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Health information network to launch patient portal
By Kelsey Ryan
The Wichita Eagle
Published Thursday, August 8, 2013, at 6:29 a.m.
The Kansas Health Information Network, which is in the process of connecting the electronic health record systems of thousands of providers across the state, hopes to launch a new statewide patient portal next month.
The portal will be free for all Kansas patients, said Laura McCrary, KHIN executive director.
“The goal is to really help patients become more engaged in their health care,” McCrary said. “If they don’t have a place where they can see all of their health information, it makes it hard to be engaged if you don’t know your current list of medications or the results of your last test or your current diagnosis.”
McCrary said she believes the portal will be the first of its kind nationwide. It will be available through KHIN’s website, www.khinonline.org.
In addition to seeing the records that doctors have put into the system, patients will be able to add their own information to the portal, like their diet and exercise habits, over-the-counter medications they take and their allergies. They can also upload records that they may be able to obtain from other providers.
Patients can also securely e-mail health care providers through the portal, to ask questions about prescriptions or schedule appointments.
The service will also benefit providers, McCrary said, because the federal government will provide financial incentives to providers who integrate electronic health records. One of the requirements is that a certain percentage of patients look at their personal health records.
As part of the statewide network, if a patient looks at his records, the occurrence will count for all of that patient’s providers, helping them meet the requirement, McCrary said.
KHIN has contracted with the company NoMoreClipboard to provide the service and has been working on the project about a year, McCrary said. She did not disclose the cost to create the portal.
KHIN members can access the portals as part of the fees they pay to be a part of the network, McCrary said.
The number of patients with electronic health records integrated into KHIN has grown rapidly over the past few months, recently hitting more than 1 million patients – almost one-third of the state’s population.
About 60 percent of all patients in Wichita have information in the network, McCrary said. There are more than 300 different health care providers who are members of KHIN, McCrary said. Although each organization only counts as one member, many of them, such as Via Christi Health, have multiple facilities.
Imaging
One of the biggest challenges in sharing electronic health records is sharing images like X-rays because they take up a lot of space in the system, McCrary said.
A factor in high health care costs is repeated procedures like X-rays when they’re not readily available, McCrary said.
Currently, many providers burn the images onto CDs to share them with other providers, but that doesn’t always work, she said. So KHIN has put out a national request for proposal on a way to make those images part of a patient’s electronic health record by sending codes to providers who need the image to access it in the cloud.
“If there’s a way to make it available in real time to providers and patients and a way to store it in a way that doesn’t take up so much space, we’re looking for a company to do all of those things,” she said.
Reach Kelsey Ryan at 316-269-6752 or kryan@wichitaeagle.com. Follow her on Twitter: @kelsey_ryan.
http://www.kansas.com/2013/08/08/2931133/health-information-network-to.html
Read more here: http://www.kansas.com/2013/08/08/2931133/health-information-network-to.html#storylink=cpy
You tell'em Bob Barker... LMAO! Go MMRF!!!!!
Consumer groups fighting proposed higher charges for medical records
Tampa Bay Times
Jodie Tillman, Times Staff Writer
Tuesday, July 30, 2013 4:21pm
Consumer advocates and attorneys are lining up against a proposal to allow patients requesting their own medical records to be charged up to four times what they pay now.
The proposed change, which comes before the Florida Board of Medicine on Friday, is the result of a request by a lobbyist for HealthPort Technologies LLC, a national company that contracts with doctors groups to handle medical records.
Currently, state rules allow health providers to charge patients $1 per page for the first 25 pages and 25 cents per page after that. The request would allow $1 charges for every page.
It may not sound huge, but opponents say it adds up quickly, especially for patients who need hundreds of records to apply for disability benefits or file malpractice claims.
"It just seems unfair to charge them these excessive amounts," said Alice Vickers, with the Florida Consumer Action Network.
HealthPort's lobbyist, Cynthia Henderson, wrote in a letter to the Board of Medicine that the request will simplify the state administrative code. The proposed change also makes the cost of electronic documents the same as paper copies.
Henderson said producing copies is not a simple process. Medical copying companies — they are known as the "release of information" industry — must follow detailed procedures to ensure patient confidentiality, she wrote.
"Many people mistakenly believe that production of electronic medical records is as simple as locating a file on a server and attaching it to an email and hitting send or copying it to a disc or flash drive, "she wrote to the board. "Similarly, many people believe production of paper copies is as simple as retrieving the file from a shelf or drawer and putting it in a copy machine and hitting 'start.'"
Vickers said the records contractors have not shown why they are entitled to higher rates.
"I think you're talking big bucks here when you look at the volume of medical records," she said.
