Today's Top Stories
1. Physicians, patients find Meaningful Use successful, practices say
2. Partners' mEHR app improves workflow, communication with patients
3. drchrono certification a mainstream win-win for EHRs, mobile health
4. Patient records system failure looms over CSC acquisition
5. New Memorial Hermann HIE pushes health data to docs Q&A - Shred-it International's Andrew Lenardon: Tips for patient data security: Policies, education, funding Also Noted: Krames Whitepaper
Spotlight On... Oncology journal puts EMRs, CPOE under the bright lights
Highmark, West Penn Allegheny team to help docs acquire EHRs; Sebelius discusses EMR benefits in tornado-ravaged Joplin, Mo.; and much more...
 | Forrester Analyst on Mobile Insights for Health Insurers – Drive Adoption and Improve Access to Care
Thursday, August 18, 2011, 2pm ET/ 11am PT Join Liz Boehm, principal analyst for Customer Experience in Healthcare and Life Sciences at Forrester Research, and Aaron Kaufman, general manager and vice president of Healthcare and Life Sciences at Kony, as they discuss current mobile adoption and ongoing mobile initiatives being driven by health insurers. Register today! |
Q&A: Andrew Lenardon Tips for patient data security: Policies, education, funding
 Many hospital employees today, believe it or not, are not well versed in distinguishing confidential patient information from non-confidential information, according to Andrew Lenardon (pictured), a director of indirect and solution sales for Shred-it International, an information security and document destruction company. What's more, Lenardon says, such employees likely wouldn't know how to react in the event of a privacy breach. And with organizations like the World Privacy Forum estimating upward of 500,000 cases of medical identity theft annually, such a lack of preparedness is hardly what your hospital needs.
Lenardon recently chatted with FierceHealthcare about some of the various privacy issues facing healthcare organizations today, and what he's learned in dealing with those issues. FierceHealthcare: What are the patient data security issues at hospitals? Lenardon: There's a lot, to be blunt. Some of the security issues are employee awareness and management support. If your employees aren't aware of the security issues or the security protection requirements, that's a big problem. If the management isn't supporting those policies or creating those policies in the first place, that's a huge issue, as well. Some other areas that hospital executives need to think about is how they're handling the hard drives in copiers, laptops, and external storage devices, as well as confidential paper and disposing of that information in a secure manner. You have to think about things like patient records being sent to the wrong places. You also have to think about non-paper issues, such as patient health information that is on plastic--like patient cards--that gets misplaced. You also need to think about medical files that are left unattended. Having a complete lack of security on some hospital floors is a big issue, where you've got people coming and going within a hospital setting that are not background checked and not employees of the organization, and they can walk right into those environments. That's a very large physical access issue that leads to breaches. --> CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL INTERVIEW Read more about: patient data, data security, data breach
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Today's Top News 1. Physicians, patients find Meaningful Use successful, practices say
It's a daunting task, but the small percentage of office-based physicians who have implemented EHRs and participated in the government's meaningful use incentive program indeed have lived to tell about it. Ft. Wayne (Ind.) Cardiology, a 24-physician cardiology group that has been using health IT since 1996, is one example of a practice that already has attested to the government that it was a meaningful user and has received the maximum $18,000 per physician incentive for 2011. In addition to the EHR, Ft. Wayne physicians have access to e-prescribing and decision-support tools, as well as the ability to report quality measures directly to the American College of Cardiology's PINNACLE registry, Dr. Michael Mirro told Internal Medicine News. The CCHIT-certified system also includes a meaningful use "meter" that tells physicians how well they are meeting the goals. The cost of the web-based system is about $2,000 per physician per year, less than average because the practice is owned by a hospital. In addition, the practice already has achieved the stage 2 goal of incorporating a patient web portal. Like most practices, Ft. Wayne experienced its share of growing pains in adopting the technology. One way the practice helped smooth the transition, however, is by offering point-and-click templates for physicians who don't know how to type. Meanwhile in rural Kansas (with not enough broadband access for web-based systems), family physician Dr. Jennifer Brull has incurred far greater expenses--about $30,000 per physician so far--on her road to meaningful use. She also told IMN that the first six months following implementation were particularly challenging both mentally and physically. Despite the struggles, Brull hasn't looked back. "I've found it easier to be more collaborative [with my patients]," she said. For example, she recently used an EHR-generated graph to show a patient that she had gained 40 pounds over three years. The graph made much more of an impression on the patient than Dr. Brull could have done by reading numbers off a paper chart, she said. In April, Brull collected the full Medicare incentive payment for 2011. Another recent EMR adopter, North Carolina pediatrician Dr. Bill Adams, recently shared an insightful summary of his practice's six-week implementation period on the blog Pediatric Inc. The post includes a concise list of items the doctor appreciates, regrets, and looks forward to regarding his EMR. His closing: The practice has 40 linear feet of chart shelving for sale. To learn more:
- read the article in Internal Medicine News
- see this post from Pediatric Inc. Related Articles:
Family docs prefer small-practice EMR systems
EHR waste: States pay millions in incentives without verifying
Good and bad reasons why EMRs still stir doubt Read more about: EMR, meaningful use, EHR
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2. Partners' mEHR app improves workflow, communication with patients
 Boston-based Partners HealthCare kicked its mobile strategy into high gear this week, launching an app for its electronic health record, and setting its sights on mobile radiology next.
