InterOpNurse

In The News 02/19/2010

InterOpNurse — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 19:11:29 +0000

NURSING AND COMPUTERS: THE INEVITABLE MOVE TOWARDS ELECTRONIC HEALTH RECORDS (EHR)

Nursing and computers have not always been a perfect mix. Typically, nurses try to get away from new computer systems as much as possible. However, it is an inevitable workflow evolution in today’s hospitals. Read more…

MEDICAL BILLING AND CODING

If you are interested in becoming a medical billing and coding specialist, another field you might want to consider would be Nursing Informatics. There are many similarities between nursing informatics and medical billing and coding. For instance, nursing informatics is in the medical industry, but does not carry the burden of customer service. Also, nursing informatics is a technical job that is carried out in an office or some work out of their homes. It is not necessary for them to be present in the hospital or doctors office to perform their jobs. The demand for nursing informatics is growing rapidly, like medical billing and coding, due to the new expectations placed on the medical field by the Federal Government. Since the aim is to have all patient information accessible on line, there has been rapid growth in these two industries. It would be impossible for medical records to be electronically accessible without either medical billing or coding, or nursing informatics. Read more…

ANIA-Caring Merge into a single organization

Falls Church, VA. – The American Nursing Informatics Association (ANIA) and CARING, both nationally recognized non-profit Nursing Informatics organizations, announced their January 1, 2010 merger into a new entity, ANIA-CARING. The combined organization, with 3000+ membership in 50 states and 34 countries, is of the largest associations of its kind in the country.

For more information, view their website at: http://www.ania-caring.org

AT HOME WITH THE UPWARDLY MOBILE

Treating patients at home requires mobile access to data. A few trusts are learning how to make this work

Tracey Caldwell

 Smart Healthcare, Wednesday 17 February 2010 09.00 GMT

That’s all write: a digipen user completing a maternity visit form. Pen strokes are recorded electronically and sent through a mobile device to a record system. Photo: Anoto Read more…

LOOKING FORWARD: HEALTH CARE AND THE FUTURE OF NURSING CAREERS

What does the future look like for nursing careers? It is predicted that in the next ten to twenty years, things might be quite different from how they currently stand. As new technologies, treatments and drugs, shifts in health care policies, insurance policies, limited healthcare professionals especially nurses, indications are that the health care profession may have to reinvent itself. For instance, with advancements in technology, many functions could be automated. For instance, patient records and documentation, smart beds that can monitor patients vital signs, use of bar codes, and automated medicine carts could conceivably be used to save time and reduce errors in medication dispensing. Also voice-activated technologies would cut down the need to write down many things. Tasks such as serving meals could be taken taken over by trained aides to free up nurses to provide a human touch to their patients. Read more…

VIRGINIA GETS MILLIONS FOR ELECRONIC HEALTH DATA

Virginia will receive $24 million in federal money during the next four years to improve the exchange of electronic health information. Read more…

Healthcare Wants a Tablet, But Not Apple’s iPad | Survey Results

InterOpNurse — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 03:13:48 +0000

By InterOpNurse guest contributor: Chris Thorman of Software Advice

Chris Thorman

Healthcare Wants a Tablet, But Not Apple’s iPad | Survey Results

Posted on February 4, 2010 at 6:14 pm | 4 Comments

Last week, during the fever pitch surrounding the announcement of Apple’s iPad tablet, Software Advice surveyed 178 physicians, nurses, medical students and healthcare IT professionals about what the healthcare industry’s ideal tablet would look like. This isn’t our first time talking tablets and healthcare. In April of last year, we wondered if the Apple tablet would become the ideal device to run electronic health record (EMR) software.

Our goal with this survey: Find out what healthcare professionals want in a tablet and how well Apple’s iPad fulfills those wants. Let’s see what we found out from our survey results:

Majority of Healthcare Professionals Are Likely to Buy a Tablet

This chart shows how likely respondents are to purchase a tablet for healthcare use in the next year.

When nearly a dozen new tablet devices were shown at the Consumer Electronics Show earlier this year, it looked like 2010 was going to be the year of the tablet’s emergence as a consumer gadget.

Judging by the survey data above, 2010 also may be the year of the tablet’s emergence in healthcare. Of the respondents to the survey, 54% said they were either very likely or somewhat likely to purchase a tablet for healthcare use over the next year. That’s good news for tablet makers.

Tablet Tasks

This chart shows what percentage of respondents want to use a tablet for a particular task.

Healthcare workers want to use tablets for a wide variety of tasks. A majority of our respondents said they wanted to use a tablet for all of the above tasks except for billing, coding and claims.