At least one class of people already have been paying the higher $1 per page rate: lawyers. The existing state code says only that patients and governments are entitled to the 25-cent provision. So HealthPort has charged lawyers, even those acting on behalf of patients, at a rate of $1 per page.
Barbara Allen, a 69-year-old Tampa resident, hired an attorney after falling at a Family Dollar store last year and breaking her femur. When her attorney requested her medical records from her orthopedic group, he was charged at the higher rate, which turned into a $217 bill. That cost was passed on to her.
"That's why you spend all this time signing legal paperwork, getting them to act on your behalf," said Allen, who would've owed a little over $70 if her lawyer had been charged the same as a patient.
Now Allen is the lead plaintiff in a class action lawsuit against HealthPort, alleging that the company had overcharged her attorney and was "essentially holding records ransom for the payment of unlawful fees."
The Florida Board of Medicine's meeting will be held at the Hilton Deerfield Beach/Boca Raton in Deerfield Beach.
Jodie Tillman can be reached at jtillman@tampabay.com or (813) 225-3374.
http://www.tampabay.com/news/health/consumer-groups-fighting-proposed-higher-charges-for-medical-records/2133971
The Hospital Cloud Forum: From Meaningful Use to Meaningful Outcomes
IMN is pleased to announce The Hospital Cloud Forum: From Meaningful Use to Meaningful Outcomes, taking place September 9, 2013, in Chicago, IL. At this crucial stage of healthcare system implementation, it is vital for hospital leadership to learn about essential technologies that are available to integrate clinical and financial systems to achieve meaningful outcomes.
http://www.imn.org/healthcare-it/conference/Hospital-Cloud-Forum-Midwest/Home.html
AHA, AMA Seek More Flexible Meaningful Use Requirements
Jul 30, 2013 11:56 am | By: Anne Zieger
The American Hospital Association and the American Medical Association have sent a joint letter to HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius asking for more flexibility in the requirements for the Meaningful Use program, iHealthBeat reports.
The two trade groups, which called the program’s requirements “overly burdensome,” argue that as the current Meaningful Use program is structured, it’s too hard for some providers to keep up. “[W]e believe that the best way to move the program forward and ensure that no providers, particularly small and rural ones, are left behind is to realign the meaningful use program’s current requirements to ensure a safe, orderly transition to Stage 2,” the letter adds.
The letter makes four recommendations to improve the Meaningful Use program for providers, iHealthBeat notes:
* Let providers meet Stage 1 requirements using either a 2011- or 2014-certified EMR
* Set up a 90-day reporting period for the first year of each new stage of the program, applicable to all providers;
* Give providers increased flexibility to meet Stage 2 Meaningful Use requirements
* Extend each stage of the Meaningful Use program to a minimum term of three years for all providers
The AHA submitted also submitted testimony to the Senate Finance Committee last week asking legislators to give providers more flexibility within the Meaningful Use program.
As things stand, unless current requirements for electronic clinical quality measures are changed, “clinicians [will be] spending extensive amounts of time working for the EHRs” rather than having the EMRs work for them, the trade group suggested.
As part of its testimony, the AHA presented case studies drawn from four separate hospitals. Based on the issues arising at these hospitals, the group recommended several changes to MU, including using fewer, better-tested electronic quality reporting measures, starting with Stage 2, and making EMRs and electronic clinical quality measure reporting tools more flexible to align data capture with the nuances of workflow.
http://www.hospitalemrandehr.com/2013/07/30/aha-ama-seek-more-flexible-meaningful-use-requirements/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+HospitalEMRandEHR+%28Hospital+EMR+and+EHR%29&utm_content=Yahoo%21+Mail
Related Articles:
• Hospitals, Health Systems Don’t Feel Prepared For Meaningful Use Stage 2
• AHA Says Meaningful Use Schedule Is Too Ambitious
• EPIC Workflow Change Requirements
• Congressmen Want Halt On Meaningful Use Payments
•Senators Join Initiative To Scrutinize Meaningful Use
Will37,thank you. I bought some of this stock a few years ago but I really haven't paid much of any attention in the last couple of years. Been diappointed in it, thought they were on to something at 1 time. Last news I remember was they opened a plant in California didn't they?
Have I missed anything? Guess I need to do some DD again?
I appreciate they assistance, stay safe!
Hello KofZ1, can you tell what all is the hold up of getting the patents issued? I am in another stock that has several patents issued in the last year or so.
Also do you know when XSNX applied for their patents?
Thanks, stay safe!
1 in 5 broadband households want live chats with health experts
By: Aditi Pai | Jul 24, 2013
Around 17 million US broadband households are interested in live chat services with healthcare experts, according to a recent survey conducted by Parks Associates.
