Practice Technology

Even if your practice can share data electronically, what do you want to share?

Every device with a wireless internet connection can potentially be broken into, and studies show that 1 in 4 people has been hacked. Over the past few years, white hat hackers have breached a variety of medical devices, proving that a skilled hacker could gain access to medical equipment and wreak havoc from a remote location.

There was a day when medical transcription was neat and clean. A doctor dictated what happened during an exam and a transcriptionist accurately typed each detail into the patient’s record. Each future encounter built on that record, a detailed history meant to ensure quality care. It wasn’t a perfect system, but it worked.

Experts explore the operational requirements, from care coordination to patient engagement.

The market for telemedicine is big and growing, yet despite the growth in telemedicine, many physicians resist it.

EHR use, MOC and the 2016 presidential election are the hot topics of the latest issue of Your Voice.

Electronic health record systems were not designed for population health, but help is on the way.

Regardless of size or area of specialization, every healthcare practice today needs a medical practice management (PM) solution that delivers optimal results. The technology serves as the very lifeblood of the organization, facilitating interactions and transactions between patients and information. A next-generation solution helps ensure that all facets of the practice run like a well-oiled machine - streamlining workflow, improving information access, enhancing patient healthcare quality and driving better financial outcomes. Without the right solution, it becomes virtually impossible to run a modern-day practice in an efficient and effective manner, let alone maximize revenue and profitability in what may be a highly competitive environment that, increasingly, is also beset by regulatory controls.

With the current healthcare atmosphere emphasizing both efficiency and quality, physicians are faced with constant pressure to do more in less time

Attracting and keeping patients is critical for a thriving practice but recent patient satisfaction surveys show there’s a lot of frustration out there. Private practitioners who put patient satisfaction at the top of their list are going to see their practices grow, revenue increase, and happily maintain their independence. It’s important to understand what makes patients happy to ensure that they remain under your care.

As an independent practice physician, you care about two things when it comes to your practice: patient care and its financial health. Many physicians go into business for themselves because they want to be independent, and one of the biggest ways to ensure that your practice stays independent is the ability to maximize your revenue stream.

Two years ago, the American Medical Association (AMA) created a committee to provide recommendations on how to improve the usability of electronic health records (EHR). Their list outlined eight areas where improvements were needed to stop the disruption that resulted from the Meaningful Use EHR requirement.

The cloud revolution has many wonderful advantages such as lower costs, faster ROI and more powder in the hands of customers. However, when using cloud services your company data is no longer hosted on your physical IT infrastructure so there are some new legal and technical issues that have to be addressed.

Physicians in New York state have put away their pen and paper method of prescribing in exchange for electronic scripts-many just in time to meet the state requirement.

The lack of patients’ mental health data is a microcosm of a larger provider-sharing problem, say authors.

With value-based payment rising, sharing behavioral health information will become more critical in coordinating patient care.

When Curtis Story, MD, a solo primary care physician in Port Charlotte, Florida, first heard that Medicare would begin paying physicians for offering patients chronic care management (CCM), he was optimistic that the additional revenue would bolster his practice for work it was already doing. But more than a year later, he has yet to bill for CCM.

The rise of electronic health records that don’t always work well can lead to liability risks if managed incorrectly.

If you think that you have not had a data breach in your business, you are an ostrich with your head in the sand.

Hospital and healthcare software security can always be marginally improved, but if we want to lower the risk of healthcare security breaches, we need to take a very different approach.

Ways physicians can ready their practices for the future of reimbursement.

While consumer apps have evolved quickly, apps for physicians have lagged behind, in both quality and utility

Burnout, which is often described in terms of the experience of emotional exhaustion, depersonalization and lost sense of personal accomplishment, is a big and growing problem for physicians and for their patients-with lower quality of patient care where professional burnout rates are higher.

I am slowly getting used to a bit more hurried visit and a little less attention from my doctor. I wonder if my doctors will see the silent tears I cry…one thing is for certain: Today’s EHR won’t.

The good news is that EHR systems are producing more data for physicians. The bad news is that utilizing this information isn’t an easy task.