Healthcare IT News - April 2009 - (Page 12) 12 Healthcare IT News ■ April 2009 industry news www.HealthcareITNews.com initiative combines the important elements of healthcare reform and the reduction of medical errors. An Institute of Medicine report estimates 1.5 million Americans are injured each year and 7,000 die from preventable medication errors. Yet today, less than 10 percent of U.S. physicians write prescriptions electronically. In addition, Castor noted, Paperfree Tampa Bay creates a new occupation and new jobs. “I think these jobs will multiply,” she said. U.S. Rep. C. W. Bill Young (R-Indian Shores) also champions the project. “This is an innovative private-public partnership that will help physicians across our region take a first step toward embracing electronic health records,” Young said. “This is the first community taking the vision and making it reality,” said Allscripts Glen tullman CEO Glen Tullman. “This is the first stage of what we believe will be an explosion of innovation. “It’s incredibly exciting.” Tullman said the project represents exactly the right mix of public-private involvement. “This is exactly what the government should do,” he said. Government is dealing with many overwhelming problems right now, he noted. “In healthcare we have a clear line of sight of what we need to do,” he said. Allscripts will provide free Web-based eprescribing technology. Tullman and Klasko both call e-prescribing the “the on-ramp to the electronic record highway.” Together, USF and Allscripts will invest $2 million in the project. And, they will work through NEPSI, the National ePrescribing Patient Safety Initiative formed in 2007 to help physicians adopt e-prescribing. Both are founding members. The $2 million will fund the initial phase of the two-year Tampa Bay pilot. Phase 1 will target 3,200 physicians in Hillsborough County. Once the stimulus money becomes available it will expand to the 10-country Tampa Bay region. Paperfree Tampa Bay will create new jobs called e-healthcare ambassadors. USF will train the ambassadors in implementation. Then, “enabled, armed and aware,” Klasko said, they will go office by office to reach the 8,000 physicians. “The real change is in the DNA of healthcare one office at a time,” Klasko said. The project’s aggressive ad campaign includes billboard ads as well as online ads on Google Health. The campaign will help apply some peer and consumer pressure on reluctant physicians, Klasko said. Patients, already used to electronic banking and electronic buying, will be encouraged to ask their physicians why they continue to rely on handwriting to prescribe. Some incentives put wind at the project’s back. A new Medicare law provides about $3,500 a year for physicians who prescribe electronically, and it calls for penalties on those who do not e-prescribe by 2012. “It’s a relatively easy first step for physicians an a logical place to start because of the huge cost - in dollars and human lives – of our current system of handwritten prescriptions that are hand-delivered to the pharmacy, ”Klasko said. ■ More at HealthcareITNews.com e Connect: taMPa 0409 TaMPa Continued from page 1 the Morsani center for advanced healthcare on the campus of USF health in tampa. need. The project has the right stuff, says Stephen Klasko, MD, and CEO of USF Health and dean of the USF College of Medicine. Paperfree Tampa takes bold, yet achievable steps toward the adoption of healthcare IT, he says. It creates jobs more than 200 to help physicians and their staffs with implementation. It has the backing of the area’s Congressional delegation, it’s ready to go, and it holds the promise of a replicable model for other parts of the country. Discussions are already under way in Hartford, Conn, Pittsburgh and Iowa. “The revolution is going to start in Tampa Bay,” Klasko said. U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor (D-Tampa) says it’s fitting that the revolution would start in Tampa Bay. “We are a healthcare innovation center,” she said, noting that Tampa is home to the University of South Florida’s colleges of medicine, nursing and public health, as well as BayCare Health System and the James A. Haley Veterans Hospital. “It makes it a natural location to kick off a project like this,” she said. Castor said the www.postschell.com The HITECH Act authorizes billions for EHRs, but will your hospital be eligible in enough time? To maximize the amount of HITECH reimbursements, your hospital cannot wait until 2010. Your legal and consulting teams must begin preparations now with a focus on: Systems assessment Data integration Interface development License review The Healthcare Information Technology attorneys at Post & Schell have extensive experience with EHRs, healthcare IT licensing and vendor partnerships. They are well positioned to help you navigate the complexities of the HITECH Act. You can rely on them to work in tandem with you and your consultants to negotiate win-win contracts and licenses, and draft RFPs that will protect your interests. Steve Fox, Chair of Post & Schell’s Information Technology Fox Group, will be in Chicago for his 17th consecutive HIMSS conference – meeting with providers who are looking to get the most out of this unprecedented stimulus package. Contact Steve if you’d like to learn more or set up a meeting. Steven J. Fox 607 14th Street NW, Suite 600, Washington, D.C. 20005-2006 Telephone: (202) 661-6940 sjfox@postschell.com Post & Schell’s national health law practice provides a broad array of sophisticated litigation, business and regulatory services to government, not-for-profit and proprietary institutional provider clients. Philadelphia | Harrisburg | Lancaster | Allentown | Pittsburgh | Princeton | Washington, DC ● http://www.HealthcareITNews.com http://www.postschell.com http://www.postschell.com http://www.HealthcareITNews.com http://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/revolution-tampa-bay-e-prescribing-pilot-could-be-first-put-stimulus-work
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