The healthcare system announced Tuesday that it had completed a light-speed pilot/rollout of only 90 days. Already more than 2,000 clinicians are using the new app, and it's having a "positive impact on workflow" for most, John Pappas, Partners' associate director of clinical systems integration, said in an announcement. "Instead of finding a workstation, logging in, accessing the patient record and then going to see a patient, they can just pull the iPhone from a pocket and review results at the bedside while they're talking to the patient," he said. "And, they can check on the latest information-test results, for example-at any time from any location." But it's not just physicians who want that bedside review, Robert Havasy, project specialist for Partners' Center for Connected Health told FierceMobileHealthcare. Patients, too, are eager for hospitals to get their mobile initiatives underway. "Focus group after focus group of patients tell us that this is the way they expect to interact with their physicians," Havasy said. "They bank online, they text their family and friends, and they expect the same systems to work in medicine. It's the way everything is moving." On the back-end of the project, it was a "presentation layer" that helped get the EHR onto mobile devices, Pappas said. It solved the biggest difficulty with mobile-enabling the EHR, putting a PC's worth of patient data onto the far smaller smartphone or tablet screen. "We initially developed the presentation layer for the iPhone. The fact that they're encrypted devices and were being used by many physicians made them a logical choice for the initial rollout," Pappas said. They've since extended the app to Blackberry and iPad platforms. One interesting note: Partners chose not to provide mobile devices to its staff, instead allowing them to use their personal devices to access the EHR. It means the IT department has less control, but it seems the project's speed simply didn't allow time for researching, vetting, buying and enabling a host of company-owned devices. "There is definitely a growing demand for new mobile apps, as well as additions to the mEHR," Pappas said. "We're getting requests from business units and clinical groups throughout the organization." One of the squeaky-wheel business units must be radiology because that's next on Partners' mobile priority list, hospital officials note. The radiology imaging initially will be available only on the iPad, but eventually will be enabled for Android devices, as well. To learn more:
- check out the Partners' press release
- read more at HealthcareIT News Related Articles:
Home health devices, mobile apps need to be connected to providers
Partners Healthcare: How EMR, health IT implementation boosts medication reconciliation Read more about: iPad, healthcare apps, mHealth, smartphone apps
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3. drchrono certification a mainstream win-win for EHRs, mobile health
 The government certification of drchrono's iPad app for Meaningful Use, announced last week, represents more than a giant leap for the company, which only a few weeks ago secured $675,000 in seed money. It also has the potential to push both electronic health records and mobile health into the mainstream, simultaneously.
