Last week, CMS announced an enhancement to its physician directory tool with the launch of the first phase of the Physician Compare website, Healthcare IT News reports.
The database, mandated by the federal health reform law, provides consumers with more information about health care providers and includes data about quality of care.
The site is designed to be user friendly and to help all individuals — including those who are not Medicare beneficiaries — find health care professionals. In addition to physicians, the database includes lists of:
The site includes information on:
Physician Compare also shows whether physician practices have submitted data to the CMS Physician Quality Reporting System, formerly known as the Physician Quality Reporting Initiative (Merrill, Healthcare IT News, 12/30/10).
Next Phases
CMS plans further updates to the site. Later this year, the site will show whether health care professionals prescribe medications electronically (Zigmond, Modern Healthcare, 12/30/10).
In addition, the health reform law requires CMS to include more information about quality of care for Medicare beneficiaries by 2013 (Pecquet, “Healthwatch,” The Hill, 12/30/10).
Source: iHealthBeat
Health care providers increasingly are adopting Apple’s iPad for use in medical settings in part because of the device’s point-of-care applications, according to a survey of nearly 950 members of the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society, InformationWeek reports.
The survey was conducted during an online webinar cosponsored by HIMSS and mobile service management company BoxTone. Nearly 70% of respondents were from hospitals or health care organizations with more than 1,500 employees and 15% were executive-level staff or physicians (Lewis, InformationWeek, 12/20).
Key Findings
The survey found that nearly 70% of respondents plan to deploy iPads or similar devices within the next year and that more than 25% of respondents plan to deploy iPads or similar devices immediately.
In addition, one-third of respondents identified point-of-care applications — such as clinical decision support and medical image viewing tools — as top priorities when using iPads or similar devices. About 18% of respondents identified general administration applications — such as billing, coding and claims tools — as top priorities.
According to the survey, 75% of respondents identified secure configuration and deployment as the number one challenge for iPad management and 53% of respondents identified mobile application and deployment as a key challenge (Oh, Becker’s Hospital Review, 12/15).
iPad’s Appeal for Health Care
Lynne Dunbrack, analyst with IDC Health Insights, said the iPad’s design, intuitive user interface and large screen makes it particularly appealing for health care providers.
She added that electronic health record vendors are responding to the growing popularity of the iPad and similar tools by developing applications for the devices (InformationWeek, 12/20).
For any assistance with iPad deployments, don’t hesitate to contact us.
Source: iHealthBeat
Immediate, real-time access to medical claims data could bolster federal efforts to crack down on health care fraud, the Wall Street Journal reports.
The federal government’s multi-agency Health Care Fraud Prevention and Enforcement Action Teams, or HEAT, have achieved some success in using data-mining techniques to identify fraud cases.
About 285 investigators in HHS’ Office of the Inspector General have direct access to a system allowing them to access claims data that is one to two months old. Still, only a limited number of federal fraud investigators have immediate access to real-time claims data.
Strategies for Improving Fraud Detection
Gerald Roy, HHS’ deputy inspector general for investigations, said “We are indeed in our infancy stages here — we have a long way to go until we are wholly data-driven.”
Roy said he is working to facilitate access to claims data that are no more than 24 hours old and would like to establish centers for investigators to analyze the data. He said he hopes to enable fraud investigators to detect suspicious billing patterns earlier so Medicare can halt payments immediately (Schoofs/Tamman [1], Wall Street Journal, 12/22).
Peter Budetti, head of CMS’ new antifraud branch, said he aims to model Medicare fraud detection after the credit card industry, which uses sophisticated software tools to flag suspicious charges before issuing payments.
In addition, some law-enforcement officials have suggested that the federal government should publicly release de-identified billing data to deter health care fraud and abuse (Schoofs/Tamman [2], Wall Street Journal, 12/22).
Source: iHealthBeat
Three federal government policies will make investments in health IT the most significant issue in the health care industry next year, according to a report by the PricewaterhouseCoopers Health Research Institute, CQ HealthBeat reports (Adams, CQ HealthBeat, 12/20).The report — titled “Top Health Industry Issues of 2011” — ranks issues for health care organizations and was based in part on a survey of 1,000 adults nationwide (Clark, HealthLeaders Media, 12/20).Three Drivers of Health ITAccording to the report, health care providers will implement or expand their health IT systems because of:
Other Key FindingsIn addition, the report recommends that health care organizations should engage patients in the growing mobile health market.
According to the report, patients are three-and-a-half times more likely to seek medical information through the media and third-party sources than any other sources (HealthLeaders Media, 12/20). Just 11% of consumers said they search a pharmaceutical company site for health information, the report found.
In addition, the report found that:
Source: iHealthBeat
For any questions or assistance with any Healthcare IT related solutions, don’t hesitate to contact us. We would love the opportunity to help out!
Although there are limitations to the use of geolocation technology in medical settings, patients and physicians can benefit from the technology, American Medical News reports.
Geolocation services enable users to virtually “check in” to various locations, notifying others of their whereabouts. Individuals are using tools like Google Places, Facebook Places and Foursquare to voluntarily check in to locations.
While geolocation can be an effective promotional tool for some business owners, physicians should be careful about how they use the tool and information it contains, according to American Medical News.
Benefits of Geolocation Apps
Anthony LaFauce — director of digital strategy for SpectrumScience, a health care public relations company — said that pharmacies have used geolocation apps to promote flu shot services.
Geolocation apps also may prove helpful when searching for a new physician, according to Mark Scrimshire, director of Internet Channel Strategy at CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield.
