Health care

Archive for July, 2010

If you purchase an EHR system expecting to make a fortune without any additional work, you are setting your practice up for failure. EHR implementation has a better chance of success if effective strategies are employed throughout the implementation process, and if all staff has an understanding of these strategies.

EHR Strategies

While the leadership of EHR implementation is important, success of the outcome will depend on the strategies deployed during the implementation process. New obstacles will arise frequently throughout the implementation process, but with the appropriate strategy in place you will have the ability to conquer them.

Planning

Planning is absolutely critical to the success of EHR implementation. Write out a plan before beginning the implementation process, and make sure the leader(s) and other involved participants have a thorough understanding of it. Using project management software, talking to experts and other users of the same EHR system, and site visits to other clinics and practices that successfully implemented EHRs are all good components of a successful implementation plan.

Workflow Redesign

EHR implementation offers practices a workflow redesign, which will help the practice work more efficiently by automation and eliminating extra steps. The practice should review the current paper process, analyze the steps and record them on a flow diagram. Subsequently, the practice must determine if the process can be improved by comparing it to a flow diagram of the EHR process that accomplishes the same task. Be sure to thoroughly examine the following processes for possible improvement: medication refilling, lab and test ordering, lab reviewing, health maintenance tracking, referral making, prescription writing, patient check-in, communicating test results to patients, interoffice messaging and note charting.

Scanning Strategy

Different sized practices will have different scanning strategies. Smaller offices may chose to scan in records of patients with scheduled appointments just before they come in. A larger practice may spend the six months before going live with their EHR to intensively scan all patient charts. The latter, however, will require extra personnel and multiple scanners. The benefits of these two approaches finds physicians minimizing the amount of time a staff spends scanning charts to focus on 90 percent of the key data expected to be needed for any given patient. This limits time and money spent on scanning data that isn’t critical and can be scanned at a later date.

Learn More About EHR Systems

An implementation plan, a workflow redesign, and a scanning strategy are critical approaches that will help determine if the practice’s EHRimplementation is a success or failure.

If you need more information about EHR systems and how they may improve the quality of health care for your practice, contact e-MDs, a leader in electronic medical record software provision.

e-MDs offers a host of affordable, certified EHR solutions for physicians and facilities looking to modernize or enhance their services with the latest electronic health records technology. e-MDs is committed to providing affordable and integrated EHR and Practice Management Software solutions, including clinical, financial and document management modules designed to automate medical practice processes and chart management – delivering the clinical tools needed to succeed in today’s health care environment.

You can find additional detailed information about all the different services and benefits an EHR system has to offer your practice by contacting a representative right now at 1.888.344.9836 or sales@e-mds.com.

Ethan Luke. EHR – e-MDs powerful software can help manage your EHR.

If you purchase an EHR system expecting to make tons of money without any additional work, you are setting yourself and your practice up for failure. EHR implementation is more likely to succeed if all staff involved can participate. Everyone in your practice plays a role in the implementation process, although some roles have more responsibility than others.

Leadership

While the quality of your EHR technology is critical, people are the key to successful implementation and meaningful use of an EHR system. Success starts at the top with good leadership. A successful EHR implementation needs three types of leaders: a physician advocate, a CEO, and a project manager.

Physician Advocate

The physician advocate should be a well-respected clinician within your practice who is a great communicator and an enthusiastic supporter of the EHR system. They should be the driving force behind your practice’s motivation and passion for change. With the full support of the CEOand the rest of your practice’s senior management team, the physician advocate should be able to successfully lead implementation.

CEO

In a small practice the CEO and the physician advocate may be the same person. This often helps facilitate success with EHR implementation. In a larger practice, the CEO will need to be an unwavering supporter of the physician advocate with every mis-step and small triumph. They will help provide all needed resources and help remove any obstacles that hinder the implementation process.

