74% of Physicians Report EHR Adoption Enhanced Patient Care

The CDC’s Center for National Health Statistics (NCHS) has issued a data brief announcing estimates from the 2011 Physician Workflow Survey regarding the physician adoption of EHRs, which is sponsored by the ONC. Overall, in 2011, 55% of physicians in office-based practices had adopted EHRs and 45% had not. Differences were observed between physicians who were EHR adopters and nonadopters by age, physician specialty, practice size, and ownership. Generally, physicians under age 50 were more likely to adopt EHR systems than physicians aged 50 and over.

Dr. Farzad Mostashari, National Coordinator for Health Information Technology stated in his blog yesterday, "this data shows that EHRs are taking hold among a larger number of providers who believe that the use of technology leads to better, safer, more coordinated health care.” The findings reported that the majority of physicians who have adopted an EHR system (85%) were either very satisfied (38%) or somewhat satisfied (47%) with their system. About 15% of providers were either very dissatisfied (5%) or somewhat dissatisfied (10%) with their EHR system. The findings also reported that over two-thirds of adopters (71%) would purchase their EHR system again.

EHR Benefits

Physicians reported having accessed a patient’s chart remotely (74%) and having been alerted to critical lab values (50%) by using their EHR system within the past 30 days as some of key benefits of having an EHR system. A majority also reported that using their EHR system had resulted in enhanced overall patient care (74%).

Overall Key Findings of the study include:

    In 2011, 55% of physicians had adopted an electronic health record (EHR) system.
    About three-quarters of physicians who have adopted an EHR system reported that their system meets federal “meaningful use” criteria.
    Eighty-five percent of physicians who have adopted an EHR system reported being somewhat (47%) or very (38%) satisfied with their system.
    About three-quarters of adopters reported that using their EHR system resulted in enhanced patient care.
    Nearly one-half of physicians currently without an EHR system plan to purchase or use one already purchased within the next year.

The Usage of Tablets in the Healthcare Industry

Since they were brought to market, the healthcare industry has dreamed of embracing tablets and leveraging the innovative technologies and features innate to these types of mobile devices. The ability to gather and access information with the touch of a fingertip, and carry it around wherever you go is invaluable for those working in this sector and a trend that is transforming the industry as we speak.

The launch of the first truly portable, user friendly and user experience (UX) rich tablet the Apple iPad, a revolutionary device in terms of mobile computing is changing the way in which the healthcare sector operates.

Regarding the iPad and other portable tablets, the healthcare industry was enthusiastic about their features and abilities, yet slow to jump on the bandwagon and truly adopt/embrace the technology. The reason for this slow adoption is primarily due to issues including security, privacy of patient information and data (regulations such as HIPAA), and integration with backend systems. Additionally, no one truly figured out how to create a compelling user experience for mobile applications in this space. There was a lack of understanding about which apps would be best suited for tablets in the healthcare segment.

This however, is all starting to change. The rapid adoption of tablets, including the iPad both in the consumer and enterprise world has put pressure on the healthcare industry to evolve and truly embrace this new technology. This pressure stems from increasingly prevalent industry trends and factors such as the Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) phenomena, the use of healthcare apps in the consumer sector, and the overall adoption of smartphones and other mobile devices by doctors, patients and vendors alike.  All of these trends have brought a whirlwind of change to the healthcare sector.

The pressure to evolve was felt by healthcare industry segment, as other segments of the industry were adapting mobile technologies at a rapid pace, and the healthcare industry was increasingly being viewed as laggards. Perceiving this weakness, many entrepreneurs started writing apps for this segment as they realized that doctors, nurses, pharmacists and other healthcare personnel had acquired tablets and smartphones but they were lacking the apps to do their day to day work using these devices. There was a vacuum in this space, and this reinforced the pressure on the healthcare industry to move fast and close the gap.

Let’s take a closer look at the evolution of tablet adoption across the healthcare spectrum:

Doctors and nurses were the early adopters of tablets, which is no surprise given they were also the early adopters of smartphones, and today, are the demographic that uses them the most in the healthcare industry. Drugstores followed doctors and nurses as they searched for better, more efficient and more convenient ways to serve consumers. Drug stores began leveraging tablets to offer prescription and non-prescription drug order applications and provide store and pharmacy locations as well as drug-related information to patients.

The pharmaceutical industry followed suit by developing apps and tablet-friendly mobile web sites that offered important information about the drugs to doctors, nurses and patients alike. The ability to access drug-related information on the go as well as a patient’s allergic information at the same time helps doctors and pharmacists to avoid prescribing and issuing medicine to patients that may cause them harm, thus saving lives and costly healthcare expenditure in treating unwanted drug interactions. Instant availability on patient and drug, disease and treatment information results in fewer cases of misdiagnosis, quicker and safer drug prescriptions, quicker approvals for Rx and a reduction in medical malpractice lawsuits.

