News

Summaries of open source, health care, or health IT news and information from various sources on the web selected by Open Health News (OHNews) staff. Links are provided to the original news or information source, e.g. news article, web site, journal,blog, video, etc.

See the following -

EHR Makers Surprised By Stage 2 Complexity

Anthony Brino and Diana Manos | Government Health IT | October 22, 2013

As the end of 2013 closes in, most federal certification bodies are noticing an uptick in the number of vendors who are applying to become certified under the 2014 criteria — the same criteria that will be required for the EHR products providers must use to attest to meaningful use Stage 2. Read More »

EHR Meaningful Use Dropout Rate Among Family Docs Hit 21% In 2012

Matthew Smith | Health Directions | July 8, 2013

As US physicians continue to embrace electronic health records (EHRs), data on CMS' EHR incentive program holds both positive and troubling news regarding family physicians' participation and success in achieving meaningful use of their EHRs. Read More »

EHR Meaningful Use Dropout Rate Soars In 2012

Sheri Porter | American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) | July 3, 2013

As U.S. physicians continue to embrace electronic health records (EHRs), data on CMS' EHR incentive program holds both positive and troubling news regarding family physicians' participation and success in achieving meaningful use of their EHRs. [...] Read More »

EHR Natural Language Processing Isn't Perfect, but It's Really Useful

Mike Miliard | Healthcare IT News | May 18, 2017

The rise of electronic health records with natural language processing technology is transforming provider workflow and clinical documentation. Though NLP is not without its challenges, it can offer valuable benefits when used wisely, said Anupam Goel, vice president of clinical information at Chicago-based Advocate Health Care...

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EHR Optimization: Necessary Because EHRS Are Never “Done”

D’Arcy Guerin Gue | Phoenix Health Systems Blog | March 22, 2017

Why, if over 95 percent of hospitals have implemented EHRs, are so many planning to invest in improvements or replacements this year? A new Healthcare IT News survey of hospital executives showed that 24 percent are conducting a major EHR system upgrade, and 21 percent are replacing their EHR at one or more sites. KPMG’s survey of CHIME members last month found that at least 38 percent of CIOs are investing in EHR optimization projects this year; in fact, they plan to spend more on EHR optimization than any other area of HIT. These numbers are huge when you consider that most hospital EHRs are newer versions implemented to meet MU attestation requirements...

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EHR Part Of MaineHealth's Financial Woes

Stephanie Bouchard | Healthcare IT News | May 2, 2013

In a memo to its employees last week, Maine Medical Center [...] said it has suffered an operating loss of $13.4 million in the first half of its fiscal year. The rollout of MaineHealth's estimated $160 million electronic health record system [...] was among several reasons Maine Med's CEO cited for the shortfall. Read More »

EHR Payments Soar To Near $20B

Anthony Brino | Government Health IT | January 15, 2014

Electronic health record incentive payments to eligible docs and hospitals continue to climb into the new year. The "inexorable progress" of the federal EHR incentive program continues, with payments to providers moving ever closer to $20 billion. Read More »

EHR Prompt Nearly Kills Prison Inmate

Dan Bowman | FierceEMR | August 16, 2012

An inmate at a California correctional facility nearly received a lethal dose of heart medication last week at the prompting of a newly implemented electronic health record system. The system--from EHR vendor Epic--reportedly has caused multiple additional headaches for nurses since going live July 1, sparking a record number of complaints and a call for the system to "go away until it's fixed," the Contra Costa Times reported. Read More »

EHR Replacement Gone Wrong: Who Owns Patient Data?

Jennifer Bresnick | EHR Intelligence | July 23, 2013

What do you do when an EHR contract ends, but the vendor won’t let you access your patients’ data until after a lengthy court battle over a missing bill?  Does a vendor have the right to withhold records for any reason, even if the information is stored in a proprietary format? Read More »

EHR Replacement: Considerations For A Successful Transition

Kyle Murphy | EHR Intelligence | April 23, 2013

Those that ignore history are doomed to repeat it. Now, replacing an EHR is by no means dire, but it represents a significant investment if not in money (in light of “free” EHR or EHR donations) then in resources (e.g., time, energy). The hope of the EHR replacement process is that healthcare organizations and providers will take the lessons learned in their previous experiences and apply them... Read More »

EHR Rollout Gone Wrong In Rural Kansas

Genevieve Beaudoin | Healthcare IT News | September 14, 2012

Dispute between Cerner and Girard Medical Center goes to arbitration. One year after Cerner abandoned its EHR implementation project at Girard Medical Center, the two don't appear to be any closer to a settlement of their legal struggle. Read More »

EHR Roulette: Gambling On Medicine's Future

Paul Cerrato | InformationWeek | August 7, 2013

As medical practices look to replace clunky ambulatory electronic health records systems, picking a winner can seem like risky business. Read More »

EHR Systems: A Money-Loser For Most Physicians?

John Commins | HealthLeaders Media | March 5, 2013

Adopting electronic health records appears to be a money-losing proposition for most physicians, especially specialists and those in smaller physician groups. Read More »

EHR Tasks Take Up Half of the Primary Care Physician’s Workday

Erin Dietsche | MedCity News | September 12, 2017

It’s practically become a mantra in healthcare: EHRs take up too much of physicians’ time. But just how much time do doctors spend on EHR-related tasks? A new study out of the University of Wisconsin and the American Medical Association dug deeper. From 2013 to 2016, researchers analyzed 142 family medicine physicians, all of whom used an Epic EHR, at a system in southern Wisconsin. All data was captured via EHR event log data during clinic hours (8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Monday through Friday) and non-clinic hours...

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EHR Training Often Rushed, Overwhelming

Marla Durben Hirsch | FierceEMR | May 30, 2012

Some of the problems that hospitals and practices are running into with electronic health record adoption stem from the ways that staff are trained on the systems, Andres Jimenez, CEO of EHR training provider ImplementHIT, told Becker's Hospital Review in a recent interview. Read More »