Healthcare IT News - March 2008 - (Page 19)

www.HealthcareITNews.com PHYSICIAN PRACtICES & AMBULAtORY CARE March 2008 ■ Healthcare IT News 19 eRRoRs Continued from page 1 eMaIl Continued from page 17 talked about the more quickly they will be resolved,” Winsley said. “Of course, vendors are hesitant to display their mistakes.” Five of the nation’s leading physician groups have launched a new program designed to help physicians begin sending prescriptions to pharmacies electronically. Part of the campaign focuses on EMR users who believe they already send prescriptions to pharmacies electronically, when in fact, they are simply generating faxes that arrive on paper at the pharmacy. SureScripts spokesman Rob Cronin said this might be what the Ohio pharmacy board is experiencing. However, Winsley said the board had been working with Ken Whittemore, Jr., senior vice president for clinical practice integration at SureScripts, for a couple years and that Whittemore is aware of the eprescribing errors. Efforts to reach Whittemore for comment were unsuccessful. “We’re engaged with stakeholders in Ohio to gather more details that might help everyone better understand what is being reported,” Cronin said. “If there is an issue, our pharmacy and technical experts can work with similar experts from certified software vendors in Ohio to help solve it. But without more details, it is impossible to determine the reality of what is being reported, much less the root cause.” Another problem area is incorrect or inverted drug names. Winsley said sometimes a drug name appears differently on a physician’s screen than on the pharmacy screen. It could be the result of inaccuracy in the translation into the pharmacy system, Winsley said, but he has heard of this happening in other places. Winsley emphasized that this does not mean the Ohio pharmacy board is opposed to e-prescribing. “In the long run it will be a great thing to have,” he said. “But there needs to be more oversight of the whole process. As far as I know, we are the only state that is looking into it in this depth.” We live in an age where computer data is viewed as free from error, Winsley said. “There needs to be more oversight of the whole e-prescribing process - more awareness,” he said. “More companies need to start looking at their own systems.” More at and test results online. Twenty-six percent were willing to pay extra for the service. “Patients clearly want and increasingly expect to be able to access their medical records and connect with their healthcare providers online,” said Russ Rudish, vice chairman and U.S. Health Care Providers Sector leader, Deloitte LLP. “To remain competitive, it’s going to be critical for healthcare providers to adopt new technologies and offer enhanced services to meet consumers’ expectations or they may risk losing future business.” Meredith Abreu, vice president of Manhattan Research, which conducted a similar study as DeLoitte, with similar results, said interest of physicians in e-mailing their patients, though slightly on the rise, is not keeping up with patients’ enthusiasm. One third of the 1,353 physicians surveyed by Manhattan Research indicated that either they or their office staff communicated with patients online using 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 Meredith Abreu treatment. The Deloitte study also revealed consumers are interested in using online tools to shop around to compare prices and the quality of care provided by their healthcare providers. About two in three respondents are interested in visiting physician and hospital Web sites to research both the price and quality of services offered. The survey also found that three out of four consumers want their physicians to provide online access to an integrated medical record as well as the ability to schedule visits. ■ More at HealthcareITNews.com e ●Connect: eMaIl 0308 HealthcareITNews.com e ●Connect: errorS 0308 e ● Connect: allSCrIPtS 0308 http://www.HealthcareITNews.com http://HealthcareITNews.com http://www.healthcareitnews.com/story.cms?id=8876 http://www.allscripts.com/red http://www.allscripts.com/red http://HealthcareITNews.com http://www.healthcareitnews.com/story.cms?id=8851

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Healthcare IT News - March 2008

Healthcare IT News - March 2008 Contents No. 1 E-prescribing ‘Quite Bright’ Bill Frist on IT Google Connection Poised for P4P ‘Smashing Success’ Tough On Fraud It's Analytics Getting Rid of the Pain Stuck In Neutral

Healthcare IT News - March 2008

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.