o Number of hospitals using either basic or advanced EHR up from 24% to 38%
o Largest increase in quality of care was for patients treated for heart failure for hospitals with EHR versus those without
- Results of EHR study conducted by University of California-Davis finds:
o Initial implementation of EHR results in a 25-33% drop in physician productivity
o Internal medicine units adjusted to the new technology and experienced increase in productivity
o Pediatricians and family practice doctors did not return to original productivity levels
- Dell announced it is buying InSiteOne Inc. of Wallingford, CT, and provides medical diagnostic image archiving services.
- According to Black Book Rankings about EHR adoption:
o 90% of healthcare providers that purchased EHR systems are off track to meet meaningful use implementation goals
o Only 10% foresee achieving requirements for stimulus funding this spring
o Over 400 EHR system developers have emerged in past year
o Top five reasons why will not meet requirements:
93% say lack of support from their EHR vendor
89% say delay caused by cost of additional support by EHR vendor
82% caused by rushed selection of EHR vendor
77% lack staff to implement
69% are underfunded to rectify difficult EHR system interfaces
- The State of Wisconsin is still pursuing a lawsuit it filed against McKesson for $150 million, for allegedly overcharging Medicare and Medicaid programs.
- Allscripts announced that its EHR can not be integrated with WellDoc DiabetesManager solution. WellDoc allows physicians to have real-time patient self-care data, including; blood glucose data, mediation use, lifestyle info and other diabetes related info.
- Premier Inc., one of the 6 large healthcare group purchasing organizations (GPOs) in the U.S. announced that over the past year, 1,220 hospitals participating in its group buy program have identified $81 million in savings. Savings under the program vary between 5% and 15%.
- HIPAA breach. Dean Health System of Wisconsin notified 2,000 surgery patients that their personal information was exposed when the laptop computer belonging to a doctor was stolen.
- Centra Health System of Virginia notified 14,000 patients that their personal info was exposed when an employee’s laptop computer was stolen from her rental car.
- EHR vendor, eClinicalWorks of Massachusetts reports:
o CEO if Girish Kumar Navani
o Will be hiring up to 200 in 2011 due to growth
o Currently has more than 1,300 employees
o Will build new headquarters for $18 million
o Will finish the year with $150 million in revenue
o 5 year goal is to have 100,000 providers and 100 million patients on its HER
- Results of healthcare survey conducted by PriceWatersCoopers (PwC):
o 86% of patients do not access their medical records electronically
o What consumers would use web-access to health info for:
58% lab reports
56% prescription orders
53% immunization records
52% upcoming appointments
48% physician visit notes
33% suggested preventive health screening
o 72% would trade employer-based insurance for higher pay
-=Greetings from Sandy Hook=-