The study found that 50 percent of US broadband households with access to online services such as prescription refills, real-time video calls with a doctor, or appointments use these services and nearly 20 percent of US broadband households, over 17 million households, are interested in a live chat service with health experts. In addition, 13 percent of households are interested in virtual tools to manage medications, and 15 percent are interested in post-surgery virtual monitoring.
Still, 56 percent of U.S. broadband households are without or unaware of online healthcare services available to them, according to Senior Digital Health Analyst Jennifer Kent.
Earlier this year, Parks released a report that found 5 percent of households with broadband internet have at least one digital fitness device — like a Fitbit, Jawbone UP, or BodyMedia FIT Armband.
The older report also predicted that more than 32 million US consumers will actively track their health and fitness online or via mobile devices by 2016, up from about 15 million in 2011. Online and mobile wellness service adoption will also increase from 14 million users in 2011 to 29 million by 2016, according to Parks.
http://mobihealthnews.com/24077/1-in-5-broadband-households-want-live-chats-with-health-experts/
Thanks EZ & Lickety, I thought it might be an older message. Been out of the loop for the last week & 1/2.
Got a new message on my scottrade account but cannot pull it up.
The headline reads MMRGlobal Partners with HMS to Expand Business.
Is this an old message?
Hospital EMR News: Meaningful Use Payments, HIE Improvements, Mobile Physician Alerts
Hi folks: Enough of me yakking of late. Thought you’d find the following news bites to be worth a look, from vendor announcements to Meaningful Use wins. Enjoy!
-Katherine
* Morton County Health System, located in Elkhart, KS, announced today that it was the first hospital in the state of Kansas to receive a Medicare incentive payment. That’s got to feel nice. Press release
* Next month, diagnostic equipment provider Welch Allyn will premiere a configurable system allowing its physical assessment instruments and vital signs documentation technology to electronically capture and transmit patient data to an EMR. (You mean most devices don’t do this already? Eek!) Press release
* St. Jude Medical has launched version 5.0 of its Merlin.net Patient Care Network. The network features Mobile DirectAlerts notifying doctors via their mobile device when patients experience key events. What’s cool is that when doctors get the alert, they can jump directly to hospital patient reports. Gotta like that. Press release
* As of Sept. 30, CMS had distributed more than $850 million in incentive payments under the Medicare and Medicaid Incentive Program, according to HIMSS. Also, more than 114,000 eligible providers and hospitals reported having registered. Looks like 2012 is going to be a huge year for Meaningful Use. Becker’s Hospital Review
* In addition to citing 23 of its physicians as being the best in the state, U.S. News and World Report has ranked Burlington, VT based Fletcher Allen Health Care as one of the “Most Connected” in the country. That puts FAHC in the top 3.5 percent of hospitals in EMR adoption and use. Great to catch a winner outside of Chicago, New York, Boston or LA… Press release
* The e-Health Network of Long Island, an HIE serving 1.5 million patients, has adopted new technology from HealthUnity Corp. which adds several Meaningful Use-friendly features to provider EMRs, including secure messaging, e-referral, an EHR lite provider portal and EHR adapter services. The HIE ties together a group of nine area hospitals and nursing homes. Press release
http://www.hospitalemrandehr.com/2011/10/11/hospital-emr-news-meaningful-use-payments-hie-improvements-mobile-physician-alerts/
Health care CIOs call for extension of stages 2 and 3 MU
CIOs testifying before the HIT Policy Committee's workgroups on Tuesday echoed recent calls by CHIME to delay stages 2 and 3 of the meaningful use program by one year. The current time frames for those stages could lead to a timing crunch next year when hundreds of thousands of doctors and hospitals are scrambling to achieve meaningful use while preparing for stage 2, they said. Health Data Management (7/23)Read Article...
http://www.healthdatamanagement.com/news/ehr-electronic-health-records-meaningful-use-46406-1.html
An update on MMRGlobal biotech licensing matters.
There have been numerous comments directed to MMR in response to a recent article in Drugs.com.
Accordingly MMR has the following comment. MMR remains engaged in licensing portions of its biotechnology portfolio with a major biopharmaceutical company. The details of that non-exclusive license agreement can be found in MMR’s 8K on file at
... http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1285701/000113626110000355/body8k.htm . To date MMR has reported receiving in excess of $900,000 related to this agreement. To the best of the Company’s knowledge the article has no adverse bearing on MMR’s licensing agreement.
MMR’s biotechnology portfolio includes assets such as anti-CD20 monoclonal antibodies, data from vaccine trials, thousands of patient tumor samples and other intellectual property. The Company acquired its biotechnology portfolio as a result of a reverse merger with Favrille, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company, in January 2009. The portfolio includes but is not limited to research and development on the FavId™/Specifid™ vaccine trials and use of customized tumor cells to treat lymphoma patients and other technologies. Today the Company continues to protect these assets through its extensive biotechnology patent portfolio.
http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1285701/000113626110000355/body8k.htm
Nice job SSC, I like it. Now lets shoot it over to BL so that when he starts the CC he can begin with the answers to those questions. Real nice job, thanks for taking the time to put it into writing.