Ease of Use and Software Selection are Top Reasons for Tablet Selection

This chart shows what criteria is most important to survey respondents when purchasing a tablet.

According to survey results, ease of use is the major purchase reason for a majority of healthcare professionals. That may fare well for the iPad. Why? The iPad runs on the popular iPhone operating system. Thousands of doctors are already using iPhones in clinical settings.

In addition, the iPad has a finger touchscreen. Of our healthcare respondents, 63% said they preferred a finger touchscreen over styluses and voice dictation when asked about their data input preference. Many of those same people said that the speed of the data entry was the determining factor when noting a preference for the finger touchscreen.

How important is quick data entry in healthcare? Here’s what one respondent had to say:

As an MD in the ER, I am the most ‘expensive’ employee … doing data entry. The available software for data entry for my physicians is rudimentary at best. Speed is the key. I need to be able to see 30 patients in 8 hours and FULLY document the visit in a time-efficient fashion.

In the case of healthcare workers, ease of use could appears to at least partially equate to speed of use. The iPad’s operating system and touchscreen would appear to have both criteria.

In terms of medical software selection, the iPad lags far behind virtually every other tablet on the market. Despite having over 5,000 medical apps immediately available for download through Apple’s App Store, none of those apps are a functional EMR system or even remotely close to one. The vast majority of EMR software on the market today will not run on a Mac OSX operating system. Most require a Windows-based operating system to function.

The iPad may have an easy to use operating system helped by a finger touchscreen but those pros are nullified by that system’s inability to run the vast majority of medical software on the market today.

What Healthcare Wants, the iPad Doesn’t Have

After reviewing dozens of tablets on the market, both consumer focused and healthcare focused, we came up with the above list of “must-have” features for healthcare tablets. We asked our survey respondents to check all of the features they felt were “must-have” features in a healthcare tablet device.

This chart shows what percentage of respondents thought a feature was a “must-have” in a tablet.

Unfortunately for the iPad, as we found out last Wednesday when Steve Jobs unveiled the tablet’s features, it only has a few of the top “must-have” features for healthcare use.

The iPad has Wi-Fi access; lightweight hardware (1.5 pounds); and arguably an ergonomic design. That’s it from this list.

It lacks a large number of features that healthcare professionals deemed important, such as resistance to dust and hospital fluids and disinfectants (the iPad does not have sealed ports); fingerprint access to the system (HIPAA compliance); barcode scanning (patient safety); and an integrated camera (documenting diagnosis). In fact, you could argue that the iPad’s difficulty in being disinfected or kept clean of hospital fluids is a deal breaker for healthcare workers.

Peripherals, such as an RFID reader and barcode scanner, may be available in the future. But because they’re not native to the iPad, they’re just more cables and cords a busy healthcare worker has to lug around. That’s another negative mark for the iPad.

Also, as we mentioned before, the iPad does not have a wide selection of medical software because of interoperability issues with it’s operating system. A wide selection of medical software was voted as a must-have feature by 70% of our respondents. Most medical software on the market, EMR software especially, will only operate in a Windows-based environment. This presents a huge problem for the iPad in healthcare.

The Verdict

Healthcare wants a tablet. Healthcare likes the iPhone. That does not translate into healthcare liking the iPad.

Simply put, the iPad lacks many fundamental features necessary to function in the healthcare field. From the difficulty disinfecting the device to its lack of interoperability with the majority of Windows-based healthcare systems and software, the iPad in its current state suffers from many of the same problems that previous, failed healthcare tablet PCs have suffered from.

The iPad may be sleek and simple to use. But that doesn’t translate into widespread adoption by the healthcare industry. In fairness, it doesn’t appear that Apple was targeting the healthcare vertical; their bread and butter market remains the consumer.

Survey Comments

In our final survey question, we asked the respondents, “Why haven’t tablets become mainstream devices in healthcare?” Here are a few of the more interesting responses we received. They touch on a few topics we didn’t address here today. They are sure to spark more discussion.

“Shoehorning a desktop OS into a tablet does NOT work. This has been the approach of Microsoft and hence no uptake. A modal interface like the iPhone is more suitable to touchscreen use and makes more sense in this setting.”
“Why use a new product when old ones are properly doing their jobs?”
“Lack of a streamlined, polished UI for task specific functions inclusive of each practitioner’s duties.”
“I have worked in ERs that have them and they never seem to work. Low battery life? Unstable software? Limited functionality, too (not integrated with imaging).”

What are your thoughts on tablets in healthcare? Is the iPad the tablet healthcare workers have been waiting for? Or is it another tablet that just isn’t quite there yet for the healthcare industry in terms of functionality?

