03/15/2013
A report by consulting firm Decision Resources finds that 80% of surveyed primary care physicians and endocrinologists say they would prescribe less expensive drugs if they had electronic access to information about a patient's formularies and copayments. Modern Healthcare.
03/13/2013
During a recent Healthcare Leadership Council event, several physicians expressed concern that the Physician Payment Sunshine Act could curb innovation and discourage health care providers from participating in projects or educational sessions sponsored by drug companies. MedPage Today.
03/06/2013
A new report from Accenture finds that many U.S. physicians believe patients should play a role in updating their electronic health records. However, only 31% of surveyed U.S. doctors say patients should have full access to their EHRs. Sixty-five percent of surveyed U.S. physicians say they are willing to provide patients with limited EHR access. NextGov's "Health IT Update," FierceHealthIT.
02/28/2013
A study published in JAMA Internal Medicine finds that reviewing electronic health records could help doctors address problems that cause diagnostic errors. Researchers say that data on the most frequent misdiagnoses are scarce. Clinical Innovation & Technology et al.
02/27/2013
Many surveyed health care providers say their staff uses smartphones and tablet computers. The majority of mobile device usage is for business functions, but respondents say their staff increasingly is using the tools for clinical purposes. PhysBizTech, FierceHealthIT.
02/26/2013
Separate reports from the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT and the Arizona Strategic Enterprise Technology office find that health care providers are interested in using health information exchange services for a wide variety of purposes. Government Health IT.
02/26/2013
Kaiser Permanente has released a study examining the use of Twitter to discuss health care topics. According to the study, lawmakers often tweet about policy issues, doctors often tweet about medical studies and journalists often tweet about the business of health care. In related news, more hospitals are live-tweeting surgeries and other procedures. Politico, Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
02/06/2013
A study from the RAND Corporation and the Informed Medical Decisions Foundation finds that inadequate clinical IT systems and other hurdles are hindering physicians' efforts to implement shared decisionmaking. Modern Healthcare, Clinical Innovation & Technology.
02/05/2013
In a new report, about 63% of surveyed doctors said they were concerned about having gifts they receive from industry groups disclosed on a public database. More than half of those surveyed were unaware of the Physician Payment Sunshine Act. The Hill's "Healthwatch," MMIS release.
02/05/2013
Some health care providers use personal accounts on social media websites like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn to engage with patients. However, other doctors say such communication could jeopardize patient privacy and blur professional boundaries. Wall Street Journal.
01/29/2013
A study from the University of Missouri finds that patients view physicians who use clinical decision support tools more negatively than doctors who do not use the tools. Researchers say patients might see the technology as impersonal. Fierce EMR, University of Missouri release.
01/16/2013
Eighty-one percent of surveyed medical board directors said they would likely investigate doctors who misrepresent treatment outcomes online, and 79% said they would likely investigate doctors who post patient images online without consent. Organizers of the survey noted that physicians should be aware of the potential consequences of inappropriate online behavior. MedPage Today, Modern Physician.
01/16/2013
CMS has announced that physicians who bill Medicare using the Method 2 approach now are eligible to participate in the meaningful use program. However, the newly eligible physicians will not be able to attest to meaningful use until January 2014. Health Data Management, AHA News.
01/14/2013
The American Medical Association recently joined 42 state medical organizations and 40 medical specialty groups to urge CMS to stop the implementation of ICD-10 code sets and instead find an "appropriate replacement" for ICD-9 code sets. In related news, AMA today sent a comment letter about its recommendations for Stage 3 of the meaningful use program. Bloomberg BNA et al.
01/11/2013
CMS' Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation and three organizations are preparing to launch a "medical neighborhood" pilot program. The project aims to help health care providers use health IT to coordinate care and achieve savings. Government Health IT et al.