In a quest to meet Meaningful Use mandates to be accessible to more patients, healthcare providers have sometimes had to sacrifice patient attention. Communication is a critical component of engagement, whether during a visit to a healthcare provider or during a hospital stay. There are many ways to engage patients that can improve their health and at the same time help your medical establishment run more smoothly – a recent article on InformationWeek outlined some including the following:

1. Help families with elders – Online portals, like those provided by Meditab at Big Sandy in Kentucky, allow family members to stay engaged with elder relatives’ care, allowing them to review healthcare materials on chronic conditions and illnesses

2. Empower the mentally ill – Personal health records could provide a relatively low-cost scalable strategy for improving medical care for patients with comorbid medical and serious mental illnesses

3. Offer telemedicine – Offering telehealth services can greatly reduce patient expenses

4. Message patients – Speak to patients the way you know they can be reached – via text. Patients are more responsive to text messaging because of its convenience and immediacy

5. Reduce readmissions – Telehealth services have been reported to reduce readmissions by 44% and helps build better relationships between patients and professionals

6. Nurture nurse communication – Installing a system like HCAHPS has been proven to improve nurse communications and therefore patient care

7. Remind about meds – Medication non-adherence is the leading cause of preventable morbidity, mortality, and healthcare costs. A voice reminder for patients to take medication can help remind patients to take their recommended doses

8. Offer beside tablets – Tablets help patients order ice chips, test results, and offer more information about their condition. They also have access to the internet so they can stay connected to work and their family members

9. Offer discounts – Programs like Coupons on Demand offer cost-saving offers and adherence-support materials to patients. Access is available via the web and mobile devices, and brands can choose which healthcare professionals they want to reach

10. Create a positive workplace – Happy healthcare employees take better care of patients, resulting in healthier and happier consumers

1. 16-year industry vet and expert solution provider – we’re established, financially secure and are in it for the long haul.

2. Certified for Stage 2 of Meaningful Use, we’re committed to helping our clients meet all their MU goals.

3. We’re corporately sound, but small enough to offer personalized attention and service.

4. 100% built-in software, designed, developed and delivered by us for you.

5. We offer truly customized solutions that can meet all of your specialty practice needs.

6. We strive to complement the way you work – we’ll develop a plan with you and work at your pace.

7. Our clients are our top priority and with Meditab, you are not just a client, you are part of our family.

8. 380,000 and counting satisfied users make up our “Meditabian” community.

9. Our cloud, on-premise, and Micro Cloud options offer flexibility to choose what works best for you.

10. No third-party plug-ins required here – we offer truly integrated, seamless, single database solutions for practice management, EHR, portal, reporting, labs, and e-prescribing.

11. Our existing customers like us because we take good care of them – we have a 99.8% retention rate.

12. Solutions like IMS Link^TM allow for unparalleled healthcare collaboration between providers, hospitals, labs and even research programs.

13. Access patient records from any mobile device with IMS Go^TM for continuous care even out of the office.

14. We believe in the power of analytics and our products provide simple tools for reporting the measurements your practice needs to run efficiently and effectively.

15. Founded by practicing pharmacists and physicians, we get what it is you do and the solutions you need.

16. Our ears are always open to new ideas, requests, kudos or complaints. We take pride in being accessible to our customers.

A recent article in EHRIntelligence  outlines the transformative nature of the healthcare industry and examines the insight of its leaders.  The health information technology revolution may have started with EHRs, but it has only expanded since then. In fact, 86% of healthcare CEOs think it is still transformative and will continue to change the way business is conducted across all platforms. The majority of healthcare leaders have plans to make investments in health IT, but it has been a slow road due to a lack in funding. The primary motivation moving forward remains meeting patient expectations.

Advances in technology will continue to shift the industry and cause CEOs and leaders to adapt. Below are statistics on how leaders feel about expansion and what the future holds.

• 94% of CEOs plan to alter customer growth and retention strategies
• 1/3 of CEOs believe customer service, sales, and marketing are on track
• 31% think their teams are prepared for shifts
• 4/10 have capable IT infrastructures to handle a shift in technology
• 70% of CEOs are planning joint ventures with other companies to better their chances of success
• 28% plan to outsource part of their business to save money and time
• 60% are worried that technological change might slow down organizational growth
• 89% are actually taking action to become more innovative, in preparation for the changes

What they can all agree on is that there has to be a consistent acknowledgement of what technology can do in terms of healthcare delivery and investment in it to find ways and means that are cost-effective in taking the point of care from within the system to the doorstep of the consumer.

Because the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has shelled out about $19 million of their $27 million budget in just three months, physicians should assume that they will be audited and make preparations so they are not caught off guard and the audit goes as smoothly as possible.

Audits have been occurring frequently across the country, so in order to prepare physicians should follow these seven strategies:

1. Assume you will be audited - Make sure your office retains all documents auditors will ask for so you meet the specific requirements and have a solid foundation for responding to the audit.
2. Handle the audit promptly - Complying with an audit means you will have to complete a long list of tasks to prove every transaction, which can be tedious, but it is crucial that you do not lash out at the auditor and respond to the audit request in 14 days or less.
3. Physicians take charge - While you might want your practice manager to take control of the audit, make sure you, as the physician, are involved and know what is going on so nothing slips through the cracks. It is your business that is on the line.
4. Avoid discrepancies - The main thing auditors look for are discrepancies between what was submitted during the attestation process and what was actually done. The audit will request a document list so make sure you provide all the documents needed and in a timely manner.
5. Ensure EHR certification - Make sure you have certification from your vendors confirming the version of EHR system  you are using and if your system is upgraded that your certification didn’t change and if it did that you also upgrade that.
6. Documentation - Above all, it is critical you have an auditable source for all data used for registering and attesting to meaningful use. This not only includes the data presented on the meaningful use reports generated by the EHR, but evidence of all ‘yes/no’ objectives.
7. Complete a Security Risk Assessment - This is an area that trips up many physicians because even though it became mandatory for physician practices to implement HIPPA, it is something many are still unfamiliar with. Neglecting the risk assessment can not only place physicians at risk of paying back incentive money, but they also risk a penalty from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Service’s Office for Civil Rights

