Morning Headlines 6/4/13

Mass EHR mandate draws criticism, impact remains unclear

A change introduced with the Massachusetts health reform law comes under fire for requiring physicians to demonstrate proficiency in the use of CPOE, e-prescribing, and EHRs as a standard of eligibility for medical licensure in the state.

Secure health data helping patients, doctors improve care and health

HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius kicks off Health Datapalooza IV by announcing that CMS will release new data sets that include outpatient procedure data, Medicare spending and utilization data, and de-identified data on Medicare beneficiaries with chronic conditions. HHS also announced a $25,000 challenge encouraging developers to design "an innovative app or tool using Medicare data that primary care providers can use to help manage patient care."

HIE Participation Doesn’t Create Test Savings, Study Says

A new study published in the Journal of American Medical Informatics Association concludes that the deployment of a health information exchange is unlikely to produce significant cost savings through reduced testing rates, contradicting the study’s hypothesis that duplicate tests would be reduced if physicians were given access to the results.

MMRGlobal Retains Counsel in Australia and Issues Patent Update

Patient portal vendor and patent troll MMRGlobal retains legal representation in Australia and will pursue discussions with the Australian government and the National E-Health Transition Authority over potential patent infringement issues after NEHTA spent nearly $1 billion designing and implementing a national patient portal.

Morning Headlines 6/3/13

Westchester hospitals’ sale price over $54 million

Westchester, NY-based Sound Shore Medical Center is expected to be acquired by Montefiore Medical Center for only $54 million after the hospital falls more than $200 million into debt. Contributing factors included a disproportionate population of uninsured patients, and a 2011 EMR install that have caused major delays in billing and cash collection.

How electronic medical records can help find high-risk “missing” patients

Johns Hopkins’ public health magazine discusses a population health program that uses risk modeling to help identify pregnant patients with an increased likelihood of going into early labor. The team then delivers the necessary care to help mitigate the risk.

The $2.7 Trillion Medical Bill

The New York Times breaks down the cost variance of a colonoscopy in the US versus other developed nations in a piece that highlights some of the economics driving overall health expenditures in the US.

Mega-contract up for grabs from Department of Health

In England, NHS opens a vendor call for practice solutions to replace the original choices NPfIT approved in 2007. The new program will identify eight practice vendors that UK practices can select from. The program could be worth as much as $2 billion in total health IT spending.

Morning Headlines 5/31/13

Health Care Innovation

In a letter to the editor of The New York Times, National Coordinator Farzad Mostashari, MD, concurs with an Times piece published earlier this week which identified the booming health IT startup market as an unintended positive consequence of the Affordable Care Act. Mostashari added that widespread adoption of EHRs and a shift from fee-for-service to value-based purchasing are also positive outcomes of recent public policy.

Computer prompt boosts flu vaccine rates

Pediatricians in New York City were able to increase pediatric flu vaccination rates nine percent by having a pop-up alert built into the practice’s EMR. alerting doctors if the patient had not yet received a vaccination.

RBH faces £18m loss over IT system

In England, Royal Berkshire Hospital writes down $23 million in expenses, much of which it blames on unanticipated costs associated with its Cerner Millennium implementation.

Despite Challenges, MEDITECH 6.0 Customers Say They Are Not Going Anywhere

Despite performance challenges with Meditech 6.0, 95 percent of the company’s customers surveyed by KLAS say Meditech is part of their long-term plans, citing affordability and usability.

Morning Headlines 5/30/13

Why Some Doctors Don’t Lean On EHR

A new study published in the Journal of American Medical Informatics Association concludes that EHR adoption has less to do with how tech savvy a doctor is and has more to do with how much uncertainty — an accepted and universal attribute of medical practice — a doctor is comfortable with.

Repeated EHR Alerts Desensitize Clinicians

A case review published in the journal Pediatrics suggests that unimportant CPOE alerts negatively impact patient outcomes, possibly because they cause clinicians to miss important warnings.

