By Neil Versel

Plenty has been said about the potential for EMRs and telemedicine to improve the woeful state of care in America’s prisons, but juvenile detention facilities often get left out of the discussion.

On Tuesday, Los Angeles County supervisors approved $17 million in funding for an EMR system to manage the medical records of the more than 1,500 youngsters being held in county juvenile camps and halls. The EMR is intended to improve record keeping in the county’s Probation Department, which federal authorities have cited multiple times in recent years for keeping inadequate medical records on youths in custody.

The Los Angeles Times reports that the U.S. Department of Justice has said the poor record-keeping has resulted in “inconsistent or inappropriate treatment and medication.” Los Angeles County currently faces the threat of a civil-rights lawsuit that could strip county officials of some of their control over the Probation Department, the newspaper says.

Though juvenile detainees often get moved between facilities in Los Angeles County, paper records don’t always follow them. The EMR is intended to rectify that problem. The Probation Department’s CIO says the unspecified system should be in place in 15 to 18 months.

Source:http://www.fierceemr.com/story/l-county-approves-17m-emr-juvenile-detention-facilities/2010-06-03

Selecting electronic medical records software is notoriously difficult. The EMR market is flooded with several hundred vendors that cover the full spectrum of pricing and functionality, and clinics often have trouble cutting through the marketing noise.

Federal qualified health centers (FQHCs) are certainly not exempt from this predicament. They too will be required to use electronic medical records by 2015. Since most are using paper charts, the transition to electronic can be especially challenging for them.

When beginning the search for an EMR, we recommend that buyers assemble a list of their key requirements. Specialty-specific templates, lab integration, e-prescribing, and device integration are commonly required features. FQHCs, however, need to consider additional functionality due to their unique offering.

These requirements include:

• The ability to serve a wide range of specialties. Most FQHCs will need a system that supports a broad range of care – primary care, pediatrics, women’s health, behavioral health, physical therapy, dental, etc. While many vendors can address primary care and related specialties, very few can also address mental/behavioral health, therapy, and dental care in a single system.
• FQHC reports. As you know, FQHCs are required to track detailed patient information and provide Universal Services Data (USD) reports on patient demographics, statistics, and trends. Most software vendors on the market will have basic reports for patient demographics and sometimes PQRI, but most will not offer specific FQHC reports out of the box.
• Support for sliding fee scale adjustments. Systems built for FQHCs will allow administrators to apply discounts based on family size and income. Most vendors will not offer this functionality, requiring users to complete adjustments manually. This process can become very labor-intensive and increase the room for human error.
• Efficient workflows for high-volume centers. FQHCs are notoriously busy, with many providers seeing 30-40 patients per day. This large patient load will require a system that allows users to complete notes quickly, calculate charges efficiently, and generate claims automatically. Wasting time with redundant tasks can quickly lower an FQHC’s ability to support high patient volumes.

Although the EMR software market is large and complex, FQHCs can begin their EMR search processes effectively by focusing on software vendors that offer these four features. They will further benefit from the simple fact that fewer software vendors can serve their specialized needs. This smaller universe of potential vendors will help them quickly identify potential options and make the research process that much easier.

Source: http://www.softwareadvice.com/articles/medical/emr-selection-primer-four-essential-features-for-fqhcs-1061510/#ixzz0r6HUnpcG

By, Mike Miliard

NEW YORK – The worldwide market for hospital information systems is positioned for significant growth in the coming years, according to a new study from GlobalData.

The global market is forecast to exceed $18 billion by 2016, after growing at a compound annual rate of 13 percent from its $7.8 billion valuation in 2009.

That growth is primarily driven by hospitals that stand to receive government reimbursements as they try to improve care and increase workflow efficiency with information technology. Overall, the study shows, hospital officials strongly believe that adopting HIS will greatly increase efficiency and reduce medical errors, thus improving quality of care.

The electronic medical records segment is by far the largest segment in the HIS market – valued at $3.4 billion in 2009 and expected to increase at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 15.3 percent over the next seven years.

Practice management is the second largest segment, valued at $1.2 billion in 2009 and growing at a CAGR of 10.8 percent over the same period. Computerized physician order entry (CPOE), pharmacy information systems (PIS) and laboratory information systems (LIS) are projected to grow at a CAGR of 12.1 percent, 9.7 percent and 10.6 percent, respectively.

Current hospital systems are not delivering sufficiently safe, high-quality, efficient and cost-effective healthcare, according to the study, and computerization, with EMR at the center, is effectively the only way forward.

Physicians and healthcare organizations around the world looking to adopt more EMR technologies, and major companies in the market are vying for various collaborations to reach office-based physicians.

Governments in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, France, Australia, New Zealand, Denmark and Finland are implementing plans to build integrated computer-based national healthcare infrastructures based around the deployment of interoperable EMR systems. Many of these countries aim to have EMR systems deployed for their populations within the next 10 years.

The HIS market in the United States was valued at $2.6 billion in 2009 and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 19.3 percent over the next seven years. Economic stimulus provided by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act is expected to increase the adoption rates to 90 percent for physicians and 70 percent for hospitals in the United States.

Source: http://www.healthcarefinancenews.com/news/global-his-market-grow-18b-2016