“Physician groups in California that scored the highest in a recent set of pay-for-performance awards were consistently the most sophisticated users of health IT, according to an analysis by the Integrated Healthcare Association (IHA).
When the clinical scores of groups were compared, those who rated the highest for IT-enabled “systemness,” or depth of an organization’s use of health IT, had over 40 percent higher clinical performance scores than those with the lowest systemness levels, according to the IHA.”
Article
Brian Robinson, Government health IT, 6 October 2008
Tagged: benefits and Health Information Technology
; posted on Wednesday, October 8th, 2008 at 8:30 am
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“Recently electronic prescribing (e-prescribing) has been a hot topic. Policymakers in Washington assume that widespread adoption of e-prescribing will save money and improve health care quality.
They anticipate cost reductions through the reduction of medical errors and through increased prescription of more affordable medications, such as generics. Preliminary research supports these assumptions.”
Article
FP Kenneth Adler, Family Practice Management, pre-published September 2008
Tagged: benefits and e prescribing
; posted on Monday, September 29th, 2008 at 8:44 am
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“Results of a study released today found that the use of online care for certain prescribed circumstances may result in first-dollar financial savings for employer-sponsored health plans. The Milliman study was authored by Arthur L. Wilmes, FSA, MAAA, principal & actuary at Milliman, an actuarial firm with a leading presence in the healthcare market. The analysis demonstrated potential medical savings of $3.36 and $6.95 per-member-per-month (PMPM) for commercial and Medicare plans, respectively. The study investigated the use of online care services similar to those in American Well’s Online Healthcare Marketplace System, which became commercially available earlier this year.”
Article
Government Technology, 25 September 2008
Tagged: benefits and online services
; posted on Saturday, September 27th, 2008 at 9:33 am
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“Health systems nationwide are in varying stages of implementing personal health record applications. The thought is that the technology can provide clinicians with a gold mine of data that will be helpful in improving both efficiency and care quality, while providing consumers with the tools necessary to take a more active role in their health care. Despite the benefits, resistance remains.”
Article
Kate Ackerman, iHealthBeat, 24 September 2008
Tagged: adoption, benefits and phr
; posted on Thursday, September 25th, 2008 at 7:44 am
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“To achieve the diverse health care goals of the United States, health care value must increase. The capacity to create value through innovation is facilitated by an integrated delivery system focused on creating value, measuring innovation returns, and receiving market rewards. This paper describes the Geisinger Health System’s innovation strategy for care model redesign. Geisinger’s clinical leadership, dedicated innovation team, electronic health information systems, and financial incentive alignment each contribute to its innovation record. Although Geisinger’s characteristics raise serious questions about broad applicability to nonintegrated health care organizations, its experience can provide useful insights for health system reform.
Geisinger Health System in Pennsylvania reduced hospital admissions by 20 percent and saved 7 percent in total medical costs by providing a patient-centered medical home (PCMH) model of care—including around-the-clock access to primary and specialty care, and physician and patient access to electronic health records (EHRs)—according to first-year results from pilot-test sites. The findings, released in the September/October issue of Health Affairs, provide the first evidence that the PCMH model can improve quality of care and reduce health care costs. The article also describes Geisinger Health System’s efforts to redesign its care delivery infrastructure and to create incentives aligned to enhanced health care value. ”
Abstract
Ronald A. Paulus, Karen Davis and Glenn D. Steele, Health Affairs, 27, no. 5 (2008): 1235-1245
doi: 10.1377/hlthaff.27.5.1235
Tagged: benefits, health information system and medical home
; posted on Monday, September 22nd, 2008 at 7:20 am
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“Many regional health information organizations and telemedicine applications have fallen short of their potential. But by combining the two forms of technology, Louisiana health care providers are able to improve patient care in the state’s rural areas.”
Article
Jamie Welch, Andrew Hurd, HHNMostWired, 17 September 2008
Tagged: benefits, Health Information Exchange, rural and telemedicine
; posted on Wednesday, September 17th, 2008 at 6:03 am
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“The exchange of health information electronically between physicians, hospitals, health plans, and patients is decreasing the cost of care and improving outcomes, according to a new survey released by the non-profit eHealth Initiative today. The 2008 Fifth Annual Survey of Health Information Exchange at the State and Local Levels, which included responses from 130 community-based initiatives in 48 states, shows the significant impact fully operational initiatives are having on improving health care delivery and efficiency.”
