Healthcare IT Podcast Show 204 – Who owns the EMR / EHR

On this show, I have an interview with U.S. Army Major Eric McClung and Lieutenant Colonel Robert Curee.  Maj. McClung is the Chief Information Officer for Dwight D. Eisenhower Army Medical Center at Ft. Gordon, GA.  LTC Curee is the Regional CIO for the Southeast Regional Medical Command (SERMC).

Our discussion is about who owns the EMR and EHR process in military medical facilities, as well as discussions around how the military’s medical facility operations parallel many of the operational fundamentals found in civilian healthcare facilities now.  We also discuss some of Maj McClung’s and LTC Curee’s thoughts about leadership certifications for CIO’s.

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As always, if you have any questions, you are welcome to contact me directly at spencer@itpodcast.org.  If you have questions for Maj. McClung or LTC Curee, please direct them to me and I will be sure to forward them on.

Also, I am looking for ideas for new shows.  If you have topics that interest you that you would like to see tackled, please let me know.  You can email those ideas to me, click on the link at the top of this post, then scroll down and click on “comment”.

Spencer Hamons

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This post was written by Spencer on August 12, 2009

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Healthcare IT Podcast Show 203 – ARRA and “Meaningful Use”

As I said on the last show, sure enough the Kuskokwim River break up here in Bethel, Alaska brought around some great fishing and hunting, and it has been a busy project season at work as well.  The best part is the sunset at 1:00am, with the perpetual dusk and dawn, there is always enough light outside to play by.  It is extremely nice to get off work at 6:00pm and still have hours of daylight to play.

Andrew Hamons and his King Salmon from the Kuskokwim River in Bethel, Alaska

Before I get down to business about today’s podcast, I do have to show off a picture of my son and his King Salmon from the Kuskokwim River.

On todays show, I talk about the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 and how we can expect to see it impact our industry.  Don’t worry, I keep it short…less than 10 minutes even with bumper music.

In the podcast, I talk about a presentation provided by the working group.  A link to the Meaningful Use Presentation can be found here.

To view a report by the American Health Information Management Association regarding physician incentive payments, you can follow this link.

For another article on HITECH and Meaningful Use, specifically about the physician incentives for meaningful use, follow this link.

And here, you will find some updated and very comprehensive information about meaningful use and physician incentives.

