With the evolving healthcare IT industry and the importance of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) Privacy and Security Rules, it might come as a surprise that many consumers are unfamiliar with their rights under these regulations.

In an effort to address this issue, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office for Civil Rights (OCR) has developed an array of new tools to educate consumers and healthcare providers about the HIPAA Privacy and Security Rules.  There is now a series of fact sheets, available in eight languages, that inform consumers about their rights, easily accessible on the OCR’s website at http://www.hhs.gov/ocr/privacy/hipaa/understanding/consumers.

The fact sheets supplement a set of seven videos that were released earlier this year on OCR’s YouTube channel, designed to educate in a consumer-friendly format. An additional video, The HIPAA Security Rule, has been designed for providers in small practices and offers an overview of how to establish basic safeguards to protect patient information and comply with the Security Rule’s requirements. The videos are available on the HHS OCR YouTube Channel at http://www.youtube.com/user/USGovHHSOCR.

OCR has also launched three modules for healthcare providers on compliance with various aspects of the HIPAA Privacy and Security Rules, available at Medscape.org:

1. 1.  Patient Privacy: A Guide for Providers http://www.medscape.org/viewarticle/781892?src=ocr2
2. 2.  HIPAA and You: Building a Culture of Compliance http://www.medscape.org/viewarticle/762170?src=ocr2
3. 3.  Examining Compliance with the HIPAA Privacy Rule http://www.medscape.org/viewarticle/763251?src=ocr2

The Medscape modules also offer free Continuing Medical Education (CME) credits for physicians and Continuing Education (CE) credits for healthcare professionals.  For more information, please visit http://www.hhs.gov/ocr/privacy.

Meditab Software, developers of award-winning Intelligent Medical Software (IMS) and AllergyEHR, has announced a strategic partnership with ALK, a research driven, global pharmaceutical company focusing on allergy treatment, prevention and diagnosis.  The partnership will benefit both companies by allowing for each to target new niche audiences with their specialized products.

“We’re very optimistic about this new partnership and the possibilities that it will bring,” said Kal Patel, Meditab COO.  “The experience that ALK brings in the immunotherapy field combined with our top-ranked AllergyEHR product makes for a powerful, specialized package that we’re confident will appeal to many physicians.”

This new partnership will allow for Meditab to expand its reach to thousands of allergists and ENTs across the country, offering both an integrated EHR and practice management solution as well as a stand-alone immunotherapy module.

“We are excited with this partnership and the capabilities that the Meditab software offers to improve the daily operations of allergy practices throughout the country,” said Jose A. Moreno Toscano, ALK, Inc, President.

This partnership enhances ALK”s commitment to Allergy Specialists with the addition of a fully-integrated EHR and shot room automation solution to their existing suite of business and clinical optimization services.

Together, Meditab and ALK will provide comprehensive allergy solutions for practices, so that physicians can focus on patients instead of the administrative side of the practice. From a complete, customized practice management and EHR system to an extensive selection of allergy extracts, skin testing devices and even business, technical and clinical consulting services, Meditab and ALK are committed to helping practices grow.

For more information on Meditab Software, visit www.meditab.com or call 866-99-Go-EMR and for more information on ALK, visit www.alk.net/us.

According to a recent article on ModernHealthcare.com, as a result of an economic trap set by members of Congress and the president, Medicare providers will be experiencing cuts in payments for services they provide starting April 1, 2013.

On March 1, the president signed the order for these cuts, called a sequester, which set the federal budget cuts to Medicare and EHR programs in motion. His actions were required under the Budget Control Act of 2011, which was a legislative effort by Congress, promoting budget cuts so severe that they would compel both Republicans and Democrats to reach a compromise.

These cuts will include reductions across the board in Medicare payments and will cause a 2% decrease in one of the federal electronic health-record incentive programs under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. In this case Medicaid will not be affected, but since the majority of hospitals participate in the Medicare portion of the EHR incentive payment program, the impact of these cuts will be significant.

