Doctors beware: The EHR debacle may get much worse
American Thinker
More and more people are having the disturbing experience of seeing their doctors spend more time pecking at a computer keyboard than examining them. The doctors are entering data into their patients’ electronic health records in compliance with federal rules introduced a few years ago. EHRs drive doctors crazy. Their own experience tells them that electronic recordkeeping interferes with care, by taking time away from patients.
Patients press the ‘record’ button, making doctors squirm
Washington Post
According to author Christie Aschwanden: My dad had a health scare recently, and at a doctor’s appointment to receive some important test results, my mom wanted to record audio of the visit on her smartphone. “If he had gotten some terrible diagnosis, I wanted to be able to share that discussion with you and your sister,” Mom told me later. But when she asked if it was okay to record, the doctor replied, “No. I don’t want you to do that.”
Senator blasts EHR program
Healthcare IT News
Until physicians have EHRs that can talk with one another, the Precision Medicine Initiative introduced by President Barack Obama could be in jeopardy, Sen. Lamar Alexander said. “We’ve got to get these records to a place where the systems can talk to one another — that’s called interoperability — and also where more doctors, particularly the smaller physicians’ offices, want to adopt these systems, can afford the cost and can be confident that their investment will be of value,” Alexander said.
ICD-10 bill surfaces, calls for delay, more study of rollout disruptions
Healthcare Finance News
Text of a bill by Rep. Ted Poe to delay the switch to ICD-10 diagnostic coding surfaced recently, in which it requests further study on the disruption on healthcare providers could face resulting from the replacement of ICD-9. The three-page bill, H.R. 2126, was proposed on April 30 but the text was not posted for over a week. The bill would prohibit the Secretary of Health and Human Services from replacing ICD-9 with ICD-10 on Oct. 1, as is scheduled.
Almost 90 percent of healthcare providers hacked in last 2 years
Slash Gear
Cyber attackers have increasingly turned their attention to healthcare providers, of which nearly 90-percent were hacked over the course of the last two years. The growing number of cyber attacks against the healthcare industry is said to cost $6 billion annually, marking a trend where hackers shift focus from financial institutions and retailers to those with medical records. All in all, these attacks are said to have doubled in the United States over the last half decade.
CMS promotes ICD-10 readiness with more end-to-end testing
RevCycle Intelligence
There are 142 days left until the International Classification of Diseases — ICD-10 — compliance. What’s next? More Medicare end-to-end testing efforts, says The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. CMS has announced via email announcement a final opportunity for a sampling of volunteers to conduct ICD-10 end-to-end testing. From July 20 through July 24, 2015, the sample group will conduct testing with Medicare Administrative Contractors and the Common Electronic Data Interchange contractor.
Could high-tech health record solutions lead to less expensive healthcare?
Government Technology
Imagine if you never had to fill out another patient information form at a doctor’s office again. That’s the promise of a new portable patient health record service developed by Boca Raton-based InfoPeHR. For $35, patients can buy a credit card-sized USB drive that can hold their records — including high-resolution medical images — for a lifetime, said InfoPeHR owner Bernard Brigonnet.
Misuse of EHR systems and medical errors
EHR Intelligence
Does EHR technology reduce the likelihood of medical errors throughout the healthcare continuum? The input from medical professionals answering this question is mixed. There are certain mistakes that were tied directly back to the misuse of EHR or e-prescribing systems. As previously reported, one pharmacist had ordered acetaminophen for the wrong patient because they had two records open at the same time.
EHR alerts increase HPV vaccine rates 10 times over
Health IT Analytics
EHR alerts that help providers remember to start or complete the HPV vaccine for pediatric patients have significantly increased the rate of protection against cervical cancer. Patients between the ages of 9 and 18 were three times more likely to start the vaccine series and 10 times more likely to finish the entire course when EHR alerts were available to their primary care providers, found a study published this month in the Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine.
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