Project Manager

The project manager plays a critical role in the EHR implementation outcome. Ideally, the project manager will have past experience managingEHR implementation. It is important to assign the project manager role to a trained and skilled person, experienced in managing complex information technology (IT) projects with overlapping timelines and multiple stakeholders. Large practices will need to hire or move someone to a full-time project manager role, while a smaller practice will most likely split this role between the office manager and an implementation manager assigned by the EHR vendor.

Learn More About EHR Systems

A practice’s participants and leadership are a critical key to successful EHR implementation. If you need more information about EHR systems and how they may improve the quality of health care for your practice, contact e-MDs, a leading provider of electronic medical record software.

e-MDs offers a host of affordable, certified EHR solutions for physicians and facilities looking to modernize or enhance their services with the latest electronic health records technology. e-MDs is committed to providing affordable and integrated EHR and Practice Management Software solutions, including clinical, financial and document management modules designed to automate medical practice processes and chart management – delivering the clinical tools needed to succeed in today’s health care environment. You can find additional detailed information about all the different services and benefits an EHR system has to offer your practice by contacting a representative right now at 1.888.344.9836 or sales@e-mds.com.

Ethan Luke. EHR – e-MDs powerful software can help manage your EHR.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) released their proposed meaningful use objectives that could shape the future of hospitals across the nation. The government is offering hospitals and healthcare providers tax credit incentives, stated in the Recovery Act, for those who prove meaningful use. These tax credits are designed to promote widespread adoption of electronic medical records, which could vastly improve health care quality, efficiency, and patient safety.

The most effective systems will become standard across the country in order to achieve the following proposed objectives:

2011 Objectives:

Through meaningful use, the goal by 2011 is to electronically capture medical information and use it to track key clinical conditions via:

• Implement drug-to-drug, drug-to-allergy, drug-to-formulary checks

• Maintain an up-to-date problem list of current and active diagnoses

• Maintain active medication list and allergies list

• Record demographics and vital signs

• Incorporate lab test results into Electronic Healthcare Records as structured data

• Generate lists of patients by specific conditions to use for quality improvement, reduction of disparities, and outreach

• Report hospital quality measures to CMS

• Implement one clinical decision rule related to a high priority hospital condition

• Check insurance eligibility electronically from public and private payers

• Provide patients with an electronic copy of their health information, including lab results, medication lists, problem list, allergies and discharge summary

• Provide patients with an electronic copy of their discharge instructions and procedures at time of discharge, upon request

• Provide access to patient-specific education resources

• Capability to exchange key clinical information (e.g. – discharge summary, procedures, problem list, medication list, allergies, test results) among providers of care and patient authorized entities electronically

• Capability to submit electronic data to immunization registries and actual submission where required and accepted.

• Capability to provide electronic submission of reportable lab results to public health agencies and actual

• Compliance with HIPAA Privacy and Security Rule

• Compliance with new data sharing practices

2013 Objectives:

Through meaningful use, the goal by 2013 is to report more specific patient data and increase accountability for record-keeping.

• Manage chronic conditions using patient lists and decision support

• Provide clinical decision support at the point of care (e.g., reminders, alerts)

• Specialists report to relevant external disease (e.g., cardiology, thoracic surgery, cancer) or device registries

• Conduct closed loop medication management, including

• Access for all patients to PHR populated in real time with patient health data

• Provide access to patient-specific educational resources in common primary languages

• Record patient preferences (e.g., preferred communication media, advance directive, health care proxies, treatment options)

• Documentation of family medical history

• Retrieve and act on electronic prescription fill data

• Produce and share an electronic summary care record for every transition in care (place of service, consults, discharge)

2015 Objectives:

Through meaningful use, the overall goal by 2015 is to improve the national healthcare performance and support care processes.

