Inside Healthcare Computing Blog

HIT News & Commentary from Inside Healthcare Computing

Update 6/16/10

Posted by catheihc on June 16, 2010

News:

Apollo Health Street announced a second agreement with Mississippi County Hospital System (MCHS) which comprises two hospitals – SMC Regional Medical Center in Osceola, AR and Great River Medical Center in Blytheville, AR. MCHS will now use Apollo’s Patient Access Partnership to review and correct their patient accounts prior to bill drop.

GE Healthcare announced the launch of Centricity Advance, a Software as a Service EMR solution for small independent clinical practices.

eClinicalWorks announced that the non-profit NYC Regional Electronic Adoption Center for Health (NYC REACH), the federally-recognized Regional Extension Center (REC) for New York City, has selected eClinicalWorks unified electronic medical records (EMR) and practice management (PM) system as an option for providers located in New York City.

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius today announced a series of new investments worth $250 million to increase the number of health care providers and strengthen the primary care workforce. The new investments were made possible by the Affordable Care Act.

Inside Healthcare Computing’s 5 for ’10 – A Series of Valuable Quick Tips

Here are some excellent tips to keep in mind as you get ready for Meaningful Use — and the Inside Healthcare Computing articles in which they appeared.
 
1. ”We’re really not in it for the incentives – or to avoid the penalties. We’ve run the numbers and to be honest, we’ll spend more than we get back,” says Guy McAllister, CIO at Tift Regional Medical Center (GA). For McCallister, Meaningful Use is about more than the money.  It’s an opportunity for his hospital to improve outcomes — a point that may resonate with both clinicians and administrators who may be reluctant to invest in new technology.(“Meaningful Use and Patient Safety,” Inside Healthcare Computing , Vol. 20, #11)
 
2. “One of the mistakes we commonly see in traditional training sessions is that the lessons are focused on the system’s functionality, rather than how the system will help users in their daily work,” says Jon Roberts, a consultant with Rule 4 Consulting (OR). The key to successfully implementing a new HIT system is teaching people to use it in the context of their work. (“Keys to Successful IT Adoption,” Inside Healthcare Computing, Vol. 20, #10)
 
3. “The doctors realized that a lot of data has to be tracked and reported on and there’s no way you can do that manually. These physicians have started to see EMR as a necessity. They also see huge dollar signs if they’re successful,” says Chris Jordan, COO, Physicians Health (FL)(“Physician Practice Sees Another Benefit of EHR: Competitive Edge in Recruiting Doctors,” Inside Healthcare Computing, Vol. 20, #9)
 
4. “The private practice environment cannot be equated to the outpatient environment of a hospital. If you plan to offer an EMR solution to your affiliated physicians, form a true partnership that will allow those practices to develop a flexible solution,” says David Levitt, assistant executive administrator, Cardiology Consultants (NY).  (“Physician Practice Shares EMR Implementation Best Practices,” Inside Healthcare Computing Vol. 20, #8)
 
5. “The most important thing to ensure [EHR] implementation success is to get the clinicians involved early on. And if you can swing it, hire a dedicated project manager who is able to concentrate all of his or her attention on the project,” says Terri Rini Barber, VP/CIO, Southwest General Health Center. (“CIO Credits Clinician Involvement with EHR Go-Live Success,” Inside Healthcare Computing, Vol 20, #5)

 

Inside Healthcare Computing offers you best practices, in-depth news, and unbiased stories about how hospitals are leveraging technology to improve patient care and safety.  
   

 

When you subscribe, you’ll receive 25 issues of best practices, news, and unbiased information from the industry’s only independent news source. You’ll also have access to the issues referenced above…and more!
 

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