Is your practice using your EMR in a meaningful way?

Do you have questions about meaningful use?

Do you need answers?

Center for Computer Resources can help! Our certified trainer is dedicated to helping you learn the processes of Meaningful Use.

CCR’s approach towards Meaningful Use training is broken into 3 Phases:

Phase I: Meaningful Use Launch

Prerequisite: Review EMR

Actions:

• Review Roadmap to Meaningful Use Guide (Provided)
• Initiate and present overview of meaningful use objectives
• Discuss high-level timeline for Meaningful Use Stages
• Discuss next steps

Deliverables:

• Outline of meaningful use roadmap

Phase II: Develop Meaningful Use plan of action

Prerequisite: Meaningful Use Launch and Designation of Practice Meaningful Use Super User

Actions:

• Perform Meaningful Use Overview Assessment and Educate Meaningful Use

Super User

• Discuss registration process
• Discuss attestation process
• Work one-on-one with Meaningful Use Super User to develop a plan of action for each eligible provider. Meaningful Use Super User will need to document plan of action and submit to CCR for review
• Review resource guide/sources and How to use them
• Discuss next steps

Deliverables:

• Reviewed Plan of Action
• Attestation Test/Worksheet
• Glossary of Meaningful Use Terms/Definitions
• List of Resources

Phase III: Meaningful Use Plan of Action Implementation

Prerequisites: CCR will provide a list of required process to be document. The prerequisite is to submit completed documentation of the required processes prior to initial meeting.

Actions:

• Work one-on-one with eligible provider to assist with choices of Meaningful Use

Measures:

• Review of written processes
• Develop of list of required processes changes necessary to meet Meaningful Use mandates
• Preliminary testing against CMS attestation criteria to locate any deficiencies

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Electronic evidence-based protocols used as a “shared baseline” at the patient bedside may help eliminate unnecessary medical care—and that can lead a health care entity down the road to being a top-performing organization, as one case study illustrates.

IT plays a crucial role in preventing health-care-associated infections (HAIs), according to a new white paper from GE Healthcare IT.

HAIs affect 1.7 million inpatients each year, and are the fourth leading cause of U.S. deaths. Additionally, they cost the U.S. health care system as much as $35 billion each year. According to the GE Healthcare IT report, however, HAIs can be prevented with emerging technologies, such as electronic medical records (EMRs).

As one example, the report highlights the case of Intermountain Healthcare, where 80 percent of care delivery is evidence-based (vs. less than 55 percent for the rest of the industry).

There, evidence-based care protocols are rolled into a clinical information system and used as a “shared baseline” at the patient bedside. Physicians are expected to base their treatments on these protocols, making any necessary adjustments to meet individual patient needs.

Evidence-based protocols can improve accuracy, as illustrated by the work of Anthony Lee, MD, of Columbus Children’s Hospital, Columbus, Ohio. Lee created a Web-based system that automatically calculated a patient’s next dose of insulin. Instead of reviewing multiple pages and performing manual calculations, nurses simply enter two variables and the system instructed what action to take next. As it turned out, nursed calculated the insulin rate incorrectly nearly 25 percent of the time with the paper system, but only 1 percent of the time with the Web-based system (and in 80 percent of cases with errors, the insulin infusion rate was miscalculated by at least one unit per hour).

According to the GE Healthcare IT report, using such evidence-based care protocols for clinical decision support also eliminates unnecessary care, which has helped make Intermountain a top-performing organization. Other health care organizations of all sizes may wish to emulate this practice.

The entire report is available here.

Only a fraction of U.S. physicians have fully implemented and begun to use an electronic medical record (EMR) despite years of widespread availability and incentives, and for many good reasons—but gloEMR is covering resistance with its commitment to truly meaningful use.

The process of vetting and implementing an electronic medical record (EMR) can be challenging for any medical group, with barriers to adoption including excessive perceived costs for setup and maintenance, disruption to physician productivity, and insufficient clinical and financial benefits.

But technological progress, HITECH Act incentives, and consumer demand have all combined to overcome resistance and spur a wave of adoption—and today, many physicians have seen firsthand that the right system can help their practices gain greater efficiency and generate increased revenues.

The key is to adopt the right system, such as gloEMR 6.0, gloStream’s flagship EMR, which has been certified by the Certification Commission for Health Information Technology (CCHIT), an ONC-ATCB, in accordance with the applicable certification criteria adopted by the Secretary of HHS.

gloStream guarantees that gloEMR will provide eligible providers with everything they need to achieve meaningful use and qualify for stimulus incentive funding. That means gloStream will provide everything the government requires for customers to be eligible for stimulus payments—and more.

That’s because to gloStream, meaningful use is about more than just meeting government requirements; it’s about making sure clients are completely comfortable using their EMRs and getting the results they need.

gloStream achieves this with its innovative gloDNA process, which allows the company to understand the needs of a practice so gloEMR can be configured the way the individual doctors practice medicine. During this process, gloStream reviews the practice’s needs in order to build a customized solution and recommend process changes that help smooth the transition to a digital environment. It then follows through with a wellness phase designed to make sure clients continue to be truly meaningful users.

