Brooklyn MD launches first online practice

31-year-old New York family doctor Jay Parkinson opens up the first online practice. read this article on the National Review of Medicine and see how he is taking advantage of being an online practice. In the first few weeks of operation Dr Parkinson’s already signed up 20 patients. Without an office or secretary his overhead is next to nothing. New patients can contact him by filling out an application form on his website which will then land in his email inbox.

Did we mention MGMA? Yeah, we’ll be there too.

The Medical Group Management Association (MGMA) will hosting their 2007 Annual Conference in Philadelphia this year and AdvancedMD will be there. Mark your calendars and make plans to attend the show at the Pennsylvania Convention Center October 28-31! We will be at booth #115, come by and play Guitar Hero and register to win a XBox 360.

Security of Electronic Health Records a Great Concern

It seems like news stories involving data breaches of personal customer information are popping up all over. AIG, ING, Veterans Administration, Ohio University are all companies and organizations that have reported major security breaches in the past several months. Whether it’s a hacking attempt, a random burglary or a direct theft of computer equipment, the exposure of the data is the same. With such high profile cases in the public’s mind, it is no wonder great concern exists over the inevitable push towards electronic medical records.

If top insurance companies and even a government agency can’t protect financial data, why should the public trust centralized storage of sensitive health data? Despite these security challenges, it is still possible to reap the benefits electronic health records tout, without compromising patient data.

Electronic medical records have many benefits, but also great risks. While exposure of financial data can be costly and inconvenient, identity theft can be remedied. Exposing medical records can be much more damaging because a lapse can’t easily be fixed. For instance, if an employer found out a worker had HIV, a chronic STD or cancer, they may make future employment decisions based on that information. There is no putting the proverbial “cat back into the bag” with medical information.

Is there a high security data storage solution?
If you take a look at the publicized security breaches mentioned earlier, only one of them involved hackers. University computer systems tend to be easier to hack because security is not a primary concern of the institution. Two other breaches involved data stolen from laptops in an employee’s residence. The AIG case involved a burglary at the company which resulted in the theft of a laptop and server containing customer data. The events that exposed the most amount of data, almost 3 million entries, were human breaches, not technology breaches.

What is the solution to the data storage problem?
Would you believe web-based could be the best way to centralize and store sensitive medical records? Consider that online banking is used by millions of people each day with no large scale security breaches. If it were easy for hackers to get into bank servers, they wouldn’t have to rely on “phishing” to get financial info. Web-based access would guarantee a stolen laptop wouldn’t expose millions of patient’s data. It also logs access points so all entries can be tracked, plus access can be quickly turned off when needed.

Server security
The most important part of the web-based solution is where the data is stored. Web servers are housed in secure environments that require biometric access and are staffed by well-paid computer professionals. Large technology companies like Google and Microsoft use server solutions like this to guarantee their websites are always running and process secure financial transactions.

Given this information, why would a medical practice purchase billing or EMR software that needs to be installed on their office computer? Further, why would a healthcare professional transport patient records on a laptop or PDA to be worked on later when there is a web-based solution readily available? Just like online banking, it will take some time before web-based medical records become widely accepted. When that happens, the only question will be, “Why didn’t we do this sooner?”

Physician EMR IT Adoption Varies By Specialty

There is an article at FierceHealthIT that EMR adoption varies depending upon the specialty. Access to IT is one of the large reasons why only 12 percent of physicians of any specialty studied were likely to have access to a fully functioning EMR system. Psychiatrists and Ophthalmologist were far less likely than other specialist surveyed to have access to all five of the core EMR functions. Oncologist, were the most likely to have adopted all the EMR functions.

Maintaining A Good Web Rating

Physicians are finding that patients know when a practice is not run efficiently. Furthermore, patients are not afraid to voice their disapproval by posting unfavorable ratings of doctors online. More and more, Physicians are finding that patients turn to the internet to read reviews of the Physicians service before they go to the office. Here is an article from Medical Economics called “My web rating: Oh no!” that talks about the concerns Physicians have about online reviews of their services.

Modern Medicine recently posted the following article on their website entitled: Trashed on the web? Now what? It talks about how poor web reviews can hurt a medical practice. Using an efficient Practice Management Solution like AdvancedMD can help your office improve cash flow, office efficiency, employee moral, patient satisfaction and overall patient care. Patients notice the difference and will let you and the whole world know.