• Achieve minimal levels of performance on quality, safety, and efficiency measures

• Implement clinical decision support for national high priority conditions

• Medical device inter- operability

• Multimedia support (e.g., x-rays)

• Patients have access to self- management tools

• Electronic reporting on experience of care

• Access comprehensive patient data from all available sources

• Use of epidemiologic data

• Automated real-time surveillance (adverse events, near misses, disease outbreaks, bioterrorism)

• Clinical dashboards

• Provide patients, on request, with an accounting of treatment, payment, and health care operations

• Protect sensitive health information to minimize reluctance of patient to seek care because of privacy concerns

If you need more information about meaningful use, or how electronic medical records will improve your healthcare practice, contact e-MDs, a leader in electronic medical record software provision at http://www.e-mds.com.

e-MDs offers a host of affordable solutions for physicians and facilities looking to modernize or enhance their services with the latest EHR/EMR technology. e-MDs is committed to providing affordable and integrated EHR and Practice Management Software solutions, including clinical, financial and document management modules designed to automate medical practice processes and chart management – delivering the clinical tools needed to succeed in today’s health care environment.

John Haines. Meaningful use e-MDs powerful software can help manage your electronic medical records

Throughout the history of modern medicine, doctors’ handwritten clinical notes concerning medical cases have generally been circulated within a small group of primary care providers. For those physicians, a shared technical vocabulary and scribbled notes have been considered sufficient for developing diagnosis and treatment. However, as society migrates towards a digitally efficiency, this age-old system is exposing drawbacks: illegible handwriting, unavailable files, and non-aggregated data. In short, not all clinical information has been or is being properly documented.

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) recently issued a brief discussing an incremental approach to adopting standardized clinical documentation techniques such as electronic health records (EHRs). The brief describes an initial set of standards to enhance the interoperability, functionality, utility, and security of EHRs to encourage meaningful use of health information technology (HIT). With the consistent and unambiguous clinical documentation provided by EHRs, physicians can accurately share critical patient information with multiple users, including specialists, behavioral care providers, insurers, labs and pharmacies, public health entities, and research organizations.

The brief issued by HHS outlines the following documentation methods of capturing clinical data to ensure a standardized level of structure:

Structured Templates

Structured templates are partially-prepared notes created for the most common medical cases by a physician, clinic, or department. They work well for medical issues that fit a clear framework with a limited number of predictable variations. Structured templates present a draft for the physician to modify in order to reflect the specific patient’s condition, but also allow for a certain degree of uniformity in the data capturing process. This standardization will improve note-taking and has the potential to drive the billing process directly from the clinical record.

Radio Buttons, Drop-Down Lists, and Check Boxes

Radio buttons, drop-down lists, and check boxes provide physicians with a variety of ways to enter structured data. Drop-down lists offer options based on data in an earlier part of the chart. Radio buttons are helpful for entering exclusive data like gender or yes/no questions. Check boxes maintain and track quality of care by recording any exams performed and all questions asked. The structured data aggregated by these methods drive protocol and decision support, allow for rapid point-and-click selection, and can be embedded within sections of structured templates.

Voice Dictation/Transcription

Physicians and health care providers can dictate directly into a microphone attached to the computer to create a .wav file or audio file that is embedded at the point in the chart that the dictation took place. This method of data capturing allows for the rapid recording of a detailed description with the least amount of effort expended.

Learn More About Electronic Health Records

Standardized clinical documentation helps clinics, hospitals and other medical facilities run more efficiently and is one of the many benefits of well-implemented health information technology. Structured data entry also provides decision support at the point of care, identifies health trends, and pinpoints adverse effects of new treatments. If you need more information about electronic health record systems and how they may improve the quality of health care for your practice, contact e-MDs, a leader in electronic medical record software provision..

e-MDs offers a host of affordable, certified EHR solutions for physicians and facilities looking to modernize or enhance their services with the latest electronic health records technology. e-MDs is committed to providing affordable and integrated EHR and Practice Management Software solutions, including clinical, financial and document management modules designed to automate medical practice processes and chart management – delivering the clinical tools needed to succeed in today’s health care environment. You can find additional detailed information about all the different services and benefits an electronic health records system has to offer your practice by contacting a representative right now at 1.888.344.9836 or sales@e-mds.com.