Survey
eHealth Initiative, 11 September 2008
Tagged: benefits and Health Information Exchange
; posted on Thursday, September 11th, 2008 at 8:12 pm
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“A growing number of providers and health plans surveyed by the eHealth Initiative report a positive return on their healthcare exchange investments, according to eHi’s fifth annual survey, released Thursday.”
Article
Diana Manos, Healthcare IT News, 11 September 2008
Tagged: benefits and Health Information Exchange
; posted on Thursday, September 11th, 2008 at 8:10 pm
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“The purpose of this pilot study is to investigate the feasibility, effectiveness, and acceptability of a patient-physician real-time encounter using videoconferencing technology (a virtual visit) compared to a face-to-face office visit in the general medical setting. The three broad aims of the study are (1) to compare the physician’s ability to make diagnoses in both settings, (2) to compare the physician’s ability to provide therapy in both settings, and (3) to examine both patient and physician satisfaction with both modalities. Thirty patients were recruited from a single practice to participate in the study. Patients were first interviewed and examined in the virtual setting, and then in the face-to-face setting. Both patients and physician were surveyed after each visit type with regard to quality of the history, quality of the examination, and satisfaction with the experience. The data were analyzed using two-tailed t-tests and analysis of variance. Patients significantly preferred the in-person visit (4.7 of 5), but were very satisfied with the virtual visit as well (4.1 of 5) (p < 0.0001) (scale: 1= poor, 2 = fair, 3 = good, 4 = very good, 5 = excellent). Physical examination effectiveness was significantly worse in the virtual visit modality (2.3 versus 4.9 for the face-to-face visit, p < 0.0001), but history and therapeutic effectiveness were not significantly different. Both patients and the physician felt comfortable with the technology: patients 4.1, physician 4.3. Results suggest that both patients and the physician found the virtual visit a potentially useful alternative to the traditional visit for many medical conditions. This may have significant implications for the general medical care environment. Patients may benefit from reduced opportunity costs associated with physician visits and clinicians may benefit from decrease overhead costs. Further research is ongoing to investigate the generalizability of these findings."
Article
Ronald F. Dixon, James E. Stahl. Telemedicine and e-Health. August 1, 2008, 14(6): 525-530. doi:10.1089/tmj.2007.0101.
Tagged: benefits and virtual consult
; posted on Monday, September 8th, 2008 at 7:56 am
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“The Agency for Health Care Research and Quality has released a report on telehealth grant projects that reveals the improvements and challenges that telehealth grantees experience.”
Article
Molly Merrill, Healthcare IT News, 4 September 2008
Tagged: benefits, rural and telehealth
; posted on Friday, September 5th, 2008 at 7:31 am
No Comments »
“Hospitals in Germany say they expect regional e-health networks to deliver substantial cost savings of up to €2 million a year.
The figures are extrapolated from a new survey, conducted by German software giant SAP. In its survey of hospital managers at ten major hospitals using SAP, respondents said they anticipated average savings of €100 for every patient.”
Article
e-Health Europe, 3 September 2008
Tagged: benefits, e health, hospitals and networks
; posted on Thursday, September 4th, 2008 at 9:00 am
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“Health care reform is a divisive issue in Washington, but there is wide agreement on one solution to lower costs and improve care: health information technology, or health IT. Health IT replaces paper medical records with electronic records. This is how I run my Baltimore-based wire basket and hook company; shouldn’t my doctor do the same?”
Article
Drew Greenblatt, Baltimore Sun, 18 August 2008
Tagged: benefits, costs, Health Information Technology and medical errors
; posted on Tuesday, August 19th, 2008 at 9:29 am
No Comments »
“As the chief medical information officer for Fairview Health Services, Dr. Ray Gensinger knows well the challenges and potential of medicine’s shift from paper to electronic patient records. And so when Gov. Tim Pawlenty recently threw his weight behind one of the most practical applications born of that transition — a consumer-owned, web-accessible personal health record — Gensinger approved. “It’s the right direction to go and somebody has to say ‘Move!’ as opposed to standing around talking about it.’.”