Well FJ74 your right... BL has always taken my phone calls, answered my emails & has even contacted me a couple of times. He surely doesn't need to be focusing on this board.
I agree with who ever posted it... we should start a list of questions out hear to consolidate time, energy & effort. We all have questions & I would guess that most of them are duplicates between all of us.
Maybe 1 of the mods could sticky something that could be added 2 by all by next Tuesday & then submit it. Just an idea!
Stage 2 MU will set the stage for accountable care, Mostashari says
The fee-for-service model is nearing its end as the industry advances efforts to move to accountable care organizations and other pay-for-performance models, National HIT Coordinator Dr. Farzad Mostashari said during a Health IT Policy Committee meeting. The second stage of EHR meaningful use will pave the way for a true health care overhaul that values accountability more than volume, he said, adding, "As we turn now to the needs of the situation, it's going to be more around coordination of care and patient engagement." EHR Intelligence (7/9) read more...
http://ehrintelligence.com/2013/07/09/onc-head-demise-of-fee-for-service-rise-of-acos-inevitable/
I do not have a problem with non shareholders sitting in & asking questions... I was just trying to say to SCC given a limit of time... I would want to make sure that shareholders questions get asked & if time allows then fine lets hear from non-shareholders. The SH's are the 1's with skin in the game & I bought another 50k worth of skins Monday.
Everyone on the board have a good weekend & stay safe!
Hello SCC, I disagree with you. That would be like illegal immigrants automatically being given full US Citizenship just as you & I without registering or having any accountability.
FJ74, hello & thanks for the info today. Always appreciated & you take care.
A year or year & 1/2 ago Charles Payne said this was a good bye at $13.00, GLTA
WALGREENS, BLUES TEAM UP ON EXCHANGE CAMPAIGN
Walgreens, the nation's largest drugstore chain, is teaming up with the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association on a national campaign to educate the public about state health insurance exchanges. Read more... (MODERN HEALTHCARE)
http://www.modernhealthcare.com/article/20130710/NEWS/307109966?AllowView=VW8xUmo5Q21TcWJOb1gzb0tNN3RLZ0h0MWg5SVgra3NZRzROR3l0WWRMWGJVL3dCRWxiNUtpQzMyWmVzNW53WUpicW4=&utm_source=link-20130710-NEWS-307109966&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=am
Finding Meaning in Meaningful Use
Pearl | July 10, 2013 | Pearls, EHR, Financing Technology, Healthcare Reform, Meaningful Use
By Lucien W. Roberts
If you have not qualified for meaningful use it seems you are in the majority. That's right. Through the end of 2012, a mere 33.9 percent of eligible physicians had attested to meaningful use, according to the New England Journal of Medicine and CMS. Surprised? And you thought you were the uncool kid. If you review HHS statistics, that percentage may have increased to more than 50 percent in mid-2013, as the number of physicians qualifying continues to grow and as CMS revised downward its projected number of eligible physicians.
Incentive dollars have been dangled by the government to those who participate; financial penalties have been threatened by the same government to those who don't. Yet, only one in every two or three physicians has attested to Stage 1 of meaningful use, which is considered to be much easier to achieve than Stage 2 or Stage 3. This leads me to ask three questions:
1. Why has participation been so low? Remember, many EHR vendors guaranteed achievement of meaningful use.
2. If participation in the "easy" stage has been so low, is it realistic to assume participation will increase in Stage 2?
3. Where is the "tipping point" — when enough practices are participating to bring "meaning" to meaningful use?
Low participation
Stage 1 of meaningful use has come and stayed. We remain in Stage 1, and those participating in 2013 are required to conform only to Stage 1 requirements, just like last year, just like the year before that. Despite this constancy, only 172,612 of approximately 509,328 eligible physicians had achieved Stage 1 of meaningful use through the end of 2012.
The Regional Extension Centers (RECs) were not the panacea CMS had hoped — only 15.9 percent of eligible providers who enrolled in REC programs have achieved meaningful use. The focus of the RECs was meant to be smaller primary-care practices (fewer than 10 providers), which, in many communities, remain the underpinnings of private practice.
Prospects for Stage 2
Physicians who have qualified for Stage 1 for each of the past three years have earned $36,000 of the maximum award of $44,000. However, their future incentives could likely be offset by the cost of preparing for Stage 2 of meaningful use. Why continue? It's a fair question. The hurdles of Stage 2 are much greater. The primary motivation at this point may be to avoid financial penalties.
