Healthcare IT News - August 2007 - (Page 1)

cLaIms ProcessINg: IT proves its value page 37 Published in partnership with THE nEWS SOuRCE fOR HEAlTHCARE InfORMATIOn TECHnOlOGy n AugusT 2007 PHR position The Personal Health Record Steering Committee puts forth its PHR definition and position. PAGE 23 News Red tape at core of Walter Reed woes. By BERnIE MOnEGAIn, Editor Panel prescribes e-fix for veterans The nine-member bipartisan commission, co-chaired by former Sen. Bob Dole and Donna Shalala, former secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, briefed the president and other government officials in the Oval Office. The panel presented the president with a 29-page report. The final report was due by July 31. Among the government officials at the meeting were Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates and Secretary of Veterans Affairs Jim Nicholson. Nicholson announced his resignation on July 17 to Donna Shalala take effect Oct. 1. The government and others have held up both the VA and the Department of Defense as having developed some of the best AHIC redux The federal advisory panel faces some opposition as it reshapes itself into a private panel PAGE 5 IT saving lives New research shows diabetes registries help save lives and produce a financial return. PAGE 8 commeNtary WASHINGTON – Paper-choked processes that delay or prevent wounded war veterans from receiving the care they need are at the crux of the failures at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, a blue ribbon commission appointed by President Bush has concluded. healthcare information technology in the country. But the presidential panel described a system mired in red tape. Robert Dole Among the commission’s 35 recommendations is the restructuring of the disability pay systems to give the VA more vETERAnS see page 8 IT, Wal-Mart style Mike Tressler, COO at Healthia Consulting, says the retailer will help transform healthcare. PAGE 11 HosPItaLs & IDNs Docs save millions with IT Picis does CMS diabetes pilot yields better care, reaps $10 million. By RICHARd PIzzI, Associate Editor WASHINGTON – All 10 physician practices participating in the Medicare Physician Group Practice Demonstration improved the clinical management of diabetes patients in the first year of the three-year Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services project, according to CMS. Yet only two of those practices generated enough savings through quality and efficiency improvements to earn performance bonus payments. And they used information technology to help them do it. The Marshfield Clinic of PIlOT see page 20 about face on its IPO By ERIC WICklund, Managing Editor WAKEFIELD, MA OR workflow St. Joseph Mercy Hospital in Michigan streamlines work processes in its 17 operating rooms. PAGE 15 PHysIcIaN PractIces & ambuLatory care Counting on quality Some industry observers say Medicare is likely to mandate quality reporting in the future. PAGE 18 Payers Tapping talent S.C. Blues train and grow their own IT staff. PAGE 29 VeNDors Slimming down Misys Healthcare sells off two of its smaller divisions and narrows its focus to ambulatory care. PAGE 32 Edna DeVries, MD, a pediatrician at the Marshfield Clinic in Marshfield, Wis., goes over details of a visit with one of her patients. the Marshfield Clinic is one of 10 physician practices participating in a pilot focused on improving quality of care and reducing cost. – Less than a month after withdrawing its request for a proposed initial public offering (IPO) of common stock, Picis, Inc. explained that decision with a new financing agreement and a Todd Cozzens purchase that moves the company into new territory. Picis announced on July 24 that it had signed an agreement with Goldman, Sachs & Co. for a private placement composed of convertible preferred stock and senior IPO see page 34 ClInICAl Toolkit Consumers undecided about value of EHRs Do you believe that having an electronic health record would 42% improve the quality of care you receive? n = 1,000 E-Prescribing The market is being pushed by regulatory trends. PAGE 36 IT manager taps $1M from AHIP Hooking up Former employee hospitals in pleads guilty after Louisiana Secret Service probe. By BERnIE MOnEGAIn, Editor WASHINGTON – A former IT manag- MAnAGEMEnT Solutions 34% 24% Claims processing Automation means claims are being paid faster than ever, but transition is not easy. PAGE 37 undECIdEd yES nO www.HealthcareItNews.com MedTech Publishing Company / Vol. 4 No. 8 e l Connect: gRapHS 0807 SourCe: 2006 PwC HealtH reaSearCH InStItute er for America’s Health Insurance Plans has pled guilty to defrauding the not-for-profit industry organization of nearly $1 million. Sentencing is set for Jan. 28. Dribjot S. Dua entered a guilty plea to mail fraud in U.S. District Court last month. Jeffrey A. Taylor, U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia announced the outcome of the case, which had been investigated by the Metropolitan Police Department and the Secret Service. After taking into account insurance recovery and restitution, auditors declared the net financial impact on AHIP’s bottom line “immaterial,” said Mohit Ghose, AHIP’s vice president of public affairs. Ghose said AHIP worked diligently with law enforcement to resolve the case. He declined to comment on whether AHIP had changed hiring or other procedures. AHIP bills itself as “the voice of AHIP see page 31 By BERnIE MOnEGAIn, Editor SHrEvEpOrT, LA – Thirteen million dollars in state supplemental funds translates into a boon for the Louisiana Rural Hospital Coalition, which will begin this year to connect the first seven of 27 hospitals in rural sections of Louisiana. It’s the beginning of a Regional Health Information Organization, or RHIO. “The impact this will have in local economies is almost too big to express,” said Jamie Welch, health IT director for the coalition. The hospitals are all 60 beds or RuRAl see page 16 http://www.HealthcareITNews.com http://www.healthcareitnews.com/story.cms?id=7594

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Healthcare IT News - August 2007

Contents AHIC Redux IT Saving Lives IT, Wal-Mart Style OR Workflow Counting on Quality PHR Position Tapping Talent Slimming Down E-Prescribing Claims Processing

Healthcare IT News - August 2007

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.