Healthcare IT News - April 2008 - (Page 17)

www.HealthcareITNews.com April 2008 ■ Healthcare IT News 17 NEWSBRIEFS ILLINOIS CLINICS TO INSTALL ELECTRONIC PATIENT KIOSKS The Carle Clinic Association, one of the largest private physician groups in the United States, plans to implement an electronic kiosk-based patient check-in program at its 11 branches in Central Illinois. The clinics will use the My Patient Passport ExpressT kiosk from Mequon, Wis.-based D2 Sales. The association is made up of more than 300 physicians practicing in more than 50 specialties and subspecialties. All clinic locations are now using an integrated electronic medical record system, with portable tablets in patient care rooms. Reduced EMR risk for Ohio docs By RICHaRd PIzzI, Associate Editor COLUMBUS, OH EmR vendors will offer “PHYSICIANFRIENDLY CONTRACTS” to OSmA members. - Craig Anderson, MD – The Ohio State Medical Association is launching a “Standards of Excellence” program to help reduce the financial risk for physicians who wish to adopt an electronic medical record system for their practices. The Standards of Excellence Program, which is available exclusively to OSMA members, will identify vendors who have voluntarily agreed to include “physician-friendly” terms in their contracts with medical practices, including preferred pricing. The OSMA – which represents more than 20,000 Ohio physicians – claims the program is the first of its kind in the United States. The association worked with the Atlanta-based Coker Group, a healthcare consulting firm, to identify terms and conditions that would help protect physicians’ rights in the EMR contracting process. “We are very pleased to be able to offer this ground-breaking program to our members,” said Craig W. Anderson, MD, president of the OSMA. “Not only will members have access to EMR vendors that have physician-friendly contracts, but these vendors also have oHIo see page 20 TENN. DOCS jOIN FREE EPRESCRIBINg PILOT PROgRAm Rural physician practices in Tennessee are receiving free electronic prescribing tools thanks to a pilot program launched in March by the Bureau of TennCare and Shared Health, the state’s largest public/private health information exchange. TennCare is the state’s managed-care Medicaid program. Fifty practices across 13 counties are participating in the e-prescribing pilot program. The program provides physicians with free equipment, software, Internet access, training and support. If leaders “manage change” well, physicians will adapt to eMrs Florida academic practice takes pens from docs’ hands. By RICHaRd PIzzI, Associate Editor TAMPA, FL Diagnostic software aids rural providers By Molly MeRRIll, Associate Editor IOWA PHYSICIANS CHOOSE ELECTRONIC HEALTH RECORD MercyCare Community Physicians of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, plans to implement an integrated electronic health record and practice management system to support 74 providers at 15 clinical sites. The practice will also provide EHR access to an additional 20 physicians at other sites through their managed services organization. MercyCare Community Physicians is associated with Mercy Medical Center, a 445-bed regional hospital. The implementation will include bidirectional interfaces between the practice and the hospital’s information system. – As many CIOs and practice managers know, training physicians at a large group practice to accept and use electronic medical records can be a daunting experience. But the challenge can be made easier, says a medical school administrator. Stephen Klasko, MD, the dean of the University of South Florida College of Medicine and vice president of USF Health, says that understanding physician biases is critical to transforming a paper-based practice and building a new business environment. “When physicians encounter conflict, they usually become either hyper-competitive or William Marshall, MD, and Valeria Williams, RN, review an electronic health record online at the University of South Florida’s South Tampa Center for Advanced Healthcare. ACP WILL USE gRANTS TO DEVELOP PHYSICIAN TOOLS The United Health Foundation and drug manufacturer Pfizer have each awarded $50,000 unrestricted grants to the American College of Physicians. ACP officials say they will use the money to develop physician IT tools in support of the “medical home” model. “The grants will help ACP to continue designing and implementing resources that help internists assess potential quality gaps and strengthen their performance on nationally accepted quality measures,” said John Tooker, MD, ACP’s executive vice president and CEO. HealthcareITNews.com e ●Connect: PHYSICIaNS 0408 More at Online network sends instant drug alerts to U.S. physicians try to avoid the situation,” said Klasko. “We wanted to shift our physicians toward collaboration and accommodation.” Klasko described how USF’s research into physician biases helped design a high-tech academic group practice built around an EMR system. The USF Physicians Group, a multi-specialty group practice, CHaNge see page 18 AUGUSTA, ME – A physician in rural Maine has begun to use a software program that provides visual images of diseases to train residents in diagnosing dermatology cases. Logical Images, which makes the software – called VisualDx – says the Maine provider illustrates a booming demand among rural physicians everywhere for this type of software. Logical Images has experienced a 42 percent growth in rural/family physicians using visual diagnostic programs over the last 36 months, according to company executives. Daniel Onion, MD, is the faculty member in charge MaINe see page 20 Top Performing Practices and Healthcare IT Percent By RICHaRd PIzzI, Associate Editor SAN FRANCISCO – A new network to deliver drug safety alerts online to U.S. physicians was launched in March, replacing a decades-old system based upon paper and U.S. mail. The Health Care Notification Network, or HCNN, is the result of a three-year effort and collaboration between U.S. medical society leaders, liability carriers, health plans, consumer advocacy groups, government leaders and industry, including pharmaceutical companies. The network is free to all licensed U.S. physicians, and is used solely for patient safety alerts, not for advertising or promotion. The HCNN will also be available for rapid communication with physicians in the event of emergency public health or bio-terror events. aleRT see page 19 40 30 20 10 5 0 Strongly agree 40.66% 26.37% 23.08% Does your practice rely on IT to improve care? 7.69% 2.20% Agree Disagree Strongly disagree Not sure e ● Connect: GraPHS 0408 SOURCE: 2007 MgMA PERFORMAnCES AnD PRACTICES OF SUCCESSFUl MEDICAl gROUPS http://www.HealthcareITNews.com http://www.HealthcareITNews.com http://www.healthcareitnews.com/story.cms?id=9003

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

Healthcare IT News - April 2008 Contents New Media Push Stepping Down BI Headaches Decision Grants Safety Alerts Summit 08 Growing an EHR Year 24

Healthcare IT News - April 2008

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