The Association for Health Information Management has expressed concerns about the practice of many EHR vendors including paste and copy medical notes in their systems, warning that use of this functionality can lead to inaccurate medical records and poor quality.
Greater use of health information technology by physicians lessens the amount of personal time they spend with patients, potentially decreasing both provider and patient satisfaction and lowering the quality of health care, according to a recent survey.
According to research firm Global Industry Analysts the global market for health information technology will reach $66 billion by 2020, driven by desires for cost-savings, improvements in quality and new mobile technologies.
According to a study in the British Journal of General Practice, physicians tend to record higher blood pressures than do nurses, which likely reflects patient anxiety and may lead to over-diagnosis of hypertension.
http://bjgp.org/content/64/621/e223.full
Apr032014
Another Government Accounting Office report highlights the delays and cost overruns associated with the Department of Defense's EHR projects.
http://www.gao.gov/assets/670/662045.pdf
Apr032014
Riverside Company has invested in/acquired BeneSys, a large third-party administrator of employee health plans.
Tenex Capital has acquired Carex Health, which sells home medical equipment through mass retailers, and intends to combine it with portfolio company Roscoe Medical.
3M has completed its acquisition of Treo Solutions, which provides data analytics and other services to health plans and provider systems, and will combine the company with its Health Information group, which primarily offers coding, episode grouping and revenue cycle services.
Magellan Health Services is acquiring CDMI which provides clinical pharmacy and rebate management programs for managed care organizations, for an aggregate price of between $200-360 million.
According to the Bureau of Economic Analysis, health spending rose at an annualized rate of 5.7% in the fourth quarter of 2014, a clear warning sign, and the sharpest uptick in many years.. Since medical price inflation has been relatively muted, most of the increase must be attributable to greater utilization.
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.
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.