Advanced Data Management has surveyed physicians for several years on EHR adoption and interoperability. I spoke with their CEO Jon Jenett regarding a recently completed survey of smaller, independent practices. Their findings are interesting. The percentage of eligible physicians planning to participate in Stage 2 of meaningful use has dropped from 65 percent in June of 2012 to 41 percent in June of 2013. Further, the percentage of physicians not planning to participate in Stage 2 has increased from 15 percent to 26 percent.
One might suspect that smaller practices may be more likely to use EHRs that will not be ready for Stage 2 of meaningful use, but that is only part of the reason according to Jenett. "That's a piece of the puzzle," noted Jenett, "but many small EHR vendors have worked hard to prepare for Stage 2. There's also the information overload that comes with interoperability. One physician [said] the average file size of a patient of hers that was discharged from the hospital was 105 pages … She worries that she is responsible for digesting all of this information and will be held accountable if she doesn't."
http://www.physicianspractice.com/pearls/finding-meaning-meaningful-use?GUID=F8F0782F-425F-40DE-9B50-632EB9F800B6&rememberme=1&ts=11072013
ONC's Ricciardi gives consumers voice
Anthony Brino speaks with Lygeia Ricciardi about consumer engagement in health IT
WASHINGTON | June 18, 2013
Lygeia Ricciardi became the first director of the ONC’s Office of Consumer e-Health in In May 2012. The office evolved from the Office of Policy and Planning as CMS and HHS leaders started realizing the central role of individuals in the grand scheme of American healthcare and its reform.
Ricciardi’s office acts as a sort of consumer voice in ONC policymaking and tries to help HIT policy stakeholders think about mobile health and health IT from a patient’s perspective. Another part of the work is helping patients understand their legal personal information rights and the benefits of managing their own data via apps like the Blue Button.
With consumer technologies becoming more affordable at a time when 30 million Americans are getting newly insured, Ricciardi and other federal health officials see a good opportunity to try to align the patient empowerment goals of the Affordable Care Act with the new care delivery and management possibilities offered by health IT.
[See also: ONC details plan to engage patients.]
Ricciardi brings a range of health and tech experiences to ONC’s endeavors, as former interactive web designer, a former policy analyst for the Federal Communications Commission working on telehealth policy and a mother of two daughters.
Contributing Editor Anthony Brino spoke with Ricciardi at the HIMSS Government Health IT Conference in Washington about the Office of Consumer eHealth’s role in HIT policy, the importance of public education on information exchange, and her experience navigating pregnancy care with a smartphone.
Q: So the Office of Consumer e-Health just turned 1 this past May. What have you been working on?
A: It just turned 1. I think it’s exciting. ONC has a real understanding of the importance of consumer engagement. When ONC was originally created and even when HITECH passed, there was a lot of emphasis on providers and hospitals and their role in adopting electronic health records and using them meaningfully. But it’s only in more recent years that it’s become more generally understood that patients and consumers play a critical role, too. It’s about using information technology to empower and enable consumers and patients to be better and fuller partners in their healthcare; we really work across a range of different areas, and we work really closely with pretty much every office of ONC — for example, with the people putting out the regs on meaningful use. The Stage 2 requirements that patients be able to view, download and transmit their data is huge. It wasn’t that the Office [of Consumer eHealth] was saying necessarily, ‘Hey, this is how things should look.’ But saying, ‘Hey, let’s include a broader swath of consumers, both activists and direct patients, in the process of shaping these requirements.’
http://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/oncs-ricciardi-gives-patients-voice
App gives patients more access to doctors
Smarter America / Published June 19, 2013 / FoxNews.com
Eight minutes: that’s the average time a patient spends with his or her doctor during an appointment. And for many, it’s just not enough.
To battle this ongoing problem, Dr. Gopal Chopra, a neurosurgeon-turned-entrepreneur, developed a free app called PingMD that enables a person to stay in contact with his or her doctor outside of office visits.
http://www.foxnews.com/health/2013/06/18/new-app-gives-patients-more-access-to-doctors/
The Article:
Eight minutes: that’s the average time a patient spends with his or her doctor during an appointment. And for many, it’s just not enough.
To battle this ongoing problem, Dr. Gopal Chopra, a neurosurgeon-turned-entrepreneur, developed a free app called PingMD that enables a person to stay in contact with his or her doctor outside of office visits.
"PingMD is a very easy to use communication solution that allows a patient to reach their own doctor,” Chopra said. “The patient can actually put in picture and video to simplify and make it quick for the doctor to know what's going on and respond to them."
Now, hundreds of physicians in numerous specialties are using the app to simplify the communication process. PingMD is especially popular with pediatricians, who deal with lots of questions from new parents.
