This Week in Document Imaging 12/29/10

- According to EHR study conducted by RAND Corp, regarding adoption of EHR systems in hospitals:


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=-

This Week in Document Imaging "Industry Notes" 10/31/10

OpenText of Canada, maker of fax servers (FaxPress & Rightfax) and DMS (Hummingbird) announced it has purchased StreamServe Inc., for $71 million, which makes electronic forms software.
- Keane Inc., a company which specializes in offering managed IT services to healthcare industry, announced it was acquired by Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation (NTT) of Japan for $1.2 billion.

- Allscripts, a vendor of EHR, announced that last quarter’s revenue was $192.5 million compared to previous quarter’s revenue of $190.3 million

- McKesson, EHR vendor, announced it won contract from Cowherd Family Medical Center of Heber, Arkansas.

- Federal authorities arrested 4 people in connection with $200 million fraudulent Medicare claims in Miami. The companies involved were American Therapeutic Corp. and Medilink Professional Management Group, and had to do with bogus mental health therapy sessions.

- Auxilio, a company that specializes in offering managed print services to the healthcare industry, announced it won another bid in New York, with a $3.5 million, 3 year contract from New York Hospital Queens.

- Surescripts Inc. announced it is expanding its nationwide e-prescribing network with a new service that will allow for exchange of clinical health information. It includes:
o Up to date summaries of patient’s recent visits
o Secure messaging tools
o Net2Net Connect for sending and receiving clinical info outside their network
o Message Stream for electronic exchange of clinical info
o Clinical Message Portal for those without EHR that wish to send and receive info


- Results from healthcare survey conducted by SK&A:
o Survey of 213,500 medical offices
o EHR adoption at hospital-owned offices grew from 44.1% to 54.9% (10.8% increase)
o EHR Adoption at health-system owned offices grew from 50.2% to 61.2% (11% increase)
o Overall, medical office EHR adoption has grown from 36.1% to 38.7% (3% increase)
o Most commonly used EHR functions are:
 28.4% use electronic patient notes
 27.3% use electronic labs/x-rays
 25.9% use electronic prescribing
o Physician offices with more exam rooms, more physicians on staff, and higher daily patient volumes have highest EHR adoption rates
o Physician specialties with highest adoption rates
 Radiology = 59.9%
 Pathology = 59.8%
 Aerospace medicine = 59.5%
 Dialysis = 59.3%
 Emergency medicine = 57.6%
o Which states use EHR more?
 Northern states = 40.9%
 Southern states = 40.1%
 Minnesota = 62.6%
 Utah = 55.4%
 Wisconsin = 52.3%

- Survey data released by during the recent Medical Group Management Association (MGMA):
o Practices with EHR systems that were not owned by hospitals or integrated delivery systems (IDNs) reported $49,916 greater total medical revenue as compared with those with paper medical records
 These practices also reported greater expenses per physician ($105,591), but had greater median revenue per physician ($178,907) than those with paper medical records systems
 After 5 years of EHR use, had operating margin that was 10.1% greater than practices using EHR for 1 year
o Practices with HER system that were owned by hospitals or IDNs had operating margin that was $42,042 higher than those with paper records
o Medical records staff per physician decreased by 44.12% after install of EHR
o 62% of medical practices will limit the number of new Medicare patients they accept if scheduled reimbursement cuts, totaling more than 30%, go into effect
o Almost 50% stated that they will stop seeing new Medicare patients altogether
o 75% said they planned on delaying purchase of new equipment or facilities
o 50% are planning on reducing staff
o 45% may put off purchasing EHR

- Cerner, maker of EHRs, which recently announced it will build a new office in Kansas, is now asking Kansas City for $50 million in industrial revenue bonds to pay for new computers and other equipment in the new facility. If approved, the city would own the equipment and lease it back to Cerner.

- Siemens, maker of EHR, won contract from Charleston Area Medical Center of West Virginia.

- iSalus Healthcare, maker of EHR systems, announced that the CEO it recently fired, Mark Day, is now suing the company. Mr. Day claims he was fired after reporting that he was suspicious that employees were stealing software.
- Epic, maker of EHR systems, won a contracts from:
o Rush University Medical Center of Illinois.
o New Hanover Regional Medical Center of North Carolina for $56 million to replace McKesson Horizon system

- The Kansas Foundation for Medical Care Inc. and University of Missouri Board of Curators published a list of preferred medical software providers, including GE Healthcare and McKesson. Noticeably absent is Kansas City-based Cerner Corp.

- CapSite announced that its survey reveals that 41% of hospitals will invest in new health information management (HIM) solutions in 2011.

- The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) announced it will implement auditing procedures to check healthcare providers that are claiming funds for install of EHR systems.

-=Greetings from Sandy Hook=-