EHR Alerts … and more!

Pew: Patient safety demands more robust testing of EHR usability

Healthcare IT News
Pew Charitable Trusts says not enough attention is being paid to electronic health record usability from a safety point of view. And given that federal certification requirements don’t address two key safety factors, it’s offering EHR developers and provider organizations a toolset to help boost patient protections.  READ MORE

Few execs believe healthcare IT security tech will be disruptive

HealthITSecurity
Only 7 percent of executives surveyed by Reaction Data believe that healthcare IT security technology will have a significant disruptive impact on healthcare. Twenty-nine percent said that telemedicine will be the biggest disruptor, 20 percent said AI, 15 percent said interoperability, 13 percent said data analytics, 11 percent said mobile data, 3 percent said cloud, and surprisingly only 2 percent said blockchain would be the biggest disruptor.  READ MORE

Hackers favor using vulnerable web apps to beat security perimeters

Health Data Management
For many organizations, vulnerable web applications may be their weakest link when it comes to an effective data security strategy. About three-quarters (73 percent) of successful perimeter breaches in 2017 were achieved using vulnerable Web applications, according to Kaspersky Lab’s analysis of penetration tests it conducted on corporate networks that year.  READ MORE

HIMSS: Stark Law hinders care coordination, health data exchange

EHR Intelligence
The Physician Self-Referral Law, commonly known as the Stark Law, places unnecessary administrative burdens on providers while hindering care coordination and health data exchange, according to a letter from HIMSS to CMS Administrator Seema Verma. In response to the federal agency’s June request for information (RFI), HIMSS advised CMS to change Stark Law regulations to ensure they do not prohibit or interfere with health data exchange and care coordination.In its letter, HIMSS emphasized that alternative payment models (APMs) require a flexible regulatory framework to succeed.  READ MORE

How blockchain could solve 4 major problems in healthcare

Health Data Management
The healthcare IT industry faces a host of challenges today, including silos within hospitals that restrict information sharing, integrating artificial intelligence into clinical practice, to solving the opioid crisis. While distributed ledger technologies such as blockchain won’t mitigate all of them, this technology can resolve a number of significant pain points associated with routine business processes.  READ MORE

Medical Document Services of Kansas, LLC (MDS) is a Wichita, Kansas healthcare document service specializing in Medical Billing, Medical Transcription, Scribe Services, and AzaleaHealth EHR.   We provide efficient, accurate, affordable quality services for hospitals, clinics, and facilities of all sizes.   Call 866-777-7264 today, or visit our website for more information.  We have education programs in Medical Scribe Specialists. #MedicalTranscription #AzaleaHealthEHR #RevenueCycleManagement #MDSofKansas #MedicalBillingService #MedicalScribes

Doctors must stop blaming EHRs for clinical documentation shortcut failures

With copy and paste rampant, UW Health chief medical information officer Shannon Dean says toolkits and vendors can help, but physicians need to take responsibility for proper clinical documentation.

patient safety EHR

Overuse of copy and paste in electronic health records is a problem. Sure, it’s convenient. And it’s entirely understandable why it’s a common shortcut used by scores of physicians. But it often results in note bloat – unwieldy patient records overflowing with repetitive documentation – that can potentially lead to serious safety risks.

“Copying or importing text increases the risk of including outdated, inaccurate, or unnecessary information, which can undermine the utility of notes and lead to a clinical error,” wrote researchers in a 2017 study in Journal of the American Medical Association.

[Also: EHRs are overflowing with copy-and-paste records, JAMA study shows]

The practice of copy and paste has to be reigned in, and one chief medical information officer, writing for the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, says that has to start with the physicians themselves.

Shannon Dean, MD, CMIO at University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, penned a column this month for AHRQ’s Perspectives on Patient Safety. She began with an example of what can happen when notation gets lazy.

She cites the case of a 78-year-old man who, “with an alleged history of ‘PE’ (interpreted by the clinicians as pulmonary embolism) received an unnecessary CT scan to rule out a suspected ‘recurrence’ of pulmonary embolus.

[Also: NIST weighs in on EHR copy-and-paste safety]

“As it happens, years earlier, the abbreviation ‘PE’ had been used in the electronic note to indicate that the patient had had a physical examination, not a pulmonary embolism!” said Dean. “In a vivid example of copy and paste, once the diagnosis of pulmonary embolism was mistakenly given to the patient, it lived on in the EHR.”