For more information on these strategies see the following article, published by Medical Economics – http://medicaleconomics.modernmedicine.com/medical-economics/news/meaningful-use-audits-seven-strategies-protect-your-practice?page=0,6&contextCategoryId=146

Social media has proven to be an essential tool to promote businesses, including healthcare and medical practices. Many practices are hesitant to promote themselves through platforms such as Facebook and Twitter because there is a fine line between what is posted that is legal and what infringes on HIPAA laws and protected health information. However there are a multitude of benefits of utilizing social media for your practice, including:

• The ability to tweet office updates and schedule
• Share medical information and research
• Allow patients to share their symptoms
• Communicate with a larger audience
• Free promotion every time a current patient shares your post with their friends
• Shows that you are engaged with patients
• Attract more patients

Make sure to engage with Meditab on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn!

There are a lot of interesting trends appearing throughout the health IT industry, particularly in relation to EHRs. Just a few years ago, the focus of in the HER arena was acquisition, implementation, and qualification, as well as access to federal incentive money from the Meaningful Use program.

In one year the focus has completely shifted from EHR implementation and MU to patient engagement, interoperability of data, analytics, all of which are critically important as the industry moves to an era of ACOs and value-based compensation.

EHRs have several layers: The User Interface (UI) layer – the interface for entering and viewing data; the data layer; the analytics layer – the collection of EHR reports, and the patient portal.

Each layer can be broken down to assess where emerging health IT products fit in and what it means for the future of EHRs. Ultimately, the future success of EHRs depends upon their adaptability to office workflows and the ability of data to be shareable and to allow external analytics companies to provide the supplemental reporting.  It’s important to remember that healthcare and health IT specifically, is an ecosystem and must adapt to changes.

For more information on the specialties that IMS targets and ways it is adaptable to workflows in various offices, please visit http://www.meditab.com/ehr-specialties/.

Waiting rooms can make even the most easy-going patient go running to the front desk to ask how much longer it will take for them to be seen. Luckily, there are apps to keep patients entertained and your waiting room a stress-free area.

Below are some of the top apps to help alleviate waiting room frustration.

1. Info on a Slate - A 10-inch LCD touchscreen that features health information along with targeted advertising.
2. MyCareText - A secure HIPPA compliant system that notifies authorized friends and family members about a patient’s condition and alerts specific individuals if a doctor needs to speak to them.
3. ZocDoc - Allows patients to register for a single doctor, or many, pre-fill medical forms, and make appointments online.
4. Emma - iPad app that helps test and engage kids while they wait to see the doctor. The app helps them share their symptoms with physicians and learn more about their own health.
5. InQuicker - This app lets patients know when their doctor is running late before they get to their appointment.
6. MedWaitTime - Allows patients to make appointments and check on the status of their appointment prior to arriving at the doctor’s office.

Check out our own IMSGo , our mobile EHR application, and all of its useful features including easy access for patients anywhere, any time.

We are pleased to announce that after participating in a rigorous testing process, IMS (Intelligent Medical Software) has been certified for Stage 2 Meaningful Use.

The three key requirements of Stage 2 are:

• Longer reporting periods with more data collection
• Patient engagement in their own healthcare
• The creation of health information exchanges (HIEs)

Through a partnership with Surescripts, IMS users will be a part of the National Health information Network that will help contribute to reducing the cost, and improving the quality, safety and efficiency of healthcare across the country.

The IMS EHR system combines a patient portal, clinical charting, e-prescribing, population management, decision support, practice analytics, document imaging and much more, on one robust database platform.

For more information on how Meditab Software helps its clients with meeting Meaningful Use requirements, visit http://www.meditab.com/company/ehr-meaningful-use/.

We’re happy to share the link below to our very own CEO Mike Patel being interviewed on Entrepreneur Podcast Network. In the interview, Mike tells listeners about how Meditab started, successes along the way and how the company has had to adapt to recent industry changes. He also shares some specifics about IMS and its benefits with the listeners.

Entrepreneur Podcast Network is an on-demand streaming channel that currently reaches 104 countries worldwide each month with interviews by some of the most renowned success stories in business today. Enjoy!

http://epodcastnetwork.com/meditab-software-developers-of-intelligent-medical-software-that-offers-clinical-automation-systems/

Meditab is eager to unveil two of the newest IMS features of interest to allergy specialists – the ‘vial group master’ feature and the ‘contra-antigens’ feature. The ‘vial group master’ feature allows providers to create vaccine prescriptions with just a few simple clicks. The new ‘contra-antigens’ feature ensures that providers will never mistakenly mix incompatible antigens, a potentially life-saving tool.

The new features will be highlighted at booth #220 at the annual AAAAI meeting happening this week in San Diego, CA from February 28-March 4. Representatives from Meditab Software will be on-hand to share new features, answer questions and provide demonstrations of the AllergyEHR product with attendees.

AllergyEHR, one of the top five EHR systems for allergists, is a specialty-specific solution developed by clinicians for clinicians, and 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. Clients also have the option to utilize IMSGo, Meditab’s mobile application that allows providers to see patient information such as demographics, documents, labs, prescriptions and appointments on the go.