Article
Star Tribune, 14 August 2008
Tagged: benefits, costs, Google Health, HealthVault and phr
; posted on Saturday, August 16th, 2008 at 7:00 am
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“A Medicare pay-for-performance demonstration project that relies on health IT to hold down health care costs and improve quality has resulted in extra earnings of $16.7 million for 10 large group medical practices nationwide.”
Article
Nancy Ferris, Government Health IT, 14 August 2008
Tagged: benefits and Health Information Technology
; posted on Friday, August 15th, 2008 at 7:51 am
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“Imagine a world in which doctors can instantaneously see whether the medication they are prescribing you is the
appropriate dosage and has no contra-indications that could harm you. Imagine never having to worry that you will receive the wrong medicine simply because your doctor’s handwriting was illegible to the pharmacist. Imagine doctors and clinicians spending less time on administrative paper shuffling and having more time to provide you care.
Health information technology can transform our healthcare system, dramatically reducing costs, improving quality and delivery of care, and saving lives. It can change the way clinical facilities operate, providing patients with the most efficient and effective treatment possible.
In our eHealth 101 report, AeA analyzed the benefits of widespread use of electronic medical records (EMRs). Our eHealth 201 report looked at the potential of telemedicine, or remote healthcare delivery, in expanding access to healthcare. In this eHealth 301 report, we examine the benefits of ePrescribing, or the use of electronic prescriptions.”
Article
The AeA Competitiveness Series, July 2008
Tagged: benefits, e prescribing and medication errors
; posted on Wednesday, July 23rd, 2008 at 9:39 am
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“Interview with John Pringle
Program manager for electronic documentation for the City of San Diego Fire and Rescue department, John Pringle has played an integral role in the development of TapChart, San Diego’s PDA-based information capture system, which has been used by EMS responders in the city for the past decade. John spoke on this topic at TEPR 2008 and will be doing an update at TEPR+ 2009 as well as organizing presentations there on other EMS implementations of electronic patient documentation.”
Article
MRI Newsletter, July 2008
Tagged: benefits, cellphone, emergency and pda
; posted on Wednesday, July 16th, 2008 at 11:06 am
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“When Texas Health Resources, a 13-hospital system in Arlington, decided to adopt an electronic health record, its leaders realized that obtaining benefits from the investment would not be automatic. So they adopted a benefits-driven approach to the EHR implementation, which they called the “Value Model” program.”
Article
Douglas Thompson, Patricia Johnston, HHNMostWired, 9 July 2008
Tagged: adoption, benefits and information technology
; posted on Thursday, July 10th, 2008 at 10:31 am
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“I asked him what Connecting for Health was for. He seemed taken aback. It was obviously so that every professional in the NHS could have access to every patient’s records whenever they presented for care. I asked him what was wrong with the patient (or parents in the case of young children) telling the doctor what their main problems or important background conditions (for example diabetes) were. His response was that this was no use in an emergency when the patient was unconscious. My response was to point out that anyone dealing with a patient in an emergency would need to be sure they had the right address and other details on a patient – there are over 70 J Smiths in my local phone book – before relying on an electronic record, even if it could be downloaded instantly. I also pointed out that a simple bracelet, neck tag or card in the wallet could provide important health information such as diabetic status, without the need for either a download or finding the correct address.”
Article
Tony West, NHSPolicyComment, 7 July 2008
Tagged: benefits
; posted on Monday, July 7th, 2008 at 7:23 pm
No Comments »
“Typical hospital information system implementation processes are designed to meet technical and project management goals, such as on-time delivery, high reliability and adherence to technical specifications or the project budget. However, most health care executives do not buy systems for technical reasons, but to increase their strategic competitive advantage by improving patient safety and clinical quality, increasing efficiency and reducing costs, and meeting local competitive demands.”
