How Oncology Specified EHR Can Improve Patient Care? CureMD 09:28

Electronic Health Record (EHR) system should be designed in a way to enable physicians with specialized practices to provide quality care to their patients. Oncology is a complex specialty that requires acute care in medical treatments such as, chemotherapy, and even a minor mistake in the dosage or treatment may cause problems. Therefore, vendors should design EHR specific to requirements of Oncology that not only enable Oncologists to record accurate patient information, but also helps in patient treatment and dosage calculation and management.

An ideal OncologyEHR would help physicians in their daily workflow and provide quality patient care. The system should have following attributes:

·       Library containing diagrams and charts to help Oncologists in diagnosing and planning patient specific treatment plans·       Helps in clinical decision of measuring and managing patient dosage and keeping track of regular treatments·       Automated alerts for the nursing staff to keep them informed of change in treatment plans·       Electronically helps in order, preparation and administration of the chemotherapy plan·       Helps in non-clinical practice by keeping record of all charges required for billing of the complete treatment and services. 

Interoperability for better care of patients

Oncology EHR should be interoperable to ensure efficient working of the system and smooth information sharing among necessary stakeholders, such as other physicians or surgeons involved in treatment of the patient, laboratories and hospitals, and pharmacists. This will enable stakeholders to access patient information in a timely fashion and create a treatment plan or conduct surgery according to the medical history of the patient.

mHealth is the new standard

The best software is the one that is user friendly and runs equally smooth on every device including, Smartphone, tablets, laptops and desktop. mHealth has become necessity of the time, as physicians would want to access patient documents on the go. Therefore, it is suggested that Oncologists opt for an EHR that allows them to gain access to patient information even when they are away from their desktop.

Electronic Health Records Help Improve the Patient Care CureMD 09:39

Electronic Health Records have various kinds of advantages over the traditional paper based records. Using EHR’s ability large amount of information can be stored in one place with enhanced accuracy also it will improve the patient care. Researchers and hospitals are finding quality jump in the healthcare after they have adopted EHRs

EHRs Enhance Patient Care

Adoption of Electronic Health Records means that there will be significant improvement in patient care. Also the number forms and tests that are needed in this kind of care will drop at same time.

One of the greatest advantages of having EHRs is that they allow the health system to gather large amount of patient related information which will be contained in specific file for much easier access. The information regarding the patient can help understand patient allergies, immunizations, medications and procedures the patient has undergone. These are just some of the examples, having this kind of information can ease out the needs of patients everywhere.

Another advantage of this technology is that doctors have a faster access to patient data such as medical histories that can be of a key benefit in the event when a quick diagnosis is required.

It Helps Reduce the Number of Outpatients

The enhancements made while adopting the Electronic Health Records technology go beyond than just improving patient care. From the start it has been determined that electronic health records will help reduce the outpatient care at least by 3 percent. In further study they also found that EHRs also decrease the population that needed care in hospitals.

The Significance of Electronic Health Records for Small Scale Practices CureMD 08:20

Many healthcare experts believe that Electronic Health Records (EHRs) can enhance the efficiency and quality of healthcare. But what will happen to the costs that are linked with this kind of technology, especially for small group practices? A Research by Robert Miller Ph.D and his fellow colleagues from the University of California, funded by commonwealth found that for small scale practice that are using EHRs, their initial costs are $44,000 per physician.

These expenses does seem high but researchers estimated that on average a practice would cover its costs under three years and later it will profit considerably. But most of the physicians spend large amount of time at work in the beginning.  Some of the practices will face significant financial risks like billing problems, long payback periods and data loss.

Quality of life and financial costs

According to the costs they start from $37,056 to $63,600 per physician. Differences in expenses portray the different levels of current hardware before EHR implementation and negotiating and technical skills of office staff. Average yearly costs per physician are of $8,400 per physician were for software maintenance, hardware replacement support, further payments to information staff.

Providers also reported that they work for a longer duration on average of four months, but as they added data in software they become familiar with it. After the implementation period some providers also reported enhanced quality, accessing records from home and time savings.

Enhanced billing lead to efficiency

Regardless of the high initial costs average practices take around 2.5 years to pay for them according to the authors. The physician practices that were studied the benefits for them were $33,000 per year for each physician. The sources for these savings were the improved coding level that leads to improved billing and enhanced efficiency with the decrease in personal costs. All of the practice reported some savings that start from $1,000 to 452,000 per physician per year.

But some of the practices were not able to fare as well. According to the study one practice took nine years to cover it costs and another two didn’t paid for their EHR systems.

EHRs not being used for qualityimprovement

With Electronic Health Records physicians have some “automatic” benefits such as enhanced data accessibility, organization and legibility. All the study practices that are engaged in some kind of quality improvement EHR related activities. Two of the practices make an extensive use of EHR capabilities to further improve the preventive and chronic care. Twelve of the practices used computerized reminders but only five of them had the practice set reminders for patients with one type of chronic condition. Four of the practice made a list of patients which needed services such as diabetic patients whose hemoglobin tests are overdue and two of the practice generated report on provider performance.

