Great tips for boosting pain management care with EHRs

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EMRs allow doctors to have more face time with pain management patients.

Electronic health records are becoming one of the fastest growing innovations in the medical world, granting empowerment to doctors and patients alike. However, one of the most impactful fields EHRs could play a significant role in is pain management. 

According to a study published by the American Society of Clinical Oncology, health information technology and rapid-learning health care models through a pain management EMR could promote better clinical care and research when it comes to treating cancer patients. However, the source did note that data interoperability, national data policies on IT systems as well as workflow all need to be considered in order for these innovations to make an impact on pain management.

"According to a study published by the American Society of Clinical Oncology, health information technology and rapid-learning health care models through a pain management EMR could promote better clinical care and research when it comes to treating cancer patients."

Working with EHRs to increase patient engagement
Patients suffering from chronic pain need real-time solutions on a widespread scale, and EHRs could be an answer for these desired outcomes. Here are some of the ways that EHRs can help doctors improve pain management care: 

  • It's likely that many pain management patients will be prescribed medications, some of which may be addictive. EHRs can efficiently track e-prescriptions so that doctors know when and where patients were receiving high-risk prescription drugs. Built-in safeguards such as these allow for great patient protection and long-term health. In the same vein, e-prescriptions allow patients to order and review their medicine before they leave the doctor's office, saving time and money.
  • Patient portals allow individuals to take charge of their health and grant online interaction with their providers. 
  • Doctors can access the patient's record prior to entering the exam room easily with mobile devices and tablets. This allows doctors to have data on-hand prior to the appointment so that they can spend more face time with those who really need it. Likewise, patient portals can let people access their files or prescriptions remotely from home.
  • EHRs are very mobile, so doctors can have the opportunity to turn the monitor around while discussing treatment options or sharing radiological images. 
  • Return visits are likely in pain management centers. With an EHR already in place for your patients, there's no need for individuals to fill out various forms every time they enter your office. This reduces wait times and allows the doctor to see more patients on a daily basis. 
  • When coding efforts are accomplished electronically, it gives doctors more time with high-risk patients and less time with administrative tasks.

Meditab Partner Summit 2014

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We had an inspiring event in St. Pete’s, reaffirming that the key to our success this year and next is to seek out collaboration. Our partners are expanding their definition of colleagues to include other partners and clients as well!  We are encouraged by the ideas they have begun to share! These ideas will be the key to our success, so we encourage everyone to work together and rely on each other to achieve greatness – we will do the same!

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We would like to extend our congratulations once again to the Meditab 2013 / 2014 Outstanding Achievement Award recipients!

Dave York
Fox Meadows
Partner with Highest Sales

Jason Keele
1st Providers Choice
Partner with Most New Providers

Vance Nelson
Healthtec Software
Rookie of the Year

Thanks again to our partners for their activity on our Facebook event page, Twitter, and LinkedIn! You can go back and take a look at what others shared here, or watch this video!

Welcome to Lawrence Perea and Kendall Godshall

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We’re happy to announce the addition of two new members to our marketing team – welcome to Lawrence Perea and Kendall Godshall!

Lawrence is Meditab’s new Marketing Director and will manage the overall responsibilities for developing the annual marketing plan to establish Meditab’s suite of customizable high-end intelligent medical software solutions as the go-to market leader.  Lawrence will also provide planning and leadership to the marketing and sales teams by ensuring that the appropriate structures, systems, competencies and values are developed in order to meet and exceed the team’s goals.

Originally from Albuquerque, Lawrence recently moved to Sacramento to join Meditab as Marketing Director after many years in Chicago. He has more than 11 years in digital and online marketing management for mid-size to large corporations in B2B product development and professional services and enjoys the outdoors, music and the arts.

Kendall is Meditab’s new Marketing Specialist and will be working closely with Lawrence, the Account Management Team, and the Value Added Services Team to establish engaging marketing strategies for the website, product promotions, newsletters, special events, and other projects.

Kendall graduated from San Diego State University with her B.A. in Sociology.  Her previous work experience includes email marketing consultation for B2B and B2C programs, creative building, blog writing, database management, and high-end sales. She enjoys crafting, choreographing, and exploring the vast Northern California terrain.

Meditab Fresno Office Featured in The Business Journal

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We’re happy to share that our Fresno office and the recent Open House event they held for clients was featured in The Business Journal.

The article discusses the launch of the latest version of IMS, the Fresno Open House and includes comments from Dr. Tushar Patel on how satisfied he is with Meditab’s IMS.

