Electronic Health Records (EHR, EMR)

Primary care doctors now lose more than an hour a day to sorting through approximately 77 electronic health record notifications, researchers at Baylor University found. “Information overload is of concern because new types of notifications and ‘FYI’ (for your information) messages can be easily created in the EHR (vs in a paper-based system),” the researchers wrote in the Journal of the American Medical Association  Internal Medicine.      Making the workload harder to endure, reading and processing these messages is uncompensated in an environment of reduced reimbursements for office-based care, according to the study. [Also: Epic to develop Apple Watch app, 'Limerick,' a test results notifier] Physicians are receiving these increasing amounts of notifications in EHR-based inboxes such as Epic’s In-Basket and General Electric Centricity’s Documents. The messages include test results, responses to referrals, requests for medication refills, and messages from physicians and other healthcare professionals. The system is crying out for change the researchers wrote. “Strategies to help filter messages relevant to high-quality care, EHR designs that support team-based care, and staffing models that assist physicians in managing this influx of information are needed.” What’s more, optimistic predictions that EHRs would improve patient care through better doctor-patient communications have not ubiquitously materialized. “Unfortunately, we are far from this promise and now also grapple with the unintended consequences of EHRs,” Joseph Ross, MD wrote in an editorial accompanying the research.  In fact, electronic “paperwork” has burdened doctors and reduced the time for patient care. Ross advocated that inbox notification capabilities be periodically reviewed to be sure EHRs are working in the best interests of patient care and not creating an unnecessary burden on physicians. [Like Healthcare IT News on Facebook] In addition, doctors should be reimbursed for time spent reviewing EHR notifications. “Although many of these notifications are in the service of patients,” Ross wrote, “we need to be sure that physicians’ reimbursement, particularly for primary care physicians, is taking into account the full time needed to manage patients’ care.”  Twitter: @HealthITNews

More than 30 healthcare provider organizations have banded together to urge the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to adopt a 90-day reporting period for meaningful use measures in 2016, rather than full-year reporting as CMS has proposed. Providers proved successful when they rallied for 90-day reporting for 2015. [Also: Meaningful use will still be part of MIPS reimbursement] In a March 15 letter to CMS Acting Administrator Andy Slavitt, the groups said the changes CMS made in the Modified Stage 2 final rule for 2015 provided welcomed relief to the provider community. As they see it, full-year reporting in 2016 would demand complex system changes: "For many providers, these system changes will impact their ability to comply with the full-year reporting period," they wrote. CHIME, which represents more than 1,800 healthcare chief information officers, is leading the call for 90-day reporting. [Also: Healthcare industry cheers meaningful use modifications] "Healthcare providers are firmly committed to using information technology to transform the delivery system," CHIME Board Chair Marc Probst, CIO at Intermountain Healthcare, and CHIME President and CEO Russell Branzell, said in a joint statement. "Changes made to the meaningful use program last year provided welcomed relief from burdensome regulatory requirements.” "Providers now are awaiting further changes to the program spurred by the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015. However, the current regulatory scheme still calls for a 365-day reporting period. Until the final MACRA rules are issued, providers will be greatly challenged to meet the reporting requirements,” they said. [Like Healthcare IT News on Facebook] "Maintaining 365-day reporting period also will force providers to pull resources away from using health IT to innovate care processes and workflows. Additionally, it will limit the amount of time providers and vendors could spend on improving interoperability and information exchange." Organizations supporting the change are: American Academy of Dermatology Association American Academy of Family Physicians American Academy of Neurology American Academy of Ophthalmology American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists American Association of Neurological Surgeons American Association of Orthopaedic Surgeons American College of Cardiology American College of Mohs Surgery American College of Physicians American College of Rheumatology American College of Surgeons American Gastroenterological Association American Society for Dermatologic Surgery American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy American Society of Nuclear Cardiology American Society of Plastic Surgeons American Urological Association America’s Essential Hospitals Association of Medical Directors of Information Systems Cardiology Advocacy Alliance Coalition of State Rheumatology Organizations College of Healthcare Information Management Executives Congress of Neurological Surgeons Federation of American Hospitals Heart Rhythm Society Infectious Diseases Society of America Medical Group Management Association National Association of Spine Specialists National Rural Health Association Oncology Nursing Society Premier healthcare alliance Society for Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions United Surgical Partners International Twitter: @Bernie_HITN

The I-STOP legislation, first passed in 2012, aims to combat controlled substance abuse. A provision set to take effect at the end of this month requires doctors to prescribe almost everything electronically.

