News Releases

Don’t Count on an ICD-10 Delay, Mostashari Says

A recent MGMA survey reveals that many EHR and practice management vendors do not have a definitive plan for ICD-10, which begins October 1, 2014. Many medical practices are behind on their ICD-10 plans as well.

The original ICD-10 compliance deadline was October 1 of this year, but the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) delayed it due to “incremental changes needed in reforming healthcare.” Some physician groups have advocated for another ICD-10 delay, but the government has stood its ground on the current timeline.

In fact, just a few days ago, Farzad Mostashari squashed any hopes of an ICD-10 delay. Mostashari is the head of the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT (ONC), which is responsible for increasing EHR adoption throughout the country. During a keynote delivered at the HIMSS Media ICD-10 Forum, Mostashari stated, twice, “There are no plans for any more extensions.”

There are few government regulations regarding how a practice makes the ICD-10 transition, so that is largely up to vendors and practice administrators. Some vendors offer training, such as webinars and consulting services, to help practices make the necessary changes.

“At the end of the day, this massive transformation (of healthcare reform) isn’t going to be about ICD-10,” Mostashari said. Nor will it be about meaningful use, or other government requirements. The end goal of all the initiatives headed by ONC is to improve population health, to improve quality of healthcare while reducing costs, and to encourage patient engagement. ICD-10 is just a small piece that will contribute to better overall healthcare.

See Government Health IT for more on Mostashari’s comments on ICD-10.

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About ChartLogic, Inc.

Since 1994, ChartLogic has helped thousands of practices make the transition from paper to digital medical offices. Guaranteed to meet meaningful use requirements, ChartLogic offers revenue cycle management assistance as well as the most powerful electronic health record suite on the market, which includes electronic medical records, superior billing software, and patient portal. ChartLogic helps physicians provide better patient care through better technology. For further information, visit www.chartlogic.com.

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Electronic Medical Records Could Make Clinical Trials More Efficient

Data from electronic medical records (EMRs) could reduce the amount of time and money researchers typically set aside for clinical trials. According to Dr. Lollo Eriksson, a former senior director at Merck & Co., researchers can pull data from electronic medical records to better identify clinical trial participants.

By using data from electronic medical records, healthcare would spend less money on recruiting trial participants and save time trying to find these participants. With the amount of importance placed on anything healthcare related that saves time and money, electronic medical records will most likely be the tool used to identify clinical trial participants in the future.

As explained by Dr. Eriksson, electronic medical records have the ability to isolate patients with certain conditions and then run the group of patients against demographic information. This helps identify the right patients for each trial.

“We then write a protocol using as much information as we can, that is as close to reality as possible,” Eriksson said. “If we get a protocol that has used real data from patients, we will reduce the ‘screen-fail’ ratio.” Currently, 50–65 percent of potential participants fail the screening stage, so electronic medical records would help solve this problem.

“If you look at what regulators want, it is protocols that are as close as possible to the population in general, rather than studies of a small pool of patients,” Eriksson said. Most physicians and hospitals are using electronic medical records currently, so Eriksson expects that they will be the main way researchers gather clinical trial participants in the future.

See PMLive for more.

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About ChartLogic, Inc.

Since 1994, ChartLogic has helped thousands of practices make the transition from paper to digital medical offices. Guaranteed to meet meaningful use requirements, ChartLogic offers revenue cycle management assistance as well as the most powerful electronic health record suite on the market, which includes electronic medical records, superior billing software, and patient portal. ChartLogic helps physicians provide better patient care through better technology. For further information, visit www.chartlogic.com.

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Can Electronic Health Records Enhance Doctor-Patient Communication?

A common complaint against electronic health records is that they get in the way of doctor-patient interaction. However, according to an article published in The Journal of the American Medical Association, electronic health records actually enhance communication between doctors and patients.

When electronic health records first appeared on the scene, they felt out of place and doctors and patients weren’t sure how to interact with the computer between them. Now that most doctors are using EHRs in the exam room, though, doctors know how to better use the EHR to improve the patient experience.

For example, a doctor who “introduces” the electronic health record when he opens up the software keeps the patient in the loop rather than makes them feel excluded or ignored. For patients who don’t interact much in the doctor’s office much—with or without an EHR present—the electronic health record can be used as a tool to invite patients to participate more.

Of course, doctors will need to exercise their own best judgment when documenting “socially stigmatizing” health conditions.

“The health care community may find the EHR to be an untapped means of encouraging patient-physician collaboration and for enhancing patient activation during the clinic visit,” the authors of the JAMA article wrote. “Future empirical studies are needed to explore the potential benefits of this expanded use of the EHR on quantitative measures of patient activation.”

