Practice Technology

More than 100,000 primary care practices are using the services of a regional extension center to implement electronic health records. Consider joining them if your practice is closer to the beginning of the process than the end.

Physicians are doing their part to improve the lackluster economy. Healthcare employment grew by 12,000 jobs in October, with 8,000 of those jobs in doctors' offices, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. This after September saw the highest growth in healthcare employment in 9 years. Find out how that rate compares with growth in other industry sectors and how long you can expect the healthcare boom to last.

The American Medical Association House of Delegates has voted to “work vigorously to stop implementation of ICD-10” by an October 2013 deadline. But don’t get your hopes up. The smart money is probably on the government. Find out what the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services said about changing the deadline, and why the agency is so anxious to start using the new coding system.

Here’s a novel use of electronic health records: Using the technology to provide an “electronic cohort” that allows you to evaluate a course of treatment on a real-time basis. Usually, physicians rely on randomized, controlled trials, when possible, and turn to expert opinion when necessary. But what if experts aren't available or testing is inconclusive? Find out how a medical team used a quick analysis of an EHR database to determine treatment of a pediatric patient with systemic lupus erythematosus complicated by nephritic-range proteinuria, antiphospholipid antibodies, and pancreatitis.

Responding to a new report that says growing pains for health information technology are creating some short-term safety issues, technology experts say physicians should remember one immutable fact: The new systems are far less dangerous than the old paper-based systems still used by many practices. The Institute of Medicine said there have been reported cases of patient injury related to medication dosing errors, failure to detect fatal illnesses, and treatment delays due to poor human-computer interactions or loss of data. Read on to learn how can you avoid these errors when using technology in your practice.

Here’s something you may not want to hear as you scramble to meet the October 1, 2013, deadline for ICD-10 conversion: ICD-11 will be available about 2 years later. That reality was discussed at the recent American Health Information Management Association meeting, which featured a speaker from the World Health Organization, the developer of the International Classification of Diseases. Find out why the next conversion might not be as burdensome.

The government is jumping the gun in trying to develop metadata standards for healthcare technology, according to two industry groups. Those standards are proposed for meaningful use stage 2 and could affect your electronic health record implementation. Find out what prompted concerns that standards are too early for metadata, which embed descriptive information about the meaning and use of data.

Making sure all of your older patients receive necessary vaccines is a challenge; 34% of adults aged more than 65 years fail to get a seasonal influenza vaccine and 40% lack pneumococcal vaccinations. Your electronic medical record system could provide an effective solution, however. A recent study reports that EMR reminders increase pneumococcal vaccination rates by 50% and raise influenza vaccination rates 20%, compared with usual care. How can this system work for you, and how much of your time will it require?

Who are you going to hire to help implement and maintain your increasingly sophisticated electronic health record systems over the next few years? Depending on where you live, that could be a real challenge, according to the American Health Information Management Association. The group warns that, in many parts of the country, no one will be available without concerted training and incentives. Find out what's being done to increase the supply of trained professionals for practices such as yours.

Managing your online presence involves more than just creating a Web site.

Electronic health records are changing the paradigm of medical practice by making increasing volumes of information more central to patient care.

Care for patients with diabetes improved appreciably when their physicians use electronic health records extensively.

The incentives driving electronic health record adoption could be affected if health information technology falls victim to cuts by the Congressional Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction. Here?s what the experts have to say.

If you failed to meet the June 30 electronic prescribing deadline, you've got an extra month to avoid a cut in next year's Medicare payment. Here?s more information on the exemptions and how you might qualify.

Although physicians have not been early adopters of social media, their numbers online are increasing.

Discover what type of administrative work is involved with web portals.

Determine whether it's worth your investment to buy voice recognition software.

Physician practices are steadily adopting electronic health records (EHRs), according to recent reports, and primary care physicians are leading the pack. More than 40% of practices now use EHRs, with more than 2,200 already having attested to meaningful use. Who are they and how did they do it?

Meaningful use incentives are a strong motivator for physicians to implement electronic health records (EHRs), but lack of funds remains the primary reason for not taking the plunge, according to a new survey. Still, practices which had stretched to buy them were highly satisfied with EHRs.

Add effective use of technology to diet, exercise and medication compliance when it comes to helping patients control their diabetes. A study found that care for patients with diabetes was appreciably improved when their physicians used electronic health records (EHRs) extensively. And lowering A1c? There?s an app for that.

Is your practice inadvertently trying to double-dip when it comes to Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) incentive programs? To make sure you don?t, the agency has posted new answers to frequently asked questions (FAQs) about how many incentives you can receive at once. The information is complicated but useful.

A recent article in the New England Journal of Medicine says that new information systems tend initially to increase malpractice risks for physician practices, largely because of unfamiliarity with the system and computer-related errors.

Respondents to the 2011 Medical Group Management Association (MGMA) Medical Practice Today survey said four of the top five "considerable or extreme challenges" they face relate to operational issues.

Two information systems designed to detect Medicare and Medicaid fraud are not working as well as they should, according to the Government Accountability Office (GAO).

EHRs may be breathing new life into the mobile personal health record market. The mobile format encourages development of applications that allow patients to manage chronic diseases, make appointments, and perform other tasks.

The interim final rule was released in early July by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and is available for comment until September 6. It requires insurers to use uniform transmission formats and standardized forms when they request information or provide patients' claims and coverage information to doctors.

More than 70% of primary care and multispecialty practices are on the path to becoming Patient-Centered Medical Homes, according to a new study, and some new technology is helping them gather the patient information they need to achieve that status. Learn about some products that can help your practice conduct affordable patient surveys.

Opponents of Medicare?s sustainable growth rate (SGR) formula are hoping their YouTube video goes viral. The American Academy of Family Physicians and 10 other physician-led groups released the YouTube video as part of a coordinated effort to infect Congress with the desire to eliminate the SGR in any deficit-reduction plan. Here?s a preview.

More than 90% of medical practices responding to a recent survey said that it would be ?very? or ?extremely? burdensome to meet the requirements of the proposed ?accounting of disclosures? rule. Read more to find out what several associations are suggesting in place of that rule.

DrFirst?s release of the first application available nationwide and approved by the Drug Enforcement Agency for e-prescribing of controlled substances should make e-prescribing easier for physicians?and prescription abuse a little harder for patients. Learn more about the product and how you may no longer have to maintain a dual prescribing system?paper for controlled substances and electronic for everything else.