Some facts and figures:

·       It costs average of $22,038 per physician for Electronic Health Record software training and installment.
·       Revenue gains related with efficiency accounted for 8.1 % of financial benefits but only three of the practices reported it.
·       Almost every provider used electronic health record for common tasks such as prescribing, viewing and billing. Few of the practices used it for quality improvement, patient-provider communication or performance reporting.

Benefits of Having Electronic Health Records CureMD 13:00

If you are accessing, updating and changing your electronic health 

records digitally using computers or other electronic devices then they are called Electronic Health Records.

CureMD Electronic Health Records by curemd In the same way as any other record keeping transforming patient’s records from paper to computer creates a greater efficiency for providers and their patients. But efficiency isn't the only benefit. Access to good care becomes safe and easier when records can be easily shared. With an existing electronic health record (EHR) time can be saved at the doctor’s office. Having quick access to health records can be lifesaving in the case of emergency.

Government has set up an incentive system to encourage providers to adopt and implement electronic health records and they need to follow the list of requirements for an enhanced care and those requirements are called Meaningful Use.

In the case of natural disasters such as Hurricane Katrina and California fires have showed the benefits of having digital records. Those who were injured and got sick during the advent of natural disasters were easily treatable and have a better result than those who didn't have access to their medical records. If you have a large scale EHR it will save your health records at various places across the country so that in case of any tragic event they won’t be destroyed.

Another advantage of EHRs is safety. Previously in the past when you visited the doctor they used to collect your health history by asking you. Every time you visited them you would filled out a form about your history, your previous surgeries or the drugs that you have taken. If you left out any information because it seemed unimportant to you or you forgot to mention it then your doctor wouldn't have that piece of information to work with.

But with the advent of EHRs your doctor only has to ask your name, birthday or other possible means of identifying information. Then the doctor can bring up all your medical records from the electronic storage. All the information that doctor needs will be in front of him. Decisions regarding diagnosis and treatment will be made based on the information which is much more comprehensive than what you might have written on paper.

Before in the past when doctor would close his practice or if he dies of any illness then it would be very difficult to get access to patient’s medical records but having these records electronically means not only doctor but the patient can also have access to them.

Lots of money is saved by using electronic health records not only the cost of paper is saved but also the costs associated with space and labor. The efficiency that is made possible by recognizing key strokes to access patient’s record as compared to sifting through thousands of files and folders.

Meaningful Use and Penalties CureMD 13:06

The Electronic Health Records Incentive Program for eligible professionals started in 2011 and will go until 2016. It depends on the year of participation; eligible professionals can participate for up to five years throughout the duration of the program. The last year for participating in the Medicare EHR Incentive program is 2014. 

In order to qualify for Medicare EHR Incentive payments, Medicare eligible professionals need to prove the use of “meaningful use” for each year of participation in the program. 

The meaning of “meaningful use” means that the providers need to show that that are using the certified EHR technology in the ways that can be measured in quantity and quality.

The criterion for Meaningful Use is made in three steps over five years.

• Stage 1 implemented in 2011 and 2012 will set the base for information sharing and electronic data capture.
• Stage 2 implemented in 2013
• Stage 3 will be implemented in 2015 and will continue to expand the baseline and develop future rule making.

Deadlines 

Stage 1

• If you are going to begin Stage 1 in 2014 then you are required to begin your reporting period on January 1, April 1 or July 1 to avoid Medicare penalties in 2015.

Stage 2

• If you have completed the Stage 1 meaningful use, you can begin the three month reporting period for Stage 2 Meaningful Use.
• The Medicare providers they only need to attest for a three month quarter. They can start in April 1, July 1 or October 1.
• For Medicaid provider they are required to attest only for 90 days and they are not required to align their reporting period to the quarter.

Incentive payments are to be made on the basis of calendar year. The reporting period for the first year is 90 continuous days and the reporting period for the later years will be the entire calendar year.

For calendar years from 2011 to 2016 those eligible professionals who demonstrated the Meaningful Use of certified EHR technology can receive up to $44,000 over the five years under the Medicare EHR Incentive Program.

It is also important to note the penalty provision for 2015 and later. Those Medicare eligible professionals who do not successfully demonstrate the meaningful use their payments will have a negative adjustment to Medicare reimbursement. In the beginning there will be a payment reduction at 1 percent and will increase every year up to 5 percent if a Medicare eligible professional do not demonstrate the Meaningful Use.

Those Medicare eligible professionals who qualify as Medicaid eligible professionals need to select between Medicare and Medicaid incentive programs at the time of registration.

Who Should Upgrade?

Meaningful Use is considered as an optional program and those providers who have participated in the program by October 1, 2014 will have to face Medicare penalties in 2015.

 All those providers who are taking part in the EHR Incentive Program need to upgrade their software in 2014. Whether you are starting stage 1, or continuing the stage 1 or starting stage 2 you need to update your software before the start of your three month reporting period.