The bio-tech industry soon hopped on board as they started adopting tablets for collecting observation data, field level monitoring and quick image capture using the highly advanced tablet cameras. Genentech is an example of a company that has embraced tablet use, having standardized and issued more than 7,000 iPads to its employees worldwide.  The tablets run customized native and mobile web apps that provide accurate reports including current state of research on the many drugs and treatments that Genentech is working on. It provides the dashboard customized for each user and a communications hub built on top of Apple Facetime and iChat that allows employees in its San Francisco headquarters to be connected over voice and video with field offices in 30 other locations worldwide. Genetech also uses tablets to collect the field information and patient data on clinical trials. Unlike the traditional data collection methods, iPads enable them to record audio, video and high resolution images of the patients and send them for processing and reference in a centralized repository.

Finally, hospitals, healthcare management facilities and institutions have now warmed up to the notion of tablet use. These organizations are starting to use tablets for patient monitoring, financials, inventory updates, notifications, communication as well as to manage task lists.  Stanford medical Center Hospital in Palo Alto, California and its affiliates across the nation, The University of California San Francisco (UCSF) medical center, Kaiser Permanente, the largest healthcare provider in US, The Washington hospital group among others now provides tablets to its doctors, paramedics, pharmacists and administrative staff. They use the tablets to schedule patient checkups in both outpatient and inpatient wards, issue and authorize prescriptions, record and transmit patient data in multimedia format and use instant live audio and video conferencing and chat features to enhance collaboration. This model is being rapidly adopted across the spectrum by healthcare providers in the United States.

There are several factors driving the change in how the business and processes run inside healthcare organizations. Healthcare organizations are moving from traditional methods of information collection and retrieval to a mobile and on site and on demand collection, retrieval, collaboration and communication in the healthcare sector.  Some of these changes are being driven by the doctors, some by patients and others by pharmacies. Additionally, bio-tech and pharmaceutical companies are in fierce competition which forces them to evolve and embrace new technology if they wish to be successful. On the provider side, no hospital or healthcare provider wants to be tagged as laggard and outdated in terms of technology adoption, which is causing these institutions to embrace tablets. It’s interesting to note that according to data collected by Manhattan Research, 81% of physicians used a Smartphone in 2011, up from 72% in 2010. Doctors, nurses and patients are demanding access to information on their tablets and smartphones, which is driving organizations to embrace tablets.

In a separate study conducted by American Electronics Association, doctors and patients were asked about how they would like to use wireless devices (smartphones and tablets). Most of the respondents wanted to use their device to communicate with their doctors, pharmacists and nurses and vice versa. Many of them also want to be able to store and access their healthcare records including diagnostic records online through the mobile device.

The figure below explains the questions asked and the response in detail:

What specific applications in the consumer and enterprise space are driving tablet adoption?( Conversely, what apps are driven by the adoption of tablets in the enterprise?).

The biggest use of tablets is driven by the fact that patients feel the need to stay in touch with their healthcare providers including doctors, nurses, pharmacists and health plan administrators at all times. Patients are connected to their mobile devices 24/7, creating a natural platform from which they can interact with their healthcare providers through applications.

A Healthcare IT Insights and Opportunities’ study conducted by CompTIA found that 38% of physicians with smartphones use medical apps on a daily basis. This figure is expected to rise to 50% by the third quarter of 2012.  It was also found that two-thirds of respondents consider implementing or improving mobile technologies to be a high or mid-level priority. Within clinics, doctor’s offices, hospitals and laboratories, the biggest usage of tablets stems from four main areas:

•    Patient monitoring and data collection – this includes using the Bluetooth enabled sensor devices and Wi-Fi+ Bluetooth enabled interfaces to patient monitoring devices, to medical instruments that can transmit information to the tablet when in the vicinity.
•    Dashboard and Reports – covering patients, prescriptions, diagnostics, legal, financial and operational information summaries and details
•    Appointment scheduling – this includes doctor and nurse visits, laboratory tests, reminders, re-scheduling, cancellations and delegation, doctor to assistant/junior doctor, nurse etc.
•    Prescriptions, authorizations, refills, patient-drug interaction and dosage management. Fast and timely approval of Rx refills and Rx authorizations means the difference between life and death in many cases and this is an area that smartphones and tablets help in reducing the turnaround time required by doctors to approve the requests from pharmacies and patents by up-to 90%.

What are the key advantages of using the tablets in healthcare space?