That’s what gloStream calls “truly meaningful use,” and that’s its guarantee.

Looking for a better return on investment? Health care practice’s medical billing departments may be able to realize a significant return on investment by implementing an electronic document management solution (EDMS) with integrated workflow technology, according to a new white paper.

Medical billing departments are tasked with maximizing revenue per claim and minimizing cost per claim processed, which is often more difficult than it sounds. The administrative cost of processing a medical claim can be as high as $10, but on average, 30 percent of medical claims sent to insurance companies never get paid. Plus, many insurance companies take up to three months to process paper claims.

Billing managers who use technology to improve the billing process may be able to dramatically improve collection amounts and times. According to a white paper from Laserfiche^®, “ROI for Medical Billing,” with an investment in digital document management and workflow technology, medical billing departments can save anywhere from $145,000 a year in annual operational costs for a single-facility billing department to upwards of $1,500,000 for a large billing organization.

Some entities have already started down that path. For example, America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP) shows that three-quarters of all health insurance claims are now submitted electronically, up from 24 percent in 1995. As a result, 98 percent of claims are processed within a month of receipt (and many within a week).

One more technology that can streamline billing and coding processes, thereby shortening the revenue-collection cycle, is an electronic document management solution (EDMS) that includes workflow technology. A best-of-class EDMS can automatically take files received in different formats including paper and fax, convert them into a single electronic format, automatically name the documents, and route them to the appropriate staff. Advanced EDMSs can even monitor network folders for faxes or FTP uploads and immediately process the files without staff intervention. Scanned documents are then stored in a secure, HIPAA-compliant repository.

Savings, according to the white paper, arise from the reduced labor hours of batch and file creation, as well as reduced office supply requirements. Even more dramatic savings can be achieved when scanning is done at the source, such as a remote office, which eliminates the cost of transportation.

The white paper is available here.

Creating online tools that allow patients to complete cumbersome paperwork online before their appointment and complete other tasks electronically is something both doctors and patients want—because it saves time and money on both sides of the equation.

Patients are ready for physicians to offer a number of new online tools, according to a recent study—and many physicians are ready to do so. Are you?

The Intuit Health Patient Engagement Study, which looked at 556 U.S. medical practices, found that 95 percent of doctors want their patients to fill out medical forms online before their appointments. And most patients are on board: a full 81 percent said they’d like to do these tasks online as well.

One reason is that the current state of medical practices is inefficient. Nearly half of the medical practices surveyed said they regularly run 30 to 60 minutes behind schedule. That isn’t surprising: One-third of practices reported that staff spends three or more hours each day trying to reach patients to communicate follow-up information, and forty-five percent reported that phone interruptions happen so frequently they impact office efficiency.

Patients are unhappy, too: Most of the medical practices surveyed reported that patients complain about spending too much time in the waiting room, filling out the same paper forms over and over, and trying to make appointments, ask questions, and receive lab results.

The current state of medical practices is costly, too: Eighty-three percent of the medical practices surveyed reported that patients have to be reminded more than once before paying a bill.

The solution, according to the survey: “When doctors give patients convenient and easy-to-use online tools, they’ll be amazed at the positive impact an engaged and satisfied patient can have on their staff’s time and their bottom line.”

According to the study, because customers already use online self-service tools today in banking, shopping, and other areas, they’re ready to embrace them in health care.

Fast and easy describes the entire process of EMR implementation at Chicago Nasal & Sinus Center. That’s because the EMR the practice chose, gloStream’s gloEMR, comes with the backing of solid Microsoft technology, ample training, and around-the-clock local support.

Concern about implementation is one of the largest stumbling blocks to transitioning to an electronic medical record (EMR), but the change isn’t always difficult. That’s what Chicago Nasal & Sinus Center found, anyway.

The practice has one physician, a physician assistant, a nurse/surgical coordinator, a CT technician, a receptionist, and practice manager. It sees about 100 patients per week and has about 5,000 active patient files.

To streamline procedures, make the practice more efficient, and save money, Chicago Nasal & Sinus Center explored a number of EMR options. Ultimately, it found gloStream’s gloEMR to be the perfect fit.

“The impetus to explore an EMR was based on our increasing patient volume, the increasing demands of documentation and correspondence, and the upcoming government mandates,” says Practice Manager Becky Pritikin. “The search for an EMR was, at least in part, to decrease the burden of charting and make it more efficient.”

A number of features attracted the practice to gloStream, which uses the latest technology available to offer powerful, single-click access to all patient information, customizable templates, and exceptional voice-recognition technology. “We selected gloStream because of the stable platform (Microsoft Windows) with an established word processing program (Microsoft Word) that we were already familiar with and using,” Pritikin says. “gloStream is a very adaptable system, allowing us to create our own document templates, formatting the EMR in a fashion similar to our paper charts.”

According to Pritikin, employees were very receptive to implementation and took to the training very quickly. Meanwhile, implementation costs have been offset by the $20-billion government stimulus program as well as savings on postage, stationery, and print cartridges.

