Who is using Facebook and Twitter in healthcare? And how can these social media tools be plied by hospitals and physicians? While novel online platforms like Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and blogs are all the buzz among marketers, only 10 percent of healthcare systems have some type of social media outlet.
There isn’t a doctor alive, who isn’t feeling the push to convert to electronic health records. Still, no matter how many financial incentives and government time limits are set there are physicians who feel that the initial cost and the inevitable problems found in such a massive conversion outweigh the benefits. One electronic health record vendor is addressing these concerns.
Recently the Department of Health and Human Services announced an interim final rule that effectively increases the monetary penalties that are levied against providers violating the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA).
Personal health records are becoming more prevalent as patients take control of their medical records. One of the reason patients like PHRs is their portability and accessibility. Physicians are now familiar with patients sending their personal health records from web sites such as Google Health and Microsoft’s Health vault and it is no longer strange to ask for the patient’s medical history and receive a USB drive.
MedTech Journal talks with Fujitsu’s Imaging Products Group about the challenges practices face when implementing document management and how to ease into the process from the floor of the 2009 MGMA Conference in Denver.
Much-ado over the definition of “meaningful use” of EHRs continues. Upon these two words depend both the type of products that will be implemented in physician offices, and the type of standards necessary to qualify for stimulus dollars. For example, if meaningful use is defined as e-prescribing, then, of course, an e-prescribing feature will be a necessary part of a complete EHR.
The question is not, “Who is jumping into the EHR pool?” but “who isn’t?” The latest player in the health IT game, announced just last week, is Texas-based computer maker Dell, which at one point was the largest seller of PCs and servers in the nation.
Earlier this week the Agency for Healthcare Research & Quality (AHRQ) announced its plans for a massive two-year survey. The survey will poll doctors, pharmacists and other health care providers from 110 organizations to find how many have e-prescribing systems.
Being able to dictate patient encounters into the PDA of their choice can save doctors a whole lot of time and increase their overall productivity. With mobile dictation, doctors can record the results of the patient encounter immediately. This means instead of having a giant pile of dictation files to complete at the end of the day the doctor can use that time to focus on other tasks. It also means that doctors no longer have to spend half their day hunting for a dictation station.
Jeff Merron is a full-time freelance editor, journalist, and copywriter who has written for the New York Times Magazine, ESPN.com, Slate, Byte Magazine, Macworld, Consumers Digest, and many other national publications. He's also a regular contributor to IT Business Insider and 108, a baseball magazine. He has a Ph.D. in Mass Communication Research from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Who is using Facebook and Twitter in healthcare? And how can these social media tools be plied by hospitals and physicians? While novel online platforms like Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and blogs are all the buzz among marketers, only 10 percent of healthcare systems have some type of social media outlet.
There isn’t a doctor alive, who isn’t feeling the push to convert to electronic health records. Still, no matter how many financial incentives and government time limits are set there are physicians who feel that the initial cost and the inevitable problems found in such a massive conversion outweigh the benefits. One electronic health record vendor is addressing these concerns.
Recently the Department of Health and Human Services announced an interim final rule that effectively increases the monetary penalties that are levied against providers violating the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA).
Much-ado over the definition of “meaningful use” of EHRs continues. Upon these two words depend both the type of products that will be implemented in physician offices, and the type of standards necessary to qualify for stimulus dollars. For example, if meaningful use is defined as e-prescribing, then, of course, an e-prescribing feature will be a necessary part of a complete EHR.
Earlier this week the Agency for Healthcare Research & Quality (AHRQ) announced its plans for a massive two-year survey. The survey will poll doctors, pharmacists and other health care providers from 110 organizations to find how many have e-prescribing systems.
