eHealth Global Technologies has released its eHealthConnect online request service for institutions to retrieve outside patient medical records for referred inpatients. The online request service provides customized forms for each healthcare institution customer of eHealth, and generates the appropriate release of information forms to allow access to the records under HIPAA guidelines, according to eHealth representatives.
GE Healthcare has announced the commercial release of a new pre-clinical computed tomography scanner specifically designed to accelerate research in the areas of cardiac disease and drug development. Using x-ray source technology derived from clinical systems, the GE eXplore CT 120 scanner features 100 times the output of previous GE laboratory research imaging systems. This power enables x-ray exposures fast enough and detailed enough to capture the motion of a beating mouse heart, according to a GE release. The power of the new x-ray source also allows for more effective filtering of the x-ray beam, reducing the x-ray dose to the research subject compared to previous scanners, according to the release.
The Arkansas Department of Human Services has been working with Electronic Data Systems Corp. for the past 18 months to develop a computer network that will make e-prescribing available to doctors statewide before the end of the year. If all goes as planned, the network will become available just in time for doctors in Arkansas to reap the benefits of Medicare's new incentive-based e-prescribing program. The federal effort is designed to save time and reduce costly and dangerous medication errors caused by illegible handwriting and bad drug combinations.
For years, just about everybody involved in healthcare has been touting the benefits of electronic prescribing. From the government to health plans to medical associations, we've heard again and again how the technology will improve patient safety and prevent medication errors, all while saving money by increasing the use of generic drugs and avoiding duplicated prescriptions.
Despite that, doctors have been glacially slow in making the switch (the United States Department of Health and Human Services estimates only about 10% of U.S. doctors use e-prescribing; other estimates put the adoption rate even lower).
Now some of the proponents of e-prescribing are putting money where their mouths are by offering financial incentives to physicians who switch from pad and paper to keyboard and monitor. Beginning Jan. 1, 2009 and continuing throughout 2010, Medicare will give doctors an additional 2% bonus on top of their fee for e-prescribing. In 2011 and 2012, the bonus will drop to 1%, and in 2013, the bonus will drop again to 0.5%. And, for those who need even more motivation, Congress put in place financial penalties for physicians who decline to use e-prescribing, dropping their Medicare reimbursements by 1% in 2012, 1.5% in 2013, and 2% in 2014. Some exceptions will be allowed for hardship cases. Medicare expects to save up to $156 million over the life of the e-prescribing program in fewer adverse drug events, Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt said during a press conference to introduce the plan.
Just after federal officials made their announcement, Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina said they too would offer an incentive to doctors who use the technology. The one-time, $1,000 incentive will go to network providers who access the medication history for 20 individual patients through a certified vendor between Oct. 1 and Dec. 31 of this year. The insurer also launched an e-prescribing Web site to "improve patient safety, control costs, and reduce medication errors." The Web site offers physicians hardware and software information, as well as discounts for implementing an electronic prescription practice.
Blue Cross Blue Shield estimates that e-prescribing can produce savings of about $250 per doctor per month, again through the increased use of generics and avoidance of unnecessary prescriptions.
So, will all of these efforts have a "profound effect on the adoption and use of e-prescribing," as Leavitt said he expects? Senator John Kerry and former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich certainly think so. Last Friday in an opinion piece they co-wrote for the Mercury News, Kerry and Gingrich said that by helping pay for the technology, the new legislation addresses the biggest impediment to adoption of e-prescribing technology: cost. "So with the right balance of financial incentives, physicians can and will adopt this life- and money-saving technology. We expect this law to start a wave of adoption, leading to the use of more sophisticated technology," they wrote.
I, for one, love the idea of not having to drop off and then wait around for my prescription at the pharmacy. And, while I agree that money is generally a terrific motivator, what if the cost—an estimated $3,000 per prescribing doctor—of buying and installing this technology is not truly the main barrier that is keeping doctors from switching over? Old habits die hard after all, and it takes considerable time and effort to learn new computer programs. Meanwhile, those prescription pads seem pretty easy to use and it only takes seconds to illegibly scrawl out a patient's name and medication.
Note: You can sign up to receive HealthLeaders Media IT, a free weekly e-newsletter that features news, commentary and trends about healthcare technology.
As part of his infectious diseases practice, University of California-Davis physician Javeed Siddiqui, MD, regularly sees Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation prisoners as patients but is never in the same room with them. Siddiqui is an example of
the increasing role that telemedicine has been playing in inmate care in recent years. Doctors who treat inmates via telemedicine say it is a win-win because it's easier on them and the patient, more cost-efficient for the prison system, and provides a patient base for medical institutions.
Of all cancer patients, teenagers are the least likely to consistently follow their care plans, which could partly explain why survival gains for young adults have lagged behind those of other age groups, experts say. But a video game, called Re-Mission, teaches them about the importance of following their care plans. Re-Mission follows the efforts of a microscopic "nanobot" as she tries to annihilate cancer cells. Players win by taking care of their health: swallowing oral chemotherapies, taking stool softeners to prevent bowel perforations, and practicing good oral hygiene to prevent mouth sores.