What are Your EHR Plans for the Next 12 Months?

The next twelve months present serious EHR scheduling challenges to medical practices.  You need to manage and consider the critical path needed to maintain your EHR strategy and tactics.  The key issues follow:

Will HIPAA Omnibus’ Impermissible Disclosure and Use Standards Complicate Your Compliance Efforts?

The HIPAA Omnibus Rules, released in January 2013, will dramatically affect how you manage and deal with the impermissible disclosure and use of Protected Health Information (PHI).  Indeed, the new HIPAA Omnibus rules place a burden on your healthcare organization to analyze and document your review of potential PHI breaches.  As a practical matter, your healthcare organization could be looking at substantial problems complying with these requirements unless you strengthen your monitoring strategy.

What are the Key EHR Training Strategies?

Too many practices are struggling with performance and productivity issues in the use of their EHRs.  In many cases, the real problem is the strategy and process around the training of staff and physicians.  Failure to focus the training strategy on your practice and not the EHR product can lead to a variety of problems that will damage your efforts for years to come.

Why Do You Need to Attain Meaningful Use by December 31, 2013?

The final rule for Stage 2 Meaningful Use (MU) presents a number of strategic challenges for practices that are attaining Meaningful Use and places those practices that will not meet Meaningful Use at a significant disadvantage.

Why Should You Care about Deidentified Information?

According to the HIPAA Security and Privacy standard, your practice is responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of Protected Health Information.  Unfortunately, a number of vendors and other parties want access to your information and are placing the confidentiality of your business information and even your patient information at risk.

Do You Have HIPAA Security and Privacy Exposure?

With the focus on Meaningful Use Measures, many practices are neglecting procedures and policies needed to comply with HIPAA Security and Privacy.  The recently announced $100,000 settlement with a 5 doctor Phoenix based practice should trigger a closer look at your own compliance situation.

What Should You Do with a Failing EHR?

Unfortunately, you need to protect your practice and your patients against a failing EHR.  Some recent examples demonstrate the vulnerability of any practice to a failing EHR:

An EHR cloud service added customers which resulted in substantial delays for the physicians in the practice.

Should ICD10s Affect Your EHR Strategy?

On October 1, 2014, practices will start submitting claims using the ICD10 coding system.  Any practice planning on using EHR systems to facilitate the transition to ICD10 needs to take a close look at the practicality of implementing an EHR in time to support ICD10 coding.

Will ICD10s be an EHR Challenge?

In theory, EHR systems will make ICD10 coding tolerable.  However, ICD10 coding presents a wide range of challenges to EHR vendors and users. 

What ACO Features Are Needed in an EHR?

Most EHR systems are based on strategies that predate accountable care organizations (ACO) and Certified EHR standards.  The key EHR requirements for ACOs are the ability to electronically exchange patient information, support provider collaboration, and monitor patient care.  The EHR focus to date has been on creating patient exam notes and specifically meeting the Evaluation and Management documentation standards.  Most EHR products do not adequately accommodate the operational or management needs of the ACO structure.

Why Should Your EHR Be “In Service” by December 31, 2011?

As we move further along on 2011, you should seriously consider your plans for the year and the most advantageous (and soon to be extinct) tax benefits of an EHR investment in 2011 or 2012.

What are the Issues with Clinical Content?

Clinical content refers to the various checklists, documents, and forms that address an area of medicine when using an EHR.  For example, a pediatric practice would be interested in documentation tools for a newborn visit. Not all EHRs have clinical content for all areas of medicine.  For example, some EHRs have clinical content for internal medicine, but lack the details needed for dermatology or cardiology.

A disturbing number of practices have failed to analyze the clinical content of their EHR and are distributing exam documents and other information that do not adequately or accurately document patient care.  In the more serious situations, EHR clinical documents misrepresent the care provided and the patient’s condition.  For example, one practice was distributing exam notes that had inappropriate gender information for all patients.  In another situation, a specialist included extensive ROS information on the patient’s cardiovascular system which was not performed and not the specialist’s area of expertise.  Such problems could precipitate a wide array of care, insurance, and medical professional liability issues.

Is Your Practice Ready for an EHR?

From Medicare/Medicaid incentives to EHR industry ads, it is hard to cut through the hype and determine if your practice is even ready to try to select and implement an EHR.

Implementing an EHR is a transformational exercise for any practice that requires redesigning every aspect of charting, clinical workflow and interaction with patients.  However, in too many cases, practices approach EHR projects without considering the organizational commitment needed to succeed.

Governance and Management –

What is an Additional Financial Consideration for EHR Adoption in 2011?

Until December 31, 2011, EHR investments are eligible for 100% Bonus depreciation.  100 % Bonus Depreciation allows a practice to completely write off their hardware and software EHR expense without limit in 2011.  (Bonus Depreciation drops to 50% in 2012 and reverts to regular depreciation in 2013.)  Another interesting aspect to Bonus Depreciation is that Bonus Depreciation is not limited to an offsetting profit.  Without getting into too much number crunching, that means that you may be able to generate positive cash flow depending on financing etc.