Venture Capital Firms Showing More Interest in Health IT Companies

Venture capitalists increasingly are investing in health IT companies that  use data analytics and care management applications to help health care  providers rein in medical costs, Kaiser Health News/Washington Post reports.

According to KHN/Washington Post, investment in biotechnology  and medical devices has declined sharply since 2007.

At the same time, investment in health IT firms has increased. Research from PricewaterhouseCoopers shows that health care  software companies received $407 million in investments during the first three  quarters of 2011, compared with the $311 million the sector received during all  of 2007.

Investors might be betting that health care organizations squeezed by the  recent recession are interested in IT systems that help them identify possible  savings.

In addition, some investors might believe that the federal health reform law  is increasing demand for companies that use data to:

• Help insurers adjust to new regulations;
• Increase health system efficiency; and
• Offer Web-based tools to help people shop for health insurance.

Bob Kocher — a former health policy adviser for the Obama administration who  now works for venture capital firm Venrock — said, “The changes in the health  system are rocket fuel for entrepreneurs” (Weaver, Kaiser Health  News/Washington Post, 11/6).

Source: iHealthBeat

Doctors Say EHRs Are Safer Than Paper Charts; Patients Are Split

Most U.S. physicians believe electronic health records are safer than  paper-based medical records, while patients are split over which system is  safer, according to a survey conducted by GfK Roper on behalf of  EHR provider Practice Fusion, Becker’s Hospital Review reports (Rodak, Becker’s Hospital Review, 11/3).

For the physician portion of the survey, 1,220 medical professionals answered  an online questionnaire on Oct. 28. For the patient portion of the survey,  researchers conducted phone interviews with 1,006 U.S. adults between Oct. 21  and Oct. 23 (Miliard, Healthcare IT News, 11/2).

Key Findings

The survey found that:

• 54% of physicians believe that EHRs are safer than paper records. Of those,  63% cited immediate access to records as the top benefit;
• 18% of physicians believe that paper records are safer than EHRs. Of those,  36% cited a lower likelihood of data being breached or stolen as the top  benefit;
• 39% of patients believe that EHRs are safer than paper records. Of those,  77% cited immediate access to records as the top benefit; and
• 47% of patients believe that paper records are safer than EHRs. Of those,  59% cited greater privacy as the top benefit (United Press International,

Source: iHealthBeat

Many Doctors Use Web Searches To Look Up Medical Information

About 46% of physicians frequently use search engines like Google and Yahoo  to look up information on diagnoses and treatments, according to a survey commissioned by Wolters Kluwer Health,  the Wall Street Journal‘s “Health Blog” reports.

For the report, research firm Ipsos surveyed more than 300 physicians who  belong to the American Medical Association.

Sources for Medical Information

Researchers asked physicians about how they obtained information for  diagnosis and treatment and found that:

• 68% of respondents said they consult professional journals;
• 60% said they discuss the issues with colleagues;
• 46% said they use search engines like Google and Yahoo;
• 42% said they use conferences and events; and
• 42% said they use no-cost online services like WebMD (Hobson, “Health Blog,” Wall Street Journal, 11/1).

Health IT Adoption

The survey also found that 44% of respondents said they have a long way to go  toward embracing health IT and clinical decision support tools.

Researchers asked physicians about the barriers to adopting health IT systems  and found that:

• 40% of respondents said cost was the top barrier;
• 32% said the systems contain too much data and not enough actionable  information;
• 27% said the systems are too time-consuming to implement or too difficult to  learn; and
• 24% said it was too difficult to use the systems at the point of care  (Goedert, Health Data Management, 11/1).

Source: iHealthBeat

Survey: Larger Medical Practices More Likely To Implement EHRs

Larger medical practices are more likely than smaller practices to have  implemented electronic health record systems, according to a survey by health care research firm  SK&A, NextGov‘s “Health IT Update” reports (Pulley, “Health IT Update,” NextGov, 10/25).

The report is based on an ongoing telephone survey of 237,562 U.S. medical  practices (SK&A release, 10/24).

