Electronic Medical Records
Allscripts dominating mobile electronic health records in North Carolina – over 3,300 individual physician practices
Allscripts, the EHR company that was one of the first to enable mobile phones to access EHRs from remote locations continues to gain in popularity, especially in North Carolina. A recent press release detailing how MedWest Health Systems chose Allscripts shed some light onto the gains Allscript has made in the state of North Carolina:
“Allscripts clearly has superior features and functionality, but what really tipped the scales in their favor was their demonstrated ability to implement and support the technology across a large physician enterprise,” commented Steve Heatherly, Chief Strategy Officer and Vice President of Ambulatory Services for MedWest. “In addition, we’ve always planned to share the electronic health record with our non-employed community doctors as part of our physician integration strategy, and Allscripts has significant experience with similar deployment models.”
MedWest adds to the Allscripts market-leading client footprint in North Carolina, where the company provides solutions to more than 3,300 individual physician practices.
Allscripts allows it’s electronic health record to be accessed off site via the iPhone, Blackberry, and Windows mobile phone. We spoke with Allscripts executives during our coverage of HIMSS – currently we’re still waiting on Android compatibility for the EHR.
Source: Press Release
Verizon enters health information technology with cloud based information exchange
Verizon is planning a cloud based services for clinical providers to securely exchange health information. Features will include a clinical dashboard, record locator service, cross-enterprise patient index and clinical messaging.
GigaOm makes the point:
… by delivering what is essentially medical records as a service for hospitals and physicians, Verizon is not only trying to get a chunk of federal money, but also trying to provide the type of cloud service that will fill up its networks.
Kodak and MedCo Data team up to offer conversion of paper based charts to electronic medical record format
Kodak and MedCo Data are teaming up to offer a service that will definitely be of need as the push to adopt electronic medical records continues:
Launched in late June at the TechData Technology Solutions Tour, the Patient Chart Scanning Solution uses Kodak Capture Pro Software and Kodak Scanners to capture data from patient charts and transfer it automatically into MedCo Data Vault — a Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) compliant product — where the information can be stored and accessed as needed.
The data will be stored in HL7 format, considered the gold standard for interoperability between health records as defined by the “meaningful use” criteria – helping practices qualify for stimulus funding.
Source: Information Week
CareCloud’s Slick Web-Based Electronic Health Record Brings the Best of the Consumer Web to Medicine – Interview with CEO Albert Santalo
One of the newer electronic health records (EHRs) on display at the recent HIMSS conference was by CareCloud. The name “CareCloud” reflects that the application lives in the “cloud” and not on your computer. There is no software to download, and patient records can be accessed from any computer using a web browser.
This web-based application delivery is similar to other EHRs on the market such as the popular & free Practice Fusion, MDLand, Hello Health, and Allscripts (which has both a hosted and client-server option). What differentiates CareCloud is that it is built with some of the same tools and features as consumer websites and that it places high value on graphic design. In particular, it is built with Ruby on Rails – a modern, highly-abstracted programming language well suited for rapid development of web applications – and uses open-source software for infrastructure components, where possible. These strategies allowed the company to build the entire application within 18 months and to continue to add features quickly. The user interface is written using Adobe Flex which outputs to Adobe Flash and allows for a very attractive, fluid interface and, as you can see in the accompanying video, leaves little to be desired in responsiveness when compared to a traditional desktop application.
Triage and Treat Patients From Anywhere with Allscripts Remote iPhone App- An Electronic Health Record and ePrescribing Tool (upcoming Android support)
This article is part of iMedicalApps HIMSS 2010 Coverage. It includes a brief review of the Allscripts Remote app for the iPhone as well as details of a conversation with Allscripts executives who revealed that they are moving to development of an Android app.
When Allscripts announced the launch of Allscripts Remote last year, an iPhone application for their popular electronic medical record, it was widely touted as a transformational move. Forbes Magazine called this an app “that could change medicine.” Allscripts origins are interesting, shifting from prepackaged medicine to e-prescribing solutions before entering the electronic health record industry. In fact, according to the marketing folks at the Allscripts booth, they are the largest source of e-prescriptions in the United States. And while Epic, Cerner, and Eclypsis may be the players many of us commonly think about, Allscripts definitely definitely is not little – according to their most recent SEC filing, Allscripts had over $500million in revenue for 2009 with a net income of $26million. By comparison, Epic also had $500million in revenue for 2009. So the inclusion of a rich, clinically useful mobile platform with Allscripts Remote has certainly been a big move in the EHR world.