Article
Douglas Thompson, Patricia Johnston, HHNMostWired, 2 July 2008
Tagged: benefits, hospitals and information technology
; posted on Thursday, July 3rd, 2008 at 9:59 pm
No Comments »
“Our vision for eHealth is simple: support for the overall NHS Scotland goals as set out in the Better Health Better Care Action Plan. This is about exploiting the power of electronic information to help ensure that patients get the right care, involving the right clinicians, at the right time, to deliver the right outcomes. It is therefore as much about transforming traditional processes as it is about technology.
The benefits that eHealth can help bring about are the same as those sought in Better Health Better Care. Sharing information for the benefit of patients is a key responsibility of NHS services to provide good quality services and, on occasion, to help protect vulnerable individuals. Our eHealth Strategy is about improving patient safety and effectiveness through information.”
Report
NHS Scotland
Tagged: benefits and e health
; posted on Monday, June 30th, 2008 at 9:13 am
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“Families across South Dakota and the nation are well aware of the cost of health care today, and it is rightly an issue that should concern leaders in Congress and other levels of government. While partisan politics often overshadows some of the common-sense steps we can take to improve access to affordable, high-quality care, expanding access to effective health care technologies has been one area of agreement.”
Article
Sen. John Thune, Meade County Times-Tribune, 17 June 2008
Tagged: access, benefits, emr, health information, medical errors, rural and telehealth
; posted on Wednesday, June 18th, 2008 at 9:51 pm
No Comments »
“At a Capitol Hill briefing on Friday, the Health IT Now! Coalition asked lawmakers to pass legislation that would subsidize health care providers’ adoption of electronic health records, ensure interoperability among health care IT platforms and address privacy concerns, CongressDaily reports.”
Article
iHealthBeat, 16 June 2008
Tagged: adoption, benefits, disease management, Health Information Technology, interoperability and privacy
; posted on Monday, June 16th, 2008 at 10:52 pm
No Comments »
“When I see a patient, that patient has to repeat her entire medical history from memory for me or we have to gather other records. Sometimes we wait while faxes arrive. Sometimes we repeat studies. Sometimes we just go ahead without all the information.
Health care can be better than this. The technology is available to produce a comprehensive medical record which is available absolutely everywhere a patient allows it to be seen.
I don’t mean an electronic medical record in just one doctor’s practice or just one hospital system. I mean a complete medical record that will go from each care site a patient visits to all of his other care sites.”
Article
Lauren O. Florence, The Salt Lake tribune, 14 June 2008
Tagged: benefits
; posted on Monday, June 16th, 2008 at 10:07 am
No Comments »
“Many people believe that health information technology (health IT) has the potential to transform the practice of health care by reducing costs and improving quality. In this paper, prepared at the request of the Chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) examines the evidence on the costs and benefits of health information technology, possible barriers to a broader distribution and use of it in hospitals and clinicians’ offices, and possible options for the federal government to promote use of health IT. In keeping with CBO’s mandate to provide objective, impartial analysis, the paper makes no policy recommendations.”
Report
Stuart Hagen, CBO, May 2008
Tagged: benefits, costs and Health Information Technology
; posted on Saturday, June 14th, 2008 at 1:18 pm
No Comments »
“As a physician, you earned an MD, but probably not an MBA. But in today’s health care environment you have to run your practice like a business in addition to providing great patient care. It’s critical to have efficient staffing, minimize costs and maximize your reimbursements and collections. Here we present five ways in which an electronic medical record (EMR) can help you achieve these goals.”
Article
Software Advice
Tagged: benefits
; posted on Thursday, June 5th, 2008 at 10:01 pm
No Comments »
“The return on investment of health care information technology isn’t uniformly positive, according to a recent analysis from the Congressional Budget Office titled, Evidence on the Costs and Benefits of Health Information Technology.
The underlying rationale for the report, which was requested by the Senate Budget Committee, is to sort out the federal government’s role in health IT. The report asks, “Whether — and if the answer is yes, how — the federal government should stimulate and guide the adoption of health IT.”