According to Chris Boyer — senior manager of digital communications at Falls Church, Va.-based Inova Health System — every physician should check to see that information about their practice on geolocation services is accurate. Boyer said simply searching online for all the listings of a practice can help identify information, which could be found by users of geolocation applications.
In addition, experts say that physicians can use geolocation apps to check in for hospital rounds or in emergency response situations.
Geolocation Drawbacks
Experts say health care providers could face HIPAA privacy concerns if patients choose to share medical information.
Boyer added that medical practices that promote the use of geolocation apps could encourage unneeded repeat visits, which is not a good strategy (Dolan, American Medical News, 12/20).
Source: iHealthBeat
Electronic health record use has varying effects on productivity depending on medical specialty, according to a University of California-Davis study, Modern Healthcare reports.
The study — led by Hemant Bhargava, associate dean and professor of management and computer science at the UC-Davis Graduate School of Management — monitored the implementation of an EHR system in six primary care practices from 2003 to 2006 (Conn, Modern Healthcare, 12/17).
Data were collected on about 100 physicians in three primary care categories:
Key Findings
Researchers found that an EHR system’s impact on physician productivity varied by specialty after health care providers became fully acclimated to the systems.
According to the study, initial implementation of an EHR system resulted in a productivity drop of 25% to 33%, which researchers expected.
However, in the months that followed, internal medicine units saw an improvement in workflow, but pediatricians and family physicians experienced slight drops in productivity.
Bhargava said a “one-size-fits-all” approach does not work with EHR systems.
Reasons for Variation
Bhargava said the findings can be more easily understood by placing EHR technology into two categories — information review and information entry (Merrill, Healthcare IT News, 12/16).
Use of EHR systems enables more efficient review of data such as patient history, notes and charts, which tends to benefit internal medicine physicians, who generally see a greater proportion of ill patients.
However, pediatricians’ work often involves more data entry and documentation, which can be more time-consuming when using EHR systems (Modern Healthcare, 12/17).
Source: iHealthBeat
Although most young physicians use Facebook, few say they would accept a patient’s request to be their Facebook friend, according to a new study published in the Journal of Medical Ethics, MedPage Today reports.
For the study, researchers surveyed 160 residents and 42 fellows of Rouen University Hospital in France about their Facebook use. The mean age of survey participants was 29.
The survey found that about 73% of respondents said they had Facebook profiles.
About 85% of respondents said they would deny a patient’s request to be their Facebook friend, while 15% said they would consider adding a patient on an individual basis. Factors in the decision to accept a request included:
Although 93% of respondents thought physicians should be allowed to have Facebook profiles, 82% said physicians should limit their profile access (Moubarak et al., Journal of Medical Ethics, 12/15).
Physician-Patient Relationship
About half of respondents said they believed the physician-patient relationship would be altered if a patient discovered his or her physician was a Facebook member.
About 76% of participants thought the relationship would change only if the patient could view the physician’s profile.
Facebook Etiquette Recommendations
To help physicians navigate the social network, the researchers offered several Facebook etiquette recommendations. They recommended that physicians:
Source: iHealthBeat
Industry experts predict a significant increase in the use of smart phone health applications.
A recent report from research2guidance — a research and consulting company that specializes in the mobile market — predicts that in the next five years an estimated 1.4 billion people will use smart phones worldwide and that more than one out of every three people with a smart phone will have a health-related app on their phone.
In an iHealthBeat Special Report by Kelly Wilkinson, experts discuss the growing use of mobile health apps.
The Special Report includes comments from:
Source: iHealthBeat
HHS’ Office for Civil Rights plans to release final rules related to the HITECH Act and HIPAA privacy and security regulations next year, according to a senior OCR official, HealthLeaders Media reports.
Adam Greene, senior health IT and privacy specialist at OCR, spoke during day one of a two-day meeting hosted by the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT. He said the HITECH- and HIPAA-related rules will be released simultaneously and will relate to:
Greene also said a proposed rule on accounting disclosures for electronic health records will be released in 2011. The HITECH Act directs OCR to expand a HIPAA provision to include disclosures on treatment, payment and health care operations through EHRs.
Greene did not provide information on the status of a HITECH Act program that calls for periodic audits of HIPAA compliance (Nicastro, HealthLeaders Media, 12/14).
Health Care Leaders Comment on Potential of Health IT
During the first day of ONC’s meeting, HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said this year “will begin a whole new chapter in heath IT” as the country takes steps to implement the federal health reform law.
National Coordinator for Health IT David Blumenthal added that health IT could play a key role in the establishment of accountable care organizations, bundled payment systems and other elements of the reform law.
Joining the meeting via video, CMS Administrator Donald Berwick said health IT will help the U.S. improve care, bolster population health and reduce costs (Zigmond, Modern Healthcare, 12/14).
Blumenthal Reviews Year in Health IT
Also during the meeting, Blumenthal described progress in several programs related to health IT. He noted that:
Source: iHealthBeat
Forty-one percent of surveyed medical offices have a fully implemented system for the electronic ordering of medications, according to a new Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality survey.
According to the survey, 30% of respondents are in the midst of implementing an e-ordering system, while 29% have not implemented such a system.
The survey also found that about half of respondents have had difficulty in the past year with exchanging accurate and complete electronic information with outside medical offices and pharmacies.
Results are based on two surveys conducted in 2007 and 2009 involving 474 medical offices.
Source: AHRQ, “2010 Preliminary Comparative Results: Medical Office Survey on Patient Safety Culture”
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