Demographic breakdown:

Health IT Professional: 29% (52)
Physician: 28% (50)
Nurse: 16% (29)
Other: 14% (23)
Student: 12% (22)
Admin support: 1% (2)

Which Tablet PC Will Rule the Halls of Healthcare?

InterOpNurse — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 04:21:53 +0000

By InterOpNurse guest contributor: Chris Thorman of Software Advice

Chris Thorman

Back in April, when the rumors of a tablet device from Apple were beginning to surface, wewondered aloud if a Mac tablet would become the gadget of choice to integrate withelectronic medical records.

Apparently, that concept may soon be a reality. In early January, Venture Beat reported a rumor that Apple reps have been spotted at Los Angeles’ Cedar-Sinai hospital, probing physicians about how a tablet (Apple’s iSlate) could be used in a hospital setting. Meanwhile, tablets were all the rage earlier this year at the 2010 Consumer Electronics Show with product announcements from Hewlett-Packard, Lenovo and Dell.

2010 is shaping up to be the year of the tablet. We want to know which device is best positioned to rule the halls of healthcare.

Click the link below to take our short (8 question) survey about a tablet’s potential in the healthcare industry. If the pop-up survey doesn’t work for you, click here to go directly to the survey page.

Click here to start the survey

Check back on Monday, February 1st for the results.

By-Line:

This article was written by Chris Thorman from Software Advice, a website that reviews and compares electronic medical records.

What Does it Take to Qualify for the EHR Stimulus Funds?

InterOpNurse — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 07:44:41 +0000

By InterOpNurse guest contributor: Software Advice

The great folks over at Software Advice teamed up with Justin Barnes, Chairman of the HIMSS Electronic Health Record Association and Vice President of Greenway Medical Technologies, to help answer these questions:

How the stimulus money will be paid out
What it takes to qualify for funding
Which specialties qualify for funding
How “meaningful use” is defined
What constitutes a “qualified EHR”

Here is a link to their original post…

By-Line:

This article was written by Austin Merritt from Software Advice, a website that reviews and compares electronic medical records.

ONCHIT Releases its Preliminary Definition of Meaningful Use

InterOpNurse — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 06:56:44 +0000

With a December 31st deadline to provide an initial set of standards, The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONCHIT) and The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced regualtions tonight that define "meaningful use" of Electronic Health Records (EHR) and the associated CMS incentive program that is proposed to go along with it.

It appears that the Meaningful Use rules (PDF) will take effect in 30 days following a public comment period. A 556 paged document is also provided for the Incentive rule (PDF).

Do not have time to read through all the documents, I found a great summation of the important details courtesy of Mr. HISTalk:

CPOE
Practices: Use CPOE for orders involving medications, laboratory, radiology, and referrals.
Hospitals: medications, laboratory, radiology, blood bank, PT, OT, RT, rehab, dialysis, consults, and discharge and transfer.
Orders do not have to be sent electronically to the fulfilling department (lab, pharmacy, etc.)
Practices must enter 80% of their total orders directly by the clinician into the CPOE system. Hospitals must have 10% of all orders entered by CPOE.

Clinical Checking of Orders
Real-time screening (drug-drug interactions and drug-allergy contraindications), formulary check, user ability to maintain screening rules, track user responses to alerts.

Problem List
Longitudinal current and active diagnoses coded in ICD-9-CM or SNOMED CT.
80% of unique patients must have at least one coded problem/diagnosis, with “none” being an allowed entry (hospitals and practices).

E-Prescribing
Practices only.
Must send 75% of non-controlled substance prescriptions electronically.

Active Medication List
80% of unique patients must have at least one coded entry, with “none” being an allowed entry (hospitals and practices).

Medication Allergy List
Longitudinal with allergy history.
80% of unique patients must have at least one coded entry, with “none” being an allowed entry (hospitals and practices).

Demographics
Practices: preferred language, insurance type, gender, race, ethnicity, and data of birth.
Hospitals: all of the above plus date and cause of death if applicable.
80% of patients must have demographics recorded as structured data

Vital Signs
Height, weight, BP, BMI, growth charts for patients 2-20 years old, temperature, pulse.
80% of patients aged 2 and over must have blood pressure and BMI entered.
Children 2-20 must have a growth chart.

Smoking Status
Record if current smoker, former smoker, or never smoked.
Must be recorded for 80% of patients.

Structured lab results
Display results, translate LOINC codes, allow maintenance based on new results.
Must record as structured EHR data 50% of all results that are delivered in positive/negative or numeric format.

Patient Lists
Allow user to select, sort, retrieve, and output patient lists based on demographics, medications, and conditions.