Beyond the risks to patient safety, that also points to the unnecessary costs that can pile up when unwitting clinicians order tests that are based on erroneous and repetitive data.

Nonetheless, said Dean, too many clinicians still copy and paste as a habit: “Perhaps we are complacent about copy and paste because we remain unconvinced that there is a correlation between its use and patient safety.”

In her article, she surveys more than a dozen studies on the subject, and finds that published research into adverse outcomes isn’t as voluminous as one might expect, even if it’s understood, intuitively, that the practice isn’t ideal.

So “it is clear that much work remains to be done,” said Dean. She points to toolkits like the one put together by AHIMA, and the fact that Epic has rolled out functionality that can “identify the source of every character within a note, whether it is newly typed, imported from another source, or copied and pasted.”

Still, “I am aware of very few organizations that are actively using these tools to educate and mentor clinicians in a systematic way to improve documentation quality,” she said.

While more academic research would be welcome on the correlation between copy and paste and patient safety, she said, it’s fairly widely accepted that it’s a shortcut that should only be used sparingly and in specific instances.

Healthcare organizations need to start making use of resources such as AHIMA’s toolkits, Epic’s auditing features and innovations like natural language processing technology to help physicians do better with their EHR documentation.

She also points to the OpenNotes initiative, which continues to gain momentum, as another big opportunity: Giving patients the ability to read their own doctor’s clinical notes allows them to “hold us accountable for quality documentation.”

But at the end of the day, “physicians need to reestablish ownership of the accuracy of clinical documentation,” said Dean. “We must stop blaming the EHR for our carelessness and start educating ourselves about how to use documentation efficiency tools, including copy and paste, more responsibly.”

Twitter: @MikeMiliardHITN
Email the writer: mike.miliard@himssmedia.com

Medical Document Services of Kansas, LLC (MDS) is a Wichita, Kansas healthcare document service specializing in Medical Billing, Medical Transcription, Scribe Services, and AzaleaHealth EHR.   We provide efficient, accurate, affordable quality services for hospitals, clinics, and facilities of all sizes.   Call 866-777-7264 today, or visit our website for more information.  We have education programs in Medical Scribe Specialists. #MedicalTranscription #AzaleaHealthEHR #RevenueCycleManagement #MDSofKansas #MedicalBillingService #MedicalScribes

What do patients and healthcare professionals think of EHRs?

A new survey from SelectHub, a technology selection management company, examined the thoughts of medical professionals and patients regarding electronic health records.

What do patients and healthcare professionals think of EHRs?

The team interviewed 1,007 Americans who have access to EHRs, as well as 107 healthcare professionals, including nurses, physician assistants, administrators, technicians and medical laboratory scientists. In an email, Chris Lewis, a creative partner of SelectHub, said the survey results were not limited to users of a certain EHR vendor or system.

Apparently, healthcare workers and patients both have a fairly positive sentiment of EHRs — at least according to the survey.

These results are surprising, given that electronic health records are often considered something healthcare workers love to hate.

Despite these favorable viewpoints, EHRs don’t seem to be cutting down on the amount of time professionals spend on health records. Among those who switched to using an EHR system, the average number of hours per week spent on health record work only decreased from 19.7 hours to 18.6 hours.

Additionally, 81 percent of professionals said EHRs have increased general workplace productivity.

The SelectHub survey included a wide range of healthcare participants, such as administrators, medical laboratory scientists and office receptionists. But it is interesting to note that a study out of the University of Wisconsin and the American Medical Association found that at least among primary care physicians, EHRs are time-consuming and only complicate matters. According to that study, EHR-related tasks take up nearly half of the average PCP’s workday.

Among patients included in the SelectHub survey, 60.4 percent expressed a generally positive opinion of EHRs, and 19.7 percent had a very positive opinion. Additionally, 16.6 percent had a neutral stance, 3 percent had a negative opinion and 0.3 percent indicated a very negative opinion.

“Perhaps the most surprising aspect of our research though was the reasoning behind patients’ support of EHR technologies,” Lewis said via email.

Seventy-six percent of patients said they believe their doctor’s use of an EHR has either a positive or very positive impact on the healthcare they receive.

“Furthermore, those who received thorough instructions on EHR use and access reported accessing their records more than twice as frequently, suggesting a potential need for more information resources for patients,” Lewis added.