Software That’s Hard on Hospital Readmissions

A local North Texas station reports on population health systems being implemented to reduce readmission rates at Texas Health Resources.

With Money at Risk, Hospitals Push Staff to Wash Hands

The New York Times covers efforts being employed by hospitals to increase hand hygiene compliance, including a number of technology advancements that include RFID tracking of physicians coupled with video surveillance and ID badge-enabled soap dispensers that track whether soap has been dispensed and alert the clinician as they approach the bedside if it hasn’t. An unannounced 16-week video monitoring trial at North Shore University Hospital revealed hand hygiene rates at less than 10 percent. Once clinicians were made aware of the video system and were sent weekly e-mails with their performance, the numbers jumped to 88 percent.

Morning Headlines 5/29/13

Accent on Integration

At MUSE on Wednesday, Iatric Systems will announce the acquisition of the business assets of Accent on Integration. AOI’s products and services, including the Accelero Connect integration platform, will continue to be marketed by Iatric.

Cerner Announces 2-For-1 Stock Split

Cerner has approved a 2-for-1 stock split effective June 17, a strategy employed to reduce a company’s stock price, as CERN shares approaches $100.

Harper Government Invests in eHealth Innovation

The Canadian government announces that it will encourage the creation of local eHealth initiatives by issuing grants to 16 research projects focused on developing technologies that enable patients to self-manage their conditions via eheath applications.

Direct: Implementation Guidelines to Assure Security and Interoperability: May 2013

ONC releases updated guidelines for Direct HIE implementations that will facilitate a MU Stage 2-compliant exchange of information between organizations.

Morning Headlines 5/28/13

DOD, VA to Clear Claims Backlog

DoD responds to accusations that its EHR decision is hindering efforts to reduce the veterans’ disability claims backlog by outlining a cross-department plan of attack. It includes providing VA Benefits personnel direct login access to DoD’s EMR and improving the format of DoD treatment records so that they are more portable.

Quebec implementing $1.6 billion electronic health record system

Quebec announces that it will move ahead with a proposed province-wide transition to EHRs. The announcement follows a successful two-year pilot program.

National critic of health care information technology says Marin General should heed nurses’ advice 

EHR critic Scot Silverstein, MD interviews with the Martin Independent Journal about the potential dangers of EHRs following recent patient safety-related protests from a nurses union at Martin General Hospital after the hospital implemented a CPOE system.

Morning Headlines 5/27/13

More than Half of Doctors Now Use Electronic Health Records Thanks to Administration Policies

The White House blog posts a self-congratulating piece as EHR adoption hits the 50 percent mark among eligible providers.

Obamacare’s Other Surprise

Thomas Friedman of The New York Times publishes an editorial in which he points to a rapid increase in health IT startups as an unforeseen positive consequence of HITECH and ACA.

Allscripts names 2 new directors to board

Allscripts adds former Epic CFO Anita Pramoda and former Brocade Communications CEO Michael Klayko to its board of directors.

Greenway Earns Two U.S. Patents for Care-Coordination Technology

Greenway earns patents for a server configuration that aggregates data from multiple EHR systems and auto-completes accreditation or certification forms and another related to tracking clinical events across multiple EHR systems.

Morning Headlines 5/24/13

Quality Systems, Inc. Reports Fiscal 2013 Fourth Quarter and Year-End Results

Quality Systems reports Q4 and year-end results. Net revenue was down 44 percent from 2012 to 2013, with a net loss of $4.1 million in Q4.

Intermountain Healthcare Launches Nation’s First System to Measure and Report Cumulative Medical Radiation Exposure

Intermountain Healthcare will leverage functionality within its EMR to track lifetime cumulative radiation exposure for patients.

Network execs squabble over issue of exchange connectivity

Executives from competing Kansas HIEs are struggling to cooperate with a state mandate that they integrate their networks. State legislatures had to step in this week to prevent the companies from charging each other access fees to comply with the mandate.