The iPhone App: Frankly, this is the mobile EHR app that clinicians have been waiting for. Imagine being at dinner with your family. The paging service for your practice sends you a text – Mr. Jones called in because he’s got some swelling in his legs.
In a Windows World, MacPractice Brings a Legitimate Electronic Health Record to Apple and includes iPhone integration
This article is part of our HIMSS 2010 coverage. It includes an overview of the MacPractice EHR and its iPhone interface as well as a conversation with Mark Hollis, CEO of MacPractice.
One of the key’s to Apple’s success has been the reliable, simple, and fun UI it has designed for every one of its products. Part of the reason that this feature has stood out is because the Microsoft-based PC world has become known for essentially the opposite. The same is true for many electronic health record platforms built for Windows, where the same security vulnerabilities, networking complexity, and famed “blue screen of death” plague the slightly-less-than-tech-savvy average physician. For this reason, Mark Hollis – CEO of MacPractice – offers a system that runs entirely on the Mac. I had the opportunity to check out the iPhone platform tied to this EHR and also to chat with Mr. Hollis about his vision for this platform and some of the challenges it faces.
The iPhone Platform – From the start, the interface looks pretty slick. There are a number of different functions built in including a calendar of appointments, patient contact information (with a simple touch allowing you to call or email them), charge capture, patient prescription history, and referral management.
Hello from HIMSS 2010! Electronic Health Record Incentives for Physicians and a chat with the CEO of MDcohort
We’re live here in Atlanta, Georgia, at the HIMSS conference. This week we’ll be bringing relevant posts and interviews related to the conference in breaking news fashion.
The 2010 HIMSS (Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society) conference is now underway in Atlanta in what promises to be a signal year in the world of health IT. The reasons seems to be the confluence of a year long public discussion on health care reform and, very important, the provision in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), also known as the stimulus bill, that rewards physicians for meaningful adoption of a qualified electronic health record (EHR).
The reward can equal as much as $44,000 over 5 years and is creating a frenzy of vendors asserting that their EHR is certified, meanwhile the community at large is breathlessly awaiting to hear what the government regards as “meaningful use”. The final rules on meaningful use are expected later this year. Partially, as a result this, HIMSS found in its annual survey of its leadership:
AT&T’s Strained 3G Network, If not Improved, Will Limit the iPad’s Opportunities in the Medical Community – FCC voices concerns
When I was handed my first pager, I was stunned. It looked like the beeper that Will Smith used to flash on the Fresh Prince of Bel Air (and not even the later seasons, I’m talking about the early, crazy outfit seasons!). So I asked why I couldn’t simply use my phone or, for that matter, why we didn’t all use phones. The answer was simple – reliability. The paging system, of which this rather archaic looking item was part, was very reliable. But was that enough? No. The hospital also maintains it overhead paging system just in case. And if that goes down – yep, there’s a back up there too. In health information technology, reliability is everything. And for the iPad, that could prove to be a major barrier to adoption in the medical community as it faces off with other medical tablets, at least if the FCC’s recently voiced concerns prove to be true.
Apple iPad and Electronic Medical Records – Could it Replace the Physician’s Clipboard?
Having had the opportunity to visit nearly a dozen academic medical centers in the past few weeks, I saw quite the spectrum of IT systems – from simple order entry to fully-integrated decision support systems. And for programs with the former, that revelation was quickly followed by the timeline for the coming upgrade. But what’s next for the most IT-savvy institutions? Well, Steve Jobs thinks he has an answer. Rumors abound that Apple is already pitching the iPad in LA-area hospitals as the replacement for the old physician clipboard. For outpatient practices already running a Mac-based EMR, MacPractice has already announced development plans for an iPad interface. According to their press release, they plan to develop apps that will allow patients to fill out registration, medical history, and other forms on the iPad. For physicians, it will integrate with the MacPractice EMR to manage schedules, view patient records, and even enter clinical notes. So could the iPad become the new best friend of healthcare providers? Well, there are a few challenges that need to be overcome first but the opportunities are exciting.
