Physicians and medical practice staff members are using both paper-based and computer-based workarounds to overcome real and perceived deficiencies in their electronic health records (EHRs), according to a new study in the Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association (JAMIA). These workarounds, which are consistent across institutions, "suggest common challenges in outpatient clinical settings and failures to accommodate these challenges in EHR design," the study said. The researchers directly observed clinical workflows at 11 primary care clinics in different healthcare organizations: two VA medical centers, Partners Healthcare in Boston and the Regenstrief Institute in Indianapolis. In total, 120 clinic staff and providers were observed caring for 118 patients.
According to the Institute of Medicine's president, Harvey Fineberg, MD, the annual excess cost in our health care system is estimated at 'An Institute of Medicine panel recently estimated annual excess cost from systemic waste at $765 billion ? including $210 billion in unnecessary services, $130 billion in inefficiently delivered services, $190 billion in excess administration costs, $105 billion in excessively high prices, $55 billion on missed opportunities for disease prevention, and $75 billion in fraud.' The $765 billion estimate seems exorbitant but my boyfriend's story exemplifies each of these wastes. The urgent care center preformed unnecessary services that took five hours to complete with an approximate total waiting time of three and half hours.
A startup called IntelligentM wants to make hospitals healthier by encouraging workers to clean their hands properly. Its solution is a bracelet that vibrates when the wearer has scrubbed sufficiently, giving employees a way to check their habits and letting employers know who is and isn't doing things right. Some 100,000 people a year in the United States alone die because of infections that arise from hospital visits, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and a lot of these infections occur because doctors, nurses, and technicians don't wash well enough. The problem has garnered more attention lately, in part because Medicare and other payers have stopped reimbursing hospitals for expenses related to treating hospital-acquired infections.
Every year, the International Federation of Health Plans — a global insurance trade association that includes more than 100 insurers in 25 countries — releases survey data showing the prices that insurers are actually paying for different drugs, devices, and medical services in different countries. And every year, the data is shocking. The IFHP just released the data for 2012. And yes, once again, the numbers are shocking. This is the fundamental fact of American health care: We pay much, much more than other countries do for the exact same things. For a detailed explanation of why, see this article. But this post isn't about the why. It's about the prices, and the graphs.
The U.S. Justice Department and the state Attorney General's Office on Monday asked a federal court to dismiss their 2010 antitrust lawsuit against Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan and its now-illegal preferential contracts with hospitals. In a joint motion in U.S. District Court in Detroit, lawyers for the Justice Department and the state wrote that the suit is no longer necessary because of a pair of new Michigan laws that will outlaw such deals, known as "most-favored nation" contracts, beginning Jan. 1.The lawyers also note that state Insurance Commissioner Kevin Clinton issued an order, effective last month, that prohibits these contracts for the remainder of the year.
When Fred E. Taylor arrived at Harrison Medical Center in Silverdale, Wash., for a routine prostatectomy, he expected the best medical care new technology had to offer: robotic surgery, billed as safer, less painful and easier on the body than traditional surgery. The operation, on Sept. 9, 2008, was supposed to take five hours. But it was marred by a remarkable cascade of complications and dragged on for more than 13 hours, leaving Mr. Taylor, who had been an active 67-year-old retiree, incontinent and with a colostomy bag, and leading to kidney and lung damage, sepsis and a stroke. Mr. Taylor survived his injuries but died last year. Now, his wife, Josette, is suing Intuitive Surgical Inc., the company that makes the equipment and trained the surgeon to use it.