Report Quality Measures to CMS and States
Calculate, display, and submit quality measure results

Patient Reminders
Practices only: issue based on patient preferences, demographics, conditions, and medication list.

Five Clinical Decision Support Rules
Beyond drug screening, based on demographics: diagnoses, lab results, or medication list. Real-time alerts and suggestions based on evidence. Track response to alerts.

Eligibility
Allow user to record and display based on eligibility response from insurer.
Must cover 80% of unique patients.

Submit Claims
Must submit 80% of all claims filed electronically.

Electronic Copy of Health Information to Patients
Allow user to create an electronic copy of test results, problem list, medication list, medication allergy list, immunizations, and procedures. Hospitals must also provide a discharge summary but not procedures.
Must provide an electronic copy of health information to requesting patients within 48 hours.

Electronic Copy of Discharge Instructions
Hospitals only.
Must provide electronically to 80% of discharged patients who request them.

Timely Patient Access to Health Information
Practices only: diagnostic results, problem list, medication list, medication allergy list, immunizations, and procedures. Within 96 hours of availability.
Must provide to 10% of unique patients.

Clinical Summary of Each Office Visit
Practices only: diagnostic results, medication list, procedures, problem list, immunizations.
Must provide for 80% of office visits.

Information Exchange
Enable electronic sending and receiving of diagnostic test results, problem list, medication list, medication allergy list, immunizations, and procedures. Hospital requirements also include a discharge summary.
Must conduct at least one test of exchanging information.

Medication Reconciliation
Compare and merge two or more medication lists into a single list that can be displayed in real time.
Must be performed in 80% of encounters and care transitions.

Submit Data to Immunization Registries
Must conduct at least one test of submitting information.

Submit Lab Results to Public Health Agencies
Hospitals only.
Must conduct at least one test of submitting information.

Submit Syndrome Surveillance Data to Public Health Agencies
Must conduct at least one test of submitting information.

Protect Electronic Patient Information
Unique identifier, emergency access for authorized users, session timeout, encryption where preferred, encryption when exchanging information, maintain audit logs, provide integrity check for recipient of electronically transmitted information, verify user identities and access privileges, record PHI disclosures.
Must conduct a security risk analysis and implement security updates.

Transport Standards
SOAP and REST
HL7 CDA R2 Level 2 CCD or ASTM CCR
ICD-9-CM or SNOMED CT for problem lists
ICD-9-CM or CPT-4 for procedures, moving to ICD-10-PCS or CPT-4 for Stage 2
RXNorm for medication lists
UNII for Stage 2 allergy lists (no standard now)
CDA template for Stage 2 vital signs (no standard now)
UCUM for Stage 2 units of measure (no standard now)
LOINC for lab results
NCPDP Formulary & Benefits Standard 1.0 for drug formulary checks
NCPDP SCRIPT 8.1 or 10.6 for prescription information
ASC X12N and NCPDP for transactions
CMS PQRI 2008 Registry XML for quality measures
HL7 2.5.1 for submitting lab results to public health agencies, with UCUM and SNOMED CT encouraged
HL7 2.3.1 or 2.5.1 for submitted surveillance information to public health agencies and for immunization information
Encryption only if organization sets it as a standard

Median Estimated One-Time Costs for CCHIT-Certified EHRS to Be Certified as Complete EHRs
CCHIT Ambulatory 2008: $1 million
CCHIT 2007/2008 Inpatient: $1.38 million

Median Estimated One-Time Costs for Pre-2008 or Uncertified EHRS to Be Certified as Complete EHRs
Practice EHR: $2.4 million
Hospital EHR: $3.3 million

Estimated Median Industry Costs for EHR Preparation
2010: $61.35 million
2011: $54.53 million
2012: $20.45 million

Comments are open, would love to hear feedback…

Kcindrah Healthcare Consultants

InterOpNurse — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 22:47:08 +0000

Please welcome our new sponsor Kcindrah Healthcare Consultants:

Kcindrah is a consulting company that specializes in Healthcare Informatics. The company was founded by a nurse who knows technology can improve the delivery of healthcare. At Kcindrah many of our consultants have clinical and IT backgrounds. We provide professional and quality results, while keeping it affordable.

Chinavasion

InterOpNurse — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 22:33:31 +0000

Please welcome our new sponsor Chinavasion:

"China Prices… Western Quality!"

Company and Customers

Chinavasion.com was the first Internet wholesaler in China, founded in 2005. We are the biggest wholesale provider of hi-tech gadgets and consumer electronics products from the China market. Our service headquarters arein Shenzhen, the world’s fastest growing city, situated in China’s Guangdong Province right next to Hong Kong.