Photo: Mutlu Kurtbas, Getty Images

Medical Document Services of Kansas, LLC (MDS) is a Wichita, Kansas healthcare document service specializing in Medical Billing, Medical Transcription, Scribe Services, and AzaleaHealth EHR.   We provide efficient, accurate, affordable quality services for hospitals, clinics, and facilities of all sizes.   Call 866-777-7264 today, or visit our website for more information.  We have education programs in Medical Scribe Specialists. #MedicalTranscription #AzaleaHealthEHR #RevenueCycleManagement #MDSofKansas #MedicalBillingService #MedicalScribes

5 Best Practices To Ensure A Smooth, Expedient ICD-10 Transition

The ICD-10 Compliance date is looming and it is imperative that healthcare providers be prepared to make the transition. It affects everything from claims processing, physicians’ workflow, and patients’ access to care. Many organizations may be rallying employees and resources in order to make the switch from the ICD-9 to the ICD-10 coding for medical diagnoses and inpatient hospital procedures before the implementation date of October 1, 2015.

To make matters worse, the transition is not easy, but a major undertaking with nearly 19 times as many procedure codes and almost five times as many diagnosis codes in the ICD-10 than in the ICD-9. While the ICD-10 switch is definitely necessary, as the outdated and clinically inaccurate ICD-9 has not been updated since its installation, in 1979, the ICD-10 stands to enhance the quality of healthcare, improve data for epidemiological research, as well as enable physicians to make better clinical decisions. However, this is dependent on the ability for the healthcare industry to make a smooth and accurate transition to the new International Classification of Diseases, according to Richard Milam, president and CEO of EnableSoft

In order for healthcare providers to successfully meet the ICD-10 deadline, Milam suggest five best practices to ensure an expedient, smooth ICD-10 transition:

Richard Milam, president and CEO of EnableSoft
1. Employ Robotic Process Automation That Does the Work for You

“You” is meant to imply the entire organization because that is how many resources it will take to have the ICD-10 switch completed by the deadline if Robotic Process Automation is not used to update and add the multiple new codes into EMR, NDC, medical billing, and claims processing data systems. Certain softwares may have to upgraded or replaced to support the 68,000 diagnoses codes and nearly 87,000 procedure codes; however, through a series of human-directed scripts, Robotic Process Automation technologies will populate the specific fields in the data systems with the ICD-10 data required. The already costly transition to the new ICD-10 can be mitigated by not having to outsource or hire new employees to enter the new codes manually. Furthermore, the data transition can take place over the course of a few days, not a few months, ensuring healthcare providers will be ready to transition to using the new ICD-10 codes.

2. Test Your Software

Not only should you confirm with your clearinghouses, billing service, and payers that they will be upgraded and compliant with the ICD-10, but when they will be ready for testing to occur. Robust end-to-end testing must occur with your software in order to ensure claims are being accepted properly and processed by insurance contractors, Medicaid, Medicare, and other payment processes are operational. Test internally to ensure transactions can be generated and sent with the ICD-10 codes and test externally to ensure the transactions are successfully received by payment providers and that the payment can be processed correctly. After October 1, any ICD-9 codes used in transactions will not be accepted for services and will be rejected for payment. Failure to test your software properly can result in disruptions in patients’ receiving the treatment they need and receipt of due payments.

3. Educate or It All Falls Down

The updated, enhanced medical coding that is to enhance and improve patient diagnoses, performed procedures, treatment, and billing will not prove capable of these abilities without humans to employ its codes, terminology, and procedures appropriately and correctly. You must educate your staff about the changes to the ICD-10 and perform practices and routines in order to prepare for the change. Have each of your staff participate in educational seminars in order to become informed of the changes and how that will affect their position, the procedures patients are to undergo based on the new diagnosis codes, as well as the improved treatments that patients are to have performed. Assist and inform staff by identifying the 50-100 most commonly used ICD-9-CM diagnosis codes based on specialties and determine the equivalent ICD-10-CM codes, and have this information accessible before and after the implementation of the ICD-10. Having your staff prepared and knowledgeable about the ICD-10 will reduce delays in patient care and procedures, which is the reason for the ICD-10—to deliver improved diagnosis and advanced medical treatments that will enhance patients’ quality of care.

