March 28th 2024
How will AI stack up against a fully trained human physician when faced with a “typical” patient?
Patient EHR requests require quick turnaround by practices
June 15th 2011When patients request copies of their electronic health records from your practice, the clock starts ticking. This Q&A gives you the new information on the minimum information required and how quickly you must provide it. Also find out why you soon may have to inform patients when their health information is viewed.
Just as you suspected: Medicare's geographic adjustments aren't very accurate
June 15th 2011Location, location, location doesn?t just apply to real estate; it also is a factor in how Medicare calculates payments to your practice. But how accurate and consistent is that process? Not very, according to a recent Institute of Medicine Report. Find out what the IOM recommended and what they?re proposing to improve accuracy.
Data on care you provide could become public under proposed rule
June 15th 2011The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) wants to publicize data about the care you?re providing as a primary care physician so that consumers and business could compare your cost and quality to other providers. The claims data would be derived from both Medicare and private sector insurers. Find out more while there?s still time to influence the final rule.
New Mexico rural telemedicine program lowers costs
June 10th 2011Project ECHO uses telemedicine technology and care-based learning, enabling specialists at the University of New Mexico Health Science Center in Albuquerque to partner with primary care clinicians in underserved areas to deliver specialty care to patients with chronic diseases.
Meaningful use checks are coming, and time is running out to get on board
June 8th 2011Last week, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services mailed the first Medicare checks to physicians who had attested that they had achieved meaningful use of their electronic health records (EHRs). What effect will these payments have on you and your colleagues? Will everyone rush out to buy EHRs now or will they let this opportunity pass them by? Read on to find out.
Electronic messages ultimately not effective in improving colorectal screening rates
May 26th 2011Researchers involved with a study published in a recent Archives of Internal Medicine hypothesized that you could improve colorectal screening rates among your patients by sending reminder messages and personalized risk assessments via their personal health records (PHRs). The results didn?t turn out quite the way they had thought.
Study details smartphone, tablet computer use
May 26th 2011You and your peers increasingly are relying on smartphones and tablet computers to check email, research medications and conditions, and complete online surveys, according to new research by online research company Knowledge Networks using its Physicians Consulting Network.
Patients more comfortable with doctors who use EHRs
May 26th 2011Good news if you use an electronic health record (EHR) system?and a tip on how best to use it, courtesy of the Sage Healthcare Insights survey: Patients feel more comfortable with physicians who use an EHR system, and they believe that the information contained in the medical record is more accurate when they physically see the information being entered electronically.
AMA subsidiary expands availability of health IT platform
May 26th 2011Your physician colleagues in Michigan may be able to offer insights into American Medical Association subsidiary Amagine Inc.?s health information technology (IT) platform, Amagine, which now is available to physicians nationwide.
Government names new leader for HIT efforts
May 12th 2011Remember this name--Farzad Mostashari, MD, ScM--because you?re going to be seeing and hearing it a lot. He is the new person leading the federal government?s efforts to encourage the adoption of health information technology and health information exchange in the practices of you and your peers as well as by other health system entities.
HIT programs' first grads ready to help your practice
May 12th 2011Need help adopting electronic health records and achieving meaningful use? You can look to the 3,000 people who will be the first graduates of the Community College Consortia to Educate Health Information Technology Professionals by the end of the summer. More than 2,200 of these graduates are expected to complete their training in April.
Survey: Collaboration technologies could transform healthcare delivery
May 12th 2011Collaboration and information-sharing between you and your fellow health professionals have the greatest near-term potential for facilitating large-scale health sector innovation, according to findings from a global health leader survey on national health sector innovation.
Commentary: Stand-alone e-prescribing applications may not be best for your practice
May 12th 2011Just in time to help you meet Medicare's June 30 deadline for starting to e-prescribe or face a 1% reduction in your 2012 payments, a newly updated guide to eprescribing is available with a plethora of useful information.
Marketing can increase PHR adoption
April 21st 2011Your patients belonging to a racial or ethnic minority, and those with the lowest annual incomes, may be less likely than others to adopt personal health records (PHRs), according to the results of research, titled ?The digital divide in adoption and use of a [PHR],? published in the March 28 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine.
Practices unprepared for HIPAA electronic update
April 21st 2011Where does your group stand in transitioning to the new Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) Version 5010 electronic standards? If you?re like the majority of respondents to a recent Medical Group Management Association (MGMA) survey, it?s facing significant challenges in this effort.
Study: Leadership, 'buy-in' vital to HIT success
April 7th 2011If you want your practice to reap benefits from electronic health records (EHRs), computerized provider order entry, and clinical decision-support systems, it?ll take strong leadership and staff ?buy-in.? So conclude researchers from the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (HIT) after reviewing 154 recent studies on the topic.