Healthcare IT News - February 2009 - (Page 25) www.HealthcareITNews.com vENdoRS says he’s worried that investment in electronic health records and other providerbased technology will leave health plans and payers on the outside looking in. “If health plans fail to sysJeff Margolis tematically coordinate benefits and care, they risk disintermediation and, worse, real improvement in access, cost and quality will prove elusive,” Margolis said. “For example, the new Obama administration is promising to spend a good portion of a $50 billion investment with physicians to adopt EHRs and the infrastructure to share them. But, those plans indicate that many in Washington are overlooking a faster, far less costly path to ubiquitous PHRs. Health plan information systems are the single richest repository of comprehensive diagnostic and treatment data and benefits information in the entire U.S. healthcare system. Both government and payers are missing a key opportunity.” Some analysts say it will take a while for any funding to make an impact. Earlier this month, Leerink Swan analyst Bret Jones said in a client note that it could take more than a year for any money to work its way through the loan program network before it’s used on IT services. February 2009 ■ Healthcare IT News 25 Jones also wondered if healthcare providers would hold off on IT purchases until they find out if those purchases can be subsidized by the government. On the other end of the spectrum, the downbeat economy may produce deals for healthcare IT companies looking to add to their portfolios. According to published reports, Johnson & Johnson CEO William Weldon is looking to acquire some healthcare IT and wellness and disease prevention companies to add to Johnson & Johnson Healthcare Systems, Inc. ■ More at HealthcareITNews.com e Connect: MarKet 0209 markET Continued from page 1 growth. They fund the future,” the letter read. “I expect that the Obama Administration will strongly promote both electronic health records and electronic prescribing, and there is little doubt that this is good news for the country, for patients, for physicians and for Allscripts and other healthcare IT companies,” said Glen Tullman chief executive officer of Allscripts-Misys Healthcare Solutions. “I anticipate these new programs will include both carrots and sticks, similar to the successful CMS e-prescribing program that took effect this month. By encouraging physicians not only to buy the technology but just as importantly to provide incentives for its use, I think we’ll see a significant uptick in adoption and, as a result, better care for patients at lower cost.” VirtualHealth Technologies, Inc., a Lexington, Ky.-based healthcare IT vendor, issued a press release announcing plans to develop new practice management, electronic medical records, secure messaging and patient portal technologies in the coming year. “The modernization of our healthcare system has been an excruciatingly slow process for too many years. Historically the catalyst in jump-starting the adoption of any technology, in the physician practice market space, is the support and participation of the federal government,” said Jim Renfro, VHT’s president. “VirtualHealth has very aggressive plans for 2009 to introduce a new array of products, addressing these issues to our practice management customers in MOS (company subsidiary Medical Office Software) and it is anticipated that the incentives provided by this proposed federal funding will accelerate the adoption into our customer base.” Ryan Howard, CEO of Practice Fusion, says federal subsidies will help – but not as much as some are anticipating. “Subsidizing a $50,000 solution down to $25,000 will still be too expensive for most practitioners,” he pointed out. “In addition, the infrastructure is not yet in place for patient charts to be shared and there is almost no system that can easily make a patient record available for referrals or emergency care between physicians.” Jeff Margolis, CEO of The TriZetto Group ● prESCrIBE Continued from page 24 Effective healthcare IT deployments depend on integrating technologies into the workflow processes. This is why we consider the workflow, current or proposed equipment, ergonomics, aesthetics, site conditions and regulations in the design of your workstation. And it’s why more than 1,000 leading hospitals across North America have selected Proximity Systems’ workstations as an attractive alternative to CARTS. With design, engineering and manufacturing in the U.S., we control costs, meet tight schedules and maintain the high quality you expect. Let us consult with you to develop an affordable, custom computer workstation that’s a perfect fit. Call us for a complimentary needs assessment. It’s a fact patient does at home as well as what’s done at the hospital,” said Sue Murphy, a clinical specialist at Standard Register. “That’s a very important piece of the puzzle. There was a time in healthcare when we ignored that and we ended up disrupting the routine” of patient care. Murphy said an important facet of each patient’s medication history is not only the medications prescribed, but also an indication of whether those prescriptions were filled. That information, she Sue Murphy said, helps clinicians as well as pharmacists. “The pharmacists always get the train wrecks,” she says, as they deal with incomplete medical histories or patients under duress. “They need an accurate snapshot as much as anyone else.” ■ More at HealthcareITNews.com e Connect: PreScrIbe 0209 Custom Computer Workstations Design + Engineering + Manufacturing HIMSS, Booth #2076 • AONE, Booth #730 Visit us for a demo: ● www.proximitysystems.com • 800-558-6919 http://www.HealthcareITNews.com http://www.HealthcareITNews.com http://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/it-pledge-has-market-pins-and-needles http://www.orionhealth.com http://www.orionhealth.com http://www.proximitysystems.com http://www.proximitysystems.com http://www.HealthcareITNews.com http://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/standard-register-builds-e-prescribing-portfolio
For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.