Meaningful Use Objectives Corresponding EHR Software Features Meaningful Use Measures
Use Computer Provider Order Entry (CPOE) Enable a user to electronically record, store, retrieve, and manage, at a minimum, the following order types: Medications; Laboratory; Radiology/imaging; Provider referrals; Blood bank; Physical therapy; Occupational therapy; Respiratory therapy; Rehabilitation therapy; Dialysis; Provider consults; and Discharge and transfer. CPOE is used for at least 80% of all orders; 10% for hospitals
Implement drug/allergy checks (1) Real-time, alerts at the point of care for drug-drug and drug-allergy contraindications; (2) Electronically check if drugs are in a formulary or preferred drug list; (3) Provide certain users rights to deactivate, modify, and add rules for drug-drug and drug-allergy checking; (4) Track number of alerts users respond to Function is enabled
Maintain an up-to-date problem list of current and active diagnoses based on ICD-9-CM or SNOMED CT® Electronically record, modify, and retrieve a patient’s problem list over multiple visits At least 80% of all unique patients have at least one entry or an indication of none recorded.
E-prescribing (EP only) Electronically transmit prescriptions At least 75% of all permissible prescriptions written by the EP are transmitted electronically
Maintain active medication/allergy list Electronically record, modify, and retrieve a patient’s active medication/allergy list At least 80% of all unique patients have at least one entry or an indication of “none”
Record demographics Electronically record, modify, and retrieve patient demographic data At least 80% of all unique patients have demographics recorded
Record and chart changes in vital signs (1) Enable a user to electronically record, modify, and retrieve a patient’s vital signs; (2) Automatically calculate and display body mass index (BMI); (3) Plot and electronically display, upon request, growth charts for patients 2-20 years old. For at least 80 percent of all unique patients age 2 and over seen by the EP or admitted to the eligible hospital, record blood pressure and BMI; additionally, plot growth chart for children age 2 to 20
Record smoking status for patients 13 years old or older Electronically record, modify, and retrieve the smoking status of a patient At least 80% of all unique patients 13 years old or older have “smoking status” recorded
Incorporate clinical lab-test results into EHR as structured data (1) Electronically receive clinical laboratory test results and display such results in human readable format; (2) Electronically display in human readable format any clinical laboratory tests that have been received with LOINC® codes; (3) Electronically display all the information for a test report; (4) Electronically update a patient’s record based upon received laboratory test results At least 50% of all clinical lab tests results are incorporated as structured data
Generate lists of patients by specific conditions Electronically select, sort, retrieve, and output a list of patients and patients’ clinical information Generate at least one report listing patients with a specific condition
Report ambulatory quality measures to CMS or the States (EP only) (1) Calculate and electronically display quality measure results as specified by CMS or states; (2) Electronically submit calculated quality measures For 2011, an EP/hospital would attest this has been done
Send reminders to patients for preventive/follow-up care Electronically generate a patient reminder list for preventive or follow-up care Reminders sent to at least 50% of all unique patients that are 50 and over
Implement five clinical decision support rules relevant to specialty or high clinical priority (1) Implement automated, electronic clinical decision support rules according to specialty or clinical priorities; (2) Automatically and electronically generate real-time alerts and care suggestions based upon clinical decision support rules and evidence grade; (3) Automatically and electronically track, record, and generate reports on the number of alerts responded to by a user Implement five clinical decision support rules relevant to the clinical quality metrics the EP/Eligible Hospital is responsible for
Check insurance eligibility electronically Electronically record and display patients’ insurance eligibility, and submit insurance eligibility queries Insurance eligibility checked electronically for at least 80% of all unique patients
Submit claims electronically to public and private payers. Electronically submit claims At least 80 % of all claims filed electronically
Provide patients with an electronic copy of their health information upon request Enable a user to create an electronic copy of a patient’s clinical information and provide to a patient on electronic media, or through some other electronic means At least 80% of all patients who request an electronic copy of their health information are provided it within 48 hours
Provide patients with an electronic copy of their discharge instructions and procedures at time of discharge, upon request (Hospital only) Enable a user to create an electronic copy of the discharge instructions and procedures for a patient, in human readable format, at the time of discharge to provide to a patient on electronic media, or through some other electronic means At least 80% of all patients who are discharged from an eligible hospital and who request an electronic copy of their discharge instructions and procedures are provided it
Provide patients with electronic access to their health information within 96 hours of the information being available (EP only) Enable a user to provide patients with online access to their clinical information At least 10% of all unique patients are provided timely electronic access to their health information
Provide clinical summaries to patients for each office visit. (EP only) (1) Enable a user to provide clinical summaries to patients (in paper or electronic form) for each office visit; (2) If the clinical summary is provided electronically (i.e., not printed), it must be provided in: 1) human readable format; and 2) and on electronic media, or through some other electronic means. Clinical summaries provided to patients for at least 80% of all office visits
Exchange key clinical information among providers of care and patient authorized entities electronically and provide summary care record (1) Electronically receive a patient summary record, from other providers and organizations; (2) Electronically transmit a patient summary record, to other providers and organizations Provide summary of care record for at least 80 % of transitions of care and referrals; Perform at least one test of certified EHR technology’s capacity to electronically exchange key clinical information
Perform medication reconciliation at relevant encounters and each transition of care and referral Electronically complete medication reconciliation of two or more medication lists into a single medication list that can be electronically displayed in real-time Perform medication reconciliation for at least 80 % of relevant encounters and transitions of care
Submit electronic data to immunization registries and actual submission where required and accepted Electronically record, retrieve, and transmit immunization information to immunization registries Performed at least one test submission to immunization registries and public health agencies
Provide electronic submission of reportable lab results to public health agencies and actual submission where it can be received (Hospital only) Electronically record, retrieve, and transmit reportable clinical lab results to public health agencies Performed at least one test of certified EHR technology capacity to provide electronic submission of reportable lab results to public health agencies
Provide electronic syndromic surveillance data to public health agencies and actual transmission according to applicable law and practice Electronically record, retrieve, and transmit syndrome-based (e.g., influenza like illness) public health surveillance information to public health agencies Performed at least one test of certified EHR technology’s capacity to provide electronic syndromic surveillance data to public health agencies
Protect electronic health information through the implementation of appropriate technical capabilities (1) Assign unique user names; (2) Permit certain users to access health information in an emergency; (3) Terminate an electronic session after a predetermined time of inactivity; (4) Encrypt and decrypt electronic health information that is stored and exchangd; (5) Record actions (e.g., deletion) related to electronic health information; (6) Track alterations of electronic health information; (7) Set up user verification measures; (8) Record disclosures made for treatment, payment, and health care operations Conduct or review a security risk analysis and implement security updates as necessary

