Healthcare IT News - November 2007 - (Page 21) www.HealthcareITNews.com November 2007 ■ Healthcare IT News 21 NEWSBRIEFS ORTHOPEDIC SuRgEONS INSTall NEW EmR SOFTWaRE The Hughston Clinic, an orthopedic surgery group in Columbus, Ga., plans to deploy an on-demand electronic medical record service to improve workflow across its nine locations in Georgia and Alabama. The clinic will utilize athenahealth’s athenaClinicals software to launch its EMR service, which is fully integrated with athenaCollecter, a physician billing and practice management service that the clinic is currently using. The Hughston Clinic is an internationally recognized center of excellence for Orthopaedic Sports Medicine and Total Joint Arthroplasty. EHRs help distribute meds in the office By RICHaRd PIzzI, Associate Editor – Many small physician practices operate on s u r p r i s i n g l y n a r r o w p r o fi t margins. As a result, such offices sometimes look to healthcare IT systems, such as electronic health records, to help them increase profitability. One interesting way a small practice can leverage an EHR to improve income is to use it to help ASHBURN, VA distribute prescripHealthmatics “We’re just tion medications at E H R s o f tw a r e trying to make the point of care. f r o m C h i c a go things more One solo-physician based Allscripts for practice in subur- CONVENIENT for a few years when ban Washington, he began to conour patients.” D.C. has recently sider distributing – Tareq Abedin, MD attempted this and prescriptions. seen immediate returns. “When you first get an EHR you Tareq Abedin, MD, of Ash- don’t recognize all the functions burn Sterling Internal Medicine that you might need one day,” said and Pediatrics, had been using Abedin. “I initially thought that it was going to be too much work, and cost too much in staff hours to dispense medications. I had only two nurse practitioners and a receptionist working with me.” Earlier this year Abedin decided to try dispensing a small variety of medications in the office using FirstFill, the medication services dispensing service from Allscripts, which is linked to the dRugs see page 22 maRSHFIElD ClINIC INSTallS TaBlET PCS, gOES CHaRTlESS The Marshfield Clinic in Marshfield, Wis., has completed a rollout of tablet PCs, making way for a completely chartless medical environment in its clinics. Marshfield began the deployment of Fujitsu’s LifeBook T4000 and Stylistic ST5000 tablet PCs three years ago as a foundation for its electronic medical records system. With 766 physicians located in over 40 centers throughout northern, central and western Wisconsin, Marshfield Clinic is one of the largest private, multispecialty group practices in the United States. Long-term care facilities face unique It challenges Most don’t use EHRs, but more will in near future. By RICHaRd PIzzI, Associate Editor BALTIMORE – Transitioning from Integrating coding, billing can boost ROI By CHIP MeaNs, Web Editor mINNESOTa HElPS PROVIDERS aDOPT ElECTRONIC RECORDS The Minnesota Department of Health’s Office of Rural Health and Primary Care has awarded grants totaling $3.5 million to help Minnesota providers develop electronic health records systems. The funding comes from the state’s Interconnected Electronic Health Record Grant Program. The program aids community collaboratives, community clinics, rural hospitals, small town physician clinics, nursing homes and other small providers. Minnesota law requires all Minnesota healthcare providers to use EHRs by Jan. 1, 2015. paper medical records to electronic records is challenging for providers in any healthcare setting, but what about in a facility that serves as a combination of physician office, rehabilitation center and home? Long-term care facilities are not known as innovators in healthcare IT, but Erickson Retirement Communities of Baltimore wants to change that perception. Erickson has been implementing an electronic medical record system in its communities since 2003. The process began with CareMEDX software from Ozark, Mo.-based HealthMEDX. Erickson uses that product in its skilled nurs- Ange Barthelemy, a geriatric nursing assistant at Normandy Farms Estates Community in Blue Bell, Pa., enters patient information into a wall-mounted kiosk. ing and assisted living facilities, as well as home health and rehabilitation settings. Each Erickson community – there are 20 in 11 states – has its own medical center, which utilizes GE’s Centricity EMR. Primary care physicians employed by Erickson use the software to record clinical notes and order medicines electronically. “We want to build a comprehensive electronic health record that can import external data eRICksoN see page 22 – At a time when reimbursements are low and the threat of an audit looms large, it can be hard for physicians to get paid for the value of their services. Those practices that have taken the electronic health record plunge may find that interoperable systems that integrate coding and billing are a step towards proper payment. Atlanta-based MedComSoft unveiled its interoperable EHR during the American Academy of Family Physicians Scientific Assembly here last month. MedComSoft competes in a market with other EHR vendors, – athenahealth, eClinicalWorks, and Greenway Medical Technologies, among them – that cater to the needs of small practices. The MedComSoft Record, which integrates about 15 components of primary care, can help physicians avoid under-coding CHICAGO RoI see page 23 maRYlaND HEalTH CENTERS gET $1.4 mIllION FOR EHRS The Health Resources and Services Administration recently awarded $1.4 million to Maryland health centers to help with the adoption and implementation of electronic health records and other health information technology. HRSA, a part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, is the primary federal agency for improving access to healthcare services for people who are uninsured, isolated or medically vulnerable. HealthcareITNews.com e ●Connect: PHYSICIaNS 1107 More at Time spent billing and coding How much time do you devote to billing and coding, compliance and other administrative duties? 11 to 12 hours per week More than 14 hours per week 9 to 10 hours per week 1 to 2 hours per week 5 to 6 hours per week e ● Connect: GraPHS 1107 Internist: EHR data standards needed to help primary care By RICHaRd PIzzI, Associate Editor 7% 12% 14% 14% 17% SOURCE: 2007 SURvEy OF PHySICIAnS, 50 TO 65 yEARS OLD; MERRITT HAWkInS & ASSOCIATES – A “collective absence of standards” makes it difficult for primary care physicians to use electronic health record systems for quality improvement, a prominent internist recently told Healthcare IT News. Richard Baron, MD, is a physician at Greenhouse Internists in Philadelphia and the chairPHILADELPHIA man-elect of the Executive Committee of the American Board of Internal Medicine. Baron wrote – in the Oct. 15, 2007 issue of Annals of Internal Medicine – that EHR adoption in primary care practices might improve the quality of patient care. However, Baron cautioned that quality improvement via INTeRNIsT see page 24 http://www.HealthcareITNews.com http://www.HealthcareITNews.com http://www.healthcareitnews.com/story.cms?id=8046
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