Hospitals functioning as “Medicare-only” are on average paid $1.87 million each, but a 2% cut will eliminate $37,500 from that budget. The cut would amount to a few hundred dollars for physicians and other medical professionals. The top EHR incentive payment for them under Medicare is now $18,000, so a 2% reduction would cost them $360.

The transition to ICD-10 may seem like a distant worry, but the reality is that it will require quite a bit of strategic planning that practices should already have begun. ICD10Watch.com has created a timeline to help guide providers through the transition. Here is a simplified breakdown of the timeline:

Assess Training and Education Needs - Training programs should cover ICD-10-CM/PCS codes as well as anatomy, internal procedures, medical terminology, physiology and pharmacology, according to ICD10Watch.

Identify Levels of Education Needed - ICD10Watch breaks this down into “three lives” of training that include: ICD-10 codes, Awareness and Procedural Training.

Medical coders are the first and most obvious candidates for ICD-10 coding training. They’ll need to know the code sets and have anatomy and physiology refreshers.  Those who are appointed to in-house training positions should be comfortable speaking in public.  Coding champs with ICD-10 training should educate and create awareness among non-coding staff, and could also be involved with plan implementation and testing.

Awareness needs to begin immediately in areas ranging from patient registration to ancillary departments (lab, respiratory, etc.) and an education plan should be created that meets the needs of staff.  Communication between management, IT staff and medical staff should be regular and include discussions about everything from the differences between ICD-9 and ICD-10 code sets to the impact on physicians’ time to budget impacts and regulatory requirements.

Since physicians and clinicians will likely be more influential in getting colleagues to cooperate, they may the best choices to champion the project.

In terms of procedural training, staff will need to learn new systems and procedures.  They will need to learn how to use new software and tools, including EHRs, practice management systems, and will need to learn new billing and coding procedures, among other things.

Training Plans - These should include formal classroom sessions, in-house sessions and remote, online sessions, as needed, according to ICD10Watch. Training should be arranged for staff and should be spread out so that shifts are covered and disruptions are minimal.

Budget Resources – The cost of training, including session costs and materials costs should be carefully examined.  Budgeting should also include considering the potential costs of outsourcing medical coding while staff learn as well as the cost of temporary workers who may be used to cover staff while in training.

The ICD10Watch timeline clearly illustrates how involved the ICD-10 transition truly is. Practices should start assembling training committees and outlining a budget and training plans as soon as possible to avoid potential problems down the road.

Not everything has to be as overwhelming as the ICD-10 transition—Meditab has developed a comprehensive suite of intuitive practice management, electronic health records and other software tailored to meet the individual needs of each practice.  Click here to view our product offerings.

Patients today are accustomed to using personal computers, cellphones and tablets to check email, pay bills, access social media, read the news and weather, play games, and more.  Given our increasingly online world, patients will expect to communicate with their doctors and have access to their health records online with increasing frequency.  Providers who adopt an online patient care portal will be at a considerable advantage over those who don’t use these systems.

Patient care portals enable patients to:

• Communicate with their doctor
• Schedule appointments
• Access their test results
• View medical information
• Request prescription refills
• View recent and upcoming visits
• Pay their bills

Patient care portals don’t just benefit patients, they benefit providers as well.  Here are some benefits:

• Less time on the phone with patients scheduling appointments and answering questions
• Seamless integration capability of patient data with EHR and PM systems
• Improved operational efficiency
• Improved communication with other organizations and healthcare providers
• Enhanced patient experience, resulting in greater patient retention
• Improved patient compliance with medications

The ideal patient care portal would be integrated with the provider’s electronic health records and practice management systems for seamless data exchange.  It should allow patients to self-register, submit prescription refill requests and schedule appointments, among other functions.

Meditab has developed the IMS Care Portal for medical providers with the input of industry experts and medical professionals. Patients who use the portal have access to lab, appointment, prescription and other information and are able to take charge of their medical information.  Visit our IMS Care Portal page for more information.

