54% of Physicians Find Gaps in Using Health IT for Care Coordination

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EHRs

Among physicians routinely using health IT for care coordination, at least 54% of them did not receive the information electronically, according to a study published in Medical Care.  The study finds that although a higher percentage of physicians using HIT received patient information necessary for care coordination than those who did not use HIT, more than one third did not routinely receive the needed patient information at all. Study Background Agency for Healthcare Research and
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AMA-Led Coalition Urges ONC to Change EHR Certification

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ONC Kicks Off Behavioral Mobile Health App Challenge

On Wednesday, a coalition of 35 medical societies led by the American Medical Association sent a letter to the ONC National Coordinator for Health IT Karen DeSalvo, M.D., urging to change the EHR certification program to "align to better align end-to-end testing to focus on EHR usability, interoperability, and safety." The nine page letter to Karen DeSalvo states, “The undersigned organizations are writing to elevate our concern about the current trajectory of the certification of electronic
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HIMSS Analytics Honors Kaiser Permanente System With Stage 7 Ambulatory Award

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HIMSS Stage 7_HIMSS Analytics

HIMSS Analytics recognized 350 Kaiser Permanente ambulatory clinics with its Stage 7 Ambulatory Award. The award represents Kaiser Permanente’s attainment of the highest level on the Electronic Medical Record Adoption Model™ (EMRAM), which is used to track EMR progress at hospitals and health systems. 7 Ambulatory Award Background  Developed in 2011, the EMR Ambulatory Adoption Model provides a methodology for evaluating the progress and impact of electronic medical record systems for
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ExamMed Launches Universal Healthcare Tech Platform

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The healthcare market is crowded with fragmented technologies that cannot stand alone to improve efficiencies for providers – from new devices and apps to in-office systems. To address the need for a one-touch solution, ExamMed has announced the official launch of its universal healthcare technology platform that integrates several standalone functions including online scheduling, universal patient profile, interoperability, telehealth, referral management and billing — into a single platform.
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ONC Announces Its First Chief Health Information Officer

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MichaelMcCoy

In a note to ONC staff, the National Coordinator for Health IT Karen DeSalvo announced that Dr. Michael James McCoy will be joining ONC as their first Chief Health Information Officer, effective January 26, 2015. In his new role, Dr. McCoy will lead the development of ONC clinical policy for standards and regulatory matters to help ensure ONC initiatives improve health beyond health care, including serving as the lead clinical subject matter expert on interoperability. He will report directly to
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Mass. General Hospital Utilizes InterSystems for Genomics Research

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InterSystems Brings Big Data Expertise to Global Alliance for Genomics and Health

The Center for Integrated Diagnostics (CID) at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) is collaborating with InterSystems, a provider of software for connected healthcare, to help accelerate innovations in molecularly targeted medicine. Collaboration Overview MGH CID is exploring how the InterSystems HealthShare® health informatics platform can support genomic research and clinical innovations. HealthShare enables interoperability across multiple systems and data formats, making it possible to
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Wheaton Franciscan To Spend $54M on Epic Implementation

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Wheaton Franciscan Healthcare will reportedly spend $54 million to integrate Epic's EHR system in its 14 hospitals and more 70 physician offices, according to the Milwaukee Business Journal. The project will integrate clinical records between Wheaton Franciscan's hospitals and its physician offices that has already been running on Epic since 2012. Currently, clinicians at Wheaton Franciscan facilities can only view patients records from across the system; however, they enter any
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Mayo Clinic Chooses Epic for Integrated EHR & RCM System

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Mayo Clinic Study Reveals Patient Portals Had Little impact on Face to Face Visits

Mayo Clinic announced today that Epic has been selected as its strategic partner for a single, integrated EHR and revenue cycle management (RCM) system. The new system will replace Mayo’s current three EHRs in use today and serve as the foundation for Mayo Clinic operations over the next several decades. “We’re confident in choosing Epic as our strategic partner as we continue to enhance Mayo Clinic’s excellence in health care and medical innovation,” says John Noseworthy, M.D., Mayo
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Why Behavioral Health Acutely Needs EHRs

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Closed EHR Systems_Dr.-Edmund-Billings

Exclusion from federal funding makes no clinical, economic or policy sense A show of hands: Who believes depression or bipolar disorder have no impact on the severity and treatment of a patient’s diabetes and COPD? It’s an idea no practicing physician would support. Yet time and again, we act as though mental illness and care can be kept separate from physical ailments. Take Meaningful Use (MU), for example. The federal government believes healthcare must move into the digital age and is
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3 Healthcare Executives Discuss Changes in Their Hospitals

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As hospitals prepare for more change to help achieve their goal of more significant cost reductions, two themes emerged: better access to data and improved alignment. Jump Technologies, a provider of cloud-based inventory management solutions for hospitals and healthcare organizations spoke with three healthcare executives about what they see changing in their hospital organizations as they plan for 2015. Here are their insights:  Robert Hatkins, Business Development & Analytics
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