Healthcare It News - February 2008 - (Page 36)

36 Healthcare IT News ■ February 2008 phySIcIaN pRacTIcES & aMBULaTORy caRE www.HealthcareITNews.com Consumers want to e-mail their physicians – are the doctors ready? By BerNIe MoNegaIN. Editor – Consumers are eager to e-mail their doctors, perhaps to make an appointment, to order a medication refill – and increasingly – to have a quick consultation. The interest of physicians in e-mailing their patients, though slightly on the rise, is not keeping up with patients’ enthusiasm, says Meredith Abreu, vice president of NEW YORK Manhattan Research. The fear of loss of efficiency “The fear is it will not be an effi- with e-mail is not limited to phycient offering,” Abreu said. sician practices, Abreu Previous research noted. The popular movshowed physicians were ies-by-mail service Netflix hesitant to use online has no e-mail customer messaging with patients service, she said. because of fear of liabilPediatricians and certain ity, doubts about benefits specialties seem to be more to practice efficiency, and Meredith Abreu active in personally comlack of reimbursement, she said. municating with patients online, the research shows. Manhattan Research’s most recent 2007 findings show that more than 80 million consumers are interested in sending or receiving e-mail with their physician. One third of physicians surveyed indicated that either they or their office staff communicated with patients online – unsecured email as opposed to a secure, HIPAA compliant method of communication. Abreu said this indicates the communication is likely related to appointments rather than a discussion of symptoms or treatment. Manhattan’s consumer survey included 4,322 U.S. adults. The physician survey included 1,353 practicing physicians. More at HealthcareITNews.com e ●Connect: eMaIl 0208 FlorIda Continued from page 1 Easy. Ergonomic. Economic. Carstens redesigned WALKaroo III™ now features an easy-lift cylinder with hand lever control for smooth adjustment to sitting or standing positions. WALKaroo III also features: • Clean lines and non-porous materials that address infection control • Design that provides unobstructed line of vision • High security locking system that keeps notebooks and patient records safe and secure • Large work surface and adjustable full-sized keyboard tray for convenient bedside charting Options: • Retractable cable reel • Battery packs • Bar code scanner holster • Baskets • Mouse house For more information about the WALKaroo III Mobile PC Cart and other Carstens charting products and accessories, visit www.carstensEHR.com, or call 1.800.621.5051. Stop by Carstens Booth 3908 at the HIMSS Annual Conference. pediatric emergency physicians. According to AHP medical director Charles Welborn, MD, the clinics function much like a hospital emergency department, except they don’t perform services that require hospital facilities – such as treat major trauma cases. “The key to an electronic records system for us was to ensure that the interaction between patient and physician would not be slowed down,” said Welborn. “Although we perform episodic care, the EDIS will allow us quick access to a record when a child returns to us.” After Hours chose an EDIS product rather than an ambulatory EMR after weighing the benefits and drawbacks of each. Ambulatory EMRs did not fit the clinics’ urgent care workflow model, which emphasizes high physician productivity. “An EDIS system is better aligned for what we do here, although we still have to configure the system specifically for our use,” said Andy Laverghetta, After Hours’ director of finance and development. “For instance, unlike emergency departments, we send out a lot of samples to reference labs, so the software has to be able to support that.” The growth of urgent care clinics like After Hours heralds a large-scale trend in the healthcare industry, said Glen Tullman, chairman and CEO of Allscripts. “The urgent care model is a more patient-centric, retail form of care,” said Tullman. “Patients seem to want to move care outside the walls of the hospital, and they want 24-hour access to care.” After Hours is the first urgent care pediatrics practice to use the HealthMatics ED system, Tullman noted. While electronic records systems continue to gain currency among physicians, urgent care providers need to take their time selecting an electronic records system, said Welborn. “It’s important that physicians look at many different products before choosing,” Welborn said. “You’ve got to make sure the software you choose will really augment your practice.” ■ More at HealthcareITNews.com e ●Connect: florIda 0208 e ● Connect: CarSteNS 0208 © Copyright 2008 Carstens Your Partner in the Evolution of Charting http://www.HealthcareITNews.com http://HealthcareITNews.com http://www.healthcareitnews.com/story.cms?id=8621 http://www.carstensEHR.com http://HealthcareITNews.com http://www.carstensEHR.com http://www.healthcareitnews.com/story.cms?id=8582 http://www.healthcareitnews.com/eConnect.cms?id=8694

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Healthcare It News - February 2008 Contents Hot Potato Wal-Mart Focus CIO Role Wasteland Linking Docs Katrina Work P4P Team Fire Sale? Emergency Systems Beyond Business

Healthcare It News - February 2008

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