physician groups
Bill would create EMRs for federal employees
The Washington Post reports that House Chairman Jon C. Porter (R-NV) plans to introduce legislation that would encourage the use of electronic medical records (EMRs) in the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program. The government program provides health insurance to approximately 8 million federal employees. Porter says providing EMRs to federal employees would encourage private insurers to adopt the technology. The bill would allow private insurers to collect some federal money …
... Read more...Plan would expand pay for performance in Calif.
A new proposal would expand the nation's largest pay for performance plan to reward doctors who do better in patient satisfaction surveys and quality reviews. The California Pay for Performance Program was launched five years ago by a consortium of employers, health plans and physician groups. About half of the physician groups in California have signed up to participate in the program so far, the Los Angeles Times reports. Under the group's latest proposal, bonuses would …
... Read more...KLAS gives Unibased Systems Architecture top rating
Utah-based healthcare IT ratings group KLAS has handed its number one vendor ranking to Unibased Systems Architecture (USA). The research group released its annual year end listing of the top twenty vendors. The rating puts the tiny company ahead of heavyweights like Cerner, Epic and Misys. USA was ranked top in Enterprise Scheduling and OR Management. As usual, Epic won inpatient charting and EMR for physician groups of 25 and over . The KLAS ratings' impact on the healthcare IT vendor …
... Read more...Editor's Corner
This week I heard a very bitter physician complaining that using an electronic medical record got between him and caring for his patients, and imposed secretarial tasks on him. Then on Tuesday we got perhaps the most negative news yet about a problematic CPOE installation at Childrens' Hospital in Pittsburgh, where after its introduction patient mortality increased. There was also …
ALSO NOTED: Lancet spears NEJM on Herceptin; MN health plans put rates online; and much more...
> The Lancet argues a New England Journal of Medicine editorial which called Herceptin a "potential cure for breast cancer" is "profoundly misleading." Article
> Health plans in Minnesota are expanding a program in which they publish rate information online. Article
> USA Today rounds up some of …
... Read more...CMS puts VistA program on hold
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid announced that a plan to distribute VistA, the open-source EMR system originally developed by the Department of Veteran's Affairs, has been put on "indefinite hold." The news does not appear to mean that the project has been canceled -- at least not yet. Quality Improvement Group director Dr. Karen Bell said the Department of Health and Human Services plans to move forward with the initiative, which is intended to boost EHR adoption among small …
... Read more...Calif. physicians threaten to drop Medicare patients
According to a new poll by the California Medical Association, 60 percent of physicians in California say they will stop accepting new Medicare patients if reimbursement changes planned by the government go through. CMS has scheduled a 4.3 percent cut in Medicare payments effective next year. The poll appears to back the argument of the American Medical Association and other physician groups, which have contended that many doctors are likely to walk away from their Medicare practices …
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