•    Tablets avoid cumbersome and error prone human data entry. They eliminate human introduced errors such as in data entry by feeding in data form patient care systems.
•    Tablets eliminate the need to record information on paper and enter into systems.  This saves time, energy, money and improves efficiency.
•    Easy information access: Tablets provide rapid access to information wherever healthcare personnel need it
•    Paperwork minimization: Tablets help minimize the messy paperwork and the manual workflow process – again, increasing efficiencies
•    Voice, Video, Image and Text: The visual, multimedia (audio, video) and graphics capabilities can be leveraged to record and provide on demand information such as the visual images of a patient, disease progression and sounds, such as an irregular heartbeat.
•    Communication capability: Allows doctors, nurses and other healthcare personnel to communicate virtually and more effectively
•    Privacy and Security of data: The iPad and similar tablets provide 128 and even 256 bit encryption of data on storage and transmission. This minimizes data leak and security violations from manual handling of un-encrypted paper forms and other hard copy documents

Where is the industry headed?

Tablets are gaining an increasing foothold in the healthcare sector across all segments. Tablets are improving patient care wellness programs, hospitals, laboratories, clinic management systems, pharmaceutical services and bio-technological advancements.

With doctors increasingly using their own tablets to manage and maintain their schedules and reminders, the healthcare organizations are now forced on building applications that are optimized for tablets.   These applications provide the integration of existing information systems, and introduce tablets as a form for both data gathering and dissemination of critical information.

New and emerging advancements in technology have enabled patient monitoring devices and instrumentation to communicate directly with tablets within a vicinity using tools such as Bluetooth. These devices can also upload patient data using a Wi-Fi network over the web, which can then be monitored in real time by nurses and doctors.

Increasingly sophisticated apps are being created, which cater to all aspects of healthcare management for usage by both healthcare personnel and patients. These apps range from providing dashboards for patient information, disease and condition monitoring to patient data collection and consolidation. Apps also help with business intelligence and analytics, scheduling and calendar management, prescription dispensing, pharmaceutical refills and authorizations, drugs and new treatment information, collaboration, and communication. In terms of tablet adoption in the healthcare industry, we have only begun to scratch the surface. With technological advancements increasing by the day, the possibilities are endless as healthcare professionals continue to search for better ways to provide care.

Remote Work in Healthcare IT Consulting: Should We Take a Closer Look?

Remote work is an appealing idea. When the topic of remote opportunities comes up on job discussion boards, I see a lot of enthusiasm expressed by would-be remote workers hoping to land a gig. Remote work is something I have personal experience with, and I must admit I’m a big fan. I spent a good number of years as a road warrior but currently do remote consulting work. Whenever my work-from-home arrangement (with occasional travel, actually) finds its way into a conversation, the response is usually a kind of wishful jealousy. The person on the other end seems to be imagining me with a headset and a laptop, somewhere on a beach, project planning or troubleshooting between surf sessions (or part of whatever remote office fantasy he or she may be imagining).  I can’t say this is exactly how it works, but a nice image nonetheless. Importantly, remote work seems to more and more appealing to those staffing and managing healthcare IT projects.

It’s also a model we know can work.  I think we all know someone or have read about examples of some type of remote work (or ‘virtual office’ or any of the other innovative work arrangements out there such as the ‘results oriented work environment’) that has shown to be a ‘win-win’ for both management and staff. To support remote work, we have technology at our disposal that enables us to log in to a system from anywhere, to hold virtual meetings, to share documents and otherwise collaborate.

To me, remote work seems to be a good fit for healthcare IT (HIT) consulting. My HIT remote work has been primarily on large, electronic medical records implementation projects. The more experience I gain working remotely and the more I learn about different examples of how remote work can be used, the more I’m convinced it’s not only a good fit for much of what we do in healthcare IT consulting, but with some creative problem solving, it’s a model with potential to not only add value to HIT projects but also serve as a source of innovative strategies for how we work in HIT consulting.

To help start the collective wheels turning, I’ve done some digging and compiled a few of the themes that seem to emerge in discussions on remote work and added thoughts on how they apply to HIT consulting:

Talent. Here, let’s take electronic medical records implementations as an example. These projects are going on in locations all over the country, and are much the same in many ways. They involve many of the same project phases with the same tasks and require resources with the same skills and experience. As we know, these projects can also suffer from the same shortage of talent. Offering remote opportunities enables casting a wider net for talent. How many people who may be a good fit (or a ‘great fit’, or even ‘the answer to our prayers’) simply don’t consider a particular project because relocation isn’t an option or full time travel is ‘just too hard’? We may never know.  These projects also require skills in more specialized areas, such as decision support or CPOE. Offering remote engagements makes it easier to pull in the right folks at the right time, pulling in the right specialists for a shorter term and, at the same time, enabling them to potentially contribute to multiple projects.