4. Implement an Effective Communication Method and Coordinate Conflict Resolution

While making the data transition and update to the new and diverse medical coding that is in the ICD-10, it is imminent that there may be delays in processes, confusion over coding and form completion, as well as workflow changes. Make sure your employees know who they can contact or call on if they are unsure of what code to report, how to complete a form, or other transitory questions that may arise following the implementation of the ICD-10. Identify leads and supervisors for each workflow and specialty area that will be available for their staff requests and questions, and make sure those individuals are highly educated on the ICD-10 and have the authority to execute a resolution. Additionally, determine how transactions handled just prior to the compliance date will be handled in order to ensure payment processing will occur—and more importantly—patients are covered financially and receive the best treatment. Identify critical areas or procedures that may be challenging to transition to using the ICD-10 and have practical resolutions for those practices ready to be executed if, and when, needed.

5. Obtain the correct medical documentation and update your forms to support the ICD-10.

Patient intake forms, EMR forms, insurance forms, and superbills must be updated to support the ICD-10 codes. In order to have patient medical records completed correctly and treatments performed effectively, in addition to have payments process, healthcare providers, clearinghouses, and payers must update their forms to reflect the codes in the ICD-10. Physician forms must be updated with the new medical terminology and diagnoses and procedural codes, along with superbills. Identify categories of uncommon services and diagnoses and determine units, time, and cost for each category in order for physicians to be able to report in the EMR and on superbills. Determine and have readily available a list of common or most frequently used abbreviations to ensure they are utilized correctly and correspondently with the ICD-10 terminology and codes. Lastly, and this goes without saying, obtain the updated and correct documentation that will stand as educational and reference material in regards to the ICD-10. The American Medical Association publishes the ICD-10 codebook and other supplementary documentation on topics such as anatomy and physiology, mappings, and coding workbooks. Make sure to have these ICD-10 Bibles available, and in all areas, for staff and physicians to reference when needed or desired.

The healthcare industry is about to embark on an intense change in treatment, reporting, and payment processes as the ICD-10 Compliance date approaches. While the ICD-10 is definitely necessary to reflect advances in medicine and detailed diagnoses, the change is extremely disruptive for healthcare providers. By employing efficient technologies and engaging effective strategies, healthcare providers can execute the ICD-10 transition quickly and accurately by the compliance date.  READ MORE

Medical Document Services of Kansas, LLC (MDS) is a Wichita, Kansas healthcare document service specializing in Medical Billing and RCM, Medical Transcription, Pre-Certs with AzaleaHealth EHR.   We provide efficient, accurate, affordable quality services for hospitals, clinics, and facilities of all sizes. Call 866-777-7264 today, or visit our website for more information.  We have education programs in Medical Scribe Specialists. #medicaltranscription #azaleahealthEHR #revenuecyclemanagement

EHR Buyer Trends for 2014

Recent research reveals new trends among EHR buying.  Take a look at the data on top EHR buyer trends of 2014 provided by Softwareadvice.com.      #EHRtrends2014

Key findings when analyzing 385 interactions with EHR buyers reveal their primary reasons for evaluating new software, and their most desired features and applications, include:

  •  Mobile support topped the list of desired capabilities, with 40% of the buyers requesting this feature, followed by e-prescribing (24%) and lab integration (20%)
  • 85% of buyers overwhelmingly prefer a web-based over an on-premise system
  • The majority of buyers (89%) aren seeking an integrated system, that includes applications such as billing or scheduling

AzaleaHealth is certainly at the cutting edge in addressing buyers’ needs.  Azalea Health enhances the workflow of your practice, giving you the power to connect the medical side with the financial side. It is a true cloud-based solution so you don’t have to worry about maintaining servers and software. We take care of it. The fully integrated solution enables physician and specialty practices to afford a sophisticated technology that meets all their practice management needs at a fraction of the complexity and cost.  #azaleahealthEHR

Azalea Health’s integrated EHR and billing solution has the flexibility to accommodate multiple specialties of any size practice. The company provides Electronic Health Records (EHR), Practice Management (PM), Revenue Cycle Management Services (RCM), mhealth app, and a Patient Health Records Portal.Print

Recently the company announced its merger with EHR provider, simplifyMD. The merged company, with their combined skills and products, will be able to offer expanded services and product options, as well as the tools and resources to help customers with meeting their Meaningful Use and ICD-10 requirements. The company will continue to be dedicated to simplifying the life of physicians and administrators byproviding a complete solution that is easy to implement and use. #azaleahealthmerger

Implications for EHR Vendors
Mobile support topped the list of requested EHR features, with nearly 40 percent of buyers in our sample requesting support for tablets and/or smartphones. With practices increasingly integrating mobile devices into their charting workflows, mobile support will be a key determinant in EHR purchasing decisions for buyers in 2014. Products that offer mobile applications will be well positioned to win business this year.