A summary of the JAMA article can be found at DoctorsLounge.

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About ChartLogic, Inc.

Since 1994, ChartLogic has helped thousands of practices make the transition from paper to digital medical offices. Guaranteed to meet meaningful use requirements, ChartLogic offers revenue cycle management assistance as well as the most powerful electronic health record suite on the market, which includes electronic medical records, superior billing software, and patient portal. ChartLogic helps physicians provide better patient care through better technology. For further information, visit www.chartlogic.com.

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Attest Now to Avoid Meaningful Use Penalties in 2015

With summer upon us, many practices are taking the time to evaluate how they’re doing on the goals they made at the beginning of the year. Many practices made ICD-10 and meaningful use top priorities for 2013. If practices want to avoid the government penalties in 2015, they had better attest soon, says Rob Anthony, part of CMS’ Office of E-Health Standards and Services.

In an interview with SearchHealthIT, Anthony briefly went over important dates providers need to be aware of for meaningful use. If you attested before 2013, great—continue to meet the government requirements for meaningful use. If you haven’t attested yet, there is still time to do so, but time is running out.

“The big deadline is October 1, 2014,” said Anthony. “For eligible professionals, that is the absolute last day to attest to being a meaningful user and be able to avoid payment adjustments. However, I would encourage people to become meaningful users this year, because then you can at least get three years of incentive payments in 2013, 2014 and 2015. It’s always better to get more of an incentive payment than less.”

A high percentage of ChartLogic users have received government incentives, despite the fact that specialists lag behind primary care as far as meaningful use attestations.

“There are a lot of practices that are having success with [their] EHR,” Anthony continued. “It’s allowing them to manage their patient populations better and be more successful and see more patients, and that translates to efficiencies and reduced costs for them.” Even without government incentives, “there are certainly additional financial incentives to having an EHR,” Anthony added.

Over half of hospitals and providers have received government incentives for meaningfully using a certified EHR. Most providers use an EHR every day.

See SearchHealthIT for more on Anthony’s comments about government incentives.

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About ChartLogic, Inc.

Since 1994, ChartLogic has helped thousands of practices make the transition from paper to digital medical offices. Guaranteed to meet meaningful use requirements, ChartLogic offers revenue cycle management assistance as well as the most powerful electronic health record suite on the market, which includes electronic medical records, superior billing software, and patient portal. ChartLogic helps physicians provide better patient care through better technology. For further information, visit www.chartlogic.com.

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Ambulatory EHR Market Is “Maturing,” HIMSS study says

For the fifth year in a row, HIMSS Analytics has released its ambulatory electronic health record (EHR) and practice management (PM) study. Findings reveal that the ambulatory EHR market shows positive signs of maturing.

“We’ve done this five years in a row, and I think the maturing of the market is a nice take-away,” said Brendan FitzGerald, HIMSS Analytics research director. “What we’re seeing is . . . high adoption rate[s] across not only hospital-owned but free-standing physician practices as well. That’s a positive for the industry.”

Nearly half (46 percent) of the 800+ physician groups polled reported that they plan to join a health information exchange (HIE), an important step in achieving widespread interoperability. Of the practices that plan to join an HIE, 19 percent prefer a state-run HIE, 16 percent prefer an exchange connected to a hospital, and 11 percent refer a regional exchange.

Furthermore, 73 percent of respondents stated that they have an EHR system in place currently.
About one-third of practices plan to purchase, replace, or upgrade their EHR system. There are several factors that affect a practice’s decision to pick a certain EHR, including its ability to make the practice more efficient, its ability to increase the quality of care, electronic information exchange, and getting ARRA (meaningful use) government funding.

“Overall there is still that fine tuning and work that needs to be done until physician practices and hospitals alike are happy,” FitzGerald stated. Most providers are using an EHR system, as multiple studies have indicated, but the fact that there is still so much movement in EHR buying patterns shows that end users’ needs aren’t being met. The next few years will weed out the inefficient and clunky EHRs as providers switch to the easy-to-use and time-saving EHRs.

For more on the HIMSS Analytics study, see Healthcare IT News and Becker’s Hospital Review.

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About ChartLogic, Inc.

Since 1994, ChartLogic has helped thousands of practices make the transition from paper to digital medical offices. Guaranteed to meet meaningful use requirements, ChartLogic offers revenue cycle management assistance as well as the most powerful electronic health record suite on the market, which includes electronic medical records, superior billing software, and patient portal. ChartLogic helps physicians provide better patient care through better technology. For further information, visit www.chartlogic.com.

