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1. GE Reporting cases of H1N1 and Seasonal Flu to CDC Every 24 Hours.
2. Praxis Version 5 unveiled
3. Thomson Reuters Healthcare spending report

Category: EHR Matters
Date: November 10, 2009
Views:2,294 views
Information:

Hello, I’m Lindsay Pine and this is EHR Matters. As the swine flu takes the nation by storm, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have sought the help of General Electric’s (GE) EMR resources for H1N1 and seasonal influenza surveillance.

GE is the world’s largest provider of healthcare information systems and maker of medical-imaging equipment. With 14 million patient records, GE is now gathering anonymous information and reporting cases of H1N1 and seasonal flu to the CDC every 24 hours.

This is critical to the control of H1N1. The CDC, based in Atlanta, said the virus has killed at least 411 people in the U.S. and hospitalized more than 8,200 from Aug. 30 through Oct. 17. GE’s monitoring system will help the CDC better track outbreaks and determine who may be at risk.

Infor-Med Corporation, makers of Praxis EMR, announced the beta release of Praxis Version 5 featuring Datum, a tool that allows physicians to use free text to create, store, and share discrete clinical data. Praxis EMR allows physicians the unrestrained use of free text to document medicine in their own words. All other EMRs are based on templates.

Based on a unique technology called 'Concept Processing,' an intelligent neural network, Praxis EMR becomes progressively faster and smarter by learning from the physician using it. Physicians using Praxis 5 with Datum can chart rapidly with complete freedom while also producing discrete data required by third parties.

"This is a major breakthrough in Electronic Medical Record Technology," said Clayton Reynolds, MD, FACP, a medical quality expert. "Until now doctors were being forced to use template based EHRs to collect data for quality improvement and reimbursement purposes. With Praxis they no longer have to," he added.

Datum is part of Praxis Version 5, and will be in general release to meet CCHIT Certification and HITECH Stimulus reimbursements. Datum qualifies physicians for Physician Quality Reporting Initiatives (PQRI), Pay for Performance (P4P) programs, and enables interoperability with national Electronic Health Records, without giving up the physician focus of an Electronic Medical Record.

And finally, Thomson Reuters released a report revealing major sources of wasteful healthcare spending. Administrative inefficiency, unnecessary treatment, medical errors, and fraud top the list. These pitfalls are estimated to cost $700 billion annually.

The report identified areas in the healthcare system that can significantly improve healthcare’s bottom line:

1. Unnecessary care was attributed to 40% of healthcare waste. Unwarranted treatment accounts for up to $325 billion in annual healthcare spending.
2. Fraud contributes to 19% of healthcare waste, costing up to$175 billion each year.
3. Administrative inefficiency leads to 17% of healthcare waste, mostly due to paperwork in the U.S healthcare system that accounts for up to $150 billion in spending annually.
4. Medical errors 12% of healthcare waste): Medical mistakes account for $75 billion to $100 billion in unnecessary spending each year.
5. Preventable conditions cause 6% of healthcare waste). Up to $50 billion is spent annually on hospitalizations to address conditions that are much less costly to treat via outpatient care.
6. Lack of care coordination also causes 6% of healthcare waste due to inefficient communication between providers. Lack of access to medical records when specialists are sought leads to duplication of tests and inappropriate treatments that cost up to $50 billion annually.

I’m Lindsay Pine and this has been EHR Matters. Thanks for watching.