While a Fierce colleague rarely praises the general media's reporting on matters regarding healthcare technology (with this example being one of the only cases), we must say that outlets such as Reuters and the Washington Post seem to have hit the nail on the head with their respective reports about the news. Drchrono's app, after all, is free (even if only to the first user in a practice; additional users must pay between $99 and $199 each). And the company's user base already has climbed beyond 100,000 practitioners, up from 55,000 at the beginning of 2011. What's more, the EHR platform is mobile via the iPad, as the first of its kind to be officially certified, according to the company, beating Epocrates to the punch). With the mobile platform, drchrono will be very convenient for physicians, who already have been transitioning in droves to more mobile pastures. "This certification transforms our EHR app and the iPad into a potentially affordable platform that could finally drive global usage and adoption of electronic medical records," drchrono co-founder and CEO Michael Nusimow said in a statement. "The government subsidy offered to physicians who adopt our free EHR solution could be transformational in bringing electronic record keeping into every medical practice." To learn more:
- here's the drchrono announcement
- check out this Washington Post blog post
- read the Reuters article Related Articles:
drchrono wins $675K in seed funding bringing EMRs to the iPad
iPad positives seem to outweigh drawbacks for healthcare
Half of providers said to have EMRs, but many docs fear intrusion Read more about: Epocrates, Meaningful Use, Electronic Health Records, EHRs
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4. Patient records system failure looms over CSC acquisition
 It will be interesting to see what kind of fruit Computer Sciences Corporation's (CSC) recent acquisition of international healthcare software supplier iSOFT will bear in the U.S., after reports that the latter's electronic patient record system in the U.K. has flopped.
Falls Church, Va.-based CSC's $189 million purchase of the Australian company, which provides clinical and business information systems to hospitals in more than 40 countries, was finalized this week, according to a CSC announcement. While iSOFT--which conducts most of its business outside of the U.S., particularly in Australia, India, Spain and the U.K.--is supposed to help CSC expand its global presence in the healthcare IT market, CSC is expected to help iSOFT make a move into the U.S. market. But a committee of the U.K. Parliament recently found that the National Health Service's investment in electronic health records has produced no benefit for taxpayers, according to The Guardian. The project is behind schedule and over budget, the committee report said, with iSOFT described as responsible for installing a large base of the systems in the failed venture. In response, CSC said it continues to believe that the EHR initiative "will deliver value for money to the U.K. government." CSC noted that iSOFT already has implemented similar systems successfully in 1,800 sites across the north, midlands, and east regions of England. "These systems are already delivering substantial benefits through the introduction of electronic patient record systems into primary and secondary care," the company said in a statement. iSOFT's plans for the U.S. include introducing an enterprise scheduling solution that will become part of CSC's accountable care organization initiative. It might also bring solutions related to interoperability and clinical analytics to the U.S. market, Bob Reese, managing director of CSC's North American health delivery practice, told FierceHealthIT. Conversely, Reese said, iSOFT "will take advantage of CSC's broad service capabilities. "Where there are opportunities to support iSoft in providing services to existing base of business, we'll be putting those solutions there," he said. "iSOFT is uniquely positioned with CSC to strengthen their position on a global basis." iSOFT provides products and services to more than 13,000 provider organizations around the world and employs about 3,000 people. To learn more:
- read the CSC announcement
- see The Guardian's article Related Content:
CSC implements first phase of North Carolina EHR incentive system
CSC: wireless technologies, robots will transform care Read more about: national health service, EHRs, iSoft, Accountable Care Organizations
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5. New Memorial Hermann HIE pushes health data to docs
 MHMD, the physician network of Memorial Hermann Healthcare System in Houston, is implementing a new health information exchange and point-of-care reminder system to increase clinical integration and improve the quality of care.