Productivity. In articles and blogs on the topic of remote work, enhanced productivity is cited over and over as one of the key positives. This rings true with my own experience.  Think about how you would answer the question “Where do you go when you really need to get something done?” My guess is “the office” is not the first thing that comes to mind. Similarly, for those of you who are traveling consultants, how many times have you complained you “can’t get any real work done” until after you get back to your hotel room? Deep, uninterrupted thought has an important place. And deep thought requires uninterrupted time.  Free from interruptions that are a part of being on site or in the office, most people can really crank up the productivity. Much of what goes into system design, build, testing, documentation, and even some aspects of project planning benefit from uninterrupted, deep thought.  Plus, everyone knows the mood to be productive can strike at any time.  Looking back, I must say that a large proportion of work I’ve done while at client sites could have been more effective done remotely.

Happiness. Remote work is convenient. People like it, it’s true. More time at home means being able to more fully engage in your personal life. This can make people happy and productive. In my case, it also created a feeling of appreciation which has made me quite protective of this arrangement which, in turn, made me particularly sensitive to demonstrating results. Beyond the convenience of remote work, another key consideration is that people want to be trusted. They want to be accountable and to find their own path to the expected outcome.  At the same time, while convenience is nice people accept that the success of a project means periods of intense time and effort, including travel. The right people will do what it takes to make a project successful but these periods can be much more palatable if they feel if this is asked of them only when truly necessary.

Relationships. Successful projects require strong relationships among project team members. Going into my first remote project, one of my biggest concerns was my ability to create and maintain relationships. I worried a lack of face time would inhibit relationship building and my ability to effectively manage the project if I didn’t see the project team every day.  As it turned out, I was surprised how well I felt I was able to build and maintain relationships via phone and email, though it did feel like it needed a more concerted effort — it did take a little extra doing to stay in the loop.  Actually, maybe it’s not that surprising when we consider how we maintain or even develop relationships in other areas of our lives with friends or family we don’t see every day.

Cost. This one is pretty straightforward. Travel costs associated with a week on site can be in the neighborhood of 25% of the total. Travel also represents cost in the form of unproductive time spent in transit.

Remote work is appealing. We can point to examples where it’s been successful. However, it seems the work of proactively finding the ways it can add the most value to HIT consulting is ahead of us. Given both the issues and advantages discussed above (plus any others folks can think of), this is an area that seems ripe for innovation. There are new tools in the toolbox and inventive minds can use them in creative ways to build something new.  This includes ways to enhance the quality of content and services we provide as well as strategic ways to improve how we work.

While there are remote opportunities out there, this arrangement still seems to be comparatively rare. I don’t doubt this is due to both clinging to how things have always been done as well as suspicion as to how well it can really work. This isn’t surprising. Though not a completely new idea, it can still be quite a paradigm shift.  Also, although I’ve stepped through some of the positives of remote work above, both on site and remote work have their respective pros and cons. There are activities or phases in the project where one or the other clearly makes the most sense. Any best practices that emerge will likely use the two to complement one another.

As for next steps, we can think critically about our project plans not just terms of the usual suspects of tasks, timelines and owners, but also in terms of what type of arrangement—remote or on site–makes the most sense for each and how remote work can be used strategically to enhance the quality of the results. I’m hopeful that refining and promoting models of how we can work with both clients and one another will not only result in the development new tools and processes but may even result in new forums for collaborative innovation. Like any idea, of course, this needs the right people to take it on and put it to the test.

Mobile Technology influencing health Innovation- Mhealth applications

Mobile technology has transformed the way that individuals accomplish everyday tasks like finding directions, paying bills, and communicating with friends. But mobile technology has also changed the way individuals interact with the medical system around the world. With technological advances, health providers are now able remotely to monitor diabetic and heart patients, send email reminders to take medications, and access diagnostic databases through mobile devices. How have these innovations contributed to patient health and enhanced the doctor-patient relationship? What mobile health advances are transforming medical care? How are countries around the world using mobile technology to improve health care delivery and save money?

Mobile health, or mHealth for short, uses mobile technologies for health research and healthcare delivery. It is said that mobile health applications will continue to grow as physicians, patients, and health plans use technology to address changes in healthcare delivery.

The convergence of mobile technology with an evolving healthcare delivery system will continue to drive the mobile health (mHealth) applications market, which will see revenues grow from $230 million in 2010 to $392 million in 2015, according to research from Frost & Sullivan.

According to the report--Analysis of the U.S. Broadband mHealth Applications Market--in the near term, the mobile health app market will benefit from an increasing number of consumers who will purchase smartphones and tablets and download easily accessible and affordable health apps. Furthermore, in a consumer-driven patient-centered healthcare model, patients are encouraged to play a greater role in tracking their health through mobile health apps that monitor vital information such as medication adherence, blood pressure, and glucose readings.

Still, the general consensus is that the market will grow, with payers and providers having the most to gain from the deployment of mobile health apps and the data these apps will manage. "The formidable technical challenges are to link large IT systems--electronic health records (EHRs), health information exchanges (HIEs), and payer databases--with what are now discrete software products, and to generate meaningful analytics," the report said. "The primary marketing challenge will be acquiring the time, talent, and resources required to familiarize consumers with mHealth apps and the concept of self-health to get a user base that justifies expenses."