Dr. Dyan Hes, medical director at Gramercy Pediatrics in New York City, said 200 of her patients use the app. She answers “pings” in between appointments or when she has free time.
Hes said it has made it easier for patients to remember her instructions, because they can store that information in the app and access it at any time.
Additionally, Hes adds all "pings" to her patients' medical records.
"Every morning when we come in, our secretary goes through 'pings' from the night before and all those 'pings' actually get uploaded in a PDF file to their medical chart," Hes said.
Furthermore, parents have access to all of the data collected as well.
"If they move, if they go somewhere else, their exams go with them, their immunizations (and) all those 'pings' go too so the other doctor can see those are all the conversations we had over PingMD," Hes said.
Aditi Deeg, a mother of two, said the convenience of the app is what convinced her to take her children to Gramercy Pediatrics.
"It just saves so much time; it's great technology for young moms who are running around working, doing a hundred other things," Deeg said.
Deeg also said the app gave her peace of mind when her son had a terrible cough a few months ago.
"We did a video and sent it to the doctor, and the doctor's like, ‘He's definitely wheezing, bring him in right away,’” Deeg said.
However, doctors warn the app is not meant for emergency situations. Hes said she sets her PingMD hours for during the day, when patients can reach her.
For more information, go to PingMD.com
Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/health/2013/06/18/new-app-gives-patients-more-access-to-doctors/#ixzz2WnNtZDbO
Gopack nice find, thanks for sharing with me.
Been in this stock as well fo several years & your comments are right on, I agree! Regarding your quote...
IMO, this article shows just how far behind the health industry is in reaching "Meaningful Use By 2014" I will say that someone from MMRF sales force should be contacting the ONC "The Office of the National Coordinator" if they haven't already.
ONC Wants 1,000 More Smaller Hospitals To Be Meaningful Users
As I’ve written about here in the past, small rural/critical access hospitals are struggling to keep up with Meaningful Use. These hospitals — typically 50 beds or less — are isolated, underfunded, short on staff and clinicians and sometimes without affordable connectivity options.
That’s a shame, because having telemedical functions and EMR connectivity may be far more important for these hospitals than for big academic or urban behemoths. In situations where the nearest specialist may be a day’s drive away, being able to communicate and collaborate with remote specialists can be a lifesaver.
Aware of these concerns, ONC has launched a campaign intended to get 1,000 critical access and small rural hospitals meaningfully using certified EMR technology by the end of 2014.
To help small hospitals get their legs under them, ONC has committed to spending up to $30 million for Regional Extension Centers targeting these facilities. Though ONC is shooting for 1,000 new Meaningful User hospitals, it’s willing to fund services for up to 1,501 of them. That would bring the total to more than 2,700 rural/critical access hospitals on the MU roster.
The obvious question, given the obstacles the smaller facilities face, is just how realistic ONC’s expectations are. Sure, getting them hooked up with REC services is a good thing, but is it enough to get them across the finish line?
One comment on the ONC blog had this to say on the subject of the CAH/rural hospital campaign:
The best chance for success (in my humble opinion), is a joint effort between public (REC) and private sectors. There are consulting firms with specific MU experience sitting on the bench that can provide incredible value to this process. The RECs are trying to keep up with demand while servicing thousands of ambulatory providers. If there is a way to facilitate collaboration between pubic & private sectors in a way that fosters success of this initiative, that would ensure the ONC would hit their goal of 1,000 hospitals to MU by 2014.
I think the poster is on to something. While the RECs are fine, and have the best of intentions, they’ve already got their hands full. Whether it’s a public/private partnership, an assist from state government, additional grants or other mechanisms, I think it will take more than REC funding to get the job done here.
http://www.hospitalemrandehr.com/2012/10/12/onc-wants-1000-more-smaller-hospitals-to-be-meaningful-users/
At the bottom of this web page are related articles you might find interesting.
Have a good weekend & stay safe everyone. Happy Fathers Day Dads!
Update, just heard back from BL, wanted to let you all know.
You should read, I emailed it to BL
Cleveland Clinic Expands Access To EMR Information
Jun 12, 2013 09:03 am | By: Anne Zieger
The Cleveland Clinic is stepping up patients’ access to their medical information by providing secure online access to most of the data stored in their medical files. The newly-available data will be accessible through the Clinic’s existing patient portal, MyChart, according to EMR Daily News.
Currently, patients who use the Clinic’s MyChart app can view a limited list of data , including their after-visit summary, medications list, allergies, immunization records, preventative care details, laboratory results, and radiology reports. If they want to see any more of their information, they have to get a hard copy of their patient record.