To summarize, the government now has told physicians and hospitals what tasks they should be using their EHR for (meaningful use); what EHR software features are needed to accomplish those tasks (certified EHR technology); and how the government is going to measure those tasks to determine whether or not they are being performed to their satisfaction.

I hope you enjoyed this month’s show.  Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions or comments.

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Thank you for listening.

Spencer

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This post was written by Spencer on July 3, 2009

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Show 121 – Express Scripts Gets an Extortion Letter

On today’s show, I go through our typical overview of some of the most pressing stories that have the potential to affect what is happening in the world of healthcare IT, and I talk a bit about what recently happened to Express Scripts and the attempt to extort money from the company as their patient data is potentially held hostage.

 
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Articles referenced during the podcast:

Healthcare IT News and their take on the Express Scripts extortion attempt

WPA hacked

Massive web hack

FCC approves Verizon’s acquisition of Alltel

Finally, when you listen to the podcast you will find that my wife Coryee and I are about to embark on a new adventure in Bethel, Alaska where we will be working for the Yukon-Kuskokwim Health Corporation.  Also, the ending music for the podcast is provided courtesy of Kate MacLeod, a wonderful artist out of Utah.  If you like her music, you can find more of it at her website at www.katemacleod.com.

Since we will be moving to Alaska over the next couple of months, I am not sure when I will have the next podcast online. I promise to make it available as soon as I possibly can. I will be checking emails and managing posts to this blog from my laptop, so please keep in touch! I can’t wait to share some pictures of what we are going to be experiencing in Alaska.

Thank you for listening.

Spencer Hamons

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This post was written by Spencer on November 9, 2008

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Show 120 – A talk with Nuance’s Keith Belton

On today’s show, I talk about alignment of IT initiatives and your organization’s long-term strategic plan and short-term tactical goals.

I also have a talk with Nuance Communication’s Keith Belton about Nuance’s new Dragon Medical product and where Keith feels that speech recognition will continue to be in the future of healthcare IT.

As always, I welcome your comments either here on the blog, or by emailing me directly at spencer@itpodcast.org. If you would like to email Keith, you can reach him at Keith.Belton@Nuance.com. For more information about Dragon Medical, you can click here and a new window will open and you will be taken to their page.

 
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This week, I did not have any news because the show was getting a little long.

If you would like to comment on this podcast, you can either email me at spencer@itpodcast.org, or you can click on the title of this post and on the new page, scroll down to “comment”.

The next podcast will be available on November 1, 2008.

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Show 118 – Environmentally Sound IT with a Realistic ROI

In this week’s podcast I want to talk about how to be environmentally conscious in your IT operations, without spending a million dollars, and while making good business sense.

As always, I welcome your comments either here on the blog, or by emailing me directly at spencer@itpodcast.org.

 
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The articles that I reference in the podcast are linked below:

IEEE ratifies 802.11r standard to enhance VoIP over Wi-Fi handoffs

 

Comcast puts the screws to customers downloading over 250GB per month

Google Chrome?

I thank you for listening to this podcast, and as always I welcome your comments either directly to this blog…or you can email me directly at spencer@itpodcast.org.The next podcast will be available on September 20, 2008

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This post was written by Spencer on September 6, 2008

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Healthcare IT Podcast – Episode 116 – Privacy vs. Geography

In this week’s podcast, we get back to our standard format with some interesting news articles that were out over the past week, and I talk specifically about the allegations the China has been forcing hotels to install Internet eavesdropping equipment in preparation for the Olympics.

