EMR - Medical Practice Trends

Infographic – The Top 20 Most Popular EMR Software Solutions

January 27, 2012 By Peter Polack 3 Comments

From Capterra comes this great infographic showing the Top 20 Most Popular Electronic Medical Records Software Solutions.

For more on how they compiled the data go to Topping the Charts: The 20 Most Popular EMR Solutions

Meaningful Use: What About Specialists?

October 26, 2010 By Peter Polack 4 Comments

If you are medical or surgical specialist, you’re probably groaning about the prospect of implementing some of the meaningful use criteria. According to an article on Healthcare Technology Online:

Every one of the six core clinical quality measures (and most of the 38 additional clinical quality measures) are focused on primary care. Moreover, the recently-formed, 24-member Quality Measures Workgroup…only includes two specialists – a hematologist and a psychiatrist.

The typical primary care doctor sees 18 to 20 patients a day (most of these being follow-up visits), whereas the average specialist may see 50 to 60 patients in a day, many of whom are new patients. And follow-up visits are generally easier to see in an EMR system, because the patient’s core information is already entered. So, for EMR to make financial sense for specialists, they need to make sure the software is matched to their style of seeing patients and that their workflow processes are as efficient as possible.

Are you a specialist? How do you foresee the implementation of the meaningful use criteria affecting your bottom line? Leave us a comment below.

What are the Benefits of EMR?

October 25, 2010 By Peter Polack 4 Comments

[Video 4] – Please post a comment below and tell us what you think.

Please post a comment below and tell us what you think or ask any questions.

Pros & Cons of Web-Based EMR Systems

September 23, 2010 By Peter Polack 2 Comments

[Video 3] – Please post a comment below and tell us what you think.

Please post a comment below and tell us what you think or ask any questions.

EMR By The Numbers – A Commercial

September 21, 2010 By Peter Polack Leave a Comment

OK, sometimes we can’t compete with the big marketing budgets of Fortune 500 companies. But their stuff can still be quite clever. Here is a cool animated promotional piece for GE’s EMR solution, Centricity Advance.

Overview of the Meaningful Use Final Rule

August 31, 2010 By Peter Polack 2 Comments

From the folks of AHIMA (American Health Information Management Association) comes a nice and concise overview of the final rule of the Meaningful Use provisions for electronic medical records implementation. AHIMA is one of the largest associations of health information management (HIM) professionals and was founded in 1928 – which I am pretty sure pre-dates the use of electronic medical records.

This first in a series of white papers offers a basic description of the final rules. We covered some of the specifics in previous posts CMS Final Rule Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3.

But if you are new to all of this and just want to get your feet wet, here is a good place to start:

CLICK HERE to download the PDF

Bonus Resource: EMR Software Checklist

August 29, 2010 By Peter Polack 1 Comment

For those of you who are at the stage of EMR implementation where it is time to decide on the EMR software system, we have a new resource which I think you will find very useful.

Medical Practice Trends has partnered with the folks at SoftwareAdvice.com to give you an EMR Software Checklist. They have a huge database of information from many EMR software vendors and have used this to create a checklist of selection criteria to help medical practices with their EMR system decision-making. Then, one of their consultants will call and walk you through the checklist and explain the best practices for researching EMR software. Software Advice will even provide a “short list” of EMR systems for you to consider based on your unique requirements. Last year, they helped over 10,000 organizations find the right software.

What’s the catch? There isn’t one really. It’s a totally free service for you. SoftwareAdvice receives a “finder’s fee” if they successfully match you with an EMR software company. As an affiliate, Medical Practice Trends gets a cut of that. Hey, we have to pay our electric bills, too.

So, here’s what to do:

First, if you haven’t already started your EMR project, get our free report (located in the right-hand sidebar) “Getting Through the EMR Maze”. This will give you an overview of EMR implementation and help you avoid making costly mistakes.

Next, CLICK HERE to go to the EMR Checklist page. Fill out the information and then you can download a PDF of the checklist so you can get started doing your research right away. Good luck!

Eligibility for EMR Incentives Could Be Widened

August 23, 2010 By Peter Polack 1 Comment

The AMA reports that new legislation is proposing to extend the eligibility for EMR incentives to include licensed psychologists and clinical social workers.

The Health Information Technology Extension for Behavioral Health Services Act also would expand the Medicare hospital incentive to include inpatient psychiatric hospitals, and extend Medicaid hospital bonuses to community health centers, mental health treatment facilities, psychiatric hospitals, and substance abuse treatment facilities. The bill was introduced on Aug. 5 by Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D, R.I.), and a companion bill was introduced in the House by Rep. Patrick Kennedy (D, R.I.).

Whitehouse said his legislation “will give mental health professionals access to comprehensive and up-to-date medical histories, enhancing the precision of diagnoses and reducing medication errors.”