The Obama Crony In Charge Of Your Medical Records

Conservative blogger and frequent “Fox and Friends” guest Michelle Malkin profiles the rise of Judy Faulkner, portraying her as a political insider and big Obama campaign donor who secured herself an appointment as the only vendor representative on the federal Health IT Policy Committee.

Morning Headlines 5/23/13

Doctors and hospitals’ use of health IT more than doubles since 2012

HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius reports that HHS has exceeded its goal of transitioning 50 percent of eligible providers and 80 percent of eligible hospitals onto EHRs by the end of 2013.

Hagel says DoD to adopt commercial EHR 

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel testified last month before a House Appropriations Committee to report that DoD had fallen behind on its plans to implement an integrated EHR with the VA; that much of the allocated money for the project had been spent with little to show for it; and that when the decision to launch a vendor search for a commercial EHR was made, he "didn’t think we knew what the hell we were doing." At the conclusion of that hearing, Hagel promised that he would halt the commercial vendor search and report back within 30 days with DoD’s new plan for delivering an integrated DoD/VA EHR. This Wednesday, bending to internal DoD pressure, Hagel reversed course on nearly all that he had said before the House Committee, reporting in a memo that DoD would resume its commercial EHR vendor selection rather than develop an integrated solution with the VA or adopting VA’s VistA.

All Maine hospitals sign on to electronic health records exchange

All of Maine’s acute-care hospitals have agreed to participate in HealthInfoNet, Maine’s statewide query-based HIE. Thirty-four of Maine’s hospitals are already connected to the network, and the last four are scheduled to go live by the end of the year. HealthInfoNet is also connected to 376 ambulatory practice sites.

Practice Fusion Continues To Reach Beyond Digital Health Records, Adds Free Expense Tracking To New Booking Engine

Free Web-based EHR vendor Practice Fusion launches a patient-facing site that allows patients to compare doctors and book appointments. After the appointment, patients can review their spending history across the entire history of their medical visits.

Morning Headlines 5/22/13

Local Health IT Firm Healthland Acquires Software Co.

Healthland acquires Jackson, MS-based post-acute care EHR vendor American HealthTech for an undisclosed sum.

Change in Directors or Principal Officers, Financial Statements and Exhibits

NextGen Healthcare board member Ahmed Hussein resigns after multiple failed attempts to take control of the company through proxy fights. He currently holds more than $100 million in company stock, which means that he can reinstate himself to the board in the future through cumulative voting rules.

Healthcare Innovation Council Calls Out CMS’ EHR Program as "Emperor Has No Clothes"

The Healthcare Innovation Council, an independent group of healthcare experts, has called upon Congress to reconsider the CMS Meaningful Use program since it is not furthering Congress’s goal of improving patient care. The group calls for a reboot of Meaningful Use before all of the money is spent. They are asking for a shift in focus away from hospital adoption of technology and toward improving the design and implementation of the EHR systems.

VMC’s electronic medical records system will increase efficiency, reduce medical errors

A Silicon Valley editorial praises Santa Clara Valley Medical Center’s $220 million Epic implementation, calling it a robust system that should lead to more efficient billing and significantly improve quality of care.

Morning Headlines 5/21/13

MyMedicalRecords Files Patent Infringement Complaint Against Jardogs, a Subsidiary of Allscripts

MMR Global files a patent infringement suit against Jardogs, recently acquired by Allscripts. The suit references Jardog’s FollowMyHealth patient portal as infringing on an MMR Global patent. Prior to this suit, MMR Global had been predominantly targeting hospitals and health systems in its string of lawsuits, but it appears that patient portal vendors will now be targeted as well.

WEDI announces ICD-10 best-practices initiative

Organizations from California, Massachusetts, Minnesota, and Wisconsin announce the formation of a new collaborative initiative with the goal of documenting and sharing best practices guidance to help hospitals prepare for ICD-10 conversion.