However, the new MyChart EMR offers patients access to just about every type of information doctors can see, including pathology records, x-ray reports, physician notes and lists of current health issues doctors use to describe a patient’s health status. It will also offer access to recent concerns and known diagnoses.
This marks the most recent of several steps the Clinic to expand patient access to their medical records. Earlier this year, EMR Daily News notes, reports associated with medical images including MRI, CT, ultrasounds, and mammograms were made available online through MyChart. Starting this month, the Clinic will start automatically releasing pathology reports to patients through MyChart, though there will be a delay which gives the patient a chance to have talked to their doctor about the report prior to seeing it.
The EMR system is expected to be fully transparent to the patient sometime next year, Clinic leaders say.
Expect to see a series of announcements of this kind, folks. Increasing healthcare data transparency is clearly on everyone’s agenda, and though leading organizations like the Cleveland Clinic may be at the forefront, what they’re doing is likely to become the standard for hospitals and clinics in the not-so-distant future.
http://www.hospitalemrandehr.com/2013/06/12/cleveland-clinic-expands-access-to-emr-information/?utm_source=Hospital+EMR+and+EHR&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=b08fd5f638-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_content=Yahoo%21+Mail&utm_term=0_179ad21ba4-b08fd5f638-60795937
Mark, the stock is dying.
The PHR Concept Is Dead
Jun 11, 2013 09:11 am | By: Anne Zieger
For several years, the healthcare community has struggled with elusive beast known as a personal health record. The PHR was designed to fill a hole in the sharing of electronic health data by getting patients involved with filling in gaps in their own health information via a Web browser.
The idea is not new. In fact, according to WIkipedia, the idea of a “personal health log” goes all the way back to the 1950s, though scientific literature didn’t begin to take it on until after 2000, the Web encyclopedia says. So for decades, healthcare professionals have looked at ways in which private individuals could do more to document changes in their own health.
Fast forward to today, and what have we got? A bunch of approaches which involve the consumer in their medical data, including:
Patient portals: Typically, these portals offer access not only to various forms of basic clinical data — such as test results — but also a means of setting appointments with doctors’ offices and a means of communicating with physicians via secure e-mail.
Direct access to EMRs: In some cases, the portal established by a healthcare organization offers some limited direct acccess to EMR data, offering patients a look at a broader cross-section of data.
Giving patients access to doctors’ notes: Of late, some organizations have been experimenting with giving patients direct access to their doctors’ notes, experiments which have largely been satisfying to parties on both sides of the equasion.
Certainly, these approaches involve patients more in their health information, but at the same time, in no way make him or her responsible for maintaining their own health records electronically.
If you’ll notice, the core notion of a PHR – that patients should keep their doctors informed of med changes, allergies, procedures and the like — appears to have dropped out of the picture completely. It seems that after struggling with getting patients involved in being data entry clerks, it works much better to give patients access to data and encouraging them to learn from what they see.
In other words, despite much earnest effort, it appears that the core PHR concept is dead. Long live its better-adapted successors.
http://www.hospitalemrandehr.com/2013/06/11/the-phr-concept-is-dead/?utm_source=Hospital+EMR+and+EHR&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=dbde4594fe-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_content=Yahoo%21+Mail&utm_term=0_179ad21ba4-dbde4594fe-60795937
Related posts:
1.PHR Concept Maturing, But Still Not Popular With Consumers
http://www.hospitalemrandehr.com/2012/07/23/phr-concept-maturing-but-still-not-popular-with-consumers/
2.Hospitals, Health Systems And Clinics Adding Portals, But Consumers Not Synched Up
http://www.hospitalemrandehr.com/2012/12/17/hospitals-health-systems-and-clinics-adding-portals-but-consumers-not-synched-up/
3.Patient EMR Access May Be The Biggest Cultural Shift
http://www.hospitalemrandehr.com/2013/04/15/patient-emr-access-may-be-the-biggest-cultural-shift/
Just spoke to my scottrade rep in KC & he sees it to but thinks it is a mistake or referring to the post on 6/7. He is checking with their techs & said he would get back with me.
Sorry boardees, everyone stay safe!
I cannot explain it but I see it there on the right side in the alert box. But when I click on it I get old messages. Oh well I'll let it be & thanks for the assistance everyone.
Tbone man is long & feeling strong or until BL sells his shares.
Update... I manage 2 other family members scottrade accts & I see it in both of theres. If this is a hoax from scottrade I am not going to be a happy camper.
Thanks Drkn & EZ, but EZ those post are from 6/7 my scottrade alert box shows the post date of today. Do they repost previous posts?
My scottrade account says I have a message titled... MyMedicalRecord Inks Agreement with WebMD.
However I can not pull up the details. Does anyone know anything about this? It was posted today.
well if my post holds the board maybe 3F or someone else can answer my questions.