We service over 360,000 registered buyers, delivering to virtually every country in the world. Our warehouse and office are staffed by a young team of Chinese and Western staff.

Happy Chinavasion buyers include frequent wholesale importers, famous ecommerce websites, eBay powersellers, retail shops and startup home import businesses. On a daily basis, we serve corporate buyers, drop-ship experts, home business Moms, and fanatical gadget freaks.

Quality Sets Chinavasion Apart

Our business philosophy is simple: "China Prices, Western Quality." Our customers rely on us to supply them with the latest Chinese hi-tech electronics at the best prices. We set quality first, so our customers can focus on their own sales and profits.

All the products we source from Chinese factories are professionally reviewed for quality and safety standards. All stock is quality controlled in-house by our experienced QC team.

Chinavasion is the first company in China to make such a wide range of consumer electronics available, at wholesale prices, with no minimum order restrictions.

Our Guarantee:

Superior Quality

Our Quality Control team ensures that nothing gets put in stock which is not of the highest quality standards. We inspect all incoming goods before they are put on the warehouse shelves.
Faster Delivery

Orders sent by courier, such as UPS and FedEx, arrive at your doorstep within an average of 5 days. Shipments are insured for successful delivery and trackable online.
Better Prices

No minimum order restriction. Wholesale discounts begin at just 3-5pcs. Discount level scheme automatically applied to all accounts. Bulk orders personally quoted even better prices. Prices lowered every single week.
Convenience

Order online, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. Instant, secure credit card payment via Paypal. Our technicians and designers keep the website fast and easy to use. We’re always adding features and improving usability thanks to your feedback.
Personal Service

Rose, Steve, Jenny, Jasmine, Renee, Marita, Shawn, Christine, Leon, Vicky, Elaine, and Cathy are on hand to listen to your needs and help you. Fast response via live chat, one-working-day email answers, and attentive English speaking phone support.

Find out more behind the scenes…

Look Inside Chinavasion… Click here to go to the gallery.

Android Reviewed

InterOpNurse — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 04:32:40 +0000

I am a big fan of pocket gadgets. I remember my first handheld gadget, the Palm Pilot Professional, and how amazed I was at the ability to have all this I consider crucial information accessible from a palm sized device. The Palm Pilot line of devices I definitely utilized into great use when I was a bedside nurse having medical and nursing reference guides loaded into my Palm device. This love for handheld devices slowly transitioned to Smartphone’s. Who can resist the ability to consolidate a phone and a handheld minicomputer? This leads me to a new column I am calling "Tech Talk" which will be the place for me to discuss gadgets I utilize in my personal and professional life.

Now with my review of the Android (Google Phone) platform…From a Smartphone perspective, I started with a Treo 600 and moved on to various Windows Mobile devices. My carrier is T-Mobile and therefore wanted to stick with phones supported by my carrier. One of my priority pre-requisite in selecting a Smartphone is Exchange support so that I can have access to my work information. My Touch 3G, T-Mobile’s second Google phone definitely had my attention. It was a tossup between getting a Blackberry or the My Touch 3G and the decision to go with the My Touch 3G is purely based on not wanting a phone that was for the most part a powerful email communicator. I wanted something that I can have fun with outside of the work environment and the Android Market definitely has more applications that the Blackberry.

After having the My Touch 3G for several months now, I must say I am very much happy with my decision to go with this device. It is definitely a very customizable device, just as it’s marketed and I love the ability to add widgets to the phones home screen. One of the major upside of this phone that is crucial for me at least is the great integration with Google Voice and the newly released turn by turn GPS device utilizing Google maps with actual spoken street names. Now don’t get me wrong, it is not yet an iPhone killer, but what we have now is definitely a strong competitor. Of course only time can tell if developers will start building more apps for this platform, but with over 12,000 applications now in the Android Market (iPhone has over 100,000) there are some promising signs.

Although I am a fan of this platform and will recommend it in a heartbeat, the caveat to understand with this phone is to realize it is not an iPhone. I feel I am somewhat competent to comment on this considering my wife has an iPhone. From a user interface perspective, the iPhone is by far more responsive compared to the Android which has a little bit of lag in its response time. But with the right set of utility applications it is manageable.

As a final thought, I feel there is a lot of promise for this platform. Although let me reiterate, it is not yet an iPhone killer, but what we do have now is definitely a great iPhone alternative, especially if you are like me who is very happy with my carrier and does not want to transfer to another carrier such as AT&T who has had their share of bad press in terms of Customer Service and network reliability.

