February 7th 2025
Doctors handle their patients with care, and they need to do the same with data.
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.
New Web site explains Affordable Care Act
April 7th 2011You and your patients have a new non-government resource for information related to the Affordable Care Act, thanks to a new Web site launched by a coalition that includes the American Academy of Family Physicians, the American College of Physicians, the American Medical Association, and five other organizations.
PCPs most likely doctors to qualify for 'meaningful use' incentives
April 7th 2011As a physician practicing family, or internal medicine, you are more likely than your colleagues in pediatrics, obstetrics/gynecology, psychiatry, or other medical specialties to quality for Medicare- or Medicaid-related incentives for achieving ?meaningful use? of electronic health records (EHRs). That?s the finding of an analysis of federal survey data by Brian K. Bruen, lead research scientist in the Department of Health Policy in the George Washington University School of Public Health and Health Services, Washington, DC, and colleagues.
Patients want online connection to you
April 7th 2011If your patient population is similar to the pool of those responding to a recent survey, you?ll want to consider adding a secure online communication tool to your practice to allow patients to obtain lab results, request appointments, pay medical bills, and communicate with your offices?if you haven?t done so already.
Analysis: EHR implementation averages $32,409 per physician
April 7th 2011If your practice is on the small side and plans to implement an electronic health record (EHR) system soon, an analysis of 26 primary care practices?each ranging from two to 12 physicians?in the Dallas, Texas, area may provide some insights into the financial and nonfinancial costs you?ll incur.
Government initiatives drive health IT spending
March 24th 2011Confirming what you already may have suspected, results of the 22nd annual Health Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) Leadership Survey suggest that federal government initiatives are the driving force behind current healthcare information technology (IT) spending.
Health information technology case studies now available
March 24th 2011Learn how real-time data access, auditing, and reporting can help you quickly assess the health of your patients with diabetes by reading how Southeast Texas Medical Associates (SETMA) used an electronic health record system toward this end.
Patients still struggle with EHR access and use
March 24th 2011Only 14% of patients get their medical records electronically from their physician?s offices, and 30% don?t know why they would need to do so, finds a new report by the PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) Health Research Institute. The finding has implications for you and your peers in practices and organizations that hope to reap federal stimulus payments.
Researchers to study mobile phone technology for diabetes patients
March 24th 2011Your patients who have diabetes ultimately may benefit from research to be undertaken at five U.S. institutions as they share $1.3 million in grants as part of the McKesson Foundation?s Mobilizing for Health initiative. The investigators will study ways in which the use of mobile phone technology can improve diabetes care and management in underserved populations.
Research needed to support eHealth technology benefits
March 10th 2011If the emails we receive are any indication, many physicians will say they don't need a study to tell them that the benefits of digital technology designed to improve the quality and safety of healthcare have yet to be proven by empirical evidence, but that's exactly what research published in PLoS Medicine, an online open-access journal published by the Public Library of Science, has found.
Looking up health information popular Web pursuit
March 10th 2011If your patients use the Web, they probably spend at least part of that time looking for health information. Such activity, undertaken by 80% of those using the Web, is the third most popular online pursuit, after email and search engine usage, among all those pursuits tracked by the Pew Web Project. So found a national telephone survey conducted by the Pew Web Project and the California HealthCare Foundation.
Docs, patients agree on key requirements for health IT
March 10th 2011Chances are, you agree with your patients on key requirements for information technology (IT) to increase the quality, safety, and cost-efficiency of care, as well as core privacy protections, according to results of a national survey released by the Markle Foundation. Agreement between physicians and patients was strongest on requirements to ensure that new federal health IT incentives will be well spent.
Rural and male physicians most willing to use PHRs
March 10th 2011Do you practice in a rural area, or are you a male physician? If either or both of these descriptions apply you to, you belong to a group(s) more willing to use electronic personal health records (PHRs) compared with your urban, suburban, and female colleagues, according to research published in the February issue of Health Affairs.
HIE pilot projects paving way for 2012 adoption
March 10th 2011By 2012, you may have access to an easy-to-use Internet-based tool that can replace mail and fax transmissions of patient data with secure, efficient electronic health information exchange (HIE), thanks in part to physicians and other healthcare providers now testing HIE using specifications developed by the Direct Project.
HIMSS initiative aims to increase EHR use in Hispanic/Latino community
February 24th 2011The not-for-profit Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) has established a new initiative to focus on the health information technology needs of the rapidly growing Hispanic/Latino market, including increasing the rate of adoption, implementation, and meaningful use of electronic health records (EHRs).