By Valerie Mellema

You may have heard of electronic medical record software reducing overhead costs and minimizing wasteful expenses. Is it really true though that you can actually increase your revenue using EHR software? Yes, because the same measures that allow you to streamline your operation also help facilitate new patients and new business, not to mention retain your patient base. How is this possible?

Electronic health records software improves charge capture for one. When regular paper charts are used many services can be easily lost. If they are never billed, you lose out on that money. Erroneous data can also be entered into the system that will cost you some much needed income. An EMR solution increases revenue because it is capable of capturing charges for all services. This is thanks to highly advanced computer equipment that can track every individual service and payment. Automated charge capture is one of the most important features for guaranteeing income.

An EMR system can also maximize billing. When you use a paper chart system, it’s customary for physicians to down code (use a lower billing code) just to ensure they stay within legal limits. They do this instead of using the appropriate level of code, which gives them more money. You can easily use E&M billing codes which are programmed to stay within legal limits. (And this feature is constantly updated, since your system connects to the Internet) You can make more money and not have to worry about the threat of a lawsuit, an audit or rejected claims.

Medical software can help you to improve office productivity, since it saves physicians literally several minutes a day that they would spend dictating and reviewing transcripts. With this specialized EMR software, you can automatically generate progress notes and save several minutes a day for each session. In the end, such effective time management can let you schedule in another patient.

Web-based EMR software can help you with health maintenance reminders so you can better keep track of patients due for annual check up. This software can also provide computerized checks so that you can minimize bank charges. Lastly, the software can increase your sources of income as it allows you integration with higher quality payers and organizations.

There are many EMR incentives to look into. Even if you can’t justify the expense of a program for time management sake, don’t overlook the potential for increased profit. Certified EMR software may give you that competitive edge you need to excel in business.

Above article publish on http://ezinearticles.com/?Increase-Your-Revenues-by-Implementing-EMR-Software!&id=2794653

Without the help of technology, keep any kind of records can be a nightmare. Over time, the mountain of records just keep building and building, until the entire system becomes unmanageable. Records get lost or buried, and they become impossible to find. This happens to many businesses that require record keeping like medical practices or financial companies. Aware of the benefits presented by technology, many medical practices are starting to adopt Electronic Medical Records systems. Such systems allow medical records to be filed away electronically so that they can be retrieved quickly and efficiently by anyone who needs access to the information. In general, there are 3 types of EMR software solutions that a medical practice can choose to adopt. 1) Web based software solutions. 2) Custom built solutions 3) Off the shelf, standalone solutions. Web based software solutions. Web based software is easy to adopt. There is usually minimal installation and integration issues, and all you need is an Internet connection and you will be able to access the information you want to. The problem with web based software solutions is that since it is on a public network, there is always the concern of security. Medical records are private and sensitive information. So they should be kept as securely as possible. And the Internet hardly appears to be the ideal place. Custom built solutions. Custom built software solutions give you exactly what you want. You have full control over how the software works. Since you have the best understanding of how your business works, designing your custom built software seems to make sense. However, custom built software solutions often cost a lot more than other types of software solutions. That’s because the solution is developed solely for you. Also, there is the development time frame to think about. A custom built software can take months or sometimes years to perfect. Off the shelf, standalone solutions. Given the drawbacks of the first two software options, off the shelf standalone solution seems to be the logical choice. The pricing is definitely much more affordable, and you get to use the software immediately. Standalone EMR software may be developed by a programming language such as Java. They work on multiple operating systems like Windows, Mac, and even Linux. There are no additional components required, and all you have to do is to install the software in the computers. Established EMR software often has a more comprehensive feature list. That means there is no need for you to define your own feature list. You just install and use. Some features that you should look out for include Automated data backup, E&M code suggestor, Intra-office instant messaging (great for communications), Patient scheduler, Patient tracker, Problem list and more. When choosing EMR software, you can always evaluate the software by requesting for a trial period and access to any demo materials available. That way, you can make better decisions down the road.

Above article publish on http://mehealthcareer.com/article/2010/01/18/emr-software-helps-physicians-be-more-productive/

The price of Electronic Medical Records (EMR) software is quite high, but the benefits of adopting EMR software can save you a lot of money in the long run. If you are a physician running your own private practice, then you should be weighing the pros and cons of adopting an EMR system. Those days are long over when practices had to keep a pile of files to properly archive the information related to the multitude of patients who walked into their medical facilities.

