Healthcare IT News - July 2008 - (Page 1)

ProDuct sPotLIgHt: Desktop market holds steady page 35 Published in partnership with ThE nEwS SOuRCE fOR hEALThCARE InfORMATIOn TEChnOLOGy n J u ly 2008 IT Legacy New board members begin their terms. Charles Christian, Liz Johnson in top positions. PAGE 21 News National IT plan draws criticism one critic says the plan is more of a wish list. By BERnIE MOnEGAIn, Editor WasHINGtoN IT’s financial link Steve Case, founder of Revolution Health, put the focus on IT at HFMA’s annual conference. PAGE 3 – The government’s plan for boosting healthcare IT adoption, released last month, is part of a response to a 2006 Government Accountability Office Report that found planning for a nationwide health information network lacking. Some Healthcare IT News readers say the new plan is still lacking. “It’s more of a wish list than an actual plan,” said Karen Duncan of Health Information Systems. “I would favor going slowly on health IT adoption until we have a nation- tHe News: ONC ➔ releases five-year plan. wHat It meaNs: ➔ Sets a roadmap for creating a nationwide health data network. al needs assessment Kolodner, MD of what the healthcare system itself should look like. I believe that our Robert M. entire focus for health IT would change, if we actually faced up to the issues that are destroying our healthcare system and how IT can be a change agent.” Duncan, the author of “Health Information and Health Reform: Understanding the Need for a National Health Information OnC see page 36 eRx power In a match expected to boost e-prescribing efforts. SureScripts and RxHub become one. PAGE 4 commeNtary Conferences, shows abound SOA Q&A Shalam Siddiqi of Keane Inc. provides answers to common questions about SOA. PAGE 9 HosPItaLs & IDNs F Bent on wireless Going wireless is no longer a question of “if,” but “when,” say hospital CIOs. PAGE 12 PHysIcIaN PractIces & ambuLatory care Digital switch Three California clinics will have more time for patients by automating medical records. PAGE 17 Payers conferences and exhibits that featured healthcare information technology drew record numbers of attendees last month. Healthcare IT News covered the HIMSS Summit and National Healthcare IT Week in Washington, D.C.; America’s Health Insurance Plans’ Institute 2008 in San Francisco; and the Healthcare Financial Management Association’s Annual National Institute in Las Vegas. Healthcare IT was front and center in many of the keynote Photo by Contributing Editor Patty Enrado talks and also in the concurrent More than 1,000 protesters calling for a single-payer healthcare system converged June 19 outside the Moscone Convention Center in educational sessions. San Francisco, where the America’s Health Insurance Plans annual conference was being held. Inside the convention center, insurers and coverage begins on Page 3. keynote speaks discussed how healthcare could be transformed and also what role healthcare information technology might play. rom East to WEst, Change agent Michigan Medicare adds new IT to handle continuous change. PAGE 27 VeNDors Panasonic ‘book’ Intel chip enables Panasonic to offer what it calls a cross between a laptop and a PDA. PAGE 31 payers tap IT to relieve NpI pain By PATTy EnRADO, Contributing Editor WasHINGtoN CLInICAL Toolkit Computer types Product spotlight is on desktops, laptops and notebooks. PAGE 35 MAnAGEMEnT Solutions Taking a shift Nurse and staff scheduling is putting more emphasis on patients’ needs than ever before. PAGE 34 www.HealthcareItNews.com MedTech Publishing Company / Vol. 5 No. 7 They are relying on IT also to – The jury is still help fix the problem of missing out among payers and IT vendors or incorrectly listed NPIs on electronic transaction forms. over whether the number Blue Cross Blue Shield of rejected claims related of Tennessee enhanced its to the National Provider front-end system to capIdentifier, or NPI, will ture and validate NPIs but rise again after an initial experienced an increased spike following the May rejection rate due in part 23 mandate imposed by by some providers still not the Centers for Medicare Doug Spence billing appropriately, said Cindy and Medicaid Services. A number of payers that imple- Buckles, director of provider mented IT solutions to gather administration. The payer is making system NPIs for their network providers experienced minimal impact. nPI see page 28 Survey: physicians slow to adopt EHRs By RIChARD PIzzI, Associate Editor BostoN – Only 4 percent of U.S. physicians have a fully functional electronic health records system and 13 percent have a basic one, according to a study published in the June 19 online edition of the New England Journal of Medicine. The survey of 2,758 physicians – which claims to be the most upto-date and comprehensive picture of EHR adoption trends – shows that 16 percent of physicians said their practice had purchased an EHR but had not employed it yet. Another 26 percent said their practice was planning on purchasing a digital recordkeeping system within the next two years. “It is troubling to see just how slow physicians are moving to adopt this technology,” said David Does the EHR improve the quality of clinical decisions? eHr ImPact 82% 63% fuLLy funCTIOnAL EhR BASIC EhR e l Connect: gRapHS 0708 SourCE: nEW EngLand JournaL oF MEdiCinE Blumenthal, MD, director of the Institute for Health Policy at Massachusetts General Hospital EhR see page 19 http://www.HealthcareItNews.com

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Healthcare IT News - July 2008 Contents IT’s Financial Link eRx Power SOA Q&A Bent on Wireless Digital Switch IT Legacy Change Agent Panasonic 'Book' Taking a Shift Computer Types

Healthcare IT News - July 2008

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