medical practice news from FierceHealthIT

In theory, it doesn't make sense to move ahead with major IT initiatives until the industry has at least some clue as to how to define key terms. However, a recent effort by the National Alliance for Read more...

> Here's an interesting telehealth project; a new pilot has linked hospitals in rural Ethiopia with India's leading cardiac institute. Read more...

It's just a blog--but look who's blogging! In a recent post, HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt has suggested that not only Read more...

So, apparently IT investment can have measurable clinical results, according to the latest from the Integrated Healthcare Association. I'd imagine part of this effect isn't directly due to IT use. Read more...

The American Medical Group Association, which represents large practices like the Cleveland Clinic, wants to see the government help to pay for their growing investments in cutting edge technologies like EMRs. The AMGA is asking CMS to take into account the extent to which it spends on IT and coordinated care by, for example, raising payments per beneficiary or creating new CPT codes taking these measures into account.

But wait--aren't these investments at the core of what these …

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Dr. Gordon Moore was unhappy with the high volume of patients he was required to see as a staff physician in a hospital-owned medical practice--30 plus a day, each of whom only got 15 minutes of his time. Unwilling to keep that pace up, in 2001 Moore took out a $15,000 business loan and opened his own one-man practice. He's not alone. While no one has exact statistics, a growing number of doctors are following his model, building tiny but high-tech practices that allow them to work on …

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I'm delighted to hear that doctors are taking e-care seriously (see below). Like most of you, I've been online for more than ten years, so my attitude is, "Hey, it's about time!"

However, if I were advising a smaller medical practice, I …

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If EMRs force doctors to make unnecessary moves or click too many times, it undercuts their value a great deal. In fact, given the amount of time they waste, extra clicks can cost hospitals and medical practices meaningful amounts of money, as much as $1,275 per 3.5 FTEs each year in a typical medical practice, writes Dr. Michael McCoy, EVP and chief medical officer of EMR vendor digiChart. If fact, if EMRs continue to be awkward to use, practices and hospitals may have to pay doctors a …

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