Our dependence on paper is gradually decreasing and tools like EMR software can easily hold all the important medical data in hard disks, which occupy less space compared to the traditional sources. Proper archiving and categorization of data becomes easier if practices decide to replace their old filing methods with modern technology. Automation of data collection and retrieval can dramatically increase the productivity and efficiency of practices.

The price of an EMR system can range from a thousand dollars to ten thousand dollars, and sometimes they cost even more. The sky is the limit for these products and EMR costs increase as the system becomes more feature-rich. If you own a very small medical facility where you are the sole practitioner, then a light version of good EMR software worth five thousand dollars will serve the purpose. Huge facilities can buy complete EMR systems that cost around forty thousand dollars.

How to get the best deal

EMR software offers a number of benefits but practices should perform a cost-benefit analysis before adopting this new technology. This will help them know if the system will serve their purpose. EMR costs can be prohibitive and a huge amount of money is at stake if you choose a system that does not meet the needs of your practice. Therefore, it is important to be completely sure of the product before you make the purchase decision. You devote time to find the product that meets all your requirements and can be scaled in future. There are some points to consider when you conduct the cost - benefit analysis for the EMR system that you intend to purchase.

Analyze what you need to get done:

First of all, practices need to take note of their current and future requirements. They should be able to collect relevant information such as the number of physicians in the medical facility, the staff to physician ratio, the patient capacity of the center and the average number of phone calls help desk attends every workday.

Training:

If you are purchasing a low cost, entry level EMR software, you will have to pay a certain amount of money to train your staff. Most of the expensive EMR software packages come with free training of staff members, so that they can get used to the interface and handle the workload from day one. There might be some initial hiccups while operating the new software. It is therefore important that the EMR vendor agree to offer on-site training to the staff for the first few months.

Implementation:

The software provider will also charge for the implementation expenses involved in installing and configuring the hardware according to customers’ preferences. An increase in working staff members usually means an increase in the implementation costs. So, it can become a substantial amount for a large practice. Once the EMR software is installed, practices also need to digitalize all the information they had in the files to make the system completely functional.

Hardware:

As soon as practices adopt the EMR system, they discover the need to buy a lot of new hardware to provide proper support o their infrastructure. The prices of computers, printers and server stations should also be considered while you do cost and benefit analysis to gain a clearer picture of the EMR costs. If you want to utilize the EMR product to its full potential, then you need hardware that perfectly complements the software. Make sure that you buy the computer hardware after much deliberation so that it does not go obsolete in a few months. Computer hardware with the newest configuration should always be bought from a reputed dealer so that you are assured of support and maintenance whenever anything goes wrong.

Support and maintenance:

After installing the EMR software, practices need to make provision for annual maintenance costs that become necessary for both the newly acquired software and hardware. The power consumption of a medical facility will increase significantly once you have installed a number of computers and other related hardware to run the new system. Practices may also need to rewire the entire electrical architecture so that the system can take the load of the various machines that will need to be connected.

Hiring:

EMR costs can rise drastically if practices don’t hire a networking professional to monitor and maintain the network in their facilities. A networking expert will ensure that the workstations remain connected to each other and seamlessly exchange data. If you want to keep your system up and running at all times, then you will also need to hire a few hardware maintenance experts to keep a watch on the entire system.

Update:

Your work is not finished once the purchasing and installation have been completed, as the EMR software will need to be updated from time to time. This means a certain amount of expenditure has to be made every year. In order to keep your system up-to-date, you will need to sign certain agreements with the vendor so that you can get access to all the updates as they are released.

Replacing your traditional systems with modern technology may costs quite a lot but it is definitely one of the smartest decisions a practice can ever take. The benefits far outweigh the costs incurred in investing in an EMR system.

It may seem that the initial investment or the EMR costs are a bit high, but you will save a lot of time and money that you would have otherwise spent on papers, filing, and storage space. The cost of filing all of your patients’ medical records and billing information can surmount over the years. Even if you have the best file management system in the world, your will still have to spend a fortune every year to keep the paper documents intact.

Look for government assistance to help finance your EMR software. There are various federal grants that could subsidize EMR costs to your health care facility. With all of this information considered, one has to be very patient while looking for the EMR software for your health facility. Consultation with an EMR expert will definitely increase the chances of procuring a system that is cost-effective for you.

