PWeR, Inc.

21Sep, 2015

The future of patient engagement, and the end of EHR as we know it… by 2025.

By: Charity Darby | Tags: CMS, EHR, EMR, HHS, Interconnect, MU-2, ONC, platform

Recently we have read a multitude of papers on the failure of providers to connect with consumers, as they use their electronic healthcare records (EHR). There are reasons this is important. First, the quality of medical care, as we have discussed on these pages, doesn’t equate to more care is better care. Second, patients are demanding it. In an era when we have cars that drive themselves, the ability to open your car, turn on your engine and heat it with a remote, check if your front door is locked, […]
READ MORE

10Sep, 2015

0

CMS Rereleases Data on ACO…

By: Charity Darby | Tags: ACOs, CMS, Financials, Medicaid, Medicare, Medicare Shared Savings Program Performance, Performance, Pioneer ACO Model, Quality Meausures

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services released the 2014 quality and financial performance results last week showing that Medicare Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) continue to improve the quality of care for Medicare beneficiaries, while generating financial savings. As the number of Medicare beneficiaries served by ACOs continues to grow, these results suggest that ACOs are delivering higher quality care to more and more Medicare beneficiaries each year. According to the results, the 20 ACOs in the Pioneer ACO Model, and 333 Medicare Shared Savings Program, ACOs generated more than […]
READ MORE

3Sep, 2015

0

One Implementation, Many Similar Stories

By: Charity Darby | Tags: Chief Information Officer, EHR, EMR, Health Information System, HIT, implementation, penalties

Over the last few weeks we have read media reports that New York City’s Health and Hospitals Corporation, with about $5 billion (USD) in revenues and with over 30,000 employees, covering 11 hospitals, is having problems implementing a new health information system. I take zero pleasure in reporting this as I have been there on a more micro scale, and I expect to be there again. This “epic” issue is of note. Some of the facts, as I think I have them, are that this is a huge project. We […]
READ MORE

28Aug, 2015

0

New Study Casts Serious Doubts on Efforts to Accelerate EHR Adoption

By: Charity Darby | Tags: ACA, EHR, EMR, HITECH ACT, Medicare and Medicaid

For years, and under two different Presidents, the U.S. government has been pushing, enticing and inducing the medical community to adopt Electronic Health Records (EHR). One of the unanswered questions from a U.S. Government perspective is, “What difference does it make?” A recent report from a research collaborative study from faculty at University of Alabama – Birmingham, Indiana University and Johns Hopkins University asks the dark question; “has it all been worth it?” The private report indicates that it is very possible that “the electronic health records meaningful use program […]
READ MORE

21Aug, 2015

0

Physicians are not the only ones looking to replace EHRs…

By: Charity Darby | Tags: EHR, EMR, informatics, MU-1, MU-2

In addition to physicians’ looking to replace their EHR system, so are community hospitals! Recently, I read a report that highlighted small medical practices are not the only ones with anxiety over technology in healthcare. It seems that more than “half of all community hospitals” in the U.S. are unhappy their current EHR system. Further, the report also notes a survey of over 250 hospitals, or about 5% of all the total hospitals in the U.S., nearly 20% of the respondents are “actively looking” to replace their current EHR vendor. […]
READ MORE

13Aug, 2015

0

Patients and Doctors, the Paradox

By: Charity Darby | Tags: COPD, cost, Diabetic, Doctors, EHR, EMR, medical data, Medical Director, patients, PWeR, Wellness, WSJ

A recent article in the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) caused me to push my other blogs to the back burner. The article resonated so strongly with me as it reminded me of my experience trying to help my father manage his healthcare. He passed at the age of 74 just five years ago. The WSJ article titled, “When Patients Manage Doctors” had the subtitle of, “People with multiple chronic conditions often must take charge of managing their own care.” The article had some great statistics and some good, basic advice; […]
READ MORE

6Aug, 2015

0

U.S. Healthcare Cost Back on Up Swing… on way to $5.4 Trillion (USD)

By: Charity Darby | Tags: ACA, CMS, EHR, EMR, GDP, Inflation, insurance, Mandates, Medicaid, Medicare, Regulations, Spending, U.S. Healthcare, Wellness

Since 2009 healthcare cost appeared to be changing their mid-range trend line. Some, including the President of the United States, have tried to connect that “drop” in the cost of healthcare to the passage of the Affordable Care Act of 2010 (ACA and sometime referred to as “ObamaCare”); however, most know that ACA did literally nothing to control cost, or did very little to reform how we pay for healthcare. In fact, some could say, and I have said that the ACA will actually add to long-term healthcare cost, and […]
READ MORE

31Jul, 2015

0

Healthcare in the age of Uber, eBay and Facebook.

By: Charity Darby | Tags: Ebay, EMR, Facebook, healthcare, Integration, Medicare, Social Media, technology, Uber

Today is an amazing time to be involved in most industries. This week I read articles in the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) that separately discussed the taxi and transportation revolution brought on by Uber, Inc., and the transformation traditional media companies are making to quickly adapt to on-line advertising. It has been fascinating to watch Uber’s “application” of driven on-demand, morph the transportation business. Many cities, counties, states and even governments have challenged Uber because their “technology” is disruptive to the status quo; yet the outcomes have nearly always favored […]
READ MORE

20Jul, 2015

0

Major Announcement on ICD-10 from AMA and CMS

By: Charity Darby | Tags: CMS, Congress, ICD-10, ICD-9, implementation, Small Providers

On July 6, 2015 the American Medical Association and The Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced a new initiative to “help physicians get ready ahead of the October 1 deadline for conversion from the ICD-9 to ICD-10 codes.” In response to requests from the provider community, CMS is releasing additional guidance that will allow for flexibility in the claims auditing and quality reporting process as the medical community gains experience using the new ICD- 10 code set.” The key part of the announcement is though is that the […]
READ MORE

8Jul, 2015

0

The King v. Burwell Decision

By: Charity Darby | Tags: 21st Century, ACA, Congress and President, EHR, King v. Burwell, National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) v. Sebelius, SCOTUS

I would not be the student of healthcare if I didn’t comment on the second most historic decision of the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS), the Affordable Care Act (ACA) of 2010. I will admit, I was not that surprised by the King v. Burwell decision as I was the decision prior, National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) v. Sebelius1. In my personal opinion, that was the big case where the majority effectively determined that the “penalty” was not a penalty but rather a “tax,” and under the […]
READ MORE

PWeR Blog