Wednesday, August 12, 2009

Health Informatics News

Health Informatics News

Ochsner Taps Telemedicine to Connect Stroke Patients

Posted: 12 Aug 2009 09:02 AM PDT

Ochsner Health System , a seven-hospital network based in New Orleans, will utilize Reach Call, Inc. ’s (Augusta, Ga.) telestroke and telehealth service to improve stroke care in urban and rural areas throughout Louisiana by connecting neurologists with patients, according to the company. The main campus, Ochsner Medical Center, will act as a hub, connecting to five community hospitals: Ochsner Baptist Medical Center (New Orleans), Ochsner Medical Center-Baton Rouge, Ochsner Medical Center-West Bank (Gretna), Ochsner St. Anne General Hospital (Raceland) and Ochsner Medical Center-Kenner, it says. Ochsner is also involved in an initiative to expand stroke care to other Louisiana hospitals. The Centers for Disease Control recently awarded a three-year grant to the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention Program to build a telestroke network in collaboration with Ochsner Health System and the American Heart Association. Through the grant, the parties involved aim to develop a regional TeleStroke Network in southeastern Louisiana that will address the lack of access to stroke neurologists and availability of stroke treating hospitals in the state. Ochsner Health System is a non-profit, academic, multi-specialty, healthcare delivery system that includes seven hospitals and more than 35 health centers located throughout Southeast Louisiana.  

KLAS: Epic Soars in Tough EMR Market

Posted: 12 Aug 2009 09:00 AM PDT

Despite the fact that EMR sales were the lowest for U.S. and Canada-based vendors in the seven years since Orem, Utah-based KLAS began tracking market share data, Epic continued to make gains among large hospitals with its EpicCare Inpatient solution, capturing nearly 40 percent of the new business, according to KLAS. In the report, which details the wins and losses of acute care EMR vendors at large hospitals (more than 200 beds), KLAS also notes that McKesson and Siemens scored some “unusual wins,” while Cerner saw no net growth in its clinical market share for the first time. The report — entitled, Physicians, Nurses, and EMR Adoption: Which Solutions are CEOs Betting On? — reflects data collected from more than 1,600 hospitals over 200 beds. While acknowledging the seven-year low in EMR sales, the research also notes that the recent past does not appear to be an indication of the future, as more than 400 were identified that either have no EMR or are using a legacy system. KLAS says it is aware of purchasing activity that, “if the rate continues, will far exceed 2008 sales.” According to the research, Siemens experienced some notable success, as five non-Siemens hospitals purchase Soarian Clinicals in 2008, despite what KLAS termed its “historically low” CPOE adoption, and won three hospitals in the over 400-bed space. McKesson also made some inroads with larger hospitals; of the 12 McKesson EMR wins in hospitals over 200 beds, four of the organizations chose Paragon Clinicals over Horizon, indicating that Paragon is gaining “significant momentum, not to mention leading performance scoring” in the community HIS market, states KLAS. For Cerner and Eclipsys, the report noted that leadership in CPOE adoption did not necessarily translate into EMR wins. Despite success both vendors with had in this area, neither was among the top three in new large hospital EMR sales, it says. Other vendors highlighted in the report include GE, Meditech, Medsphere and QuadraMed.   To purchase the report, healthcare providers and vendors can visit www.KLASresearch.com .

MGMA: Docs Cite Finances, EMRs as Top Concerns

Posted: 12 Aug 2009 08:56 AM PDT

Maintaining finances and implementing EMR systems were cited as the most significant challenges in running a group practice, according to the results of the second annual survey conducted by Englewood, Colo.-based Medical Group Management Association (MGMA). Specifically, the 2,077 medical practice professionals who responded to the poll identified the following as the top three challenges: ·          Dealing with operating costs that are rising more rapidly than revenues; ·          Maintaining physician compensation levels in an environment of declining reimbursement; and ·          Selecting and implementing a new electronic health record. According to MGMA, these findings were similar to last year’s results. However, respondents to the 2009 survey listed collecting from self-pay patients and those with high-deductible health plans and health savings accounts as the fourth-highest challenge, as opposed to recruiting physicians, which ranked fourth last year (and sixth in the current poll). The fifth biggest roadblock was found to be managing finances in the face of uncertain Medicare reimbursement rates, it says.
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