Before joining Cerner, Glaser was the longtime vice president and chief information officer at Partners HealthCare. 

CMS, ONC promise to not only accelerate adoption of the interoperability spec but also have some providers looking ahead at ways they can put it to use.

Step-by-step tools help providers unlock data to help prevent cardiovascular events.

The International Olympic Committee is tapping GE Healthcare’s Centricity Practice Solution as the official electronic health record for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games. GE executives announced the win on March 2 at HIMSS16 in Las Vegas. The IOC has used GE’s EMR platform for the last two Olympic Games in London and Sochi. [Also: See our big gallery of HIMSS16 photos] However, Rio 2016 marks the first time all athletes and spectators at the Olympic Games will have their health interactions managed by an EMR, IOC officials said. “The gold medal of medical services is something integrated and comprehensive – a total package,” Richard Budgett, MD, IOC medical and scientific director said in a press statement. “Adding access to an electronic medical record is key to our drive towards the prevention of injury.” Also, EMR data will be analyzed to spot patterns and provide insights for future Games planning. Twitter: @HealthITNews This story is part of our ongoing coverage of the HIMSS16 conference. Follow our live blog for real-time updates, and visit Destination HIMSS16 for a full rundown of our reporting from the show. For a selection of some of the best social media posts of the show, visit our Trending at #HIMSS16 hub.

e-MDs, an Austin, Texas-based developer of ambulatory electronic health records and practice management tools, will acquire several technology assets from McKesson Business Performance Services. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. The technologies include McKesson Practice Choice, Medisoft, Medisoft Clinical, Lytec, Lytec MD and Practice Partner. e-MDs officials say the tools will be used by some 55,000 of its provider customers nationwide. The company hopes the acquisition will benefit small- to medium-sized practices and broaden e-MDs' presence in the ambulatory IT market. [Like Healthcare IT News on Facebook] "The McKesson team supporting these products is passionate about the same thing we are- helping doctors maintain focus on the patient,” said e-MDs CEO Derek Pickell in a statement. "All of us at e-MDs look forward to aligning this team with ours to bring e-MDs’ full suite of solutions to thousands of new providers across the country." "e-MDs is the perfect fit for these assets because it has award-winning technology ideally suited to this customer base,” said Scott Sanner, general manager of McKesson Business Performance Services, in a statement. Twitter: @JessiefDavis

Experts say healthcare providers need to turn up the pressure on tech vendors to create more intuitive products.

Three years after first announcing it had chosen Epic for its new electronic health record system, University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center went live on schedule on March 4, according to the Houston Business Journal. MD Anderson went to market for a new EHR in late 2012 and announced Epic as its vendor partner in the spring of 2013. Financial terms of the project have not been disclosed. [Also: Judy Faulkner: 'Good software is art'] In a 2014 Fiscal Year in Review, Richard Champlin, MD, chair of the health system's Department of Stem Cell Transplantation and Cellular Therapy, said the project would wrap up around this time. "We are involved in the planning for the March 2016 go-live with our new electronic health record system, Epic," he wrote. One reason the rollout may have gone smoothly so far could be the experience of MD Anderson's Chief Information Officer Chris Belmont; before joining the cancer center in 2013, he served as CIO of New Orleans-based Ochsner Health System, where he implemented Epic across its 10 hospitals and more than three-dozen clinics. Twitter: @MikeMiliardHITN