Practice Size-Related Findings

Researchers noted that 40.4% of the medical practices surveyed had adopted  EHRs. They also found that:

• 75.5% of medical practices with 26 or more physicians had adopted EHRs,  compared with about 30.8% of solo practices;
• 66.1% of medical practices that saw 101 or more patients per day had adopted  EHRs, compared with 36% of practices that saw 50 or fewer patients per day; and
• 64.1% of medical practices with 11 or more exam rooms had adopted EHRs,  compared with 28.2% of practices with one exam room (Merrill, Healthcare IT News, 10/25).

Additional Findings

The report also found that:

• 64% of medical practices owned by health care systems had adopted EHRs;
• 60% of practices owned by hospitals had adopted EHRs; and
• 39% of practices not owned by health care systems or hospitals had adopted  EHRs.

Researchers found that medical practices specializing in dialysis and  pathology had the highest EHR adoption rates at 65% and 62%, respectively.

Medical practices specializing in psychiatry and holistic medicine had the  lowest EHR adoption rates at 17% (“Health IT Update,” NextGov,  10/25).

Source: iHealthBeat

Doctors Could Benefit From More Training on EHRs, Survey Finds

Physicians who received at least three to five days of training reported the  highest levels of satisfaction with their electronic health record system, according to a survey by AmericanEHR Partners, Modern Healthcare reports (Robeznieks, Modern  Healthcare, 10/21).

However, the survey found that 49.3% of surveyed physicians said  they received three or fewer days of EHR training (Cadet, CMIO, 10/24).

AmericanEHR Partners is an online community created by the American College  of Physicians and Cientis Technologies.

The report — titled, “Correlation of Training Duration With EHR Usability  and Satisfaction: Implications for Meaningful Use” — is based on an online  survey of 2,338 physicians from five different medical societies between April  2010 and July 2011.

Under the 2009 federal economic stimulus package, health care providers who  demonstrate meaningful use of certified EHR systems can qualify for Medicare and  Medicaid incentive payments.

Additional Findings

According to the survey, larger physician practices tended to offer fewer  days of EHR training. The survey also found that physicians:

• Reported greater satisfaction with EHR systems if they participated in the  selection process;
• Reported that they could easily use EHR functions required under the  meaningful use incentive program if they received at least one week of EHR  training; and
• Gave higher usability ratings to EHR systems if they received two or more  weeks of training on basic EHR functions (Modern Healthcare,  10/21).

Source: iHealthBeat

Report: 26% of Adults Use Mobile Phones To Access Health Data

About 26% of U.S. adults used their mobile phones to access health  information in 2011, up from 12% who reported doing so in 2010, according to a  recent Manhattan Research report, MobiHealthNews reports.

The Cybercitizen Health report is based on a Q3 2011 phone and online survey  of 8,745 U.S. adults.

According to the report, looking up health information and reading  health-related news continues to be the most popular health-related use of  mobile phones (Gullo, MobiHealthNews, 10/19).

However, the report did find an increase in consumers’ use of mobile phones  to manage their care or treatment. For example, about 8% of adults used mobile  phone prescription drug refill or reminder services in 2011, up from 3% in 2010  (Manhattan Research release, 10/19).

Source: iHealthBeat

Physicians’ Use of Text Messages Sparks HIPAA Compliance Concerns

Most physicians use text messaging to exchange patient information with other  health care providers, but such communication could be a violation of federal  privacy and security rules, experts said during a webinar Monday, BNA reports.

The webinar was hosted by TigerText, a provider of secure text messaging  capabilities to health care organizations and other industries.

Brad Brooks, president and co-founder of TigerText, said that more than 70%  of physicians use text messaging to communicate with other health care providers  about patients.

Brooks said that text messaging allows health care providers to send and  receive real-time information without relying on phone or email. He added that  text messaging offers a “huge opportunity” to improve the cost and quality of  health care.

However, Brooks warned that health care providers’ use of text messaging  could violate HIPAA privacy and security rules if the messages contain protected  health information and do not include adequate safeguards.

Adam Greene — an attorney with Davis Wright Tremaine and a former employee  at HHS’ Office for Civil Rights, which enforces HIPAA rules — said that HIPAA  regulations apply to all electronic protected health information and that data  included in text messages could be covered under the broad definition of  protected health information.

For example, a text message between two physicians could be considered  protected health information if it includes admission or discharge data that  could lead to the identification of the patient.

Greene urged health care organizations to include health care providers’ text  messaging capabilities and content in their HIPAA risk analyses to identify any  potential vulnerabilities (Casey Plank, BNA, 10/19).

