Healthcare IT Update

5 Reasons Why ‘Getting Technical’ With Your Patient Records Pays Off

Not an EP? Here are other ways EMR can save you cash if you know the ropes. If you haven’t witnessed or lead a conversion from paper records to an electronic medical record (EMR) system, you’re at least aware that the process is a huge undertaking — that often results in even lower productivity and more confusion. So, is making the change really worth it? Experts agree that yes, going electronic is worth it. Here are a few reasons why: 1. You Open More Cash Inlets Many research studies pull their data via electronic records. So, if you can’t tune in to participate, opportunities for cash perks will fly by. “Grant money and incentive programs are available, for example, and they want data in the electronic form,” points out Francine Wheelock, PT, MPA, manager of clinical systems for MaineGeneral Health. Just look at the nationwide push for value-based purchasing and outcome…

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One More Way EHRs Can Save Hospitals Money

Here’s the monetary incentive that should spur hospitals to help home health agencies participate in EHRs. Last week, we looked at how some home health agencies are using telehealth to reduce hospital readmissions for congestive heart failure patients. Fewer hospital readmissions for CHF is good news on the OASIS, quality and survey fronts. The latest issue of CMIO shows how wired HHAs can benefit a hospital’s bottom line as well. Medicare spends $12 billion a year on “potentially preventable” readmissions, estimates MedPAC, With figures like that, the cost-cutting feds are bound to act. “In the next two or three years, everything will be bundled payments. [Medicare, Medicaid and private insurers will] give so many dollars for the hospital and post-acute care,” predicts Musood Pirzada, director of information technology for the Rehabilitation Institute of Cleveland Clinic, which has an initiative to integrate…

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Occupational Therapy Gets Its Own EMR Tool

Occupational therapists are getting some special electronic medical record attention. For a while now, speech pathologists and physical therapists have had the option to use tailored electronic medical record and documentation programs from their national associations — and now it’s occupational therapy’s turn. The American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA) announced in early November a licensing agreement with Cedaron Medical, Inc. to develop an electronic patient record and documentation system for the occupational therapy profession.

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HIPAA Staff Training Toolkit: EMR Snooping Can Land You in Court

Anne Pressly. Photo Source: Wikipedia If you’re looking for some ‘don’t try this at home’ stories for your next privacy compliance staff training session, keep this little ‘lesson learned’ in your files. Snooping around a public figure’s medical records has been around since paper files. But these days, EMR systems make it much easier for health system administrators — and law enforcement officials — to nab folks who indulge in illicit snooping. Earlier this summer, prosecutors charged three health care workers at St. Vincent Infirmary Medical Center in Little Rock, Arkansas with improperly accessing the Anne Pressly’s medical records, the Associated Press reports. Anne Pressly was raped and murdered in October 2008 during a home invasion. The Little Rock news anchor’s death made national headlines, in part because she was a beautiful local celebrity who’d landed a bit…

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