Computer error releases 8,330 LSU Health patients’ personal info

Louisiana State University and Siemens Healthcare have informed 8,000 patients that their personal health information was exposed after a bug in a Siemens system associated visit information with incorrect billing addresses. Siemens had been contracted to print and mail patient bills on behalf of LSU. The issue was discovered when patients began calling the hospital reporting incorrect names and treatments on their bills. No Social Security numbers, birthdays, or account numbers were exposed in the breach.

ONC’s Mostashari to Open HIMSS ICD-10 Forum with Insights on Interoperability, Testing & Big Data

National Coordinator for Health Information Technology Farzad Mostashari, MD, will deliver the opening keynote speech during the ICD-10 Forum on June 17-18.

Business Strategy: Accountable Care Maturity Model

IDC Health Insights has published a guide to ACO formation, detailing five stages of what it calls ACO maturity. The report emphasizes the importance of introducing new technologies, like data analytics and mHealth apps, to support post-acute care, but only after key maturity levels are reached.

Morning Headlines 5/20/13

Mitochon Intends to Exit the EHR Market and Cease Physician Services

Free web-based ambulatory EHR vendor Mitochon Systems has announced that it will close its health IT business unit. Mitochon was a Meaningful Use Stage I certified vendor with 12 attestations according to the most recently released CMS data.

Tableau Software soars in trading debut

Seattle-based Tableau, a data visualization vendor popular in the healthcare space, raises $254 million on its IPO Friday and shares closed up 64 percent at the close of its first day of trading.

Wake Forest Baptist IT director stepping down

Wake Forest Baptist CIO Sheila Sanders will step down from her position effective May 31st. She leaves her position for personal reasons, unrelated to recent difficulties with Baptist’s Epic implementation.

DePinho: M.D. Anderson to freeze wages, curb construction

MD Anderson announces a wage freeze, a reduction in hiring, and the postponement of construction projects due to lower than anticipated operating income for FY13. President Robert DePinho reports that an increase in donations and investment income is the only reason the institution will finish the year with positive net income.

Morning Headlines 5/17/13

HHS Secretary Sebelius announces Senate confirmation of Marilyn Tavenner

The US Senate today confirmed Marilyn Tavenner as the new CMS administrator, making her the first to be confirmed to the position in over nine years.

Hospital can’t afford EMR contract, Assembly rejects funding request

City assemblymen from Juneau, AK rejects an $8.5 million budget request to pay for an already-signed Cerner contract for Bartlett Regional Hospital, saying that they were never consulted on the contract prior to its signing and that the $1.15 million in annual maintenance fees is more than they are willing to pay.

Health Care Innovation Awards Round Two

CMS announces Round Two of the Health Care Innovation Awards which authorizes up to $1 billion in awards to help fund innovative projects that will help deliver better care at a lower cost.

Marin General Hospital nurses warn that new computer system is causing errors, call for time out

Unionized nurses at Marin General Hospital are asking administrators to put its Paragon CPOE implementation on hold until glitches can be ironed out, claiming, "Orders are being inadvertently passed to the wrong patients. People have gotten meds when they’ve been allergic to them. This is dangerous.”

Morning Headlines 5/16/13

House Spending Panel Backs Joint Defense-VA Electronic Health Record

The House Appropriations Committee approves the VA’s requested 2014 budget line item of $252 million for an integrated electronic health record, then adds another $92 million, but mandates that no money be released except for an open architecture system that will serve as the sole EHR for the VA and DoD.

Physician adoption of health information technology: Implications for medical practice leaders and business partners

A Deloitte survey of US physicians finds that 75 percent believe that Meaningful Use holds promise for improved efficiency but that reduced costs resulting from the use of EHRs is inflated and that ultimately care will cost more, not less.

Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center reports gain in excess revenue

Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center reports operational income losses attributed to problems with its Epic implementation after spending $13 million directly on Epic and $8 million on implementation expenses. The hospital also reports $26 million in lost margin due to volume disruptions during initial go-live and post go-live optimization. Baptist was already scheduled to complete a staff reduction of 950 employees by June 30, but will now implement additional immediate cost-cutting measures. Moody’s has downgraded its long-term debt rating.