Ethan Luke. Electronic Health Records secure your electronic health records with e-MDs.</p>

Upon the passage of health care reform, our country’s medical industry is expected to add approximately 23 million additional users to the health care system. For an already burdened system, digitizing medical data is a viable solution for easing the transition into universal healthcare. But migrating an entire nation’s health records to electronic health records systems will do more than simply reduce the excess workload, it will change the way people manage their own care.

Changing Social Dynamics

The future of medical data is changing with our nation’s social dynamics. With increased access to individual health information through electronic health records systems, or an instant messaging session with a doctor, the traditional role of patient and physician is evolving into something more modern. No longer will patients walk into an appointment uninformed and uneducated. Rather, they will have had access to their electronic health records online, reviewed their latest lab results, and read recommended articles concerning their conditions before walking through the door.

Increased access to personal medical information will be a welcome change for a younger generation used to status updates, instant messaging, and social networking. While most patients might not be sharing their latest CAT scan on Facebook, soon-to-be parents are posting their babies’ ultrasound images and using social networking sites to share information about conditions, treatments, and doctor efficiency.

Closing the Communications Gap

Electronic health records technology closes the communications gap between clinics and patients, physicians and files, and information and decisions. Doctors appointments will be scheduled online and lab results can be reviewed on your smart phone, eliminating the formalities of follow-up visits and quarterly check-ups.

Electronic health records allow people to get more involved in their health care decisions, while doctors will be able to use additional information for better diagnostic and treatment decisions. These changes will be aided by the national shift to electronic health records currently underway throughout the health care industry. A massive effort being helped by $19 billion dollars from the federal government’s 2009 economic stimulus package.

Learn More About Electronic Health Records

Electronic health records technology will significantly improve how our health care system effectively communicates and treats our nation’s health. If you need more information about electronic health record systems and how they may improve the quality of health care for your practice, contact e-MDs, a leader in electronic medical record software provision.

e-MDs offers a host of affordable solutions for physicians and facilities looking to modernize or enhance their services with the latest electronic health records technology. e-MDs is committed to providing affordable and integrated EHR and Practice Management Software solutions, including clinical, financial and document management modules designed to automate medical practice processes and chart management – delivering the clinical tools needed to succeed in today’s health care environment.

From e-MDs Chart to e-MDs Tracking Board, you can find additional detailed information about all the different services and benefits an electronic health records system has to offer your practice by contacting a representative right now at 1.888.344.9836 or sales@e-mds.com.

Ethan Luke. Electronic Health Records – secure your electronic health records with e-MDs.

The current health care conversation doesn’t just encompass policy reform, it also relates to modernizing our entire health care system with innovative, progressive technology that will better treat the health of our nation. Electronic medical record systems (EMRs) benefit our health care system and the overall health of our nation. However, a recession and credit crunch over the past year have created an adoption barrier for EMRs. Enter the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Recovery Act)to help overcome this issue.

The Recovery Act authorizes the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services to reimburse eligible physicians and medical facilities who successfully implement electronic medical record technology with ‘meaningful use’. But until recently, ‘meaningful use’ hasn’t been clearly defined.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology recently proposed a working definition for ‘meaningful use’ of an electronic medical records system. The definition is based upon a framework of national priorities to help focus on performance improvement. These priorities, determined by the National Priorities Partnership, include: patient engagement, reduction of racial disparities, improved safety, increased efficiency, coordination of care, increased privacy, improved security, and improved population health.

The proposed definition of meaningful use will depend on the size of the healthcare setting and the availability of technology, and how effectively it can help the facility’s serving population. CMS’ goal is for the definition of meaningful use to be consistent with Medicare and Medicaid law while implementing EMR technology to improve overall health care. CMS’ proposed rule will phase in more robust criteria for meaningful use in three stages.