This past weekend, our team was exhibiting at the AAAAI Annual Meeting in San Antonio, TX.  Representatives were on-hand to share with attendees the benefits of the AllergyEHR product, as well as the recently launched IMSGo platform.

Meditab’s IMSGo is a mobile application that allows providers to see patient information such as demographics, documents, labs, prescriptions and appointments on the go from their mobile devices.  They can also use the mobile app to document clinical notes using speech recognition or recording to an audio file for transcription and from a billing perspective, users have the ability to enter charges using the mobile app as well.

In addition to the standard EHR and practice management functionality you””””d expect to find in a world-class EHR solution, AllergyEHR, features specialty focused functionality that includes: shot schedule templates; vial management; template-based skin tests; shot tracking, reaction and checking treatment; late shot follow-up; the ability to generate recipes from skin test results and automated immunotherapy billing.

Meditab’s inaugural AllergyEHR User Conference will take place April 20-21, 2013 in Dallas, TX at the Omni Dallas Park West. The information-packed weekend has been developed based on feedback from Meditabians, loyal Meditab customers, and will feature educational sessions, customer presentations, 1:1 sessions, and facilitated roundtable discussions, among other networking events.

Along with these tailored solutions, Meditab provides focused customer service including training, setup implementation, and technical support.  For more information on Meditab and the solutions it offers, please visit www.meditab.com or call 866-99-Go-EMR.

Dallas-based attorney Martin Merritt solicited the advice of Pat Whaley, a coding expert with Manage My Practice, LLC, about how physician practices can minimize the chances of an unfavorable audit.  Merritt’s blog post on physicianpractice.com was at least in part a response to the CMS document published recently to debunk myths associated with fee-for-service recovery audits.

Here is Whaley’s advice to providers to minimize the chances of being audited:

1. Get the billing straight for midlevel providers (MLPs):  Whaley says that while most practices use physician assistants or nurse practitioners to provide care to patients, few understand the rules about billing for MLPs. Since Medicare and other payers typically have rules for reimbursing MLPs, providers need to understand the rules and submit claims accurately.
2. Do an internal audit of your coding/billing department/third party vendor at least once annually:  Employee turnover or improperly or inadequately trained employees (whether in-house or third-party) can lead to coding mistakes.  If no issues exist with current coding procedures coders, billings, billing services or third-party vendors will be non-defensive about an audit, says Whaley. Internal audits are one of the best risk-management strategies to employ, Whaley says, and can help practices avoid trouble down the road.
3. Don’t assume that new physicians or seasoned veterans are properly trained on CMS policies:  The bottom line is that physicians who have just emerged from residency and physicians who have been practicing for decades may not necessarily be up-to-date on CMS’ rules. Make sure they are properly trained.
4. Ensure proper training and regular outside auditing:  Whaley describes many of her clients as being so fearful of the consequences of “overcoding” that they end up actually undercoding. Physicians have the right to be paid properly for their services, so Whaley suggests hiring an outside coding consultant to help, if needed.

Among the best ways practices can manage and streamline billing and coding is by adopting an integrated practice management system.  Meditab has developed an innovative PM system as well as electronic health records and other software that can be tailored to meet the needs of each practice. Click here for more information about Meditab’s products.

As the fervor toward EMR continues to grow and new systems are being developed to partake in this increasingly competitive market, the same key words are being tacked on to every sales pitch: “streamline your practice”, “easy-to-use”, “improve patient care”, and the list goes on and on. If you’re a decision maker in your practice, no doubt your inbox is flooded with EMR news day-in and day-out.

In trying to get the word out as effectively as possible, many companies have resorted to spouting out phrases instead of complete sentences. To engage providers with their company above all others is the ultimate goal and sometimes there’s only a few second window to do so.

We have broken down the top 5 key phrases to explain what they really mean and how you can use them to decide what’s best for your practice.

1. “Fully integrated”: Many systems comprise their packages by using third party components, like a third party lab interface or billing program. This option allows companies to save on the costs of developing their own programs, but it can cause problems for the end user, who might end up updating a different piece of the software every other week and lose out on time to complete their tasks. Therefore, “Fully integrated” is the best option for small to large practices because data will flow smoothly from one part of the system to the next.

