Four physicians have become the first in the country to receive their Medicaid EHR incentive payments for demonstrating meaningful use. Juan Salazar, MD, an internal medicine physician from McAllen, Tex., and three physicians from multi-specialty West Broadway Clinic of Council Bluffs, IA, announced receipt of government incentive funding for successful use of electronic health records (EHR), with the support of Kansas City, Mo. based health company, Cerner Corporation. West Broadway Clinic and Salazar achieved the first stage of rigorous requirements certifying them 'meaningful users' of health information technology and are excited to announce that the meaningful use dollars have been received via electronic bank deposits.
For drivers with diabetes, a dashboard glucose gauge that could prevent accidents is one step closer to reality. Fridley-based Medtronic Inc. and the Ford Motor Co. announced plans Wednesday to develop a system to display information from a diabetic patient's continuous glucose monitor on the dashboard of Ford vehicles. Three years ago, Medtronic unveiled at a trade show what it called the "M-Powered" concept car, in which a donated Lincoln Zephyr was outfitted with a dashboard gauge to display glucose readings. The new deal with Ford would take a stab at making that concept a reality, although it's not clear when the glucose gauge might actually be available in cars. "Three years ago, it was just a concept," said James Dallas, a senior vice president with Medtronic. "Now, we've advanced from the concept phase to the possibility phase."
The City of Philadelphia has tapped eClinicalWorks to help improve the continuity of care for the city's Department of Public Health. The Westborough, Mass.-based company will outfit 230 providers across 20 primary care and correctional clinics with a preventative-care oriented EHR to improve the quality of care through reporting capabilities and the ability to share data between facilities. "As a provider of healthcare services, we must meet ARRA/HITECH federal requirements," said Donald Schwarz, MD, Philadelphia's deputy mayor and commissioner for public health. Schwarz adds that the software suite could help "establish an innovative electronic health record that will support the integration of health services provided by the Philadelphia Department of Public Health and the Philadelphia Prison System."
When David Blumenthal, MD, was national health IT coordinator, he focused on 2015, the HITECH Act's original target date for meeting meaningful use criteria. Now that he's back in civilian life, he's taking a longer view of the initiative to create a national health network triggered by the HITECH Act's cash incentives to physicians and hospitals using electronic health record systems. Blumenthal, who keynoted the Massachusetts annual health IT conference last week, quoted President Barack Obama's line that the HITECH Act was a "down payment" on health reform. He likened the fusion of health IT and payment reform processes -- in the spirit of reducing healthcare costs while making quality gains -- to a series of mountains to climb, one peak after another.
It's no secret that small physician practices are less likely than larger practices and hospitals to adopt and use electronic health record systems. The federal government's meaningful use incentive program aims to drive widespread EHR adoption. But, small practices are lagging behind and face a much steeper climb to get to meaningful use. According to the Center for Health Care Strategies, nearly 60% of physicians work in practices with four or fewer doctors, and about 65% of U.S. physician visits occur at these small practices. If small practices are left behind in the push for meaningful use, most patients will be, too.
Implementing a telemedicine intervention resulted in lower hospital and intensive care unit mortality, lower rates of preventable complications and shorter hospital and intensive care unit lengths of stay, according to data from a clinical practice study. "Several studies have highlighted low levels of acceptance of the tele-ICU intervention, but few studies have identified the care processes or ICU structural elements that were part of the intervention; these issues have limited the ability to compare studies and identify processes associated with improved outcomes," the researchers wrote. Craig M. Lilly, MD, and colleagues at the University of Massachusetts Memorial Medical Center conducted a prospective, unblinded, stepped-wedge study from April 2005 to September 2007 to determine whether a tele-ICU intervention was associated with a risk for hospital death or length of stay, and the relationship of best practice adherences and preventable complications.