EMR – The Untold Story


Healthcare EMR
The last few years have been monumental for the healthcare in the US. With the introduction of the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act (ARRA), the government laid down the foundation for a new structure in order to improve healthcare delivery. EMRs has always been on the forefront, taking most of the fire. The government along with numerous healthcare professionals believes in the value of healthcare automation. However, EMRs are merely facilitators while physicians are still responsible for delivering quality healthcare.

With an estimate of $6600 in healthcare costs being spent on an individual per annum, the effectiveness of the ARRA is instrumental in re-shaping the future of healthcare. “The government cannot afford any hiccups. We are all too far invested in this for it not to work.” comments a healthcare IT executive. “$6600? I don’t see it. Where is it going? You step out right now and look around you tell me if you can spot one individual that had 6600 spent on their health, one individual.” remarked a construction worker from New Jersey, during an independent survey.

The Meaningful Use requirements provide an effective roadmap for delivering quality healthcare. Its objective is to ensure that physicians learn how to effectively utilize EMRs and improve healthcare delivery. CMS introduced this exercise to help physicians realize what an EMR is capable of and how it adds to their care quality.

Likewise, the Affordable Care Act reforms have resulted in better EMR adoption rates. The government believes that there is at least $300 billion to be saved through standardization of health information technology. However, despite the expected benefits, there is still lot of skepticism surrounding EMRs. Many physicians believe that EMRs in fact do not add to practice productivity, but instead slow them down while increasing their overheads.


In a recent study by Danny McCormick and David Bor of Cambridge Health Alliance and Stephanie Woolhandler and David Himmelstein of CUNY School of Public Health indicated that EMRs may actually increase the frequency of tests ordered by physicians. More than 28,700 of patient visits and nearly 1,200 doctors were surveyed to determine the outcome. The study shows that physicians utilizing EHRs were 5% more likely to order imaging, rather than doctors who did not.

Danny McCormick believed that it was important to point out the contrast of the actual findings with the commonly constructed belief of EMRs decreasing health costs. However, he went on to state that it is attributable to the enhanced interoperability provided by EMRs that doctors can expect to get results faster and can easily view them on their screens.

Dr. David Blumenthal, who served as the national coordinator for Health IT at the Department of Health and Human Services from 2009-2011, pointed out that the study represents order of tests and not costs. He went on to state that the study does not take into account the overall impact of EHRs and accumulative healthcare costs. “The study doesn't look at the benefits for quality of care at all. It's possible that the use of tests by some of the doctors could have avoided other costs. This study has no way of assessing the overall implications of the behavior that it's finding.”

Dr. Farzad Mostashari who is the National Coordinator for Health IT also voiced similar concerns in his reply. He believes that the study showed little evidence and did not consider the impact of EMRs in improving healthcare delivery. He also pointed out that due to the nature of the study it was not designed to answer questions about cost and quality. “Many other variables that could affect physician behavior could not be examined in this study, including having a sicker patient population, level of physician training, approach to defensive medicine, and, importantly, financial arrangements.”

 The EMR is a technology that compels change and as long as it is resisted, its potential will remain muted.

Source: http://curemd.wordpress.com/2012/05/30/emr-the-untold-story/

Top 5 Benefits of Deploying Patient Portal

In today’s health care industry, Electronic Medical Records (EMR) with Patient Portals have become the need of the hour for many forward thinking medical practices. EHRs allow health care organizations to improve outcomes by providing proficient medical service, while patient portals typically provide communication services between patients and providers – substantially improving patient satisfaction and the value of services delivered by medical practices.


Key Benefits of Deploying Patient Portal
The advantages of deploying a patient portal are as follows:
  • Simplified administrative and operational processes through instant online access to personal healthcare content
  • Constant access to personal health information empowers patients to be proactive in managing their conditions
  • Improved disease management with automated, condition-specific messages, email reminders and alerts
  • Enhanced patient safety through detailed medication instructions, alerts, warnings and recalls
  • Lab results, radiology reports and procedure information is accessible from anywhere at anytime
These features can be prioritized based on patient needs, resource implications and organizational goals. Online medication renewals, referral requests and basic scheduling require moderate resource commitments from operations, and can easily replace less efficient processes.