$400M in EHR incentives delivered

WASHINGTON – The government has paid $400 million in meaningful use incentives to physicians and hospitals so far, a Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services official told the Health IT Policy Committee Aug. 3.

To date, about 77,000 providers have registered for the program aimed at promoting the adoption and use of electronic health records.
[See also: Scanned patient records will keep paper around, even after MU]

CMS has collected data about healthcare providers that have attested that meet Stage 1 meaningful use, offering a glimpse of the experience of early adopters of certified electronic health records. One of the findings showed that providers used required EHR functions with a higher percentage of patients than was called for in the requirements, according to CMS officials.

Twenty-one states have launched their Medicaid EHR program, with Arizona, Connecticut, Rhode Island and West Virginia in the past month, according to CMS.

Among preliminary data, 2,383 physicians and other eligible professionals had verified that they met meaningful use requirements under the Medicare program, with 137 attesting unsuccessfully. The analysis did not explain why those providers failed attestation, but the agency will drill down to find the reason behind the numbers, said Robert Tagalicod, the new director of CMS’ Office of e-Health Standards and Services. However, 100 hospitals have attested and all have done so successfully.
[See also: Mostashari backs Stage 2 delay to 2014]

The agency is cautious about what the numbers may indicate and is aware that early adopters may have more experience with EHRs than later adopters, Tagalicod told the Health IT Policy Committee, which advises the Office of the National Coordinator (ONC).

“It would be too early to draw conclusions yet, but we will be working closely with the policy committee as well as ONC to understand what these data say to us and how we should interpret them so we can translate them into something more programmatic,” he said.

CMS has paid Medicaid incentives to 3,500 physicians and hospitals for adoption, implementation and upgrades of certified EHR technology, and under the Medicare program, 1,000 physicians and hospitals.

Farzad Mostashari, MD, the national health IT coordinator said that from what he has heard from the field, there is “an incredible amount of movement happening. The changes that are happening may be difficult to see day to day. But from where we are today from where we were two years ago, the transformation is real and it’s happening.”

One particular statistic in CMS’ data is promising. The number of physicians who received meaningful use incentive payments under Medicare increased significantly in July over June, from 329 physicians to 566, said Elizabeth Holland, CMS’ director of health IT initiatives group. “We’re hoping that that will be a continuing trend,” she said.

To receive payments of up to $18,000 in 2011, providers must not only attest that they can demonstrate meaningful use but meet the threshold of $24,000 for allowed charges in claims for covered services to Medicare beneficiaries during 2011.

Source:
http://healthcareitnews.com/news/400m-ehr-incentives-delivered

Survey reveals docs' perceptions of EHRs as potential buyers, users

TAMPA, FL – Meaningful use remains the strongest driver to implement electronic health records for physicians, according to a new survey that finds both potential EHR buyers and current users valuing the technology, but with substantially different perceptions and expectations.

Sage Healthcare Division, a developer of electronic health records for medical practices across North America, worked with Forester to conduct a survey among physicians nationwide in an effort to examine perceptions and determine attitudes toward these systems. The sample included both physicians using EHR and those in the market for the technology.
[See also: $400M in EHR incentives delivered]

The purpose of this study was to gain a better understanding of potential cost savings, benefits of these systems to small and mid-sized practices and to find any intangibles of using EHRs, such as physicians providing care from multiple locations or helping physicians have more time away from the office because of increased mobility and connectivity.

“Implementation of EHRs in the U.S. continue to grow as an increased number of physicians and staff gain a better understanding of the efficiency and cost-saving benefits of using the technology,” said Betty Otter-Nickerson, president of the Sage Healthcare Division. “However, a significant number of office-based practices have yet to implement an EHR solution. Sage’s survey was conducted to examine current perceptions and predominant trends that will help us design the best solutions to maximize the benefits of EHR.”

The survey findings indicated that meaningful use incentives are still one of the strongest drivers for most physicians (64 percent) to implement EHR technology, but for 32 percent of those who are in the market for EHRs, insufficient capital is still a key challenge to the switch.
[See also: Top 5 worst EMR myths]

The survey found that EHR users said they measure their success through reporting and tracking healthcare outcomes (64 percent) and error reduction (62 percent), but those who have yet to purchase EHR responded they would measure EHR success through increased revenue (74 percent) followed by reporting and tracking healthcare outcomes (60 percent).

Also, current EHR users are more aware of additional benefits than those who haven’t implemented the technology yet and expected achievements with EHR are stronger for those who have already purchased the solution.

