's data, and
look at it. It requires willing partners who
are willing to share data, not horde it. And
the basic principle is the data belongs to the
patient, not to the hospital system.
THE PRESIDENT: Yes.
MR. EVANS: That's the paradigm.
Heretofore the attitude has been the information
is owned by the insurance company, or it's owned
by the hospital, or it's owned by CMS. No, it's
owned by the patient. I recently went through
this with my own mother, where she was handed
the films at the radiology center and told to
walk them across the street to the hospital.
So in the real world, it happens every day.
And through the leadership of CMS and others,
Indianapolis has become a demonstration project
for trying to link all these things together.
At the end of the day, it will drive down costs
dramatically and improve quality significantly.
THE PRESIDENT: We're really
talking about making sure each American has
an electronic medical record over which he or
she has got control of the privacy. An interesting
-- another example was what happened -- the
Veterans Administration, by the way, has implemented
electronic medical records. In other words,
they're using modern technology to bring this
important agency into the 21st century. A lot
of files at your hospital still -- probably
not your hospital, but the typical hospital
are handwritten.
MR. EVANS: Well, you know, what
happens is, they may be electronic in the hospital,
but handwritten in the doctor's office --
THE PRESIDENT: Yes, and the
doctors can't write anyway. (Laughter.)
MR. EVANS: Well, the pen is
a very dangerous thing.
THE PRESIDENT: Yes, it is.
MR. EVANS: Yes, as you well
know. (Laughter.)
THE PRESIDENT: And so the idea
is to modernize doctors' offices and hospitals
and providers through information technology.
And so the Veterans Department has done this.
In other words, each veteran has got an electronic
medical record. And so when Katrina hit, a lot
of veterans were scattered and they were just
displaced. And you can imagine the trauma to
begin with. And the trauma is compounded if
you're worried about your record being lost
somewhere, your medical record. And, fortunately,
because the veterans at the Department had already
acted, these medical records went with the patient
and a lot of veterans got instant help. And
so a doc could, you know, kind of download their
record, take a look at what was prescribed before,
take a look at other procedures and, boom, the
medicine and the help was brought up to speed
quickly, which is great. And I want to thank
you for doing that. Information technology is
going to help change medicine in a constructive
way, and it does dovetail with price and equality.
President Bush Addresses Electronic
Health Records... Again
 Dublin,
Ohio, Feb. 15 2006 - While addressing a group
of Wendy's employees on Wednesday, President
Bush spoke about Electronic Medical Records.
The following transcript is an excerpt from
Bush's remarks on healthcare:
Third policy that's important
is to apply modern information technology to
our medical system. Doctors practice 21st century
medicine, they still have 19th century filing
systems. And this is an important issue. One
reason it's an important issue, because when
a doc writes their files by hand, you generally
can't read the writing. That leads to inefficiency
and error. In hospital there is more risk of
preventable medical error when records are handwritten,
instead of being cross-checked on a computer.
Oftentimes doctors duplicate expensive tests
because they do not have access to previous
results. In other words, the medical system
has not taken advantage of information technology
like I'm sure Wendy's has, or other industries
around the country.
And so I set a goal in 2004
that most Americans would have an electronic
health record within 10 years. You'd have your
own health record on a chip. And we're making
pretty good progress toward that goal. Mike
Leavitt is the Secretary of Health and Human
Services. He's got a whole division inside HHS
aiming towards getting information technology
spread throughout health care.
First thing is, they've got
to have a language that kind of can talk between
a hospital in Dublin and a hospital in Crawford,
you know? Well, they don't have a hospital in
Crawford. How about a hospital close to
Crawford? And that's important, because there's
a lot of different -- the language needs to
be standardized. And Mike is making pretty good
progress on that.
We're developing solutions for
a nationwide health information network.
One of the things I've insisted upon is that
it's got to be secure and private. There's nothing
more private than your own health records. And
so any system that works is one that is -- it's
your record -- you decide the disclosure of
your health records.
So let me give you an example
about how such a system can work and what I'm
trying to explain to you about how to help control
costs and reduce medical errors. After Katrina
hit, there was hundreds of veterans that had
to be relocated. What's interesting is, is that
the Veterans Department has already started
this information technology modernization. There
are medical -- electronic medical records for
veterans. And so when these poor folks got scattered
around the country, the doctors and providers
had access to the electronic records of our
veterans.
So if a person had a diabetes
issue, up pops on the screen the information,
the latest test, the medicine being taken. It
was an incredibly efficient way to make sure
that the health care needs of our veterans were
met during this time of catastrophe. It helped
people fill out the prescription drugs of our
seniors without fear of error. It helped a local
doc say, well, gosh, look, you've been taking
this medicine in the past, I'm going to prescribe
it for you in the future, in order to make sure
that your health care needs continue. If you
have your own medical record, your own electronic
medical record, and you get sick in a remote
part of our country, people instantly see your
blood type, the issues that you've faced in
the past, really important information about
who you are and what you're going to need to
help you.
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Regional EMR Company A4 Gets
Acquired By Allscripts
PHILADELPHIA, Jan 19
(Reuters) - Health-care software provider Allscripts
Healthcare Solutions Inc. (MDRX.O: Quote, Profile,
Research) said on Thursday that it will buy
buy privately held A4 Health Systems for $272
million to gain better access to customers at
small- and mid-sized doctors' practices
acentec - The recent acquisition
may be the beginning of a consolidation in the
Electronic Health Record (EHR) industry. We
expect the field to continue to be a very dynamic
marketplace as regional companies seek a national
presence and as partial solution products seek
synergies with others.
This market consolidation will
have a significant impact on the providers using
their systems. To find out more about how these
changes may affect your practice, give us a
call at 800-970-0402 or sign up for our upcoming
newsletter
to read more.
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