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Electronic Medical Records Being Used to Detect Bad Drug Reactions, Identify High-Risk Patients

When people think of electronic medical record (EMR), they usually think of the oft-repeated benefits EMRs provide—increased efficiency, less paper, etc.—and government regulations like meaningful use. However, doctors and researchers are finding ways to use electronic medical records on a higher scale, such as to track drug reactions and identify high-risk patients of certain diagnoses.

For example, Mei Lui, PhD and computer scientist, recently released a study that shows how electronic medical records can detect bad drug reactions. Liu and a team of researchers looked at data spanning 12 years from Vanderbilt University Medical Center. As reported by Health Canal, the team “correlated abnormal laboratory results with specific drug administrations by comparing the outcomes of a drug-exposed group and a matched exposed group.”

“Recently, electronic medical records (EMRs) have emerged as a valuable resource for detecting bad drug reactions,” Liu said. “EMRs have created an unprecedented resource for observational studies since they contain not only detailed patient information, but also large amounts of longitudinal clinical data.”

Researchers at Johns Hopkins University are using electronic medical records as well. Their focus is to help identify high-risk pregnancy patients who require treatment to avoid medical complications, iHealthBeat reports. Researchers are currently conducting a pilot program “that uses predictive modeling and natural language processing to sort through the text in EHRs of pregnant Medicaid beneficiaries.” Information such as whether the patients smoke or live in an abusive environment are important pieces of information the project will collect.

These are just two examples of the many ways doctors and medical research centers are using technology like electronic medical records to improve patient care.

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About ChartLogic, Inc.

Since 1994, ChartLogic has helped thousands of practices make the transition from paper to digital medical offices. Guaranteed to meet meaningful use requirements, ChartLogic offers revenue cycle management assistance as well as the most powerful electronic health record suite on the market, which includes electronic medical records, superior billing software, and patient portal. ChartLogic helps physicians provide better patient care through better technology. For further information, visit www.chartlogic.com.

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EHR Incentive Update: Over $14.5B Paid to Eligible Professionals and Hospitals

According to Robert Anthony, deputy director of CMS’ HIT Initiative Group, the government has paid out $14.5 billion in EHR incentive payments through the end of April. This number demonstrates an increasing interest eligible professionals (EPs) and hospitals have in EHRs and meaningful use.

Most notably, CMS is seeing an uptick in meaningful users in specialty care. Meaningful use is often labeled a primary care program, but specialists are finding ways to cash in on government incentives as well. Currently, 61 percent of meaningful users are in specialty care.

When compared to this time last year, meaningful use attestations are lagging a bit, but Anthony attributes this to the fact that many EPs and hospitals wait until later in the year to attest to meaningful use. “We will likely see more eligible providers and hospitals come in after the close of the fiscal year (October 1),” he said.

Just over 77 percent of hospitals have received an EHR incentive payment, and about 75 percent of EPs have registered for the program. About half of all Medicare EPs are currently meaningful users of certified EHR technology. Through the end of April, over 292,000 EPs (both Medicare and Medicaid) had been paid. Some of them were on their second round of incentive checks. “Depending on how the numbers come together, we believe we’ll surpass 300,000 unique providers paid under the program, by the end of May,” Anthony said.

A total of 194,080 EPs had attested for meaningful use through April, along with 2,977 hospitals. For more on the latest meaningful use numbers, see Government Health IT.

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About ChartLogic, Inc.

Since 1994, ChartLogic has helped thousands of practices make the transition from paper to digital medical offices. Guaranteed to meet meaningful use requirements, ChartLogic offers revenue cycle management assistance as well as the most powerful electronic health record suite on the market, which includes electronic medical records, superior billing software, and patient portal. ChartLogic helps physicians provide better patient care through better technology. For further information, visit www.chartlogic.com.

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ONC Leaders Weigh in on Meaningful Use Report

In a paper published in this week’s Annals of Internal Medicine, researchers looked at outdated data to make a case against the government certification program, otherwise known as meaningful use. According to the survey of 1,820 physicians, by early 2012 about 10 percent of physicians had met meaningful use criteria.

According to Farzad Mostashari, head of the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT (ONC), this finding is consistent with ONC’s record; by March 2012, 58,000 eligible providers had attested for meaningful use. That number is now 226,000, nearly quadruple the number of successful attestations ONC reported just over a year ago. Referencing the recent success with the meaningful use program, HHS secretary Kathleen Sebelius said that EHR adoption has reached the tipping point. Over 50 percent of office-based physicians have received a government incentive for meaningful use.

David Blumenthal, former head of ONC and current president of the Commonwealth Fund, also weighed in on the government certification program. He indicated that perhaps the transition to meaningful use is more psychological than anything else, as many doctors are still trying to use paper processes in a digital office environment. “One reason our health care system is in crisis is that most doctors and hospitals collect and manage health information pretty much the way Hippocrates did 2,400 years ago,” he said. “We have substituted paper for tablet and papyrus, but most everything else is the same.”