Above article publish on http://www.emrconsultant.com/education/emr-costs

By Shrinivas Kanade

Do you think 24 hour accessibility to your patients’ data is one of the advantages of electronic medical records? Yes! To know more about the advantages of electronic medical records,

Read on…

One of the main advantages of electronic medical records is that it helps in centralizing the data of your patient. Not long in the past, a receptionist working in a clinical practice could leave for the day, only after finding and arranging the records, that are committed to the papers of the patients on the next day’s appointments’ list. If she failed to do so, or if she failed to turn up on time due to some kind of emergency, then what would rule the medical practice. Confusion! She is the one who knew, precisely, which stack of records contains the bunch of papers that represents so and so patient. The use of electronic medical records gets over this problem. Let’s go over the other electronic medical records benefits.

What are the Advantages of Electronic Medical Records?

In its digital form, the electronic medical records offer you an opportunity to run a clean and paperless clinic. If you decide to go digital, you may find that there are two options available to you.

Standalone Software

The first option is to ask a computer programmer to develop a standalone software for you, which you could install in the computer in your office. In this case, your patients’ data, in its electronic form, will be stored on the computer system in your office. You will have to take care of the data. The data safety, proper backing of the data to protect it from getting lost and virus problems will be the responsibility of your clinic, since the data is present at your end.

Online Software

Else, you could use an online EMR software. If you choose this option, your patients’ data will be stored on the Internet. It will be stored in the computers maintained by the IT company which is providing their online software to you, naturally for a monthly fee. This IT company and the computer experts employed by it, will take care of the data and deal with your problems while using it.

Electronic Medical Records

Electronic medical records, which are also referred to as EMR, contains private and medical data related to your patients. It may also contain information, such as their past medical history, substances or drugs they are allergic to, the treatments or medical procedures they underwent in the past. The data may also inform you which medications the patient is currently on and the transcription notes etc. Comprehensiveness in the patients’ data is one of the advantages of electronic medical records.

Speed of Retrieval of Electronic Medical Records

You can retrieve your patient’s records within a few seconds. All you have to do, is to type his or her name in the form that the EMR software has presented to you. Bingo! the records are right in front of you within no time. And the most important thing is that you are not struggling to decipher someone else’s handwriting, in order to read what kind of therapy or treatment your patient underwent in the past. The availability of your patient’s medical records in one place, which can be viewed in detail, is also one of the advantages of electronic medical records.

If you decide to go for online EMR software, you will find that you can access your patient’s data not only by sitting at your office but from anywhere in the world through the Internet. Of course, you must provide it with proper passwords and identify yourself. You can download electronic medical records to your PDA or palmtop and can refer to it as and when it suits you.

Safety

Your patient’s data is important and you have every right to worry about it. Will it be safe in its digital format? Yes, it will be. You must have heard about the computer system crashes and the computer viruses causing damage to the data. These may have made you suspicious about the reliability and safety of the electronic medical records. With proper backup systems and latest anti-virus, you can overcome this obstacle.

Data Format

When you use papers to commit your patients records on it, you do so in the fixed format. The format that is printed on the paper. It is not the case with the electronic medical records. You can key in data in one format and can retrieve it in another, in a form more suitable to you.

Integration and EMR Software

You can digital form of your patients data to the reference information which can be stored on your computer or on the Internet. The EMR software can help you by providing additional information about a drug, such as dosages for children and adults. Which drugs are contraindicated in which conditions and so on. The EMR software can not only help you out with your patient’s data but it can also provide information on the ICD.9, HIPAA, HCFA 1500, and the latest CPT code books. It may also help you in studying a condition by producing a 3-D images for you, by taking input of 2-D images that are already present in your patient’s data. The software also handles the medical transcription notes, as well as SOAP notes, which you can use to your own advantage. The customer support to medical billing services can also be made available to you and your patient by the EMR software. This may result in the speedy settlement of medical billing and claims for you because of the proper co-ordination with the insurance companies over medical insurance. In short, the ability of EMR software helps you centralize your resources can be counted as one of the advantages of electronic medical records.

Electronic Data and EMR Software

Electronic data generated by the systems monitoring your patient, is processed and analyzed for errors by the the EMR software. This software can sound or raise an alert, if it comes across an event needing immediate medical intervention. It can transmit the relevant data in the form of an email or warn you by sending a message to your pager or mobile. It can also accept data from the laboratory analyzer in a electronic form directly and thus, avoiding the chance of erroneous data being fed to it by a computer operator. In case of online EMR software, which you will use the database to store your patients’ data in, and support to it will be provided by the IT company.

