EMR/EHR

Electronic medical records (EMR) are a digital version of a patient’s chart that store their personal information, medical history and links to prior exams, texts and reports. The goal of these systems is to enable immediate access to the patient's data electronically, rather than needing to request paper file folders that might be stored in fragment files at numerous locations where a patient is seen or treated. EMRs (also called electronic health records, or EHR) improve clinician and health system efficiency by making all this data immediately available. This helps reduce repeat tests, repeat prescriptions and repeat imaging exams because reports, imaging or other patient data is not not immediately available. 

OIG to beef up EHR, MU scrutiny

The Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General plans to significantly beef up its scrutiny of EHRs, according to its 2015 work plan.

Less than 17% have hit Stage 2 targets; organizations again call for MU relief

During the Nov. 4 Health IT Policy Committee meeting, Beth Meyers from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services revealed that the latest numbers indicate fewer than 17 percent of U.S. hospitals have successfully attested to Meaningful Use Stage 2.

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Rethinking EHR Usability

Many doctors using EHRs are working longer days than ever while wondering what happened to the promised time savings

EHRs can improve clinical note quality

Physicians' clinical notes improved in quality after EHR implementation, according to an article published in the Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association.

HealthFusion's MediTouch® EHR Ranked as Top 3 for Clinical Quality and Support in Medical Economics' National Provider Survey

SOLANA BEACH, Calif., Oct. 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- HealthFusion, maker of MediTouch EHR, the leading cloud computing software for physicians, hospitals, and medical billing services, was ranked as a Top 3 Electronic Health Record (EHR) for Clinical Quality and Support in the Medical Economics' National Provider Survey. Of those Top 3 EHRs, MediTouch is unique because it is the only one to offer full functionality on the Apple iPad. The Medical Economics National Provider Survey is a critical EHR ranking study because it asked thousands of physicians to rate their systems, on a scale of 0 to 10, in the key areas that matter most to them.

MedStar Health signs expanded agreement with Cerner

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Oct. 30, 2014 — MedStar Health, the largest healthcare provider in Maryland and the Washington, D.C. region, and Cerner (Nasdaq: CERN) today announced an expanded partnership with a seven-year agreement that will streamline operations, help improve the quality of patient care and develop technologies that align with MedStar’s vision to be the trusted leader in caring for people and advancing health.

CIO survey finds problems with info retrieval from EHRs

Poor usability, particularly related to entering and accessing data efficiently, is a top complaint chief information officers have about EHRs, according to a survey by Frost & Sullivan.

Kareo Secures $15 Million in Mezzanine Debt from Escalate Capital Partners

IRVINE, Calif.--Kareo, the leading provider of cloud-based medical office software for small medical practices, today announced that it has received $15 million in mezzanine debt from Escalate Capital Partners, an institutionally backed mezzanine fund that invests in high growth companies in the technology, healthcare and Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) industries. In 2014, Kareo has secured a total of $47 million in funding, reinforcing the company’s unprecedented growth and further enhancing Kareo’s role as the independent physician’s trusted partner.

Around the web

U.S. health systems are increasingly leveraging digital health to conduct their operations, but how health systems are using digital health in their strategies can vary widely.

When human counselors are unavailable to provide work-based wellness coaching, robots can substitute—as long as the workers are comfortable with emerging technologies and the machines aren’t overly humanlike.

A vendor that supplies EHR software to public health agencies is partnering with a health-tech startup in the cloud-communications space to equip state and local governments for managing their response to the COVID-19 crisis.