A survey published in the Mayo Clinic Proceedings supports the very low satisfaction physicians have with EHRs and order entry systems and finds that greater use of EHRs is associated with faster burnout.
McKesson is merging its health information technology business with ChangeHealthcare. It will receive cash of about $1.25 billion and will own around 70% of the combined company. ChangeHealthcare is in the revenue cycle management and analytics business and is owned by a PE firm.
Research in the British Medical Journal of Quality and Safety finds no association between a hospitals "safety culture" and the number of hospital-acquired infections.
https://psnet.ahrq.gov/resources/resource/30103
Jun282016
Patient falls in hospitals are not uncommon, but are often considered as "never" events. An Australian study finds that implementation of common interventions to reduce such falls had no effect on their occurrence, indicating a waste of hospital staff time.
https://psnet.ahrq.gov/resources/resource/30134
Jun282016
A study in the Annals of Internal Medicine finds that nurse practitioners and physician assistants prescribe "low-value" health treatments roughly as often as physicians.
http://annals.org/article.aspx?articleid=2529481
Jun282016
Bolder Healthcare Solutions takes a bold step, buying Healthcare Receivables, another firm in the revenue cycle management business.
The Healthy Skeptic is a website about the health care system, and is written by Kevin Roche, who has many years of experience working in the health industry. Mr. Roche is available to assist health care companies through consulting arrangements through Roche Consulting, LLC and may be reached at khroche@healthy-skeptic.com.