Comments are open, interested on your thoughts regarding this platform…

HHS To Award $235M To Boost Local Models for EHR Adoption

InterOpNurse — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 07:45:21 +0000

On Wednesday, HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced the launch of a $235 million initiativeto support community-based models for electronic health record adoption, Federal Computer Week reports (Lipowicz, Federal Computer Week, 12/2).

Of the funds, HHS will award about $220 million as grants to 15 not-for-profit community groups or government entities representing diverse geographic areas. About $15 million of the funds will go toward technical assistance and program evaluation (Gruenwald, "Tech Daily Dose," National Journal, 12/2).

revenueXL

InterOpNurse — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 04:16:36 +0000

Please welcome our new sponsor revenueXL

EMR Software Solutions

EMR Software Selection To Implementation

RevenueXL Inc. is a healthcare solutions firm focused on assisting medical practices in the assessment, selection and implementation of Medical Software including EMR Software (also called EHR Software), Patient Portal, and Practice Management or Medical Billing software.

We guide you through the following 6 step process:

CONSULT with us
SHORTLIST ‘right-fit’ Medical Software
ARRANGE demo with Medical Software Vendors
SELECT best Medical Software for your needs
NEGOTIATE best Price and Strong Contract
IMPLEMENT Medical Software and follow Best Practices

We also provide revenue cycle services that greatly reduce aging Insurance Accounts Receivables (A/R) and write-offs. In fact, we can even work on A/R that you have written-off your books. Our team of experts is dedicated to reducing your daily operating costs, accelerating cash-flow, and increasing net revenues. Plus, everything we do is underscored with improving both, patient care and the high quality of life that physicians deserve.

Top EMR Software Vendors

RevenueXL has pre-screened dozens of Top EMR Software vendors, works with and recommends not only top ranked, but also ‘right-fit’ EMR Software solution for your needs.

Contact Us Today

Our seasoned experts will guide you beyond the obvious EMR Software ‘bells & whistles’, and get you to the critical features and criteria that are most important in selecting the ‘best-fit’ Electronic Medical Records for your practice. In fact, our several hours of upfront EMR selectionconsulting services come at no cost to you.

EMR Software – Stimulus Incentives and Tax Benefits

EMR Software – Stimulus Incentives

From $44,000 to $66,000 in Medicare or Medicaid bonus payments for adopting a certified EMR software or EHR Software system.

Electronic Prescription (e-Rx) Incentives

Bonus payment of 2% on allowable Medicare Part B charges provided, eligible providers report one e-prescribing measure in at least 50% of the cases in which the measure is reportable by the eligible professional.

PQRI Incentive Payments

Physicians who satisfactorily follow PQRI guidelines and report quality-measures data for services furnished January 1, through December 31, 2009, will earn a single consolidated incentive payment in mid-2010. The payment will be 2.0% of the estimated total allowed charges for services covered under Medicare Part B.

EMR Software – Tax Deduction Benefits

Under Section 179, medical offices are allowed to write-off up to $250,000 of EMR Software expenses in the first year of ownership, even when purchased under a lease or financing agreement. The economic stimulus package provides for an extra 50% bonus tax deduction in 2009.

…more about incentives

EMR Software Consulting, Selection and Demo

RevenueXL continuously screens vendors to seek out proven Medical Billing Software, EMR Software and hardware solutions. We will present a reliable shortlist of ‘select’ vendors for you to review. Upon your review, and with the right resources in hand, we will assist you in making the most well informed comparisons and decisions in selecting the "best-fit" solution for your practice. We provide both web based EMR software (ASP) and client-server based EMR software.

Our Clients:

Save time, money, and painstaking research by using our free planning and selection services to find the best EMR software for their practice.
Save money through our leveraged negotiating power in getting you deep discounted pricing for EMR (Electronic Medical Records) and Practice Management (Medical Billing) software and hardware.
Receive initial no cost oversight for set-up, training, implementation and ‘go live’
Achieve Lower Total Cost of Ownership (TCO), improve workflow efficiencies, and realize greater net revenues.

Simply stated, RevenueXL will reduce your investment in EMR Software, lower your operating costs, improve patient care, and add significant value to your bottom-lime.

So why not contact us today, you have nothing to lose, and everything to gain, and that’s our promise to you.

Elegant Themes

InterOpNurse — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 04:07:43 +0000

Please welcome our new sponsor Elegant Themes

Premium Wordpress Themes

I created this website to provide WordPress themes of quality and integrity. I craft my themes with a goal of simplicity and professionalism and strive to inject each design with a dose of modest elegance. I believe that your website is not just a tool, it is an integral part of your identity. My job is to respect each customer by providing attractive and userfriendly templates that will help you achieve your online goals.