Memorial Hermann, a national trend setter among integrated delivery systems, has about 3,500 employed and independent physicians in its affiliated network. But only the physicians in what MHMD calls its "advanced primary care practices" will participate in the rollout of the new patient-centered medical program, according to an article in Healthcare IT News. The central health IT feature in this program is an innovative point-of-care tool that will provide physicians and nurses with up-to-date information on the care of each patient when they come for a visit or call a practice on the phone. Apparently, the new HIE will supply the data that will be automatically forwarded to clinicians at every point of contact with the patient. For example, physicians can be prompted to order needed tests, or can be informed about medication changes made by other doctors. This will fill a gap in the dissemination of information to providers because information will be pushed to them, instead of them having to search for the data. Physicians in the advanced primary care practices program are seeking to build patient-centered medical homes. Besides using the new HIE and point-of-care service, they must follow evidence-based guidelines, report quality data, promote patient self-management, use registries and prescribe electronically. Over the past few years, MHMD has helped hundreds of physicians adopt electronic health records. It claims to be the largest clinically integrated physician network in Texas; however, it has been less successful in contracting with payers than it had hoped, according to a recent network newsletter. To learn more:
- read the Healthcare IT News article
- see my 2007 story in Medical Economics about MHMD's EHR plans (reg. required)
- check out the Spring 2011 MHMD newsletter (.pdf) Related Articles:
Zynx, 5 major systems to test CDS for accountable care
KLAS: "Private" HIEs leaving "public" HIEs in the dust Read more about: quality data, EHRs, Clinical Integration, HIE
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Also Noted
SPOTLIGHT ON... Oncology journal puts EMRs, CPOE under the bright lights The latest issue of the Journal of Oncology Practice offers a treasure-trove of electronic medical record goodies, with articles ranging from the relevance of Meaningful Use to CPOE implementation tips and traps. Writing about the vital role that EMRs will play in healthcare delivery, Dr. Peter Paul Yu, of the Palo Alto (Calif.) Medical Foundation, points out the many problems plaguing our healthcare system--a fragmented provider base; poor communication among providers and patients; misaligned stakeholder incentives; disparate governance structures and insufficient financial resources. Nothing short of an entire societal culture shift will save us, he argues. "Although widespread adoption of electronic health records is frequently and correctly cited as necessary to meet the challenge of doing better with less, technology alone will not accomplish this," he writes. Meanwhile, Johns Hopkins researchers Allen R. Chen and Christoph U. Lehmann share the key learnings of their CPOE implementation at Johns Hopkins Children's Medical and Surgical Center in Baltimore. While the hospital used a "standard, commercially available CPOE system," Chen and Lehmann describe the painstaking customization that was necessary to address the complexities of pediatric oncology, including the development of 30 medical logic modules and 110 order sets. Their efforts have paid off. Docs more often submit orders that adhere to specific research protocols and standard order sets. And medication-related patient safety events have decreased by 39 percent. "Acceptance of the system is high in all clinical disciplines," they write. --Read the full Journal issue > Health insurer Highmark, West Penn Allegheny Health System, Allscripts and Accenture all are joining forces to help doctors acquire electronic health record systems, Healthcare IT News reports. Article > A cloud-based integrated electronic health record from 4medica recently earned certification as an EHR module, according to a post on EMR Daily News. Post > Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius touted the benefits of electronic medical records while touring through tornado-ravaged Joplin, Mo. this week. The city's hospital, St. John's Regional Medical Center, implemented an EMR system the week before being struck. "There's no question that...the availability of an electronic record may have actually saved lives," Sebelius said, the Associated Press reports. Article And Finally... Not exactly Lake Tahoe or Honolulu. Article > Forrester Analyst on Mobile Insights for Health Insurers - Thursday, August 18, 2011, 2pm ET/ 11am PT Join Liz Boehm, principal analyst for Customer Experience in Healthcare and Life Sciences at Forrester Research, and Aaron Kaufman, general manager and vice president of Healthcare and Life Sciences at Kony, as they discuss current mobile adoption and ongoing mobile initiatives being driven by health insurers. Register today!
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> Medical Device Connectivity Conference - Sept. 8-9, 2011 - Boston, MA Third Annual Medical Device Connectivity Conference & Exhibition, Conference Center at Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, Sept. 8-9, 2011. The event will focus on connecting medical devices to people, workflow and information systems. Learn more.
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> Mobility Advantage: Becoming an Unwired Enterprise You see new smartphones and tablets everywhere. But are you still wondering what the benefits of mobilizing could be for your business? In this new white paper, we've outlined a few ways that mobility can transform how your business operates and competes. Get your copy now, compliments of Sybase. Download now. > eBook: ACOs: The Game-changing Lessons That Payers & Providers Have Already Learned This eBook from FierceHealthcare delves into the many unknowns surrounding the controversial model of accountable care – from startup costs and IT requirements to care coordination and payer involvement. Click here to download this eBook now! > New Whitepaper: Meaningful Use Requirements for Patient Education There are lots of ways that EHRs can be used to meaningfully engage and inform patients. How do you unlock this “automated” potential? Download this new Whitepaper to learn how providers are using their EHRs to involve patients in their care and help improve outcomes.
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