Key findings of the survey in general:

• 77 percent saw ease of use and quickness as a top characteristic in an EHR solution
• 39 percent of respondents ranked improved and timely access to accurate patient information as the most important reason to achieve their EHR goals, followed by reduced time spent in information search and management (34 percent)
• Physicians who have already implemented EHRs perceive more value in lower costs and improved staff efficiency than those in the market for an EHR solution (35 percent versus 25 percent)
• When surveyed physicians were asked about SaaS as an alternative to an in-office solution, both those with or without EHR (39 percent) had security and data privacy concerns about the outsourced solution

For EHR users:

• Physicians who have already implemented EHR largely reached their business goals of lower costs and improved patient service (80 percent) and improved staff efficiency (74 percent)
• 72 percent of those surveyed saw the increased availability of floor space that was previously occupied by paper records as a major advantage of EHR, second only to reduced administrative costs (82 percent)
• 56 percent see error reduction as the number one tangible benefit of EHR, followed by ability to share patient information (38 percent)
• 68 percent have seen mobile access to information as the biggest intangible benefit of EHR (34 percent)
• Of all the EHR users surveyed, 52 percent said that reduced paper and office expenses saved them the most money

• 76 percent of respondents said they would invest in EHR again

For non-EHR Users:

• Of all non-EHR users, 30 percent would prefer having in-office EHR to an outsourced solution, such as SaaS or off-client software

“Some of our EHR customers have indicated they are spending more time away from the clinic because of the system’s efficiency and accessibility off-site,” said Otter-Nickerson. “This accessibility also saves them time during each patient visit, which translates into more quality time spent with the patient. Another great advantage of EHR is that doctors can look up a patient’s entire history and have a comprehensive view of their health. Consequently, doctors can make more informed decisions, thus improving the quality of care and potentially generating better health outcomes.”


Source:
http://healthcareitnews.com/news/survey-reveals-docs-perceptions-ehrs-potential-buyers-users

Health IT professionals require far more than technical expertise

People outside of the healthcare industry often ask, "Why can't hospitals and doctors computerize their data like other companies do, and why can't the exchange of health information be as simple as taking cash out of an ATM?"

The reason, of course, is that healthcare is a far more complex field than, say, banking or retail. But that message has still not penetrated the thinking of people who don't know healthcare.


The latest evidence of that comes from a report titled "Health IT Deployment: The Essential Role of Small IT Solution Providers." The report was authored by CompTIA, a computer industry association that represents small and midsized firms, including computer hardware manufacturers, software developers, technology distributors, and IT specialists. These companies supply and service information technology for a wide range of industries. Few specialize in health IT.

Noticing that the federal government is spending tens of billions of dollars on health IT and that jobs are growing rapidly in that sector, CompTIA's members would like to get a piece of the action. Their primary obstacles, in CompTIA's view, include:

• A lack of resources for training non-health IT professionals in healthcare
• A lack of opportunities for small computer service firms to contract with the government's 62 regional extension centers
• The latest HIPAA security provisions, which, in CompTIA's view, unfairly burden small IT companies.

Explaining the first point, the report notes that the federally funded community college training program--while necessary and important--provides only one way to meet the demand for health IT professionals. "From our experience, more attention and resources need to be provided to training existing IT professionals who already have basic IT skills but who need additional help in adding a health IT 'bolt-on' to their considerable knowledge and experience in IT." The report goes on to suggest that the government offer education tax credits or direct lending to help IT people from outside healthcare make the transition.

Considering the shortage of health IT professionals, this would be a good idea if it were feasible. The problem is that a few college-level courses in the basics of healthcare will not turn these IT people into experts who can guide a physician in EHR implementation or who could help a hospital restructure its work flow to accommodate computerized physician order entry. As one health IT consultant recently told me, a health IT professional needs deep experience in healthcare to be of any use to a hospital.

As for the ability to contract with RECs, these organizations are scrambling to find enough health IT professionals to help 100,000 primary care doctors adopt EHRs. That's the reason for the community college program. It is hard to believe that RECs would not provide lists of local value-added-resellers and computer service bureaus to the doctors they've signed up. If any do not, they should, as CompTIA suggests.

Value-added-resellers that are among CompTIA's members do, in many cases, help implement particular vendors' EHRs. There have been rumors that some RECs play favorites in deciding which EHR vendors to recommend to physicians; but, whether they do or not, it would be silly for a practice to contract with a VAR that does not have expertise in the brand of EHR that that practice has selected.

The new HIPAA rules included in the HITECH Act have increased the penalties for privacy breaches. Those penalties, which apply not only to providers but also to their business associates, can climb up to $1.5 million. But the top fines are only for egregious violations, and it's doubtful this will deter many small IT firms from working in healthcare.

