By Alex Tate

The EHR is taking the Health It industry one step closer to an efficient, more cost effective world. Physicians across the state are adopting EHRs and without a surprise, things are looking good; better than they were previously. With the introduction of this latest gadget gizmo, physicians are able to experience improved medical record documentation and legibility. The tool has earned its place in hospitals and practices as the primary means of achieving better care, better population health and lower health care cost per capita. However, there’s another side of the coin often overlooked.

Malpractice insurers have reported EHRs to be a source of medical liability instead. According to a national medical liability insurer, substantial amount of EHR-related malpractice claims was derived from system errors (42%) and not user factors. Which is why it’s often best to educate yourself of the real risks of outdated EHRs and make the smart decision when investing in health IT.

Interoperability

The percentage of office-based pediatricians using EHRs rose from 58% in 2009 to 79% in 2012, while at the same time the limited pediatric functionality and multiple EHR systems and platforms contribute to interoperability problems (Lehmann CU, et al. Pediatrics. 2015;135: e7-e15).

Primary care physicians are not often cognizant of the reality that they do not have immediate access to data on emergency department visits, hospital admissions, subspecialist reports, laboratory results and acute care provided outside the medical home due to interoperability issues. Fragmented EHRs help in contributing to serious errors in medical management, exposing patients to harm and pediatricians to professional liability.

A more reasonable approach to the issue would involve the provider asking their patients to direct summaries from other providers to the medical home. [Read more…]

By Simon Wieczner

According to the acting administrator at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS)—Andy Slavitt—Meaningful Use (MU) will soon cease to exist as it used be. For many healthcare organizations, this was welcomed news. While everyone seems to agree that electronic health record (EHR) adoption is important, many disliked the way Meaningful Use required organizations to follow an exact set of criteria in order to avoid penalties. Now in the wake of this news, both media and healthcare organizations are wondering what will happen next and if they should still prepare to make the changes required in Stage 3 of MU.

By releasing some of the pressure on the MU directives that have upset and frustrated many providers, the CMS is recognizing that it’s not about technology as much as it is patient outcomes.  However, that doesn’t necessarily mean abandoning technology altogether, but rather embracing the flexibly in order to achieve what we all want: improved patient outcomes.

This means we still must use all means at our disposal for communicating with patients both electronically, as well as face to face.  The best way to ensure this still includes enhancing the ability for care givers to easily record patient information and subsequently accurately record and relay that data.  By allowing care givers to do this in a variety of ways as opposed to a narrow directive, they will be able to discover the alternative solutions that work best for the unique situation.  [Read more…]