As always, I welcome your comments either here on the blog, or by emailing me directly at spencer@itpodcast.org.

 
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The articles that I reference in the podcast are linked below:

FCC finds that Comcast cannot limit peer-to-peer traffic on its network

VMware annouces that ESXi Hypervisor is now free

Alfresco announces open source Microsoft SharePoint Competetor

8 Reasons why a developer would NEVER want to be CIO

China accused of installing Internet eavesdropping devices for Olympics

I thank you for listening to this podcast, and as always I welcome your comments either directly to this blog…or you can email me directly at spencer@itpodcast.org.

The next podcast will be available on August 16, 2008

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Healthcare IT Podcast – Episode 114 – Keeping the CIO Position Relevant

Today, we talk about how to keep the CIO position relevant in your organization as information and technology becomes more of a commodity, and for those organizations without a CIO, why that is and how to change it.  As always, I want to hear your comments and any thoughts you have on how to make technology a true part of the executive table, so please email me at spencer@itpodcast.org or post your comments right here.

 
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On our “In the News” Segment, I reference the following articles:

Universal Music Group Sues and Looses

Google has to turn over 12TB of data to Viacom

Microsoft Critical Patches for Server and SQL

New 2009 Joint Commission Standards

The next show will be released July 19, 2008.

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This post was written by Spencer on July 4, 2008

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Healthcare IT Podcast-Episode 113 – Telecommuting and Golf

On today’s show, we focus on a lot of interesting tech articles that have come out this week, spending a little more time on two of them.  The first is a discussion about telecommuting and how things differ a bit in different environments, the second is a quick discussion about golf and your career (and having a little fun at the same time). As always, I want to hear your comments so please feel free to email me at spencer@itpodcast.org or post them here on the site.

 
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During our “In the News” segment on today’s podcast, here are the links to the articles I referenced.

Internet Service Provider Spat between Cogent and TeliaSonera

$499 1.5m Cat6 RJ45 Cable???

Information about Associated Press going after Blogs

          San Francisco Chronicle Article

          MSNBC Article

          Actual court decision documents

Glassdoor.com Website

Oracle Increases Prices 

IT Workers Willing to Take 10% Pay Cut to Telecommute

CIO Magazine Article written by John Halamka about Telecommuting

Can Playing Golf Help Your Career?

I hope you enjoy this week’s show, the next podcast will be released right around July 5th…perhaps a day or two early since I will probably be camping the mountains over the weekend.By the way opening bumper music on the podcast was my 8 year old son playing his harmonica.

Thank you for listening.

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Healthcare IT Podcast – Episode 111 – Do We Suck as Bad as the Airline Industry?

Sorry for being a week late on releasing the latest show, but I had to play catchup after our trip to Kauai.

Today’s show starts out with some awesome music from an artist I just heard of and purchased his latest album after listening to a song on the radio in the rental Mustang in Kauai.  You can find more of his music at http://www.jasonmraz.com

Listen to today’s show for the latest news and events in health IT and observations made between the healthcare and the airline industries.

 
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The following articles are referenced on the “In the News” section of today’s podcast.  Also, the various “upcoming events” can be found in the upcoming events section of this page.

U.S. Government to Encrypt 800,000 Laptops

Spint Nextel to Limit their “Unlimited” Data Plan

Venitian Hotel Network

CCHIT Releases New Ambulatory EHR Criteria

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Healthcare IT Podcast – Episode 109

On this week’s show, we talk with Jim Pesce, Executive Vice President and General Manager of McKesson’s Paragon group about what is going on with the Paragon Hospital Information System.  I still need other vendors to give me a call so we can feature their products and what is going on with them.  Jim asked me to pass along his phone number at the Paragon Corporate offices in Charlotte, NC so that our listeners can contact them with any questions.  Their number is (704)549.7123.

PLEASE…I need you to get the information out to your vendors and have them contact me at spencer@itpodcast.org so we can set up a time to talk with them.

 
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The following articles are referenced on the “In the News” section of today’s podcast.

Cisco to Phase-Out Linksys Brand

H-1B Visa Quota Met

Testimony to Congress that we need 40,000 more Health IT Professionals

The next podcast will be produced and released on May 3, 2008.

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This post was written by Spencer on April 19, 2008

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