Expert predicts ‘meaningful use fatigue’ in 2015

Laura Kreofsky, principal at Impact Advisors and director of Sutter Health’s Meaningful Use program, discusses the need for organizations to operationalize Meaningful Use-related projects by moving them from small project teams to increasingly stretched IT departments. Due to this shift, she predicts widespread organizational "MU fatigue" by 2015.

Morning Headlines 5/15/13

Compuware subsidiary Covisint files for IPO to raise $100 million

Detroit-based Covisint, which provides cloud-based business platforms for a variety of industries including HIE technology for the healthcare market, files for a $100 million IPO.

Why VC’s Shortchange Healthcare IT—And How to Change It

Athenahealth’s Jonathan Bush contributes an article looking at funding trends in health IT and a perceived lack of opportunity for innovative startups in that space.

Medicare Fraud strike force charges 89 individuals for approximately $223 million in false billing

The Medicare Fraud Strike Force executes operations in eight cities that result in charges against 89 individuals, including doctors and nurses, for their alleged participation in Medicare fraud involving $220 million in false billings.

Exam Room Computing & Patient-Physician Interactions

The American Medical Association releases a study on the use of computers in the examination room and its effect on patient satisfaction. The study found that patients’ attitudes toward the computer were heavily influenced by the physicians’ attitude toward it. The more positive they perceived their doctor’s attitudes, the more likely respondents were to indicate a preference for computer use in the exam room.

McKesson Announces Nationwide Expansion of its Million Dollar EHR Software Give-Away Program, McKesson Gives Back

McKesson expands its McKesson Gives Back program nationally. The program, launched in 2011, donates McKesson Practice Choice EHR systems to small physician practices that operate in underserved and underinsured communities.

Morning Headlines 5/14/13

Report: Global health IT market to hit $56.7 billion by 2017

A recent analysis of the global health IT market forecasts an annual growth rate of seven percent driving the $40.4 billion industry as high as $56.7 billion by 2017.

Winners Announced for New York Patient Portal

The New York eHealth Collaborative’s Patient Portals for New Yorkers contest has concluded with Mana Health taking first place honors. Mana Health’s portal includes secure e-mail communication with providers, an audit trail of patient chart accesses, and a clean and intuitive layout.

Medical Association Backs Bills to Cut Red Tape

Texas lawmakers have passed a bill that will allow providers to start swiping patients driver’s licenses to collect identification information for claims processing. The change is supported by the Texas Medical Association, which has suggested in statements that automating the recording of demographic information will free up a significant amount of time for clinic staff.

Dangers found in lack of safety oversight for Medicare drug benefit

ProPublica releases an online tool that displays individual physician prescribing behaviors in easily understood graphics intended to highlight how far from "typical" a physician’s prescribing practices fall for their specialty. The underlying data comes from four years of Medicare Part D 2007-2010.

Morning Headlines 5/13/13

Cash-strapped hospital bosses employ American IT expert on a salary of £25,000 A MONTH…and even picked up his bar tab and his laundry bill

In England, Rotherham NHS Hospital is being criticized for spending $40,000 a month on consultants in hopes of salvaging a struggling $60 million Meditech implementation.

District Medical Group Partners with Medical Scribe Program to Optimize Electronic Medical Record

Phoenix, AZ-based District Medical Group hires scribes to support physician documentation in its transition to an EMR. The scribes has improved physician workflow and eliminated transcription costs.

UPMC Q3 operating income down by half

University of Pittsburgh Medical Center reports a nearly 50 percent drop in Q3 revenue compared to the same time last year. The drop-off would have been closer to two-thirds lost had UPMC not picked up a $53 million return on its 2006 investment in dbMotion, which sold to Allscripts this March for $235 million.

Tampa Stakes its Claim to Lead Healthcare into the Future

In an effort to attract jobs, Tampa is developing a city-wide program to embrace technology and best practices to reduce overall healthcare costs, generally the second highest cost for businesses after payroll. The program is being offered in lieu of the traditional tax breaks offered as an incentive by most cities.