A patient portal delivers vital care information directly to the patient’s desktop to help enhance customer satisfaction, eliminate preventable errors along with better care collaboration between doctors and patients.
The real-time collaboration between patients, providers and referring physicians through the patient portal allows clinicians and their patients to share healthcare information in a highly secure, HIPAA compliant environment through the use of SSL and access control patterns whilst, patient access is also typically validated with a user name and password.

Patient portals are also a key tool for physicians to meet “Meaningful Use” requirements and receive federal incentive checks, especially for providing health information to patients. Popular patient portal applications enable patients to register and complete forms online, which can streamline visits to physician clinics and hospitals.

At present, individual health information is located primarily on paper. However, it is predicted that more than 75% of hospitals around the country will be utilizing this technology by the end of 2014. It is also validated through research that that the usage of patient portals will bring huge benefits with regards to patient safety and the secure exchange of healthcare information.

CureMD launches Advanced Dermatology EMR

CureMD Healthcare, a leading provider of SMART Cloud EHR, PM, Patient Portal and Revenue Cycle Management announced the launch of an advanced Dermatology EMR on the Cloud. CureMD Dermatology facilitates a more effective administration, documentation and coordination of clinical encounters – providing unprecedented quality and service.

Integration with billing, scheduling, reports and the Patient Portal allows seamless information exchange and mobile access, through a web browser on any standard PC or tablet. Hosting, maintenance, support, upgrades and back up are offered free in an all-in-one solution package designed for scalability and cost reduction.

 With a five million investment budget, CureMD Dermatology division headed by Dr. Babar Rao MD FAAD, set out to develop the world’s best dermatology EMR in 2010. “Twenty years of practice and teaching experience combined with two years of CureMD’s R&D has produced an answer to every dermatologist's core requirements.”

“Our vision was to develop an intuitive and animated dermatology specific EMR with rich clinical content and customizable features to deliver quick, comprehensive and accurate management of every clinical encounter. One size fits all strategy is failing for specialists because they have different needs and workflows than family medicine. As physicians become aware of the usability and benefits of a specialty EMR, they will never settle for a generic system again” says Mr. Kamal Hashmat, CEO at CureMD.

CureMD is an award winning network of health IT products and services, providing certified SMART Cloud EMR, practice management, patient portal and revenue cycle management to facilitate adoption and Meaningful Use - thereby driving outcomes and subsidy payments to maximize value and returns.

For original press release please vist: http://www.1888pressrelease.com/curemd-launches-advanced-dermatology-emr-pr-376655.html

CureMD Connects with Hospital Corporation of America

CureMD Healthcare, the leading provider of EMR, PM and Portal Cloud, announced the launch of its HIE connectivity with one of largest hospital organizations of the nation, The Hospital Corporation of America (HCA).

HCA is nation’s leading provider of healthcare services through locally managed facilities in 20 states and Great Britain and employs approximately 183,000 people. Based in Nashville, TN, HCA was founded in 1968 and is one of the nation’s first hospital companies. HCA currently operates 164 hospital and 106 Free Standing Ambulatory Care centers in 20 states as well as in Great Britain. Nearly five percent of all inpatient care delivered in the country today is provided by HCA facilities.

The connectivity enables physicians associated with HCA facilities to conveniently exchange hospital based clinical and medical management information with CureMD’s Smart Cloud EMR, PM and Portal. Consequently, providers deliver better care with all information at their fingertips. This technology supports the flow of health information between physician practices, hospitals, long term care facilities, labs, radiology centers, and other health care institutions. CureMD HIE connectivity allows delivery of the right health information to the right place at the right time, providing safer, more timely, efficient, patient-centered care.

Saeed Khan MD,MBA, FACP who runs the largest physician group in rural Okeechobee County in Florida has commented on his partners ability to access the HCA area platform. “The ability to seamlessly connect with the hospital gives us the tools to provide the highest quality of care, reduce duplication of tests and services which in turn enhances patient safety by preventing potential errors.”

CureMD is an award winning network of health information management systems and services offering certified EHR, practice management, patient portal, revenue cycle management and discrete reportable transcription to help accelerate adoption and Meaningful Use – driving outcomes and subsidy payments to maximize value and returns. CureMD’s advanced web technology and award winning usability facilitate quality decision making, streamline operations, and ensure compliance.