Medical billing, scheduling & EMR software from AdvancedMD
Incentives are a key to convincing doctors and hospitals to computerize patient health records, a report by a state task force recommends.
Incentives could include higher payments by insurers for doctors who use electronic records. Proponents say health information technology can cut costs by preventing duplicate medical testing or procedures, and errors that can lead to allergic reactions or potentially harmful drug interactions.
Over the next two years, hospital executives expect to spend on IT more often than service or building expansions or make acquisitions, according to a new industry survey conducted by Prince Market Research for the law firm Waller Landsen Dortch & Davis.
Despite arguments that e-prescribing is unworkable for physicians at present, a group of Senators have filed a bill which would foster e-prescribing use. Read The Press Release
A sizable majority of Americans believe electronic medical records have the potential to improve U.S. health care and that the benefits outweigh privacy risks, according to a new Wall Street Journal Online/Harris Interactive poll.
It is imperative that providers immediately look at their NPPES records to ensure that they did not inadvertently report their, or someone else’s, SSN in a FOIA-disclosable field; if they did, they need to delete that SSN immediately and, if appropriate, replace it with the correct information (e.g., an EIN). Providers must look in their NPPES records (https://nppes.cms.hhs.gov/)
A new article in Modern Healthcare stats that it’s not that that rare for EMRs to be deployed and then uninstalled-and that nearly 10 percent of installations fail outright. Slightly more than 8% of those surveyed indicated they’d ripped out their EMRs and gone back to paper, with 6% indicating the uprooting occurred in the past, while another 2% responded that they were now experiencing the reversion to paper. According to C. Peter Wagemann of the Medical Records Institute, said “when it comes to switching systems, the trend more often has been to downgrade to less-expensive, less-complicated EMRs than to more-expensive, complicated ones.”
According to a survey published on Insurancenewsnet.com, Nearly 20% of respondents stated their malpractice insurer offers a discount for having an EMR system, and close to half (45%) believe EMRs will make them less vulnerable to malpractice cases. The survey asked respondents from 115 practices in 27 specialties.
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.
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.