Source: iHealthBeat

CMS Offers Hospitals Guidance for Meeting Meaningful Use Criteria

CMS has released additional guidance for hospitals on the process of  attesting to the meaningful use of electronic health records, Health Data Management reports.

Under the 2009 federal economic stimulus package, health care providers who  demonstrate meaningful use of certified EHR systems can qualify for  Medicaid and Medicare incentive payments (Goedert, Health Data  Management, 10/19).

Details of the Guidance

CMS said hospitals aiming to meet Medicare meaningful use requirements are  “attesting to providing all of the information necessary … to render complete  and accurate information for all meaningful use core and menu set measures  except [clinical quality measures].”

The agency noted that it considers data to be accurate and complete for  clinical quality measures when they are “identical to the output that was  generated from certified EHR technology” (Conn, Modern Healthcare, 10/19).

This explanation means that a hospital does not need to submit  additional clinical quality data beyond what an EHR system produces, even if the  values reported include zeros.

CMS’ guidance also states that:

• If hospitals have concerns about the accuracy of submitted data, facilities  should work with their vendor or the Office of the National Coordinator for  Health IT to improve the accuracy of their equipment; and
• Hospitals should save a copy of the clinical quality measures report as  evidence of attestation in case the data are needed for an audit (Rodak, Becker’s Hospital Review, 10/19).

Source: iHealthBeat

Uneven Health IT Adoption Has Hindered Efforts To Boost Care

The nation’s limited implementation of health IT systems has hindered quality  improvement efforts, according to a new report from the Commonwealth Fund, Modern  Healthcare reports.

However, the authors said that programs aimed at boosting health IT adoption  under the federal health reform law have the potential to improve health care  quality and efficiency (McKinney, Modern Healthcare, 10/18).

Report Details

The report, conducted by the Commonwealth Fund Commission on a High  Performance Health System, evaluated the U.S. health care system on 42  indicators of quality, access, efficiency, equity and healthy lives.

The scorecard compared average U.S. performance rates to those achieved by  the top 10% of U.S. states, regions, health plans and health care  providers, as well as top-performing countries (Byers, CMIO, 10/18).

Key Findings

The U.S. health care system scored 64 out of 100 on key measures of  performance and 53 out of 100 on measures of efficiency, indicating a relatively  low use of electronic health records and high administrative costs, according to  the report.

Despite some areas of improvement, including public reporting of quality data  on federal websites, quality of care still varies widely across the U.S. and has  failed to keep pace with other countries (Commonwealth Fund release, 10/18).

The report noted that in seven other industrialized countries, 94% or more of  physician practices have implemented EHR systems.

The authors wrote that health care providers in other countries are more  likely than those in the U.S. to have “advanced functions to provide decision  support and enable information to flow with patients across sites of care”  (Modern Healthcare, 10/18).

Potential for Improvement Under Health Reform Law

The authors noted that data from the report were collected before the federal  health reform law was enacted (CMIO, 10/18).

David Blumenthal — chair of the commission and former National Coordinator  for Health IT — said that the reform law and “investments in information  systems offer the potential for rapid progress in areas like adoption and use of  [health IT], safer care and premature deaths from preventable complications”  (Monegain, Healthcare IT News, 10/18).

For example, the report noted that greater health IT use could lower rates of  certain adverse events, such as medication errors, and help health care  providers improve care coordination and measure performance (Modern  Healthcare, 10/18).

Source: iHealthBeat

56M U.S. Adults Have Accessed Health Data via EHRs, Report Says

About 56 million U.S. adults have accessed their medical information through a physician-maintained electronic health record system, and 41 million more are interested in doing so, according to a study by Manhattan Research, Becker’s Hospital Review reports (Rodak, Becker’s Hospital Review, 10/13).

However, the study also found that 140 million U.S. adults are not interested in accessing their health data via physician-maintained EHRs.

According to the study, those who were not interested in accessing their electronic health data tended to be less educated, older and less likely to use the Internet or Web-based mobile devices (Pulley, NextGov, 10/13).

The findings come from Manhattan Research’s Cybercitizen Health U.S. 2011 study of digital health trends. The study is based on an online and phone survey of 8,745 adults that was conducted during the third quarter of 2011 (Healthcare Informatics, 10/12).

Source: iHealthBeat