What is a database? (Why do I need an EHR?)
Posted on | April 12, 2010 | No Comments
I ran across an old college research paper while I was reorganizing this weekend. While looking through the bibliography in the back I remembered all the hours I spent at the card catalog, on microfiche viewers and a service called Gopher, one of the first internet services. I loved gopher at the time. The old method of writing down a page of potential resources, walking through the library to gather them, and then sitting down for an hour to determine which books might be a benefit to me was simplified into a 30 second computer search. With a few key terms I could generate a well defined list about my specific topic and read the abstract for each resource before ever looking at the book.
Gopher was able to keep track of information about every book in the entire Oregon College/University system and put it at my fingertips. Using gopher to search through the librariesdatabase made my life a lot easier.
Today you interface with databases everyday. If you log into a website, use your ATM card or navigate a telephone menu you are working with a database. A database is a set of structured data that is presented to an end user by a server. The server is like a very, very fast and efficient librarian. Think of me doing my entire research at the library in the blink of an eye and that would be me without any coffee.
Sharing data using servers and databases is very easy too. By knowing how to ask the server a question you can find anything in your database lightning fast. The is where your electronic health record software comes in.
Every person you see has a completely different story. Information such as first and last names, insurance companies and e-mail address are straight forward and easy to define. When classifying information such as cause of injury on a certain date of service or treatments performed during a patient encounter the software company has to be more creative with how they will store that data.
The goal of an electronic health record developer is to make it simple and intuitive to put information about your patients in the database as well as recall and present the information. Currently there are over 300 EHRs on the market all of which use a database to help you simplify your practice and make your transition to a paperless office possible.
Demonstrating Quality of Care with Speech Recognition
Posted on | January 8, 2010 | No Comments
JR Consulting was started the day Judy Richard saw a program that could take your speech and type out what you say. In the ten years we’ve been in business we’ve seen the price of technology decrease significantly while the power and speed has grown exponentially year after year. Speech recognition has grown along with the industry. Now, with five minutes of training you can achieve jaw-dropping results.
Dragon Medical uses the most advanced technology and forward thinking programming to create an interface so intuitive that you will be surprised when your computer doesn’t talk back to you. With Dragon, a microphone and your computer you can dictate directly to your computer. I’ve talked to many doctors at trade shows and in their offices who have said they used Dragon years ago and were not satisfied with the results. Ten years ago I said I would never own a cell phone but changes in technology make that thought ridiculous now. To those doctors I say give it another chance, you will be amazed.
Dictation allows you to document your patient encounter by telling the story of the visit. There are as many methods of reporting your patient encounters as there are practitioners. Speech recognition allows you to easily document the specifics of your patient visit without relying on a third party interpreting your words for you. Details such as medical necessity, patient progress, affected activities of daily living can be easily and accurately reported and stored as fast as you can talk.
Welcome to EHR Today
Posted on | December 9, 2009 | No Comments
Thank you for taking the time to check out EHR today. Many changes are coming that will affect you and your practice. We want to make EHR Today a useful source for you as you explore the ways that you can implement technology effectively.
As we get going we will bring you information on how the government is changing its policies towards technology in your workplace, standards being set within the HIT field, and how you can work with the latest changes so you can grow with them.
Most of the dialog today focuses on large medical implementations of electronic health records so we will bring you information pertinent to the smaller clinics. We hope you can use EHR Today as a resource to make clear what the future of health care has in store for you and your practice.
We will do our best to cite articles, reports and standards. Many of our clients have been asking how health care reform is going to affect them and EHR Today is our response to give them that information.
Check back often. Articles on CCHIT certification, meaningful use, the $44,000 in stimulus money, and the interoperability of health information technology are a few of the articles coming in the very near future.
Thanks again for taking your time,
Matthew Richard
VP – Product Development
JR Consulting
Matt Richard
What is meant by ‘meaningful use’
Posted on | November 17, 2009 | No Comments
The first goal in the Health Outcomes Policy Priority column of CCHITs Meaningful Use Matrix is
Improve quality, safety, efficiency, and reduce health disparities
The term ‘Meaningful Use’ implies a clinician using their software in a meaningful way. The list put out by CCHIT is extensive in its requirements for what can qualify as a meaningful use certified software, many of the requirements are features that are not utilized by practitioners of different specialties. Does this mean to be eligible for the government stimulus money you need to implement a system that isn’t designed for your type of practice?
Standards of interoperability are being finalized now. CCHIT is one EHR certifying body and others, like the Drummond Group, are entering the arena as well. The standards are being set by the Healthcare Information Technology Standards Panel (HITSP). HDM reports that the Department of Health and Human Services will now be the body to set the criteria for meaningful use.
David Hunt, M.D., chief medical officer in the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology had this to say at the Health Data Management’s Health IT Stimulus Summit in Boston.
“You have to be able to send data and CMS has to be able to receive it,” Hunt said. “The big thing for 2011 is that you actually acquire this equipment and start using it.”
It’s a good place to start. Look at your practice and decide how you want to implement your EHR. Stay aware of the current standards of in the quality of documentation expected, software interoperability and make sure your software provider is dedicated to growing with the standards as they are implemented.
Standards are not in place regarding how different portions of an EHR should operate with each other, how or if an EHR should interface with health information exchanges, how an EHR can demonstrate that it is being used in a meaningful way or establish a measurement of an EHRs effectiveness. Big moves are being made with how these definitions will be finalized and we can only hope that the overall goal will remain the improvement of quality, safety, efficiency, and reduction of health disparities.
References:
Meaningful use Matrix Tagged for CCHIT Reference Link
HITSP Website Link
Health Information Technology and Federal Stimulus; October 7, 20009 Newsletter PDF
HDM Breaking News,Certification Recommendations OK’d, August 14, 2009 Link