1and1

InterOpNurse — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 03:45:59 +0000

Please welcome our new sponsor 1and1.com

About 1and1

“It’s our goal to be the first in the market to bring you innovative products at competitive prices without compromising strength and reliability. We started as pioneers and we’ve never stopped working this way.”

—Oliver Mauss, 1&1 Internet CEO

Proud to be the best in the world

Choosing a reliable web host is important. 1&1 is both the world’s biggest web host, and the fastest growing. Our global community is 9 million customer contracts strong. We are financially stable, profitable, and will be securing your website for many years to come.

Proven products, honest pricing

From convenient domain packages to feature-packed web hosting plans, virtual private servers, powerful dedicated servers and ready-to-run eShops, 1&1 offers a complete range of web services for every need, every skill level and every budget. All 1&1 products have been designed to provide the ideal combination of features and affordability, with no pricing gimmicks or hidden costs. You simply won’t find a better value for your money!

Reliability & innovation

We guarantee the highest product quality, top security and unshakeable reliability. 1&1’s advanced Data Centershave been built from the ground up using the most advanced technology available, giving our global network a strength that is beyond doubt. The power and stability of 1&1’s systems allows us to be first to market with web products that are innovative yet dependable.

Powerful partnerships

Combining over 70,000 fully-tuned servers with the renowned performance of Foundry and Cisco routers, 1&1 utilizes the best products from the world’s leading technology manufacturers and service providers. 1&1 is a Microsoft Joint Development Partner, and works with other paramount companies such as Google, Plesk, Symantec, and HP/Compaq.

99.9% Uptime

No matter what the cause, network downtime hurts your credibility, your sales, and your business. 1&1 uses its experience and expertise in hosting to deliver 99.9% uptime, so your website is there when you need it.

InuiTion Consulting Group

InterOpNurse — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 02:39:46 +0000

Please welcome our new sponsor InuiTion Consulting Group

InuiTion Consulting Group (ICG) is a unique consulting firm that offers a variety of services to meet the on going demands of today’s global economy. ICG provides a wide variety of clinical, business and IT solutions for organizations across the United States and Canada. Our Comprehensive range of solutions, programs and services include:

InuiTion Consulting:

ICG founders have a strong healthcare enterprise experience and can provide consulting services that encompasses:

Project Management
System Selection
System Implementation
Integration
Education and Knowledge Transfer
Custom Reporting
System and Process Optimization

InuiTion BPO:

ICG offers Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) solutions to help facilitate the growing demands of your enterprise. Because of the strong clinical background of our ICG founders, ICG understands the needs and priorities of our clients. ICG understands the need to ensure Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) compliance when dealing with sensitive information. Services offered include:

Medical Transcription
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Data Conversion of Confidential Medical Information
Help Desk Support

InuiTion Technical Services:

No matter what business size you have, ICG will work to provide, augment or support any technical requirements. ICG can offer the following services to support your enterprise:

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InuiTion Design Concepts:

ICG is a unique design firm offering a variety of services from basic Website Design to complete e-commerce website development. We have created and launched successful websites since our inception, for many different types of businesses. Our web designers have the creative talent to appeal to your sense of style, the training and knowledge of current web standards and practices, and the ability to turn your ideas into reality! ICG will work with you and your budget to ensure you receive a product that is noteworthy. We will utilize every arsenal available including open source products to help minimize your cost. We offer everything you need to get your web site up and running effectively and efficiently. Solutions include:

Website creation
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Graphic design consultation and development

Pink Glove Dance

InterOpNurse — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 05:49:48 +0000

Working in Healthcare is a stressful occupation. Not to mention the changing climate of healthcare as we focus and try and reform and ensure quality for the safety of our patients. After a long day at work, it was nice to stumble upon this video - Providence St. Vincent Medical Center (OR) — the Pink Glove Dance for Breast Cancer Awareness. It appears that everyone at that organization got together “boogied” it up a bit for a great cause. I must admit I got teary eyed a bit because I know how we all in healthcare work so hard, but deep down I truly believe we all do what we do day after day is because we all have a unified goal – Patient Care. In the process, strong bonds and relationships are formed and I just felt the video in some way depicts that camaraderie we all feel towards each other. mso-fareast-font-family:Calibri;mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin;color:black;
mso-ansi-language:EN-US;mso-fareast-language:EN-US;mso-bidi-language:AR-SA">

EMR vs EHR – Are You Confused As Well?

InterOpNurse — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 00:39:30 +0000

By InterOpNurse guest contributor: RevenueXL Inc.

