Evidence shows that successful management of complex health conditions requires the close collaboration of providers, patients, and their caregivers, and that the transparency made possible by health information technology may facilitate that collaboration. To help improve care for complex patients, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) has received a $450,000 grant from The Commonwealth Fund to develop develop OurNotes, a new initiative for allowing patients, caregivers, and
Read More
Health IT | News, Analysis, Insights - HIT Consultant
54% of Physicians Find Gaps in Using Health IT for Care Coordination
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
Read More
AMA-Led Coalition Urges ONC to Change EHR Certification
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
Read More
HIMSS Analytics Honors Kaiser Permanente System With Stage 7 Ambulatory Award
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
Read More
ExamMed Launches Universal Healthcare Tech Platform
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.
Read More
ONC Announces Its First Chief Health Information Officer
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
Read More
Mass. General Hospital Utilizes InterSystems for Genomics Research
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
Read More
Wheaton Franciscan To Spend $54M on Epic Implementation
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
Read More
Mayo Clinic Chooses Epic for Integrated EHR & RCM System
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
Read More
Why Behavioral Health Acutely Needs EHRs
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
Read More