The real deterrent is the gap between health IT and non-health IT. Implementation of electronic health records and other forms of health IT depends as much on a grasp of healthcare's intricacies as on technological expertise. CompTIA seems to understand that. What it doesn't recognize is that this type of knowledge is much more than a "bolt-on." - Ken

Source:
http://www.fiercehealthit.com/story/health-it-professionals-require-far-more-technical-expertise/2011-08-07

National Institutes of Health to create a genetic test database

Hoping to improve healthcare research and centralize data, the National Institutes of Health plans to create an online database of available genetic tests. In a notice published last week in the Federal Register, the organization seeks public comment on a plan first announced back in March 2010. The database also would include the scientific basis for those tests.

In its original announcement, NIH said that 1,600 genetic tests were available. Today, that number has grown to more than 2,000 tests.

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Consumers, clinicians and research doctors all will be able to search the database. Physicians, in particular, already have started ordering genetic tests for several reasons, including:

* To find possible genetic diseases in unborn babies;
* To determine if a person carrying a gene for a disease might pass it on to their children;
* To screen embryos for disease;
* To test for genetic diseases in adults before they cause symptoms;
* To confirm a diagnosis in a person who has disease symptoms.

NIH is asking researchers and manufacturers that submit data to update their information on an annual basis. Researchers from other nations also are welcome to submit data, according to the NIH.

Source:
http://www.fiercehealthit.com/story/improved-research-goals-prompt-creation-genetic-test-database/2011-08-03?utm_medium=rss&utm_source=rss

Healthcare creating IT jobs faster than other industries

Partially due to an infusion of federal funds, the healthcare industry is creating IT jobs faster than other industries, according to a new Bureau of Labor Statistics report. The number of IT positions in healthcare is expected to grow 20 percent annually through 2018, the report says.

Since 2009, the number of health IT jobs has increased 67 percent, according to an article in Computerworld. Online employment agency SimplyHired.com, lists 7,200 open positions in the field, the article points out.


Most in demand are CIOs and CTOs, but jobs in health IT administration also are growing rapidly, SimplyHired.com's database reveals. Since 2009, database administrator positions have grown 94 percent, and other administrative jobs in networking, systems and storage have also seen strong growth. In addition, the healthcare industry needs thousands of software developers and system analysts.

Overall, the BLS report notes, healthcare and social services jobs are expected to grow 24 percent from 2008 through 2018. Healthcare support jobs will increase by 1.1 million during that time period--more than any other service job category. However, healthcare employment took a nose dive in July, according to a report just released by The Conference Board.

In health IT, BLS predicts that a rise in medical testing, treatments and procedures performed, and electronic health record use all will be pivotal in terms of growth. "[M]ore technicians will be needed to complete the new responsibilities associated with electronic data management," the report notes.

The problem that many hospitals and other providers encounter in filling these jobs is the shortage of qualified, experienced health IT staff. While the federally funded training programs in 82 community colleges may help meet some of the demand, the majority of the available positions are not entry level, say consultants and CIOs.


Source:
http://www.fiercehealthit.com/story/healthcare-creating-it-jobs-faster-other-industries/2011-08-04?utm_medium=rss&utm_source=rss

Healthcare Software Development-A Primary need for Healthcare Service Providers

Software Healthcare services have a bright future as more and more health professionals are looking for products and services. This is because the rapid increase in technology and its approval for use as a healthcare software application has gained the importance of evaluation. A service healthcare software application is responsible for the daily need for the organization of work in the medical office or clinic. Health care providers of services face tough challenge in the management of rapid growth in the portfolio of systems. The various aspects of the acquisition, integration and maintenance of these systems are increasing every day, with an increase in the total cost for these software services provider. The demands of network users are also increasing. This becomes a perpetual cycle where the input supply must meet to maintain the delicate balance.


software development companies in the design and development of software health services have been working to make these healthcare applications easy to use, easy to learn and efficient. Efficiency includes productivity, operating costs, processing time, and the level of automation. Simply put healthcare applications of software to avoid errors in the daily delivery of health services is called in the industry. The kind of health care that includes physicians, nurses, doctors and shop owners, etc. are not professional computer use. The need to make these services easy to use Healthcare software is necessary because they are not frequent users of the system. Access to clinical software application in the organization from time to time.

You may even have to access different applications at the same time going through the history of the patient. For example, a management professional software doctor visits to check patient demographics and admission information, an EMR (electronic medical records) for the medical reports indicating the present and history of medications received and billing software to ensure the timely payment of hospital bills. Although training could have continued the use of application software, is quiet common commonly forget key terminology system or the proper use of key parts of the system. We recommend the use of terminology that are familiar to users. The general application need to have a similar flow features. Using icons and images easy usability transmits the application-specific value added software for medical devices together.

Today, health care software are widely used by health care professional to deliver the best services both on and off duty. The importance of software health care system that can be used within the organization and outside access is high in demand.

Microsoft Readies New SharePoint-based Healthcare Software

Microsoft is readying another piece of its healthcare software and service platform.

