Lead Blogger: Seth Flam, DO
Dr. Flam is one of the founders of HealthFusion® and serves as the company’s CEO and President. He is board certified in Family Practice and is one of the creative forces behind MediTouch EHR®.
The Healthcare landscape is evolving rapidly these days, and with a career, family, and possibly a practice to run, it can be difficult to stay on top of recent Healthcare news. At HealthFusion®, we want to help you stay informed, so today begins our new series of blog posts — a weekly summary and synopsis of recent news in healthcare from around the Web.
- Hope everyone had a wonderful National Nurses Week! Be sure to thank all the nurses you know and work with for everything they mean to your patients, your practice, and the healthcare industry as a whole. Thank you from HealthFusion to all the nurses out there; we appreciate and thank you for everything you do!
- The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) has released their interactive Health IT Dashboard on the Web. The Health IT Dashboard is comprised of three sections: ONC Overview, Regional Extension Center (REC) Program, and Community College Consortia. The ONC’s Health IT tool gives users access to the Health IT data collected by ONC during the national Health IT initiative. The ONC is expected to release more data in the coming months, on electronic health records (EHRs) and health information exchange (HIE).
- The Meaningful Use Stage 2 open comment period has closed. HealthFusion successfully submitted our comments to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). Read more about our Meaningful Use Stage 2 comments in our blog posts, Meaningful Use Stage 2 Proposed Rules Open Comment Period — HealthFusion® MediTouch® Comments and Meaningful Use Stage 2 NPRM for Health Information Technology Comments by HealthFusion® MediTouch®. The College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (CHIME) also echoes our comments on the proposed Stage 2 Meaningful Use rules.
- Mobile Healthcare (mHealth) is the future of medicine and the healthcare system in the United States. Electronic health records (EHRs), tablet computers, and other mobile devices are essential to furthering mHealth. A recent article, in American Medical News, stated that, “Mobile technology is bringing the patient’s bedside to the physician’s smartphone or tablet.” As iPads® make up the overwhelming majority of tablet computers running EHRs and EMRs, HealthFusion’s MediTouch is designed and built for the future of medicine and healthcare — MediTouch EHR® is iPad-native, but still cross-compatible with traditional desktops, laptops, and other mobile devices (Windows® or Mac®).
The healthcare landscape is changing rapidly these days, but HealthFusion will help keep you informed! Be sure to check back every Friday for the weekly Healthcare News from around the Web, brought to you by HealthFusion MediTouch.
In the April 9 print edition of American Medical News, the lead business story was “Everything in Medicine is Going Mobile”, and a sister article titled, “Challenges with Going Mobile”. The theme of the article, per Phil Chuang director of information services for Sutter Health in California, is that medical professionals have, “seen the power of them (mobile devices) in their personal lives, and they want to see that same power in their clinical lives.” Mobile devices definitely pass the “cool factor” test, but if the software is designed properly, they also are the most efficient way to chart an encounter.
In addition, he commented that, “Just because mobile devices work well in their personal lives doesn’t mean they will work in a clinical setting. Being proficient at playing Angry Birds on an iPad® doesn’t mean using an EHR on the iPad will be as easy.” He cautioned, “If the EHR wasn’t designed for use on a tablet, the user will not gain the same efficiencies that they would have on a desktop computer. For example, an EHR that uses a lot of small checkboxes for a clinical exam won’t work very efficiently for someone with adult-sized fingers trying to check the boxes. Many apps were written for a 19-inch computer screen, and we’re shoving them on a 7-inch mobile screen.” Continue reading…
The Stage 2 Meaningful Use requirements regarding the Clinical Document Architecture (CDA) standard for Summary of Care Patient Records will turn out to be a big win for providers. The HL7 CDA format and standards should make it easier for physicians to store and “own” their patient records. In Stage 1 of Meaningful Use, CMS introduced the Continuity of Care Document (CCD) and Continuity of Care Record (CCR) personal health record (PHR) concepts. Now, instead of those standards, the patient health record will be recorded exclusively in an easier to implement CDA format. At the heart of the CDA solution is a library of reusable CDA templates that allow for easier machine-to-machine communication, facilitating the transfer and storing of more patient data. Continue reading…
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid’s (CMS) open comment period for Meaningful Use Stage 2 (MU 2) will soon end on May 7. At HealthFusion®, we are optimistic that CMS will heed our comments and requests; a conviction only strengthened with the recent Meaningful Use Stage 2 comments made by the College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (CHIME). CHIME’s Meaningful Use Stage 2 comments echo those made recently by HealthFusion MediTouch® in our recent blog posts, Meaningful Use Stage 2 Proposed Rules Open Comment Period — HealthFusion MediTouch Comments and Meaningful Use Stage 2 NPRM for Health Information Technology Comments by HealthFusion MediTouch Continue reading…
In the previous blog post of our series on the Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) proposed Meaningful Use Stage 2 measures we provided our commentary with regard to the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) on Meaningful Use for 2014 regulations. As promised, in today’s post we will provide our commentary with regard to the NPRM for Health Information Technology (HIT): Standards, Implementation Specifications, and Certification Criteria for Electronic Health Record (EHR) Technology. This is the sister rule to the Stage 2 Meaningful Use regulations; it describes the technical means to accomplish the measures outlined in the Stage 2 proposed rule. As with our previous commentary, we hope that HHS and CMS will heed our comments and recommendations, but rest assured no matter their final ruling on Meaningful Use Stage 2 measures, HealthFusion will be ready and Meaningful Use attestation will be as easy as always with MediTouch and our Meaningful Use Report Card®. Continue reading…