Should EMRs Help Patients Retrieve Medical Records?
As often as not, patients who need to retrieve paper medical records from hospitals go through a painful process, one which is not much easier than it was before EMRs were introduced in hospitals.
I found this out myself recently when I attempted to retrieve a medical record for one of my children from a large hospital in my metro area. I started by reaching out to the health information management department — where it took three separate calls before I connected with a staff member. Then I was informed that the despite the paper-free hospital environment, I would have to wait two weeks before I could lay hands on the medical record, as the staff was swamped.
This would have struck me as comical if it wasn’t such an unfortunate situation. Without HIEs in place universally across the hospital world, wouldn’t it make sense if the EMR helped produce the paper copies of records needed everywhere in a universal fashion?
Yes, I realize that EMRs are optimized for care during the hospital visit, and such is necessary to get the job done. That being said, I could easily see using some of the technology hospitals already have in place to make EMR records retrievable by caregivers and patients.
After all, at least some hospitals already have kiosks in place that allow patients to pay bills. Couldn’t a modification of such kiosk allow patients to pay for their records fees, order the records for a given patient, sign electronically to give permission for such a printout and get the records into the mail on the back end — if not straight into their hands?
Sure, I know HIPAA issues arise when you’re trying to automate the dispensing of private health information, but at least until HIEs are everywhere, it’s a problem that needs to be handled. After all, the reality is that patients need to carry print records all over the place to get decent care. What’s the point of urging patients to engage with their medical records data if simply retrieving hard copies of them is such an awkward chore?
I know there was some debate about this in meaningful use. Hopefully once the future stages of meaningful use are in place, getting your records from the EHR will be a much faster process than it is today.
http://www.hospitalemrandehr.com/2013/05/21/should-emrs-help-patients-retrieve-medical-records/?utm_source=Hospital+EMR+and+EHR&utm_campaign=31aa55b10d-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_179ad21ba4-31aa55b10d-60795937
Patients Accessing Online Medical Records Use More Services
In previous postings, I’ve noted that for various reasons, doctors using EMRs are tending to bill for more E/M services. This has CMS in a bit of a tizzy, and definitely deserves attention from the industry. (See also this post about EMR and Upcoding)
Now, a study appearing in the Journal of the American Medical Association seems to have identified another vector for increased use of services. According to the study, patients with online access to medical records and clinicians consume more clinical services than those without access.
The JAMA authors drew this conclusion after studying the consumption of clinical services by members of Kaiser Permanente Colorado, a group model IDS. The Kaiser unit was studied from March 2005 through June 2010, reports Becker’s Hospital Report.
What made the Kaiser unit a good choice was that not only did it have an EMR in place, it also launched a patient portal in May 2006 allowing patients secure access to health records details such as test results, care plans and active medications.
Researchers found that members who used the MyHealthManager portal, which gave access to the EMR, had increased rates of office visits, telephone encounters, after-hours clinic visits, emergency department encounters and hospitalizations during the study period.
I was surprised to find out that JAMA researchers generated this data, especially the ED and hospitalization rates, which seem to have to been markedly different between the two groups.
It did occur to me that perhaps the sickest patients are using the portal, or that those who aren’t using the portal aren’t very engaged in caring for their health, but such relationships are rarely that simple. Besides, the researchers did group patients by “propensity scores” which took patient age, sex, utilization frequencies and chronic illnesses, so we aren’t looking at populations that simply self-selected into the sicker and more healthy.
In any event, I’m glad I stumbled across this study and could share it with you. Knowing that these patterns exist, just in case they turn up in your health system. They’re certainly worth bearing in mind
http://www.hospitalemrandehr.com/2012/11/29/patients-accessing-online-medical-records-use-more-services/?utm_source=Hospital+EMR+and+EHR&utm_campaign=31aa55b10d-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_179ad21ba4-31aa55b10d-60795937
Yes PP, some questions to be asked in a few hours, hope there are some answers. I got to go to bed, 8:30am & the ringing of the Stock Market BELL is going to come very quickly I believe. See in about 4 hours.
3F, not to argue with you or Wallstreet_DIVA & as I mentioned last Friday to Blue Steel I agree a merger or buyout maybe was in the works.
My question with all do respect to Wallstreet_DIVA is... who is Wallstreet_DIVA? He joined Ihub yesterday 6/10 & has only 2 post. Both regarding MMRF. I ask with no ill intention meant.
If he is right we've made some money. But what isn't adding up is if the patents are valid & more are to be granted to MMRGlobal why would BL want to sell. This would be so much larger than $0.40 to $0.80 PPS. I also think if BL was to sell to WebMD he would retain the Bio side of the company.