Article
Jane Sarasohn-Kahn, The Health Care Blog, 30 May 2008
Tagged: benefits, effectiveness, Health Information Technology and secondary data use
; posted on Saturday, May 31st, 2008 at 10:12 am
No Comments »
“The growing cost of medical care and gaps in coverage are creating enormous pressure on both providers and public policymakers to identify new strategies for delivering cost-effective and quality care to all citizens. Many health care experts believe that part of the answer lies with telehealth applications made possible by the increasing power of information technology and the spread of broadband connectivity. Indeed, we believe widespread implementation of telehealth could save the U.S. health care system $4.28 billion just from reducing transfers of patients from one location, such as a nursing home, for medical exams at hospitals, physicians’ offices, or other caregiver locations. When appropriate diagnosis and care can be provided remotely
via telemedicine, a patient transfer creates unnecessary cost as well as hardship for the patient.”
Report
Alexander H. Vo, UTMB, May 2008
Tagged: benefits, hospitals, remote, teleconsultation, telehealth and telemedicine
; posted on Saturday, May 31st, 2008 at 7:25 am
No Comments »
“America’s Heath Insurance Plans highlights the role of information technology in its new plan that it estimates could reduce U.S. health care costs by $145 billion by 2015.
The board of directors for the Washington-based trade organization developed a series of cost containment and public policy principles and related proposals in the plan. The initiative is part of an 18-month effort by the organization to present a roadmap for payers and other industry stakeholders that offers solutions designed to help make health care more affordable.”
Article
Health Data Management, 30 May 2008
Tagged: benefits and information technology
; posted on Saturday, May 31st, 2008 at 6:35 am
No Comments »
“Many people believe that health information technology (health IT) has the potential to transform the practice of health care by reducing costs and improving quality. In this paper, prepared at the request of the Chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) examines the evidence on the costs and benefits of health information technology, possible barriers to a broader distribution and use of it in hospitals and clinicians’ offices, and possible options for the federal government to promote use of health IT. In keeping with CBO’s mandate to provide objective, impartial analysis, the paper makes no policy recommendations.”
Report
The Congress of the United States - Congressional Budget Office. May 2008
Tagged: benefits and Health Information Technology
; posted on Friday, May 30th, 2008 at 9:58 pm
No Comments »
“Purpose
To investigate the effects of a fully functional electronic patient record (EPR) system on clinicians’ work during team conferences, ward rounds, and nursing handovers.
Method
In collaboration with clinicians an EPR system was configured for a stroke unit and in trial use for 5 days, 24 h a day. During the trial period the EPR system was used by all clinicians at the stroke unit and it replaced all paper records. The EPR system simulated a fully integrated clinical-process EPR where the clinicians experienced the system as if all transactions were IT supported. Such systems are not to be expected to be in operational use in Denmark until at least 2 years from now. The EPR system was evaluated with respect to its effects on clinicians’ mental workload, overview, and need for exchanging information. Effects were measured by comparing the use of electronic records with the use of paper records prior to the trial period. The data comprise measurements from 11 team conferences, 7 ward rounds, and 10 nursing handovers.
Results
During team conferences the clinicians experienced a reduction on five of six subscales of mental workload, and the physicians experienced an overall reduction in mental workload. The physician in charge also experienced increased clarity about the importance of and responsibilities for work tasks, and reduced mental workload during ward rounds. During nursing handovers the nurses experienced fewer missing pieces of information and fewer messages to pass on after the handover. Further, the status of the nursing plans for each patient was clearer for all nurses at the nursing handovers except the nurse team leader, who experienced less clarity about the status of the plans.
Conclusion
The clinicians experienced positive effects of electronic records over paper records for the three clinical activities involved in the evaluation. This is important in its own right and likely to affect clinicians’ acceptance of EPR systems, their command of their work, and consequently the attainment of ‘downstream’ effects on patient outcomes.”
Abstract
Morten Hertzum, Jesper Simonsen, International Journal of Medical Informatics, In Press, Corrected Proof, Available online 23 May 2008, doi:10.1016/j.ijmedinf.2008.03.006
Tagged: benefits, hospitals and nurses
; posted on Friday, May 30th, 2008 at 4:07 pm
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