Practice Technology

If the federal government has its way, a quality reporting initiative from Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services could pave the way toward establishing a pay-for-performance system.

If 80 percent of the population maintained a personal health record, it would save the U.S. $21 billion a year on health-care costs, according to a recently released study.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services announced in late October that it will award an incentive payment of 2 percent of a physician's total Medicare allowed charges to doctors who use e-prescribing systems next year.

There are two functions being integrated into EHRs that will radically change how medical care is delivered: clinical decision support and a communication portal.

While electronic health records systems are expected to become more widespread in the future, the pace of adoption will remain slow in the coming years, according to a survey from a top industry group.

It's not health insurance bureaucracy, an aging population or malpractice liability, but rather rampant spending on ineffective and unproven technology that is the top driver of the increased cost of health care in the United States, according to a recent study.

A majority of Americans believe it's important for all of their health information to be stored electronically, but have "serious" concerns about the confidentiality of those records, according to a recent survey.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' planned transition to a new set of health-care diagnosis and procedure codes could lead to big cost increases to physician practices of all sizes, according to a recently released report.

The CCHIT wants to launch a certification program for PHRs, such as Google Health and applications under Microsoft's Health Vault platform, by mid-2009.

Planning any holiday-season electronic health record systems shopping? A key standards-setting health information technology nonprofit has some recommendations about where you may want to start.

Two major health insurers and two technology companies have partnered to offer an electronic prescribing service to Florida physicians for free.

The Medical Group Management Association criticized a Medicare quality reporting initiative, complaining that the program doesn't provide guidance on how to improve patient outcomes and creates an administrative burden on practices.

Both major-party candidates for president have voiced general support for health informatics to help achieve return on investment, reduce medical errors, and improve efficiencies and service quality.

Health-care IT seems to be the new issue du jour for Congress. On Sept. 15, Rep. Pete Stark (D-California), the namesake of the anti-kickback medical referral law, unveiled a bill to establish a nationwide health-care IT infrastructure, but the measure faces competition from two other similar bills already under consideration.

Overwhelmed by the number of electronic health record vendors out there? A research and consulting firm offers an in-depth look at 10 of the major vendors for the ambulatory care market and highlights the top performers for features, flexibility and physician satisfaction.

A former orthopedic surgeon has created a company dedicated to helping physicians navigate the choppy waters of purchasing the right electronic health records system - for free.

How do PHRs benefit your practice? We spoke to PHR experts and doctors who are using the systems about the benefits and drawbacks of incorporating them into their practices.

One struggling group practice turned its fortunes around by improving its billing procedures.

From timetables to training, implementing a new system is more about people than computers.

The Google PHR that debuted in May connects to an impressive list of healthcare organizations. But the rival PHR from Microsoft has landed a big fish called Kaiser Permanente.

Only four percent of physicians use a fully functional EHR that satisfies federally promoted certification requirements, while another 14 percent have basic systems.

If you want to better understand why less than 20 percent of doctors have implemented EHRs, visit the website of a vendor called Extormity, dedicated to offering "highly proprietary, difficult to customize and prohibitively expensive" software.

The pace of EHR implementation has been excruciatingly slow.

Here's one more reason why the feds are pushing for a nationwide health information network--the ability to scour millions of electronic records and catch unexpected drug side effects as soon as possible.