Primarily, it is you who is going to benefit by converting to electronic medical records. It will help your staff to be more efficient by saving their time. Your patients’ data in its digital form will always be at your fingertips and not be dependent on the mindless activity of searching for it every day. It seems that the benefits of an electronic medical record (EMR) are nothing but a bag of goodies. But, are they real for you? The decision is yours. With the world going digital, it is up to you to decide, whether to take heed of the advantages of electronic medical records.

Above article published on http://www.buzzle.com/articles/advantages-of-electronic-medical-records.html

In a recent interview with American Medical News, National Coordinator for Health IT David Blumenthal discussed timetables for electronic health record adoption and the generation gap between older and younger users of the technology.

EHR Timetables

Blumenthal said federal officials are promoting EHR adoption in an effort to meet President Obama’s goal of providing all U.S. residents with an EHR by 2014.

He added that the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT also is working under the time frame of the federal economic stimulus law, which imposes penalties on health care providers who do not adopt health IT tools by 2015.

Blumenthal acknowledged that many physicians have concerns about the pace of the EHR adoption timelines. He said ONC is “very aware that we need to find a balance between our long-term goals of using electronic health records to improve practice and the practical realities of everyday medicine.”

Blumenthal said his office will continue to solicit and consider stakeholder feedback on EHR timetables and other issues.

Health IT Generation Gap

In addition, Blumenthal spoke about generational differences in technology use among health care providers. He said many younger physicians are comfortable with EHRs and expect to use IT systems that connect them with colleagues and comprehensive medical data. However, he said older physicians might have less experience with the technology”

Above article published on

http://www.ihealthbeat.org/Articles/2009/8/4/Blumenthal-Discusses-
Efforts-To-Promote-EHR-Adoption-Nationwide.aspx

The times we live in demand a lot of speed and efficiency from any service that we pay for, and that includes medical care services. There are many complications involved in the medical care business and no matter what size your practice is, it will always benefit from a more efficient system of data and time management. Plus, when it comes to billing, who wouldn’t like to have minimal errors and the lowest possible processing time per bill or per individual. This is when you know you need to change your old ways of doing thing and bring something new and more sophisticated to make your job a lot easier and more effective.

That is where EMR (Electronic Medical Records) software comes in. You will at how much EMR software can do and it takes so little time to do everything. Be it entering relevant data, recalling appointment schedules or queue management, a good EMR software is exactly what you have been waiting for to give your business a boost. You will love the amount of efficiency it will bring in to the entire system. You will be doing everything faster, with fewer errors and with a much lower processing time.

For instance, when it comes to queue management and alerting the staff at hand, you can do it instantly with EMR software. This is handled by the internal communications system with which, for example, you can alert your nurse that a patient is ready for his appointment. This saves a lot of time in communications

and speeds up the entire process. Bill generation is another area that will amaze you with its capabilities. You can generate bills that contains everything, from the medical treatment details to the different sets of insurance codes that will help you patients claim there medical insurance.

As you might know, errors in the bills, especially in the codes often stop patients from successfully claiming insurance for treatments availed. While it is quite human to make errors, especially with so many codes to handle, you must also realize that each such mistake hurts your business because it leaves your customer dissatisfied with your service. The EMR software will make sure that the correct code is implemented and printed each time on the bill. So you have a complete bill that does everything for you.

It also has complete tracking and analytical features whereby you can recall your performance from previous working days, weeks, months and even years. You can instantly call up charts and graphs to look at the demographics of your patients. You can look at your accounts, your total revenue and much more. With the data at hand, you can spot trends and spot the performance of each wing, division and department. Through this improved performance tracking you can truly enhance your practice to fine tune to your unique needs. So you absolutely must try EMR software to see how much it can help you

Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/computer-forensics-articles/use-emr-software-to-enhance-your-practice-992322.html

Bernie Monegain, Editor

CHICAGO – The American Medical Association has adopted new guiding principles for physicians in the event a patient’s electronic medical record is breached. AMA members approved the guidelines at the group’s annual policy-making meeting earlier this week in Chicago.

“Protecting the privacy and safety of patient information, whether in a paper record or an electronic medical record, is a top priority for physicians,” said AMA board member William A. Dolan, MD. “Physicians need a standard protocol to follow to maintain patient security in the event of a breach of personal information.”

Medical information housed in an EMR travels from patient to healthcare provider to health insurance industry with limited regulation and oversight, Dolan noted. Security breaches can happen and physicians need guidance about their responsibilities if health information has been compromised.