The Business Journal serves the business community in Fresno and central San Joaquin Valley, reaching approximately 8,000 readers and covering new trends, international trade, technology, retail and media, as well as other issues related to business.

 

14.8.29 The Business Journal copy

Join Us at Our Annual Partner Summit this October

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We will host our annual Partner Summit from October 16-19 at the TradeWinds Island Grand Resort in St. Pete Beach, Florida this year and we invite you and your team to join us!

This educational event will include business development opportunities, product training, hands-on implementation/troubleshooting labs, as well as networking opportunities. Our partners are encouraged to bring along their staff members as this is a chance for the whole team to maximize its knowledge of the Meditab products and learn more about our Partner program.

There will be three distinct tracks, tailored to various aspects of business.  The program will be broken down as follows:

Track 1: Sales/Business Development

Track 2: IMS Product/Support & Implementation

Track 3: Hands-on Support Labs

The 2014 Meditab Partner Summit will provide your team with an opportunity to meet the people behind the IMS products, network with your peers and engage with vendor partners.  Attendees will have the chance to:

  • Hear about new products and solutions that can help you grow your business.
  • Discuss industry requirements such as Meaningful Use and ICD-10.
  • Gain hands-on experience with new products like IMSGo, IMSFaxCloud, IMS CarePortal and more.
  • Share best practices and experiences in partner-to-partner sessions with your peers.
  • Learn about offerings from our vendor partners that can help your bottom line.
  • Engage with guest speakers that will provide valuable tips for growing and maintaining your business.
  • Speak with the Meditab team about your challenges in the hands-on support labs and implementation sessions.

Registration is $299 per person and covers all sessions, materials, and on-site meals. Each additional person from the same business can attend at a discounted rate of $249 per person.  For more information on this summit and to register, visit http://www.meditab.com/meditab-partners-2014/.

IMS Helps Practices of All Types

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If you’re looking for information on the experiences that our clients have had using IMS, be sure to visit our Client Stories page.  We have been fortunate enough to work with a variety of practices and they each have a unique story of success.

For example, there’s the profile of Colorado River Pediatrics, a busy practice that had been using a system going through a rebranding.  Running the office on separate EHR and practice management systems that didn’t communicate with one another, they knew it was time for a change. In IMS they found the fully integrated, certified system for which they had been looking.

Dr. Barton has been able to customize the well-child checks for each age and said, “I like that it helps me stay focused and thorough and really saves me a lot of time in the exam room.”

Then there is the story of Allergy & Asthma Associates of Laredo.  After 10 years of wanting to go electronic, this specialized practice finally made the jump and went green with IMS.  Dr. Jane Unzeitig was able to achieve her goal of providing an even higher level of care, while also going green.

Additionally, the customization options help Dr. Unzeitig give her own voice to all communications coming out of her office. “With the options in AllergyEHR, as well as the Dragon speech recognition system I use, I can create sentences to sound the way that I talk. This is an important feature to me because as a practice that frequently consults and refers to other physicians, we’re always sending out letters and I like that they don’t have to sound generic.”

We’ve even had the privilege of working with a solo psychiatric practitioner.  Dr. Aarti Kapur wanted to start her own psychiatric practice on the right foot – with a robust, customizable EHR system that could support her specific needs.  She selected Meditab IMS and hasn’t looked back since.

You can read more on these practices and others at http://www.meditab.com/client/client-quotes/.

IMS v14.0 SPI Launch

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We are pleased to announce the launch of our IMS v14.0 SPI, a new build of IMS, certified for Stage 2 of the MU program. This new build will help physicians in achieving MU as they move to Stage 2.

Some of the upgrades include:

  • Health Information Exchange
  • Formulary and RXHub
  • PQRS Claims Reporting 2014
  • Ambulance Billing
  • Dialysis Billing
  • Support HL7 version 2.5.1
  • Various bug fixes

Our CarePortal, which allows providers to engage patients by providing anytime access to educational information, Rx, labs, diagnosis, appointment requests, confidential messaging, and bill pay, is also ready for implementation.

For more information on Meditab’s new build please see visit our website – http://www.meditab.com.

6 Tips to Prepare for a Meaningful Use Audit

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Mike Murphy, implementation specialist and Meaningful Use team leader for Meditab Software, recently joined the Healthcare Insider radio show to share some of his expertise.

