An Ebola patient is seen in the ED and discharged. The hospital points to its EHR software as the culprit. Alas, if it were only that simple. In fact, as we all are now aware, the EHR has been exonerated (in an unusual and carefully worded clarification). The patient has died. And we as physicians […]
Jason, mythic hero prior to the Greek Dark Ages, was tasked to find the Golden Fleece before he could claim his throne. For this quest, Jason recruited other Greek heroes, Hercules, Orpheus, Castor and Pollux, to name a few of the Argonauts. Today, a new Jason summons new heroes to join in the quest for […]
On May 20, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) allowed providers another year to remain at Stage 1 of Meaningful Use, and the 2011 edition of CEHRT may be used for 2014. In addition, 2017 was confirmed as the start date for Stage 3. For some, unlike the ICD-10 delay, this postponement, confirmation […]
When the Health Information and Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act was passed in 2009, the road from paper to electronic health records seemed steep - and long. But four years later, considerable progress has been made in EHR adoption, from hospitals and facilities to physicians and pharmacists. Perhaps the greatest progression has […]
Healthcare IT outsourcing will reach $50.4 billion worldwide by 2018 – up from $35 billion in 2013, according to a new report from M & M, a market research company. The firm says insurers, health systems and pharma companies are driving the market, utilizing outsourcing to "enhance their focus on core business, reduce operational and maintenance […]
Record-breaking EHR adoption is fueling unprecedented growth in health IT, but hospitals are also putting the brakes on some IT initiatives because of staff shortages, according to two reports released this week. In 2012, some 44 percent of hospitals reported having a basic electronic health record system, up 17 percentage points from 2011, according to […]
Recent headlines tell us physicians lag in EHR adoption and I expect that we will see that headline repeated for a while. But in the midst of our country’s unprecedented investment in eHealth, we're also learning how to do things right, and I do think best practices are emerging to lessen the EHR adoption curve for […]
The adoption of electronic health records, or EHR, in U.S. hospitals and physicians groups promises a uniform system of tracking patients' charts, X-rays and medical history. But what else is possible with advances in healthcare records? For starters, clinicians and patients will have real-time access to medical records and should be able to streamline administrative […]