EMR Daily News: “Recording and charting changes in vital signs has been identified as one of the core areas that will be measured for meaningful use incentives. The new Intelligent Medical Devices HIMSS Analytics white paper, sponsored by Lantronix (NASDAQ: LTRX), and posted on the HIMSS Analytics website, details progress on these efforts. The research suggests that just one-third of hospitals in the HIMSS Analytics sample on medical device utilization indicated they had an active interface between medical devices at their organization and their electronic medical record (EMR).”
EMR
EMR data exchange with web services (article)
I came across an interesting article recently in the International Journal of Biomedical Engineering and Technology1. The article discusses the difficulties in designing an EMR system capable of providing optimal access to data elements while remaining efficient and user friendly. Â It was a good look at the current state of healthcare data exchange.
Abstract:
This paper discusses how to share medical information between heterogeneous applications via web services. Our design theory is based on a real-options framework, performance analysis and experience building iRevive, a working web-services-enabled pre-hospital documentation application. The trade-offs between efficiency and flexibility are examined in the context of exchanging information based on emerging standards in the healthcare world. These trade-offs are quantified using a real-options approach. We illustrate the importance of uncertainty in deciding the architecture enabling an application to access medical information from Electronic Medical Records (EMRs).
Cool Technology for Pharmacy – Practice Fusion EMR
Practice Fusion is a company based out of San Francisco that offers a free web-based electronic medical record (EMR), or is it electronic health record (EHR). To the best of my knowledge Practice Fusion was founded in 2005 and has been rapidly expanding ever since. Practice Fusion offers its EMR software free of charge in exchange for putting up with a few advertisements. The advertisements are non-obtrusive and don’t appear to get in the way of any of the application’s functionality. In fact, I didn’t even notice them. The best part of this revenue model is that it makes the software freely accessible to any physician that would like to use it. In addition, users are not required to install any new hardware of software. Very nice.
New edition of “Keys to EMR/EHR Success” available
EMR Daily News: “Greenbranch Publishing announces the Second Edition of the breakthrough book for practices eager to minimize the costs, confusion and outright risks of choosing and implementing an Electronic Medical Record system. Keys to EMR/EHR Success: Selecting and Implementing an Electronic Medical Record, 2nd Edition by Ronald Sterling, CPA, MBA, paperback, 304 pages, ISBN: … Read more
We need a better system for medication reconciliation
Medication reconciliation is defined by JCAHO as “the process of comparing a patient’s medication orders to all of the medications that the patient has been taking. This reconciliation is done to avoid medication errors such as omissions, duplications, dosing errors, or drug interactions.†The process should be fairly straight forward, but it is actually very difficult and time consuming.
LIJ Health System to subsidize EMR deployment in New York
InformationWeek Healthcare: “The rollout is believed to be the nation’s largest EMR deployment to date, said North Shore LIJ CIO John Bosco. The health system serves five million people in the New York metro area, operating 14 hospitals, 18 long-term care facilities, five home-health agencies, dozens of outpatient centers, and a hospice network. Under the … Read more
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act is not without risk
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) has created quite a flutter of activity in healthcare during the past several months. I can’t remember a time when something was such a popular topic. Everywhere you look, Twitter, Facebook, personal blogs, professional blogs, and so on are talking about how to demonstrate “meaningful use†and get … Read more
Hypatia research study only states the obvious
EMR Daily News: “Hypatia Research, LLC today released a report entitled “What Healthcare CIOs Need to Know About ARRA & EHR: Healthcare Technology Solutions & Service Providersâ€. Beyond the obvious value of centralized access to patient data, Hypatia Research discerned that electronic records systems provide health providers with multiple benefits: 1. ACCURACY& ERROR-CHECKS; 2. REPORTING; … Read more
Yep, there’s an EMR app for the iPhone
Healthcare IT Consultant Blog: “It appears Caretools has thought of this, offering its iChart EHR for the iPhone, immediately available to anyone on the iTunes store. Before you scoff that it must be a limited-functionality, toy of an EHR, consider this: it offers ePrescribing, transmission of lab reports, ICD9-compliant billing code functionality, and a sophisticated … Read more
Find a clinical trial using your iPhone
Healthcare IT Consultant: “Buoyed by the encouraging use of its PHR and Twitter based Clinical Trial matching service, TrialX is readying to release its iPhone application this month. This application, designed for doctors and patients, further underscores TrialX’s commitment to drive technology enabled consumer-driven healthcare. Using the TrialX iPhone App, doctors can search for clinical trials … Read more