Healthcare IT Update

EMR 101 for Newbies

Feel like you’re babe in the woods when it comes to EMR? Here’s a quick-start guide for small providers. Thinking about scrapping your paper documentation and plugging into electronic patient records? You’ve got a lot of things to consider. Our Rehab Report editor talked to the experts about EMR questions that PTs, OTs and SLPs should ask before they buy EMR systems, and a lot of the advice we got applies to other small providers as well. Integrating new electronic medical record (EMR) or documentation software is a critical step into the future, experts contend — yet it’s not a walk in the park. Whether you’re starting from scratch or looking to upgrade your current system, get the straight-up facts of what to expect and how to survive the process. Get Started on the Right Foot The minute you decide to move forward with an EMR system, take time to…

Continue reading...

Should You Handle Medical Privacy for Psychiatric Care Differently?

Question: Our facility is going to offer psychiatric services to certain residents with mental health issues or psychiatric diagnoses.These services will be provided by outside psychiatrists and psychiatric nurse practitioners, and will include individual counseling and group therapy. Do we need to have more HIPAA privacy safeguards related specifically to the psychiatric services? If so, what might they be? Answer: As a first step, decide in consultation with the psychiatric professionals involved what records the facility will maintain, and what records only the psychiatric professional will maintain, advises Heather O. Berchem, an attorney with Murtha Cullina LLP, in New Haven, Conn. The distinction is important because the facility is responsible under HIPAA only for those records maintained by the facility. And the psychiatric professionals will be responsible for complying with HIPAA regarding records they maintain, she says. Important …

Continue reading...