A synopsis of the web based Electronic medical recording system

The healthcare industry has turned over an important page in the book of the healthcare management manual with the invention of the Electronic Medical Recording system. The Electronic medical recording system, abbreviated as the EMR, is basically a system that helps in recording the medical history of a patient automatically with the control of a remote location server. It primarily aids healthcare service providers and hospitals to maintain the records of patients and also in other functions like e-prescription management, creating accurate medical bills and also helps in managing related events at lower costs.

The best part about this system is that it helps in taking better care of patients and helps reduce the possibility of committing errors which could have been made by service providers and hospital staff.

So what is it about the web based system of EMR which makes it so desirable? Some of the biggest contributing factors are:

1.       It extremely lucrative: there is absolutely no need for you to invest in the software since the user would be connected to the main website with the help of the internet and all the massive medical data is put up online. This is done for a fee that needs to be paid every once a while to gain the right of access. The only existing costs will be those of implementation and the costs of maintaining the workstations, which are quite insignificant.

2.       The EMR optimizes the workflow and it can be conveniently run.

3.       Doctors and medical healthcare professionals won’t be limited to a particular place to get this data as they can reach the data from anywhere thanks to the internet. You won’t even be required to create a WAN only for this purpose.

4.       Doctors can easily deal with patient’s appointments, old health records, test results, prescriptions and all this very easily.

5.       It is safe also because it meets the requirements of the HIPAA’s security standards.

6.       The web based EMR system is owned by the seller and thus, they are fully responsible for its security, maintenance and other such details.

7.       With the help of this system, doctors can ask pharmacies and diagnostic centers for patient’s test results so that they can give the right treatment at the right time.

The only constraint of the EMR is that the software is in the control of the seller. Thus, you may not be able to customize the function as per your needs. However, on the whole, it has helped medical agents to save a lot of money as well as time and is a good tool for the benefit of the whole society.

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HHS and DEA ponder e-prescribing comments

The Health and Human Services Department and the Drug Enforcement Administration are reviewing the feedback they have received on DEA proposed rule on e-prescribing for controlled substances, but the final rule might not emerge this year.

DEA published the proposed rule earlier this year, which would impose security requirements for e-prescribing of controlled substances. A public comment period expired Sept. 25. Groups representing physicians, pharmacies and health information technology vendors have expressed concern that the rule as currently written could impede adoption of e-prescribing.

Kerry Weems, acting administrator of HHS; Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, said DEA and HHS are reviewing the comments. Speaking at CMS; National E-Prescribing Conference in Boston this week, Weems said the goal is to address DEA concerns while creating a rule that doesn’t provide a barrier to e-prescribing.

Jodi Daniel, director of the Office of Policy and Research in the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT, said the final rule might not be on DEA to-do list for this calendar year. The presidential election could also push action into next year.

The change in administration…may slow things down; said Daniel, who also spoke at the conference.

Meanwhile, a Medicare incentive program that will initially provide a 2 percent bonus to physicians who adopt e-prescribing goes into effect Jan. 1, 2009.

Some experts say Deal’s current prohibition against e-prescribing controlled substances has blocked broader acceptance of the technology. The situation compels doctors who use e-prescribing to maintain a paper-based system for controlled substances and an electronic system for other drugs.

Kaiser Receives $54M in NIH Grants for EHR Data Mining, Other Research

Kaiser Permanente announced that it has secured about $54 million in NIH grants for an electronic health record data mining project and other medical research initiatives, the San Francisco Business Times reports (Rauber, San Francisco Business Times, 10/12).

The federal economic stimulus package provided the funding for the 22 grants (DerGurahian, Modern Healthcare, 10/12).

EHR Data Mining Project

The largest of the grants allocates $24.8 million for a project designed to examine how genes and the environment influence disease, health and longevity.

For the project, Kaiser will work with the University of California-San Francisco to genotype 100,000 Kaiser members in Northern California. Researchers then will link the genetic information with EHR data and health survey findings.

The researchers also will examine the influence of environmental factors such as air and water quality, access to healthy food and proximity to recreation space.

Officials say the project could help researchers identify genetic factors that cause different medication responses (Mosquera, Government Health IT, 10/12).

In addition, the project could double the number of U.S. residents available for genome-wide association studies, according to the researchers.