Rising demand for cost containment and improved service in the health care field is fueling the growth of the EMR market, according to a new study—but given how fragmented the market is, health care practitioners who want to jump on board would be wise to have a trusted technology advisor guide them through the process.

The U.S. electronic medical records (EMR) market will reach the $6 billion mark by 2015—a significant growth rate of 18.1 percent from 2010 to 2015.

This information comes from a new study from MarketsandMarkets, a global research and consulting firm that studies the major market drivers, restraints, and opportunities of the EMR market by looking at components and end users.

According to the study, a rising demand for cost containment and improved service in the health care field is driving the growth of the EMR market, which should grow from $2,177 million in 2009 to $6,054 million in 2015. That’s an estimated compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 18.1 percent from 2010 to 2015.

Is it time for you to get on board with an EMR? Although large health care practices prefer on-site, client-server-based EMR systems, small health care practices are jumping on the EMR bandwagon too, with web-based EMR solutions or ASP models.

Still, the study notes that the U.S. EMR market is fragmented, with more than 1,000 players. With this many options available, it helps to have a trusted technology advisor guide you through the EMR selection and implementation process. Contact us if you require assistance.

Related materials: U.S. Electronic Medical Records (EMR) Market, 2010-2015 (Market Share, Winning Strategies and Adoption Trends)

Digital pen and paper technology can help physicians reach meaningful use more quickly, and only requires three things: a digital pen, digital paper that reads the input from the digital pen, and the software that pulls it all together.

The race to meaningful use is underway—and anyone who is participating should look into digitizing information that has been historically stored on paper. One way to do that is digital pen and paper technology.

Digital pen and paper technology digitizes information you write down, provided that you use a special pen and special paper. The benefit: You write as you normally would, but the information you write can be stored and accessed via your electronic medical record (EMR) system.

If you’re a physician on the road to meaningful use, you’ll want to explore this technology because it can reduce the number of things you need to change when implementing an EMR. That, in turn, will reduce your frustration—and get you up and running more quickly.

Interested? You’ll need three components: a digital pen, the software that prints the digital paper, and the digital paper that reads the input from the digital pen.

Here’s how it works. Your IT provider gives you software that lets you design and print your own forms—in other words, they look exactly like the forms you’re currently using. However, they will contain a subtle pattern of barely visible dots that can be read by the digital pen when you write. Although digital pens are larger than normal pens, they’re not so large that they’re hard to use, and they produce ink so you can see what you’re writing. Everything you write is then uploaded to your computer system—saving you time and improving accuracy.

EMRs don’t have to mean months of lost productivity and income—if you choose the right EMR. gloStream guarantees that you’ll be back to your full patient load within 15 days of gloEMR implementation, or you’ll get your money back.

Downtime is one of the main concerns of physicians reluctant to implement an electronic medical record (EMR). But that doesn’t have to be a concern, thanks to gloEMR.

According to an article in Healthcare IT News, one of the 10 barriers to EMR implementation is the fear of lost productivity. Many physicians believe that they will lose 25 percent of their productivity for three full months after EMR implementation. And who can afford that?

Fortunately, that doesn’t have to be the case. gloStream utilizes an innovative implementation process called gloStream Detailed Needs Analysis (gloDNA). During this process, gloStream gathers all of the information needed to create an ideal EMR or practice management solution for clients—who can be up in running in weeks, not months.

The result is a solution tailored to your needs. “Thanks to the functionality within gloEMR, I have the capability to see a healthy load of patients when I’m in the clinic and still finish all of my charts so that I can leave by 4:30pm,” says one gloStream client.

In fact, the gloDNA process is so successful that gloStream offers a money-back guarantee: If your practice isn’t back to its full patient load within 15 days of your glo-live date, gloStream will provide a refund for gloStream software and services.

In the past, analyses of the benefits of EMR implementation focused primarily on increased efficiency, improved patient care, and lower costs—but EMRs offer much more than that, according to a recent study by a health care IT leader.

Now there’s one more reason to implement an electronic medical record (EMR) system: They have compelling environmental effects, including the reduction of greenhouse gases.

According to a study by Kaiser Permanente published in the May issue of Health Affairs, EMRs could lower U.S. carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions by as much as 1.7 million tons.

The study began with a Kaiser Permanente analysis of how that health system, which serves more than 8.7 million members, helped the environment by operating the world’s largest private EMR, Kaiser Permanente HealthConnect. According to the analysis, Kaiser Permanente’s use of an EMR reduced paper use by 1,044 tons per year, and digitizing and archiving x-ray images and other scans reduced the use of toxic chemicals (including silver nitrate and hydroquinone) by 33.3 tons per year. Other compelling statistics: Filling prescriptions online reduced CO2 emissions by 7,000 tons, and reducing travel with virtual visits reduced CO2 emissions by 92,000 tons. The environmental savings were compelling even when energy use from the increase in personal computers was factored in.

From that analysis, Kaiser Permanente developed a model to evaluate the environmental impact of EMRs in general. That model looks at six categories of environmental impact within health care to examine those most directly related to EMRs. “As the country increases its meaningful use of HIT, we should consider other macro impacts as well,” said one Kaiser Permanente official.