Stage 1 Criteria for Meaningful Use

The proposed criteria for Stage 1 of meaningful use focuses on capturing health information in a format that is digitized and queriable, using that information to track key information and conditions, to communicate better care coordination, and to report quality measures and public health information.

The Stage 1 criteria, which goes into effect in 2011, are based on a series of objectives that are tied to a proposed measure that all eligible professionals and hospitals must meet in order to demonstrate meaningful use. There are 25 objectives and measures for eligible professionals and 23 for eligible hospitals. All the results for all the objectives and measures must be reported to CMS through attestation.

CMS is planning to release two additional stages of criteria for meaningful use over the next several years. Stage 2 will expand upon Stage 1 criteria in the following areas: disease management, clinical decision support, medication management, support for patient access to health information, transitions in care, quality measurement research, and bi-directional communication with public health agencies. Stage 3 will focus on improvements in quality, safety, and efficiency, while focusing on: decision support for national priority conditions, patient access to self-management tools and comprehensive patient data, and improving population health outcomes.

EMR technology will significantly improve how our health care system effectively communicates and treats our nation’s health. But just like the proposed definition of meaningful use, adoption is going to experience stages of implementation. If you need more information about electronic medical record systems and how they may improve the quality of health care for your practice, contact e-MDs, a leader in electronic medical record software provision.

e-MDs offers a host of affordable solutions for physicians and facilities looking to modernize or enhance their services with the latest EHR/EMR technology. e-MDs is committed to providing affordable and integrated EHR and Practice Management Software solutions, including clinical, financial and document management modules designed to automate medical practice processes and chart management – delivering the clinical tools needed to succeed in today’s health care environment.

Ethan Luke. Electronic Medical Records – e-MDs powerful software can help manage your electronic medical records.

Global Markets Direct, a source for leading research and analysis, is releasing the report The Future of the Healthcare IT Market to 2015 – Healthcare Reform in the US to Boost Growth, which provides key data, information, and analysis on the global Healthcare IT market. The report estimates that the global market for Healthcare IT market was valued at around $11 billion in 2008, and is forecast to exceed $24 billion by 2015, with a CAGR of 11%. It is expected that the market will be driven by governments’ financial incentives, regulations requiring automation in healthcare practices, and the increasing need for hospitals to attain cost efficiencies through EMR adoption. There is also growing evidence that the use of IT and electronic medical records in healthcare practices will be able to provide fuel for the future of the market.

The United States is the key economy for driving growth in the global Healthcare IT market, contributing 37% in 2008. It is expected that the United States’ global contribution will increase to 48% by 2015. Over the next seven years, the United States’ Healthcare IT market is expected to grow at double digit rates, exceeding $10 billion by 2015.

The US market recently received a boost from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009, which allocates a $20 billion investment in Healthcare IT. Also, Medicare and Medicaid are expected to reimburse a percentage of the $20 billion in order to assist physicians and hospital facilities implementing in electronic medical records. Hospitals and practices that are eligible for incentives under the ARRA Act of 2009 must meet specific requirements of “meaningful use” by 2011 in order to receive the maximum payment.

Electronic health records are a key driver in growth within the global Healthcare IT market, contributing 31% towards the global market in 2008. This contribution is expected to increase to 37% by 2015. The global electronic health records market is forecast to exceed $9 billion by 2015. Government incentives are expected to motivate physicians and hospitals to adopt electronic medical records, along with the cost efficiency benefits that they offer. EHRs improve cash flow by speeding up reimbursement claims, r attain cost efficiencies through EMR adoption. There is also growing evidence that the use educing errors, and increasing clinical revenues.

Electronic health records will benefit our global Healthcare market, as well as the health of our nation. Widespread adoption is slowly occurring, but support and education is a necessary step for all involved. If you are searching for more information about electronic medical records and how they may improve the quality of health care for your practice, contact e-MDs, a leader in electronic health record software provision. e-MDs Solution Series is CCHIT 2008 Certified in Ambulatory, Child Health and Cardiovascular, and is committed to meeting all emerging standards, privacy requirements, interoperability specifications and certification criteria referenced in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.

e-MDs offers a host of affordable solutions for physicians and facilities looking to modernize or enhance their services with the latest EHR/EMR technology. e-MDs is committed to providing affordable and integrated EHR/EMR and Practice Management Software solutions, including clinical, financial and document management modules designed to automate medical practice processes and chart management – delivering the clinical tools needed to succeed in today’s health care environment.