The latest component is a SharePoint-based offering called HealthVault Community Connect, which Microsoft is introducing on March 1 at the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) conference . Due out in the third calendar quarter of this year, Community Connect will manage medical-records-processing workflows, providing automation on the patient entry and discharge fronts.

The “Community” in the name of the new product isn’t a reference to social networking. Instead, it refers to the “community” of the patient, the hospital and the patient’s caregivers outside the hospital, according to Microsoft. Community Connect is being designed to better automate the interactions among these groups, by allowing hospitals to provide patients and their doctors with access to electronic copies of patients’ health data generated by the hospitals. It also will allow patients to preregister for hospital appointments and use their electronic health records to fill out hospital forms in advance.

Microsoft and select partners will be selling licenses for the Community Connect application to hospitals.

“Anyone today can use the (existing) HealthVault SDK (software development kit) to access the data. And the (consumer-facing) HealthVault service can be accessed for free,” explained David Cerino, General Manager of Microsoft’s Consumer Health Solutions Group. “We wrote this application to make the processing easier and quicker.”

In addition to plugging into the HealthVault service, the Community Connect application also will include integration links to Amalga, Microsoft’s patient-information software, which the company acquired in 2006. HealthVault, a personal health application platform, is the centerpiece of Microsoft’s healthcare product family, is both a client application and an Azure-based cloud service.

Community Connect (which was codenamed “Miami,” for you fellow/sister codename buffs) is the second healthcare application that Microsoft has developed. Last year, the company launched the Mayo Clinic Health Manager application, which Microsoft co-developed with the Mayo Clinic. More than 150 third-party developers also have developed applications that plug into the HealthVault platform, Cerino said.

HealthVault Community Connect requires Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise Edition, SQL Server 2008 Enterprise Edition, Microsoft SharePoint 2010 for Internet Sites. The product will be available to Software Assurance customers only.

Source: http://blogs.zdnet.com/microsoft/?p=5421

Electronic Health Record System -Advanced By Military Health System For White House

ATLANTA - The Military Health System has set-up a version of its AHLTA electronic health record system for use in the White House, MHS chief information officer Charles Campbell said during a briefing.
The system, which was set up in a short span of two months, is based on AHLTA Theater, the Defense department's electronic health records system designed for rugged uses in war zones.
The White House EHR would be used in the residence's clinic, in Camp David, as well as on Air Force One and Marine One, the president's airplane and helicopter, Campbell said
AHLTA Theater has a store and forward capability that allows it to preserve digital health records under conditions where no signals are available to transmit records to forward care stations.
That was appropriate for the White House system, which would be needed on the presidential planes and in remote sites that also potentially lack connectivity, Campbell said.
AHTLA Theater is based on a Service Oriented Architecture, which enabled the rapid development of the White House EHR, Campbell said
"We're very proud of that and the White House is extremely happy with what we've done," Campbell said. The White House is expected to sign off on the system soon, another official said.
The State Department is also considering turning to an MHS-derived EHR system, according to an agency health IT executive, who said it is seeking an EHR for its employees in the U.S.and around the world.
In other remarks, Campbell gave an upbeat evaluation report of MHS's work in 2009 and outlined organization's priorities for the upcoming year.
MHS is about halfway finished upgrading AHLTA, its flagship EHR, to its latest version, 3.3, he said.
The upgrade has been criticized for taking too long but Campbell explained that not only does the new version have to be loaded onto massive central systems such as DOD's Clinical Data Repository but on every one of 110,000 end user devices around the globe.
"That's why it takes so long - but that's not where we're headed," Campbell said.
Instead MHS will focus on modernizing its EHR and information infrastructure, two goals that reside at the top of a list of 10 initiatives in a strategic plan for MHS approved in January of this year.
"We have to build and rebuild and modernize the infrastructure so that we can be more agile, flexible and stable," Campbell said.
He vowed to make the EHR practically everlasting.
"What we have now is a difficult way of traversing the information and getting that information to the provider," he said. "It's kind of cumbersome but that's the how it was designed 11 years ago based on the technology at the time.
"But times have changed," he added. "We have to modernize it such a way so that the system from the end users' perspective cannot go down," he said. "The information always has to be available - always - and all the information complete, accurate, secure."
Campbell said by the end of March, MHS will be able to unveil specific plans and timetables for meeting these goals.
Then, "folks (will) know exactly where we are going. And what we're trying to do, and when we're trying to do it," he said.
"We can't continue to just put band-aids on things; we're going to fix them systemically and get it done," he said.
Campbell made his remarks at the Health Information and Management Systems Society's annual conference being held here this week.

With multiplied rate of government regulations-business challenge, escalating patient safety expectations, necessitates depleted health care costs, Global health care industry is experiencing tremendous amount of pressure to reach Information Technology to condense its healthcare processes resulting in administering health care services with modernized competence levels.
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