Mr. Murphy has over 25 years of experience administering government incentive and grant programs. He is responsible for managing and mentoring a multinational team to provide all around quality assistance for clients dealing with attestation and compliance of incentives and regulations. Additionally, Mike is involved in all aspects related to MU, from software development to employee training programs.

Mr. Murphy explained that in a five-year program, there is a guarantee to be audited at least once. However, the auditing is pretty simple, Mike explains: “As long as you did what you said you did, and you kept proof that you did it, you will be fine.”

Additionally, six strategies were discussed for how physicians need to prepare for Meaningful Use audits.

  1. Put someone in charge of the effort – most likely not a physician unless it is a small practice.
  2. Look at the reports carefully before you submit.
  3. Retain your supporting documentation – screenshots must be retained for up to six years.
  4. Perform a risk analysis – Mike explains how CMS provides the templates for this.
  5. Prepare to share screen shots and have them available.
  6. If you get notified of an audit – consult your vendor (exactly like you would call your CPA if you get word of a pending IRS audit).

While great progress has been made, the bulk of the market appears to be behind on implementing Meaningful Use. Murphy explained in order for Meaningful Use to be successfully implemented, doctors need to embrace the learning curve; they need to understand that until they master the software they will have a slow-down during which the service to patients is a little delayed.

Mike finally remarks: “embrace the change, don’t fight it”- if you don’t participate in Meaningful Use, you will have to pay penalties.

Meditab is committed to helping its clients meet all of their Meaningful Use goals when using IMS, providing clients with the reporting tools they need and personalized assistance they deserve as they work toward compliance. You can visit http://www.meditab.com/company/ehr-meaningful-use/ for more information.

To hear the full interview, visit: http://thehcinsider.com/mike-murphy/

Helping Clients Achieve Meaningful Use

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Many organizations are beginning to move into Stage 2 of the Meaningful Use program following Stage 1 success. On top of demonstrating Stage 1 Meaningful Use, Stage 2 requires more focus on patient engagement. It retains the core and menu structure of Stage 1 objectives, but the threshold that providers must meet has increased.

Meditab is committed to helping its clients meet all of their Meaningful Use goals when using IMS. One of Meditab’s clients, Colorado River Pediatrics, led by Dr. Alan Barton, Health IT fellow, received its first incentive payment from the Meaningful Use program when it transitioned from another EHR system to IMS.

Over the years, Dr. Barton tried multiple EHR systems in vain until he came across IMS from Meditab. Two of its biggest selling points were the affordable price and simplified systems involving billing and patient care.  The transition from a different system to IMS was a smooth one – data conversion was easy, making the staff’s job less stressful.

Dr. Barton came to love the simplicity of the system when it came to patient care. He found that the customizable tracking for each patient made his job easier and increased face-to-face time with the patients.

“I like that it helps me stay focused and thorough and really saves me a lot of time in the exam room,” says Dr. Barton

The quality of patient care at Colorado River Pediatrics increased after the implementation of Meditab’s IMS, leading the practice to receive its first incentive payment for the Meaningful Use program. Additionally IMS showed tangible results by improving workflow, increasing revenue and creating happier patients and staff.

To learn more about how Meditab is helping its customers achieve Meaningful Use, visit: http://www.meditab.com/company/ehr-meaningful-use/mu-readiness-program/.

For more information about the Colorado River Pediatrics and other client case studies, visit: http://www.meditab.com/client/client-quotes/.

“High” Variability in EHR Use by Individual Practitioners

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Every physician uses his or her EHR system differently. According to a new study in the Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association, this may affect differences in quality and cost outcomes.

The JAMIA study contemplates that the effects of EHRs may depend partly on how they’re used, not just on whether EHRs are available. They analyzed encounters of patients by different physicians and nurse practitioners in the New York City area, and found a high variability among practitioners.

Apparently, personalized approaches for using the EHR system were developed by clinicians; for example how often they updated patient problem lists, when they responded to clinical decision support alerts, and whether the encounter was with a new or established patient.

Additionally, other studies found that physicians don’t pay the same amount of attention to all EHR functions, and that personality and opinions about EHRs also affect the use of such tools.

The JAMIA research revealed a number of reasons for the variability, including the practitioner’s familiarity with the EHR system and familiarity with the patient’s condition, which could affect workflow.

Read more on this topic at: Variability in EHR use by individual practitioners ‘high’ – FierceEMR http://www.fierceemr.com/story/variability-ehr-use-individual-practitioners-high/2014-06-10#ixzz34QyjItLo