Ethan Luke.Electronic Medical Records e-MDs powerful software can help manage your electronic medical records

Physicians who are adopting electronic health records (EHR) systems recently received the promise of help from government subsidies that will be paid out in increments over five years, beginning in 2011. The incentives are quite substantial, giving physicians who are eligible up to $44,000 from Medicare or $64,000 from Medicaid if they have enough Medicaid business. However, to receive the government subsidies, physicians must make a significant investment of their own money or borrow money through a loan.

Many physicians are having a difficult time getting loans from banks who are tightening their terms for borrowers since the credit crunch began. To make it easier for physicians to purchase EHR systems, Senator John Kerry (D-Mass.) has proposed legislation that will allow small businesses to get loans backed by the Small Business Administration (SBA). According to a press release issued by Sen. Kerry’s office, the money SBA provides to practices can be used for “computer hardware, software, and other technology that will assist in the use of electronic health records and prescriptions.”

The SBA uses a number of criteria for deciding which businesses are eligible for its support. One proWC: 486gram guarantees “special purpose loans” that will further or cushion the impact of government policies. For the businesses who are chosen, the SBA guarantees up to 85 percent of the principal on loans of up to $150,000 and 75 percent on loans of $150,000 or more in its principal loan program. The cap for SBA loans is $2 million. Interest rates will be negotiated between the lender and borrower, but are subject to the SBA maximums established.

If Sen. Kerry’s bill passes, it will provide further assistance to physicians who have been reluctant to adopt electronic health record systems for their practices due to financial barriers. Electronic health record systems will improve the workflow of modern health care facilities and help evolve their approach to medicine in regards to technological capabilities. However, education and implementation support will be necessary for all practices and facilities in order to assist the widespread health care adoption of electronic health record systems.

Electronic health record systems benefit our health care system and the health of our nation. Widespread adoption will happen, but support and education is a necessary step for all involved. If you are searching for more information about electronic health record systems and how they may improve the quality of health care for your practice, contact e-MDs, a leader in electronic medical record software provision.

e-MDs offers a host of affordable solutions for physicians and facilities looking to modernize or enhance their services with the latest EHR/EMR technology. e-MDs is committed to providing affordable and integrated EHR and Practice Management Software solutions, including clinical, financial and document management modules designed to automate medical practice processes and chart management – delivering the clinical tools needed to succeed in today’s health care environment.

Ethan Luke. EHR – e-MDs powerful software can help manage your EHR

The national health care debate is focused on giving more American citizens affordable access to doctors and hospitals. Yet the vast majority of health care decisions are made by individuals instead of health care providers, whether those decisions are about an exercise regime or the management of diabetes. The answer to improving the health of our nation while curbing costs is to help people make more educated decisions about their own health. An ideal solution would be to combine personal data with health information to deliver custom health plans to individuals. Using electronic health records to actively engage patients in their own care results may improve overall health, especially concerning a leading health issue in the U.S., diabetes.

An estimated 16 million Americans suffer from diabetes. It is also estimated that diabetes-related medical expenditures in the U.S. topped $116 billion in 2007. An improved health care system for diabetes patients may not only save money and time, but lives and limbs as well. A recent study by the Geisinger Health System and published in the Journal of General Internal Medicine did, in fact, show improvements for most diabetic patients when electronic medical records were used.

The use of electronic medical records to actively engage diabetic patients in their own care resulted in improved blood sugar and cholesterol levels, better vaccination compliance and increased tobacco cessation rates, according to the Geisinger study. The study conducted by Geisinger Health System launched the electronic medical record-driven program with its 20,000 diabetes patients. The study showed improvements for most patients in the following areas:

• Pneumonia vaccinations received among patients increased from 56 to 80 percent.

