Practice Technology

Doctors worried about patients trashing their reputations online can now ask them to sign a waiver promising they won't.

Most medication errors in primary care practices are prescribing errors--many of which could be prevented by electronic tools, according to a new study by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.

Federal officials are providing little guidance thus far on how physicians can access funds in the $787 billion federal stimulus package to help offset the cost of buying and implementing electronic health record systems.

Last month, UnitedHealthcare launched a patient-centered medical home (PCMH) pilot project in Arizona with employer IBM, which could boost participants' income by as much as 20 percent on top of their current billings

Medpedia, a free online medical encyclopedia for healthcare professionals and consumers, launched last month with more than 7,000 pages of content contributed by 110 organizations.

The results of a large-scale study that indicated there are health and operational benefits to hospitals that go paperless are likely applicable to outpatient settings, too, says the study's senior author.

Starting in 2011, there could be a total of $44,000 coming your way over the following five years if you choose to adopt an electronic health record system.

The federal government is backing a new pilot website that aims to ease doctors' concerns about security and privacy when sharing health information electronically.

Google's personal health records application beats Microsoft's because it's easier to use, according to participants in an independent study by a user experience research firm.

A recent study of doctors' e-prescribing habits says that the software's accompanying medication safety alerts are so often ignored that the alerts are "more of a nuisance than an asset."

Here are a few tips from the insurer about interacting with patients via e-mail.

One of Washington state's largest health systems is putting $20 million behind the concept of a patient-centered medical home.

With so many vendors and systems, finding the right electronic health record system software is just part of the struggle practices face in the transition from paper to digital.

In an economic speech prior to his inauguration, President Barack Obama endorsed a goal set by the Bush administration of establishing an electronic health record for every patient by 2014.

The early days of the Obama administration give the estimated 83 percent of doctors without an electronic health record system valid reason to sit tight for a while longer.

Two healthcare information technology experts have penned an open letter to President Obama, warning him against investing too many federal dollars in existing electronic health records systems.

The Medical Group Management Association launched a national campaign earlier this month to require health insurance cards to be machine-readable and accepted at every medical practice by 2010.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services earlier this month granted a two-year deadline extension to 2013 for the transition from ICD-9 codes to the greatly expanded ICD-10 codes.

Almost 40 percent of office-based physicians are at least dipping their toes in the electronic health record waters, according to a government survey.

The idea behind check-in kiosks is not only to increase the accuracy of patient records, but also to improve patient and staff satisfaction by decreasing tedious administrative tasks.

Greenway Medical Systems earned two first-place awards for its electronic health records system for smaller practices from an independent health-care vendor research firm.

Hawaii's largest health insurer is the first commercial health insurer in the U.S. to offer American Well's online medical visit service to its members.

Have you recently visited with a patient suffering from "cyberchondria"?

Speech recognition has come to the iPhone.

Could adding an electronic health records system to your practice cut your malpractice insurance costs?