The new AMA guidelines ask physicians to:

• Ensure patients are properly informed of the breach,
• Follow ethically appropriate procedures for disclosure,
• Support responses to security breaches that place the interests of patients above those of physician, medical practice or institution, and
• To the extent possible, provide information to patients to enable them to diminish potential adverse consequences of the breach of personal health information.

“EMRs are the wave of the future, so it is important for both patients and physicians to feel secure” Dolan said. “These new guidelines prepare physicians to help patients in the unfortunate situation of an information breach.”

Above article published on

http://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/ama-weighs-emr-security-breaches

Medical offices require a lot of efficiency to ensure that all patients are properly taken care of. Every such facility is a busy area where employing multiple people to do one job is a waste of time, money and resources. It will eat away at the revenues of small businesses and will increase running costs. This is particularly true when it comes to maintaining medical records. It is a data intensive job that needs a lot of accuracy and time to do by hand. Sometimes, errors are introduced into the data due to human negligence, which is inevitable.

This is why you should use EMR software that takes care of data handling and free up the time of your employees so that they can work more efficiently. By freeing your employees of records maintenance tasks, you can greatly boost the amount of work that gets done. It will also help you provide a better medical service to your clients and hence increases the amount of business that you are getting. Your clients will greatly appreciate getting improved medical care and your reputation will be better recognized.

Using EMR software makes a lot of business sense because you will be saving money in the long run. When you automate certain processes, you will be saving a lot of money due to lower operation and maintenance costs. Your record keeping will be much more streamlined and thus client information processing and recalling will only take a fraction of the time.

The efficient billing software also keeps track of all the due and overdue payments. It will automatically remind your patients about their dues with you. You can send invoices just like you did before, but with much more efficiency and ease.

A good EMR software will lead to efficient management on your part. Everyone has access to updated data and treatment plans. In addition, not having to manage and manipulate data manually usually means that your staff will be happier and more motivated - thus ensuring a lower staff turnover, which is important for any successful medical practice.

In the beginning, it takes a little time to get used to the system. However, professional grade software often comes with adequate support. Within a short period of time, you and your staff would have gotten used to operating the new software. With EMR software, your record keeping becomes so much more efficient and organized that you will start wondering why you did not start using it sooner.

You may also market your facility as environmentally friendly by using these software. You can legitimately do that because you will be using less paper or no paper at all. This will help you reduce your carbon footprint greatly and introduce a much more efficient record keeping system without damaging the environment. People have become more environmentally conscious in recent times and this will ensure a greater amount of client recognition and respect.

Thus, by choosing to streamline and organize your entire record keeping and billing process, you will not only be helping your business but also your customers and the environment

Above article published on

http://www.articlesbase.com/branding-articles/emr-electronic-medical-records-software-for-greater-medical-office-efficiency-949149.html

Electronic medical record (EMR) software is the wave of the future for healthcare providers. Patient medical records can be extensive and complex, containing patient demographic and contact information, a summary of medical history, and documentation of each event, including symptoms, diagnosis, treatment, and outcome. Relevant documents and correspondence are also included. With EMR software, it is possible to store the entire medical record, or any part of it, on a computer. The advantage that EMR software has over traditional paper systems is that they provide greater data availability, transfer, and retrieval. This article will first look at the important components of EMR systems in general, and then it will look at three vendors who not only contain these components, but provide orthopedic practice-specific functionality as well.

The following are important components when considering EMR systems:

• Functionality
  Often, lower-priced EMRs have limited functionality. However, you don’t want to pay for functionality you are not going to use.
• Data structure and organization
  How easy is it to retrieve the information you need? Is there a summary page that is easy to get to and that provides the information you need?
• Record management
  Does the system allow you to create useful reports? Can you scan numerous paper documents into the patient’s chart? If so, how easy is it to review these documents?
• Database integrity
  Are there mechanisms in place to maintain database integrity?
• Data export to other systems
  Does the system use a standardized transfer protocol such as HL7?
• HIPAA compliance
  To be HIPAA compliant, there must be a log of anyone who has viewed or modified the chart, and any modifications of the medical record must be traced. Also, each note, lab report, and scanned document entered into the record must be signed by a physician.
• Communication
  Does the system allow you to fax, mail, or email a recently completed not to other physicians? Is there a way to make hard copies of the chart, and can the software communicate with other offices?

