When it rains, it pours, and so it goes with my speaking engagements in the industry. Within the span of a few days, I was delighted to address two groups that are often thought to be on opposite sides of a huge fence—physicians and payers. At the annual meeting of the Missouri Osteopathic Physician Association, I talked about physician EMR adoption and some of the driving forces behind clinical IT. A few days later, for the BlueCross BlueShield Association's national conference for communications directors, I joined a media panel to give my take on the top issues. I pointed to the claims and connectivity challenges hindering relationships with payers, both for providers and patients.
These audiences were about as divergent as you can get. Yet both appreciated how the fragmented nature of healthcare is costing the industry dearly. The physician audience included several who have already implemented an EMR—to mixed results. One practice's clinical quality boost is another's loss of productivity, even two years into the deployment. I think it is fair to say I encountered a great deal of skepticism among the physicians on the utility of EMRs. One doctor wondered aloud about an inevitable "CMS mandate" for EMRs. That's not the first time a physician has raised such a concern to me, and it won't be the last. For many physicians, clinical IT remains an abstract notion at best, one that is championed by policy wonks high atop a hill that is far removed from the day-to-day reality of running a medical group.
At the Blues conference, much of the dialogue centered on alienated consumers. A few horror stories were bandied about by one of the reporters (don't you just love how an anecdote can pass for a trend?), which sparked some heated exchange. I try to maintain a level-headed view of such controversies, as I naturally recoil from the Michael Moore syndrome.
After the panel concluded, a couple of Blues staffers approached me to share their own efforts at engaging consumers. These efforts go well beyond the patient portal where you can look up benefits and get a new member card. The Minnesota and Florida plans have recently launched Web sites where patients may sound off on the industry. On these sites, patients can tell their own stories. The Florida site only trims out obscene comments, so this is not a corporate snow job. The sites are fairly new, and have already drawn a fair amount of consumer feedback—both positive and negative. So who says the industry isn't listening?
Towards the Electronic Patient Record will hold its 24th annual conference on May 19, 2008 at the Fort Lauderdale Convention Center. There will be more than 300 speakers, 2,000 attendees, and 100 exhibitors on topics that include IT solutions for hospitals, IT solutions for ambulatory practices, and EMR/EHR topics for payers.
A high-tech system has been developed that could revolutionize how Canadians obtain prescription drugs. The concept revolves around a kiosk that operates like a vending machine, using advanced robotics and technology to read prescriptions and dispense more than 150 commonly prescribed drugs. A video screen links a pharmacist to the patient.
The Workgroup for Electronic Data Interchange has scheduled the second in a series of educational audiocasts about the forthcoming HIPAA electronic claims attachment standards. The 90-minute, May 29 program will cover how the standards work; how they relate to other HIPAA standards and to the Health Level Seven Clinical Document Architecture; and how implementation specifications are laid out.
A new organ donor register has been launched which promises preferential treatment for anyone signing up, but doctors say it is not legally binding and is morally repugnant. Members who sign up to the Web site, called LifeSharers, agree to donate their organs when they die, but on the condition that those organs are offered first to fellow members.
A professor of bioengineering at the University of California, Berkeley and his colleagues have developed a portable medical scanner that can be plugged into a cellular phone, which transmits raw ultrasound or X-ray scanning data to a remote computer processor. The computer then converts the data to images and relays these back for viewing on the cell phone screen. The concept is a cheaper and easier alternative to conventional medical scanning service because one computer server does the imaging for many scanners.
Medicare has launched its pilot online personal health records program in South Carolina, which gives thousands of Medicare beneficiaries in the state access to a PHR populated with their hospital and physician claims information. Information on prescription drugs will not be provided, but PHR users can enter information on their prescription and over-the-counter medications. Through the program, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services hopes to learn more about people's use of PHRs and how to encourage them to use the tools, said CMS representatives.
The New Orleans region could lose up to $70 million a year in healthcare financing under a bill approved by the Senate that aims to redistribute the way money is divided among southern Louisiana charity hospitals. The bill was filed to correct a disparity between the amount of tax dollars that flow to the New Orleans Charity Hospital facilities compared with other hospitals in the public hospital system run by Louisiana State University, proponents say. Opponents to the bill said New Orleans deserves the money it gets because a disproportionate amount of expensive and complex procedures are performed there while regional hospitals often focus on routine primary care.
A bill changing how healthcare in Minnesota is provided and paid for was approved by the Legislature. The bill would start a statewide campaign to reduce smoking and obesity and offer public data on the quality and costs of doctor and hospital services. The bill would also certify doctors and clinics that provide "medical homes" with comprehensive and coordinated care, and expand eligibility to add about 40,000 people to MinnesotaCare. The bill faces a possible veto when it reaches Gov. Tim Pawlenty, however, who has expressed misgivings.
During a forum at Miami Dade College Medical Center Campus, a nursing union pushed for national and state legislation to set minimum nurse-to-patient ratios amid a worsening shortage of nurses. Nursing advocates assert that hospitals would lure more nurses back to work and reduce turnover if they would boost staffing levels so that nurses aren't chronically overworked. Most hospitals are opposed to any mandates, arguing they shackle administrators and impair their flexibility to respond to dynamic hospital situations.