What is the difference between an EMR and EHR? Aren’t they essentially the same? It is easy to notice the confusion created by the inconsistent messages being bandied about by different industry players.

Nextgen mentions both EMR and EHR in its home page title, but the product is called Electronic Health Records.
GE Healthcare calls its product as Centricity EMR.
Greenway’s PrimeSuite product is characterized as an EHR.
Aprima’s PRM product was initially labeled EMR but is now called an EHR.
eClinicalWorks continues to call its product as an EMR.
Allscripts mentions both ‘Electronic Medical Records (EMR)’ as well as ‘Electronic Health Records (EHR)’ in the title of its home page, but their solution is called ‘Electronic Health Records’.
CCHIT certifies Electronic Health Records, but the list of CCHIT-certified EHR products includes a number of ‘EMR’ products.

As is clear from the above, vendors have been using the two terms – Electronic Medical Records (EMR) and Electronic Health Records (EHR) – interchangeably in their communication even though these two terms are technically different with different sets of features and capabilities.

Chris Hobson in a article published in ‘Advance for Health Information Executives‘ says that the difference between the two terms more than semantic and is crucial for health IT decision-makers to understand the difference.

So what is the difference between EMR and EHR? Let us review the distinction portrayed by three authorities in their own rights:

1. Chris Hobson:

The essential difference between EMR and EHR lies in how the (electronic) data will be used or shared – within the confines of a single office or practitioner or will it be shared across a wide range of different providers, such as specialists’ offices, labs, insurance providers and government agencies?

Chris relies on the definition advanced by HIMSS and accordingly, an EMR is a set of applications and workflow tools that digitizes the creation, collection, storage and management of patient information "within the confines of a single organization". It may touch clinical data repositories, lab applications and patient information management systems, among others — but all within the reach of a single organization.

EHR, on the other hand, is a longitudinal, complete and unified view of electronic record of patient health information produced by clinical assessments in one or more care settings drawn from across a wide region corresponding to all the providers who are seeing the patient – the totality of his/her personal data, state of health and delivered care.

According to Chris, while both EMRs and EHRs provide some similar benefits — cost savings through improved workflow and paper reduction, improved delivery of care accuracy — EMRs provide those benefits only within a single organization. EHRs, because they are shared across the irrelevant geographic or otherwise defined region, increase the efficiency of patient care and improve patient outcomes, disseminate information rapidly between care providers, help with research efforts, and cut costs throughout the entire system more promptly and reliably.

2. National Alliance for Health Information Technology (NAHIT):

NAHIT while offering the following definitions, pretty much supports a similar distinction between EMR and EHR:

EMR (Electronic Medical Records) is an Electronic Record of health-related information on an individual that can be created, gathered, managed, and consulted by authorized clinicians and staff within one healthcare organization.

EHR (Electronic Health Records) is an Electronic Record of health-related information on an individual that conforms to nationally recognized interoperability standards and that can be created, managed, and consulted by authorized clinicians and staff across more than one healthcare organization.

3. Healthcare Informatics:

EMR is a computerized legal clinical record created in Care Delivery Organizations (CDOs), such as hospitals and physician offices, and used and owned by the CDO. It becomes an EHR (Electronic Health Record) when:

• Reports and histories (labs, pharmacy, radiology, consults, etc) are electronically added;
• Items in the record are electronically exchanged with other providers, and
• There is a personal health record (PHR/PMR) component which allows patients to participate in documenting and creating their medical history and communicate with their provider.

EHRs represent the ability to easily share medical information among stakeholders and to allow it to follow the patient through various modalities of care from different CDOs. Thus EHR offers a holistic approach to patient care where continuity of care is emphasized.

EMR vs. EHR – What does it mean to you?

Even while the vendors are still trying to figure out whether to call their products EMR or EHR, when you select an EMR or EHR for implementation, ask your vendor as to how their electronic records solution supports your vision regarding interoperability and exchange of data rapidly between care providers to provide holistic perspective to your business of delivering health to your patients? Let that be one of the selection criteria, not what it is called by the Vendor – EMR or EHR – that is totally irrelevant.

If you like this post, please subscribe to our Email Subscription to read our new posts in your email.

Read our related blog on Top 12 EMR Software Selection mistakes often committed by Physicians.

RevenueXL Inc. provides medical software including Electronic Medical Records akaElectronic Health Records (EHR), Practice Management, and Medical Billing softwareand systems. RevenueXL also provides revenue cycle services that help our clients optimize their revenue cycle and significantly reduce operating costs, accelerate cash-flow, and increase net revenues.

InterOpNurse

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EMR vs EHR – Are You Confused As Well?