2. “Real-time information”: Any system that offers “real-time” anything is basically saying that clinicians using their system are able to view up-to-date patient information and thereby make informed decisions related to care and safety. This includes instantaneous cross referencing of statistics, with the ability to place them in a flow chart, bar graph, or other graphical views.

3. “Interoperability”: This is the universal term for communicating between technologies. If a system claims that they are “interoperable” with other systems, they usually mean with all other HIPAA compliant technologies. Depending on the system, this can mean that it can communicate well with other EMRs, with devices such as EKG and CT scans, and even third-party billing software.

4. “Meaningful Use Certified”: If your practice is after CMS incentive payments, this is probably the first one you look for. All certification bodies have different requirements, however. If you’re not sure which group certified the EMR, don’t be shy to ask. In our opinion, CCHIT ® is the most thorough of all ONC certifiers.

5. “See more Patients”: This is probably the only one that attempts to speak the language of doctors. EMRs that promise to “streamline practice workflow” usually end up guaranteeing that the practice will also be able to see more patients. Simple features like a check-in kiosk, automated appointment reminders, and a patient portal all allow for the patient to take part in their own healthcare and alleviate a lot of burden from office staff. If administrative tasks are reduced or automated, patients can get in and get out faster.

In the end, don’t get caught up too much with the razzle dazzle of EMRs and all their nifty little phrases. A proven solution is a powerful mix of EMR/EHR, Practice Management, Document Management, Image Annotation, and an online Patient Portal. Simple is not always better, so don’t even look at an EMR that brands itself as “simple”.

If your practice is making the transition to EMR, here are five things to consider before you sign that proposal:

1. Can the system adapt to your data? Some interfaces may look pretty during a demonstration, but how will it handle the high volume traffic of your practice? The best systems offer “drill down” features for data that let you sort and organize what you want to see, when you want to see it.

2. Is it specific to your practice? If there’s something unique that your practice does every day (such as an allergy skin test or a diabetes follow-up), a powerful EMR will have a specific module for it.

3. Is the training and implementation strategy realistic? A good implementation program will include every member of your team as well as account for decreased volume throughout the process.

4. Does it offer live maintenance and support as well as online options? When it comes to spending your money wisely, choose a system that offers continuous, in-house live support as well as online options for maximum convenience.

5. Will patient data be protected? There’s a dark truth to some online EMRs: they sell de-identified patient data. Make sure to ask if your EMR is taking part in that.

Visit meditab.com for more information about what a truly powerful EMR can offer.

A new survey published in the JAMA Internal Medicine found that patients suffer when hospital physicians are overloaded, and up to 98,000 patients die every year in the hospital as a result of preventable medical errors.

In November 2010 the researchers from Johns Hopkins surveyed 890 self-identified hospitals that use QuantiaMD.com, an online physician network.  The physicians reported they could safely see 15 patients per shift, however 40% of physician surveyed said their patient load exceeded that number at least once a month.  More disturbing, 36% of physicians said their patient load exceeded safe levels every week.

The survey results further found:

• 25% reported being unable to satisfactorily discuss treatment options or answer patient/family member questions
• 22% of physicians reported delayed admissions and discharges
• 22% reported ordering unnecessary tests and procedures
• 19% reported reduced patient satisfaction
• 14% reported increased readmissions
• 12% reported worsened overall quality of care
• 7% made a treatment or medication error
• 7% reported morbidity or complications
• 5% reported mortality

Lack of universal work-hour regulations coupled with physician shortages is most certainly behind the issues, and patients ultimately pay the price, unfortunately.  The world of healthcare is currently undergoing a major transition in terms of adoption and integration of technology to improve healthcare practices and patient care, which may aid in resolving some of the issues found in the survey.

Meditab has developed an innovative suite of practice management solutions including comprehensive electronic health records software.  For more information about our products, click here.