To most physicians, especially specialists, a usable EHR is defined as one that mimics paper as much as possible. This is one reason that ChartLogic has maintained a 95 percent retention rate over the past decade.

“The nation’s doctors increasingly accept that moving into the digital age is inevitable and essential,” Blumenthal concluded. EHRs are capable of doing more than increasing efficiency and eliminating paper. They can also improve healthcare and help manage the massive amount of data doctors deal with on a regular basis. Kickstarted by the government certification program, the healthcare industry is slowly, but surely, moving toward a more advanced digital age.

For more on Blumenthal’s comments, see Government Health IT.

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About ChartLogic, Inc.

Since 1994, ChartLogic has helped thousands of practices make the transition from paper to digital medical offices. Guaranteed to meet meaningful use requirements, ChartLogic offers revenue cycle management assistance as well as the most powerful electronic health record suite on the market, which includes electronic medical records, superior billing software, and patient portal. ChartLogic helps physicians provide better patient care through better technology. For further information, visit www.chartlogic.com.

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Meaningful Use Official Reminds Doctors to Prepare Now for Upcoming Payment Adjustments

The meaningful use program was built on a carrot stick platform; those who don’t act soon enough to get the incentives will get the penalties. Penalties for not demonstrating meaningful use by the end of 2013 will kick in in 2015.

More doctors than ever are using electronic health records (EHRs), but a lot of work needs to be done to ensure widespread EHR adoption. Meaningful use has been a major driver of recent EHR adoption, but adoption has slowed down slightly over the past several months. The maximum incentive amount is no longer achievable to providers who haven’t started meaningful use yet, which may be why some of the meaningful use urgency has died down somewhat. However, with penalties waiting to kick in, the government is encouraging providers to make meaningful use a top priority.

“For those who have already started down this road, the advice is very simple: keep doing what you’re doing,” said Robert Anthony, deputy director of the HIT Initiatives Group (part of CMS’ Office of E-Health Standards and Services). “If you’re a provider or hospital that has not yet gotten to meaningful use, it’s certainly not too late to think about it. There are a lot of resources out there, including the regional extension centers, that are really there to focus on smaller, rural, primary care providers, and help them overcome those challenges and give them some background on how to choose an EHR, and how to implement it.”

Anthony also advises current meaningful users to focus on information exchange, as it will be an important requirement for stage 2.

Providers who have successfully attested to stage 1 meaningful use will begin stage 2 in 2014. Incentives are still available, as well. The government has paid out just over half of the money set aside for meaningful use incentives and will continue to distribute it—first come, first serve—until it is gone.

Source: EHR Intelligence.

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About ChartLogic, Inc.

Since 1994, ChartLogic has helped thousands of practices make the transition from paper to digital medical offices. Guaranteed to meet meaningful use requirements, ChartLogic offers revenue cycle management assistance as well as the most powerful electronic health record suite on the market, which includes electronic medical records, superior billing software, and patient portal. ChartLogic helps physicians provide better patient care through better technology. For further information, visit www.chartlogic.com.

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After Explosive Growth, EMR Market Starts to Shrink

After the government passed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act in 2009, hundreds of electronic medical records (EMR) companies appeared. EMRs went to being somewhat rare in medical offices to being mandated by the government.

Unsurprisingly, EMR companies saw an opportunity and leapt to be a part of the EMR adoption bandwagon. Now, however, with most practices using electronic medical records, the EMR market is starting to consolidate. Two EMR vendors—Mitochon and BioMedix—recently closed their doors and will most certainly not be the last to exit the EMR business.

This was not unexpected, as the market cannot support 500+ EMR vendors. The next few years will be very telling. The vendors that survive the purge will say a lot about what providers value most in an EMR.

According to recent Black Book surveys, today providers are looking for ease of use, meaningful use incentives, and mobility capabilities. With so many EMRs to choose from, providers are increasingly ditching their hard-to-use EMRs for something more user friendly.

This is the premise ChartLogic was built on when it was founded nearly 20 years ago. ChartLogic has consistently maintained an at least 95 percent retention rate.

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About ChartLogic, Inc.

Since 1994, ChartLogic has helped thousands of practices make the transition from paper to digital medical offices. Guaranteed to meet meaningful use requirements, ChartLogic offers revenue cycle management assistance as well as the most powerful electronic health record suite on the market, which includes electronic medical records, superior billing software, and patient portal. ChartLogic helps physicians provide better patient care through better technology. For further information, visit www.chartlogic.com.

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