• Microalbumin tests for possible kidney complications among patients increased from 57 to 87 percent.

• Optimal cholesterol levels among patients increased from 54 to 57 percent.

• Documented non-smokers among patients increased from 77 to 82 percent.

As a part of the study, Geisinger developed a series of nine “best practice” guidelines when caring for diabetes patients. Many of those guidelines rely on electronic medical records. The electronic medical records automatically generate reminders to make sure patients receive their timely blood tests and vaccinations. Electronic medical records also allow patients and doctors to immediately review lab results and provide instant feedback to physicians concerning the health of their patients.

“This approach shows the importance of incorporating information technology directly into patient care,” Geisinger Medical Director of Performance Improvement Frederick Bloom, MD said. “These tools can be used by patients at home and doctors in clinics and the result is better overall patient health.”

The implementation of electronic medical records has shown through studies that they may provide improved quality to diabetic health care by actively engaging patients in their own results. For more information about electronic health record systems and how they may improve the quality health care of your practice, contact e-MDs, a leader in electronic medical record software provision. e-MDs offers a host of affordable solutions for physicians and facilities looking to modernize or enhance their services with the latest EHR/EMR technology. e-MDs is committed to providing affordable and integrated EHR and Practice Management Software solutions, including clinical, financial and document management modules designed to automate medical practice processes and chart management – delivering the clinical tools needed to succeed in today’s healthcare environment.

Ethan Luke. Electronic Health Records – secure your electronic health records with e-MDs.

According to a new study by RAND Corporation researchers, routine use of electronic health records may improve the quality of care provided in primary practices more than other strategies intended to raise the quality of medical care. Researchers in Massachusetts studied 305 groups of primary care physicians and found that practices that utilized multifunctional electronic health records were more likely to provide better care for diabetes and deliver specific health screenings than those that did not. This is one of the first studies to demonstrate a link between the use of electronic health records in community-based medical practices and increased quality care. The study’s findings are published in the October 6 edition of the Annals of Internal Medicine.

Past studies by RAND Health and other groups have consistently exposed problems with the quality of health care throughout the United States, including gaps in providing preventive and chronic disease care. These findings prompted the new study that reveals electronic health record systems are linked to increased quality care when the systems included advanced functions such as electronic reminders and were used consistently by a practice.

To conduct the study, RAND researchers surveyed 305 medical practices in 2007 to assess whether they had implemented any of 13 structural capabilities and strategies to improve the quality of their medical care. Examples of the structural changes intended to foster improved quality were: feedback on performance, sending reminders to physicians and patients about needed services, having language interpreter services, offering appointments on evenings and weekends, and adopting electronic health records. The information collected in the survey was then linked to the results reported for 13 commonly used measures of quality in four clinical areas – depression care, diabetes treatment, overuse of medical technology and common health screenings.

Primary care medical practices that used electronic health records performed better on five of the quality measures – two involving diabetes care and screenings for breast cancer, colorectal cancer, and chlamydia. Researchers concluded that these findings are relevant to discussions concerning the potential benefits of adopting electronic health records across the nation’s health care system. They also suggested that increasing adoption of electronic health records may help improve the quality of care in important areas of preventive care and chronic disease management.

For more information about electronic health record systems and how they may improve the quality of health care for your practice, contact e-MDs, a leader in electronic medical record software provision. e-MDs offers a host of affordable solutions for physicians and facilities looking to modernize or enhance their services with the latest EHR/EMR technology. e-MDs is committed to providing affordable and integrated EHR and Practice Management Software solutions, including clinical, financial and document management modules designed to automate medical practice processes and chart management – delivering the clinical tools needed to succeed in today’s health care environment.

Ethan Luke. Electronic Health Records – secure your electronic health records with e-MDs.