Healthcare IT News - August 2007 - (Page 18)

18 Healthcare IT News August 2007 ■ www.HealthcareITNews.com NEWSBRIEFS OHIO RADIOLOGISTS CHOOSE RIS/PACS PROvIDER Kettering Radiologists Imaging Centers of Southwestern Ohio plans to implement the Minimally Invasive WebChart RIS/PACS system from Medical Informatics Engineering of Fort Wayne, Ind. WebChart integrates Web-based dictation and transcription workflow modules with the capability to access images via the Internet. Kettering Radiologists has two imaging centers, an interventional radiology center, and is associated with four hospital-based sites. PQRI can boost physician income By RICHaRd PIzzI, Associate Editor CALIFORNIA DOCS SIGN NEW DEAL WITH SyNERmED Two San Diego-based Independent Physicians Associations, Mid County Physicians Medical Group and Multicultural Primary Care Medical Group, have renewed their respective management services contracts with Los Angeles-based SynerMed, Inc., for five years. SynerMed is the largest Medicaid managed service organization in the state of California. Since partnering with SynerMed in November 2003, both IPAs have recorded consecutive, profitable fiscal years, and have increased their respective enrollments in the San Diego health care market. – The Physicians Quality Reporting Initiative (PQRI) took effect on July 1, and some in the healthcare industry think that this federal pay-for-performance program could eventually lead to mandatory reporting of quality data using healthcare information technology. PQRI, a program of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), provides a 1.5 percent bonus payment to eligible healthcare providers who report a designated set of quality measures on claims for covered Medicare services. The program is voluntary, and will appeal to physicians and healthcare institutions that see their income reduced by declining Medicare reimbursements. “The PQRI program is different than initiatives from WASHINGTON PHOTO COuRTESy OF JOSLIN DIAbETES CENTER Kenneth Snow, MD, the acting chief of adult diabetes at the Joslin Diabetes Center, talks with a patient. Joslin participates in CMS’ Physicians Quality Reporting Initiative. other payers,” observed Susan Jamback, director of revenue cycle management at Joslin Diabetes Center in Boston. “Other payers have incentive plans, but they’re based on the number of tests and services OREGON IPA ADOPTS SECURE mESSAGING SOFTWARE InterHospital Physicians Association (Portland IPA) has selected Kryptiq’s Connect IQ Secure Messaging to connect providers across the Portland, Ore., metropolitan area. Kryptiq’s technology serves as a vendor neutral platform and will allow patient information to be shared across the variety of information systems used by providers in the Portland community, including software from eClinicalWorks, GE Healthcare, Sage Software and others. The Portland IPA serves over 2,200 physicians at more than 500 practices across the healthcare community in Portland. Pharmacies push Medicare on e-prescribing By dIaNa MaNos, Senior Editor WASHINGTON – The Pharmaceutical Care Management Association, a national association representing America’s pharmacy benefit managers, has launched a campaign to make e-prescribing a Medicare participation requirement. According to PCMA, the campaign, which it launched PCMa see page 20 Bidding farewell to desktops By RICHaRd PIzzI, Associate Editor VOORHEES, NJ performed. CMS is very committed to quality reporting, and we suspect that sometime in the future this will become mandatory.” Jamback said having an electronic medical record was criti- cal to Joslin’s quality reporting experience. Joslin has extensive historical information on its patients, and can track quality indicators with relative ease. “It went pretty smoothly for us overall,” Jamback recalled. “The most critical thing was getting physician buy-in, because although our physicians already work on an EHR, this program required that they review another screen [on the monitor]. We found physician champions within each department and had section meetings months before we implemented the tracking program.” Significant changes in physician workflow could scuttle a quality reporting initiative, even if it means more income for the physician, said Bonnie Bordeaux, vice president of product management for the HealthMatics PqRI see page 19 mINNESOTA OFFERS EHR GRANTS FOR RURAL PRACTICES The Minnesota Department of Health is soliciting proposals for grants to support the adoption and use of interoperable electronic health records by health care providers in rural and medically underserved areas of the state that frequently cannot fully afford the investment in health information technology. Total funding of $3.5 million is available for: 1) EHR Readiness Assessment and Planning Grants up to $50,000 or 2) EHR Implementation Grants up to $750,000. HealthcareITNews.com e ●Connect: PHYSICIaNS 0807 More at More family docs using eHrs By RICHaRd PIzzI, Associate Editor SHAWNEE MISSION, KS – Physician practices install information technology to help solve readily apparent clinical and administrative problems. But sometimes that technology – once implemented – reveals problems that practices never knew they had. Children’s Health Associates of Voorhees, N.J., had such an experience when the practice changed management services companies. The group’s new management services provider – CHA, LLC – learned that the pre- “ we will promote best of breed technologies that our clients can benefit from.” – Eran Heyman vious vendor had not properly licensed the software the large pediatric practice was using. This problem took them down a path that ultimately led the practice away from a desktop- based computing environment. The CHA team, directed by chief information officer William Cox, was in the process of evaluating Wyse thin client technology for the practice after discovering the licensing issue. The thin clients exposed them to a new product that would aid the move from desktops: PowerTerm WebConnect from Ericom Software of Closter, N.J. PowerTerm WebConnect CHa see page 19 Physician adoption of EHRs increases 37% 459 family physician respondents – The number of family physicians using electronic health records has risen consistently since the American Academy of Family Physicians first began measuring EHR usage four years ago, a recent AAFP survey concluded. Half of the 459 respondents to the 2007 EHR survey reported they had either fully implemented (37 percent) or were in the process of implementing (13 percent) an EHR system at their practice. The survey was mailed to a random sample of 4,000 active AAFP members in April 2007. In the organization’s 2005 EHR survey, 30 percent of respondents reported they were using EHRs in their practices. Only two years previously, AAFP’s survey had revealed that 10 to 15 percent of AAFP members had adopted the technology. AAFP’s most recent survey indicated physicians who were most likely to have a fully implemented EHR practiced in an urban area, had practiced for seven or fewer years, did not own their practices, and worked in practices with at least two other physicians. Steven Waldren, MD, director of AAFP’s Center for Health Information Technology, said the EHR features with virtually aaFP see page 19 30% 15% 2007 2005 2003 e ● Connect: GraPHS 0807 SOuRCE: AAFP 2007 EHR SuRvEy http://www.HealthcareITNews.com http://www.HealthcareITNews.com http://www.healthcareitnews.com/story.cms?id=7518 http://www.healthcareitnews.com/story.cms?id=7519

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

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