The Health Care Blog

Harvard Study Gets it Wrong on EHRs and Quality

By GLENN LAFFEL MD, PhD America’s hospitals are a triumph of modernity, stocked as they are with PET scanners, ECMO machines, and ICUs bedecked in eye-popping gadgetry. They are also the most complex organizations ever created by man. The seemingly...
November 20, 2009 in EHR | Permalink | Comments (2)

Certification versus Meaningful Use

By John Halamka Recently, clinicians have asked me "why should I implement my organization's preferred EHR when I've found a less expensive vendor that promises meaningful use?" This illustrates a basic misunderstanding of the difference between Certification and Meaningful Use....
November 10, 2009 in EHR, Meaningful Use | Permalink | Comments (4)

Back to Basics: Toward a Core Set of Relevant and Portable Personal Health Information

By DAVID C. KIBBE In the cacophony of health IT issues, products, and goals that compete every day for our attention, it is easy to lose sight of the profound value that could come from the universal availability of a...
November 3, 2009 in David Kibbe, EHR, HIT, Meaningful Use | Permalink | Comments (21)

A Message to America's Physicians: Purchasing EHR Technology A Shaky State of Affairs

By DAVID C. KIBBE and BRIAN KLEPPER Much of the conversation and debate about physician EHR adoption has centered on the single issue of the (high) cost of purchase. However, we'd like to suggest that the situation is much more...
October 28, 2009 in Brian Klepper, David Kibbe, EHR, HITECH | Permalink | Comments (29)

Why Standards Matter 2: Health IT Enters a New Era of Regulatory Control

By DAVID C. KIBBE and BRIAN KLEPPER The recent history of electronic medical records in ambulatory care, or what we now call EHR (electronic health record) technology, can be divided roughly into three phases. Phase I, which lasted approximately 20...
October 14, 2009 in Brian Klepper, David Kibbe, EHR, HIT, HITECH, Technology | Permalink | Comments (10)

Health 2.0 Accelerator Demonstrates Integration of Consumer Web Apps and EHRs

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. – October 7, 2009 – Health 2.0 Accelerator member companies today joined together at the Fall 2009 Health 2.0 Conference to demonstrate a streamlined, consumer-centric integration among nine separate technologies creating a more streamlined user experience. During...
October 7, 2009 in EHR, Health 2.0, Technology | Permalink | Comments (0)

Medical Data in the Internet “Cloud” – Data Privacy

By ROBERT ROWLEY, MD The concepts of “security” and “privacy” of medical information (Protected Health Information, or PHI) are closely intertwined. “Security,” as described in the second part of this series, has to do with breaking into medical data (either...
September 27, 2009 in EHR, Privacy | Permalink | Comments (10)

A Remedy for Healthcare Organizations

By PAUL LUNDY, VP, Xerox Global Services The switch to electronic health records can be a daunting task. To make the shift less painful, healthcare organizations should first consider taking control the number of documents flowing through the organization –...
September 23, 2009 in Costs, EHR | Permalink | Comments (0)

Medical Students Want You to Know

By MICHELLE SNYDER How many of us can remember a world without cell phones? Today’s medical students would undoubtedly be among that group. So it is no wonder these future physicians rely heavily on technology as they embark on their...
September 20, 2009 in EHR, Electronic Medical Records, Physicians, Social Media, Technology | Permalink | Comments (12)

Commentology: Improving Cost-Containment

Stephen J. Motew writes: Surgical specialists practice under a slightly more regimented reimbursement model predominantly due to the global period payment for surgical procedures. The total care of the surgical patient for any procedure, including pre-op evaluation, the procedure itself,...
September 15, 2009 in Commentology, Costs, Disease Management, EHR | Permalink | Comments (4)

CCHIT's Latest Gambit

By GLENN LAFFEL Many of us have enjoyed a few good minutes of fun having our fortunes told by soothsayers who claim they can predict our future based on patterns of tea leaves in a cup or the playing cards...
September 14, 2009 in CCHIT, EHR, Glen Laffel | Permalink | Comments (2)

Social Media: Disruptive Force in Medicine

By GLENN LAFFEL Before the Obama administration set aside billions to accelerate the dissemination of EHRs, providers were slow to adopt them. As recently as 2 years ago for example, a study published in the NEJM revealed that only 4%...
September 4, 2009 in Education, EHR, Social Media, Technology, Web/Tech | Permalink | Comments (9)

Advice For State REC Planners

By DAVID C. KIBBE & BRIAN KLEPPER On August 20th, HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and ONC head David Blumenthal announced $598 million in grants to set up about 70 "regional extension centers" (RECs) that will help physicians select and implement...
August 31, 2009 in Brian Klepper, David Kibbe, EHR, HIT, HITECH, REC, Reform | Permalink | Comments (4)

Impact of EHRs on Medical Education

By GLENN LAFFEL Author's Note: This the second of a 5-part series whose purpose it is to make the case for implementing a widespread, systematic approach to HIT education in medical schools and continuing medical education programs for physicians. A...
August 31, 2009 in Education, EHR, HIT | Permalink | Comments (2)

“Meaningful Use” Criteria as a Unifying Force

By Vince Kuraitis, David C. Kibbe & STEVE ADAMS Over the past several years, many diverse initiatives have arisen offering partial solutions to systemic problems in the U.S. health care non-system. We see Meaningful Use Criteria recommended by the HIT...
August 29, 2009 in Clinical Groupware, EHR, HITECH, Meaningful Use | Permalink | Comments (6)

Why Standards Matter (1): The True Meaning of Interoperability

By DAVID C. KIBBE and BRIAN KLEPPER Americans are generally skeptical of words that otherwise intelligent and articulate people can't pronounce. "Interoperability," like nu-cu-lar, is one of these. After a while, these words can take on a mystique all their...
August 22, 2009 in Brian Klepper, David Kibbe, e-patients, EHR, Electronic Medical Records, Technology | Permalink | Comments (0)