Vendors should also highlight their products’ meaningful use-mandated elements; e-prescribing and lab integration ranked highly on the list of requested features, thanks in no small part to their inclusion in MU requirement criteria.

Additionally, integrated suites are the future of EHRs. Nearly 90 percent of buyers explicitly requested to evaluate a system that integrates EHR with other applications (such as billing and scheduling). With nearly a quarter of the buyers replacing existing EHR solutions doing so because of a lack of integration, it seems the days of the standalone EHR are numbered.

Implications for EHR Buyers

Most of the buyers in our sample wanted to implement their new EHR software within three months. However, the climbing percentage of buyers replacing existing systems due to dissatisfaction suggests buyers would be well served by dedicating as much time as needed to the evaluation process.

Researcher Commentary

“We’re seeing significant demand for mobile solutions that allow users to access the EHR on tablets, or even on smartphones while on-the-go. Mobile devices are increasingly being integrated into practices’ workflows, and buyers need solutions that facilitate the efficiency those mobile devices can offer.”

“The percentage of buyers replacing existing implementations continues to rise. With so many buyers beginning their research with rapid-fire implementation timelines, I expect that proportion to continue growing. My advice to buyers is this: don’t impose a hard deadline on your evaluation process. Find a system that truly addresses your needs before making a purchase, rather than adopting a system and attempting to make it suit your purposes once in place.”

Methodology

Software Advice regularly speaks on the phone with medical practices seeking new EHR software. For this analysis, we randomly selected 385 of our phone interactions from Q1 2014 to analyze. Buyers were asked about their reasons for evaluating systems, the most critical features required and deployment preferences, among other criteria.

Emily King
Media Relations

Software Advice

Medical Document Services of Kansas, LLC (MDS) is a Wichita, Kansas healthcare document service specializing in Medical Billing and RCM, Medical Transcription, and AzaleaHealth EHR.   We provide efficient, accurate, affordable quality services for hospitals, clinics, and facilities of all sizes. Call 866-777-7264 today, or visit our website for more information.  We have education programs in Medical Scribe Specialists and Healthcare Documentation Specialists. #medicaltranscription #azaleahealthEHR #revenuecyclemanagement

Trusting Voice Recognition and the EHR

This is a great article that speaks to the errors that can occur with Speech Recognition and EHR if proper editing and care are not taken for review.   The end of the article even speaks to the growing demand for Medical Scribes, so be sure to read the complete article.  You won’t be sorry!

EHR-documentation

It isn’t often that a doctor is mistaken about how many feet his patient has.

But that’s the mistake this young doctor made by relying too heavily on an erroneous electronic medical record. According to Dr. Richard Gunderman:

An intern recently presented a newly admitted patient on morning rounds, reporting that the patient was “status post BKA (below the knee amputation).” “How do you know?” the attending physician inquired. “It has been noted on each of the patient’s prior three discharge notes,” replied the intern, looking up from his computer screen. “Okay,” responded the attending physician. “Let’s go see the patient.”

When the team arrived in the patient’s room, they made a surprising discovery. The patient had two feet and ten toes. Where did the history of BKA come from? It turned out that four hospitalizations ago, the voice recognition dictation system had misunderstood DKA (diabetic ketoacidosis) as BKA, and none of the physicians who reviewed the chart had detected the error. It had now become a permanent part of the electronic medical record — as if written in stone.

Fortunately, this error could be easily corrected. But the intern’s mistake highlights a growing problem with government-mandated electronic medical records. Doctors are spending more time in front of computer screens and less time with actual patients. This affects how doctors interact with patients. Inevitably, errors creep into their patients’ charts. Prudent patients should be aware of this trend and take steps to ensure the accuracy of their medical records.

The HITECH (Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health) Act of 2009 essentially mandates that physicians and hospitals adopt electronic records by 2014, or face penalties in the form of reduced Medicare/Medicaid payments.

At first glance, adopting electronic medical records (EMRs) would seem a no-brainer for doctors and hospitals. After all, electronic records are the norm for many successful businesses, assisting with sales, inventory, and billing. In theory, electronic medical records should allow doctors to work more efficiently. But in practice, many doctors are finding that EMRs hinder their ability to practice good medicine.

recent study from Northwestern University found that, “physicians with [EMRs] in their exam rooms spend one-third of their time looking at computer screens, compared with physicians who use paper charts who only spent about 9% of their time looking at them.” According to Enid Montague, PhD, first author of the study, “When doctors spend that much time looking at the computer, it can be difficult for patients to get their attention… It’s likely that the ability to listen, problem-solve and think creatively is not optimal when physicians’ eyes are glued to the screen.”