OmniMD offers an EMR solution that addresses the vast information needs of the orthopedics specialty. The orthopedic specific EMR includes clinically-defined templates for common orthopedic complaints, history of present illness, and review of systems. The system also includes orthopedics specific ICD and CPT Codes that are used to capture accurate charges and quickly generate electronic bills. To meet the needs of the orthopedic practice, OmniMD offers the following point-and-click orthopedic-specific templates and forms:

• Fracture Visit
• Initial Adult Ortho Visit
• Orthopedic X-Ray/Plan
• Orthopedic SOAP Note
• Podiatry Visit
• Spine Exam
• Accidental Injury Form
• CMG Extremity Measurements
• Neck & Back History
• Neck & Back A/P
• Neck & Back Physical Exam

As medical specialties and sub-specialties become more complex and the medical field becomes more and more dependent on computers, the pressure on medical practices to keep up with technology will become overwhelming. EMRs are here to stay, and their return on investment is undeniable. EMRs are the wave of the future, and with so many options to choose from, every practitioner should be able to find the system that meets every need.

Above article published on

http://www.medcompare.com/spotlight.asp?spotlightid=121

To help transform health care, the state should invest more in electronic infrastructure that supports the automated exchange of electronic medical information, writes Russell Sarbora of Community Health Network of Washington. Increased efficiencies, lower costs and less waste of resources will help improve the health-care system.

By Russell Sarbora Special to The Times

IN Washington, state spending on health care ranks second only to education. The state has consistently asked how we can improve efficiency, reduce costs and focus scarce resources on insuring and caring for more Washingtonians.

The rapid exchange of accurate and timely information is going to transform the delivery of medical care. Infrastructure that supports the automated exchange of electronic medical information is and will continue to be a primary driver for efficient health-care delivery. We need to encourage and realize an efficient infrastructure for interoperability between electronic medical-record systems.

Washington state has at least two key assets already in place that have the potential to support creation of this infrastructure. These are the Washington State Health Care Authority-sponsored Health Information Infrastructure Advisory Board (HIIAB), and the Community Health Network of Washington (CHNW), the nation’s largest system of community health centers.

The 19 community health centers that make up the network are the primary health-care home for more than 600,000 low-income people in Washington state, including one-third of the state’s uninsured adults and one-half of the state’s uninsured children.

At CHNW we are working with HIIAB to achieve its objectives and have already implemented electronic medical-record systems that cover more than 70 percent of our member clinics and more than 85 percent of our patient population.

Business pressures will eventually produce efficient health-data-exchange services for patients served by commercial insurers and providers who rely primarily on commercially insured patients. But who will ensure that similar services are provided to vulnerable populations?

Through continued support for the HIIAB and by strengthening efforts to encourage the interoperability of electronic medical records, Washington state can improve patient health and safety while simultaneously controlling state-funded health-care costs.

Electronic medical records are used in the vast majority of acute-care facilities in Washington state; by all laboratory-service organizations operating in the state; by almost 25 percent of Washington’s primary-care physicians, and by more than 70 percent of CHNW’s member physicians. Yet, there is no statewide or national infrastructure today that supports sharing this information.

This infrastructure needs to be created, and the states that do so will lead the nation in delivery of efficient health care during the next decade. Washington state can and should be a leader in realizing this goal.

To achieve this leadership position, our state must adopt existing data-exchange policies and standards for health-information exchanges between organizations receiving state funding, provide incentives for technology investments required to support health-information exchanges, and financially support pilot programs that enable health-information exchanges.

CHNW is already working with HIIAB to create a Health Record Banking system that supports sharing of health information between patients and their health-care providers. We need to upgrade this existing business process to use current generation technology and thereby overcome existing shortcomings in reliability, efficiency and accuracy.

Interoperability between electronic medical-record systems is the key to achieving widespread sharing of clinical data. Today, these proprietary systems are incented to constrict access to the data they contain and there are numerous unresolved issues regarding access to the data and under what conditions data are shared.

Fortunately, the HIIAB is well-versed in these issues and well-positioned to support their resolution. The HIIAB is already proceeding with the creation of mechanisms to support patient access and control of their health data. However, the single greatest shortfall in the proposed Health Record Bank system is the absence of mechanisms to automatically include physician-created health data in these patient-controlled record systems. Lacking this critical body of data, the value of Health Record Banks will be substantially diminished.

We need to extend the HIIAB charter and role to encourage interoperability between electronic medical-record systems employed in Washington State and to achieve automated exchange of clinical data. The technology to do so already exists. Policy and will are the only hurdles to be overcome.

Russell Sarbora is the chief information officer for Community Health Network of Washington.

Copyright © 2009 The Seattle Times Company

Above article published on http://seattletimes.nwsource.com