New York Times health writer Dr. Pauline Chen similarly described that young doctors in training are so busy filling out obligatory electronic forms, they spend only 8 minutes per patient each day. As a result, they cut corners:

When finally in a room with patients, they try to [rush through interviews] by limiting or eliminating altogether gestures like sitting down to talk, posing open-ended questions, encouraging family discussions or even fully introducing themselves.

As Dr. Chen noted, the bad habits they learn in training will carry over to when they become independent practitioners.

(Some doctors are coping with this problem by hiring “scribes” — additional clerical people to enter data into the computer, while the physician converses with the patient. But this requires physicians or hospitals to hire additional personnel. As the New York Times noted, “In most industries, automation leads to increased efficiency, even employee layoffs. In health care, it seems, the computer has created the need for an extra human in the exam room.” The “solution” of scribes doesn’t eliminate the inefficiency caused by electronic medical records — it merely shifts the problem elsewhere.)

Medical Document Services of Kansas, LLC (MDS) is a Wichita, Kansas healthcare document service specializing in Medical Transcription, Revenue Cycle Management, AzaleaHealth EHR, and REAL-TIME solutions with Medical Scribes.   We provide efficient, accurate, affordable quality services for hospitals, clinics, and facilities of all sizes. Call 866-777-7264 today, or visit our website for more information.  We have education programs in Medical Scribe Specialists and Healthcare Documentation Specialists.

Are Medical Scribes Worth the Investment?

“Are scribes really worth it? It’s a question that has likely come up for many a hospital administrator. Now a study gauging the cost/benefit ratio of medical scribes has been completed. The landmark project, which actually was titled “Are Scribes Worth It?,” concluded that scribe programs can greatly assist higher acuity emergency departments that are struggling with long patient stays, a high percent of patients leaving without treatment and challenging electronic medical record systems.   Some medical scribe programs, according to the study, actually more than pay for themselves.

The study was produced by Tanveer Gaibi, MD, medical director for Northwest Hospital in Randallstown, Md., Michael Hochberg, MD, medical director for Saint Peter’s University Hospital in New Brunswick, N.J., Daria Starosta, MD, EmCare director of practice improvement, and Mark Switaj, MBA, an EmCare client administrator.

“We wanted to determine whether medical scribes are truly worth the investment,” says Dr. Starosta. “We focused on determining improvements in overall productivity and quality in the emergency departments and the financial return on investment of medical scribes.”  read more ….

Continue reading “Are Medical Scribes Worth the Investment?”

“Mobile is changing everything”

DoctorBase Passes 3 Million Patients On Its Mobile Messaging Platform

tabs_patientDoctorBase.com, a service allowing physicians to offer their patients secure, medically oriented smartphone access, has announced that they have surpassed three million patients and more than 9,000 healthcare providers on its platform.  They also announced a free version of their product will be available to licensed providers in the U.S. starting today.

Created by former developers from Five9 and LiveJournal, working with a team of primary care doctors and specialists ranging from OB/GYN to Oncology, San Francisco-based DoctorBase believes that mHealth-as-a-Service is the solution to expensive, cumbersome patient portals that have failed to gain traction with either providers or patients.

“Mobile is changing everything,” said John Sung Kim, CEO of DoctorBase.com. “Now that health systems are starting to wake up to the benefits of cloud computing and the Internet, they’re so late to the party that it’s no longer about that paradigm – patients across all demographics now use smartphones as their primary connectivity device. That’s leaving both doctors and patients communicating with each other in non-HIPAA compliant, unsecured ways such as email and text for the simple sake of convenience.”

Read more: http://emrdailynews.com/2013/03/25/doctorbase-passes-3-million-patients-on-its-mobile-messaging-platform/#ixzz2OfVT4sZV

“Transcription versus EMR/EHR” – The Perfect Solution

By Andy Braverman, President of Apptec Corporation… a developer of next generation speech processing products.

“The way to do it right, is for the doctor to dictate just as they have for decades.
Dictation is the most efficient use of the doctor’s time. The EMR/EHR should only be in front of the
doctor to review a patient’s records… not to input data into it. For data input into the EMR/EHR, that
should be a “back office” task performed by the transcriptionist.”    READ MORE