Electronic Medical Records (EMR) Blogs This is an RSS file. You can use it to subscribe to this data in your favourite RSS reader or to display this data on your own website or blog.

Accessing & Using APIs from Major EMR Vendors – Some Data at Last!
By MATTHEW HOLT Today I’m happy to release some really unique data about a pressing problem–the ability of small tech vendors to access health data contained in the systems of the major EMR vendors. There’ll be much more discussion of this topic at the Health 2.0 Provider Symposium on Sunday, and much more in the Health 2.0 Fall Annual Conference as a whole. Information blocking, Siloed data. No real inter-operability. Standards that aren’t standards. In the last few years, the clamor about the problems accessing personal health data has grown as the use of electronic medical records (EMRs) increased ...
Source: The Health Care Blog - September 19, 2016 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Matthew Holt Tags: Health 2.0 Matthew Holt Tech THCB API CHCF EHR vendors EMR Survey Source Type: blogs

Transgender healthcare coverage: Prevalence, recent trends, and considerations for payers
The post originally ran on Milliman, Inc. on July 28, 2016. Recently, the concept of gender identity and what it means from a health insurance coverage perspective has been receiving increased attention. This paper lays out recent trends, including recent federal and state laws affecting health insurance benefits for transgender individuals. We also examine health insurance clinical coverage policies related to gender reassignment surgery as well as prevalence estimates. Finally, we provide future considerations for healthcare payers, including appropriately capturing data relevant to the healthcare needs of the transgende...
Source: Disruptive Women in Health Care - September 9, 2016 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: dw at disruptivewomen.net Tags: Transgender Healthcare Uncategorized Source Type: blogs

Open Letter to President Obama About His JAMA Paper
KIP SULLIVAN, JD Dear President Obama, If I were to tell you that alligators and southern accents are correlated and that alligators cause southern accents, what would you say? You’d say, “Yes, Kip, there is a correlation, but it’s weak. But more importantly, even if the correlation were strong, there is no plausible mechanism by which alligators could influence accents. Therefore I reject your conclusion.” I offer the same rejoinder to your argument in your August 2 JAMA article that the Affordable Care Act has reduced health care inflation. In that paper, you claimed the ACA has “contributed to a sustained pe...
Source: The Health Care Blog - August 24, 2016 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: John Irvine Tags: Uncategorized Source Type: blogs

Yes, the OS and filesystems on our EHR servers were hacked and our data encrypted for ransom, but " no medical information was looked at or compromised "
On this blog I have an entire series of posts regarding EHR crashes that point out an absurd-on-its-face and, in fact, insulting boilerplate executive response to the EHR unavailability:"BUT patient care has not been compromised. " The posts can be accessed via the query linkhttp://hcrenewal.blogspot.com/search/label/Patient%20care%20has%20not%20been%20compromised.It seems I may need another, related indexing term when EHRs get hacked and ransomware is inserted:" BUT no information was looked at or compromised. "I ' ve seen this in various incarnations several times now. For instance, see my Feb. 18, 2016 post " ...
Source: Health Care Renewal - August 16, 2016 Category: Health Management Tags: computer security Marin Medical Practice Concepts medical record confidentiality medical record privacy no information was looked at or compromised Patient care has not been compromised ransomware Source Type: blogs

Politicians get a very bitter taste of the very same medicine they've forced onto clinicians and the public
This is a case of education - I hope - by fire on electronic information security, and why " going electronic " can be a risky business. This is a lesson deeply needed by our government leadership who have been pushing an unfettered national rollout of electronic medical records systems, despite known and exploited security concerns of EHRs, among other concerns discussed at this blog.I ' ve written dozens of posts, just based on casual searches of news, illustrating breaches of healthcare information technology security and privacy of information, as have others focusing primarily on these issues such as Patient Pri...
Source: Health Care Renewal - August 15, 2016 Category: Health Management Tags: CNN computer security DCCC DNC Guccifer hacking medical record confidentiality medical record privacy Source Type: blogs

Ioannidis et al.: What Happens When Underperforming Big Ideas in Research [such as Healthcare IT Exceptionalism] Become Entrenched?
Some years ago, John P. A. Ioannidis, MD wrote this piece:"Why Most Published Research Findings Are False" , John P. A. Ioannidis, PLoS medicine,2005 August;2(8): e124He wrote:There is increasing concern that most current published research findings are false. The probability that a research claim is true may depend on study power and bias, the number of other studies on the same question, and, importantly, the ratio of true to no relationships among the relationships probed in each scientific field. In this framework, a research finding is less likely to be true when the studies conducted in a field are smaller; when effe...
Source: Health Care Renewal - August 15, 2016 Category: Health Management Tags: healthcare IT exceptionalism JAMA John P. A. Ioannidis Michael J. Joyner Nigel Paneth Source Type: blogs

Advice to the new National Coordinator
Two and a half years ago, John posted an entry with this title – and I recall that it was a good summary of the state of the industry. While I didn’t agree with all of his suggestions, I enjoyed the review and it offered a good set of guiding principles. Since I was Acting National Coordinator for about the same duration as Vindell will serve, (Fall of 2013 – after Farzad Mostashari departed, and before Karen DeSalvo arrived) I’ll offer some thoughts from one who has been in his position. Certification. The health IT certification program is the core of ONC’s responsibility to the ...
Source: Docnotes - August 15, 2016 Category: Primary Care Authors: Jacobr Tags: Electronic Medical Records Medicine and technology Uncategorized Usability Value Source Type: blogs

Advice to the new National Coordinator
Two and a half years ago, John posted an entry with this title?- and I recall that it was a good summary of the state of the industry. ?While I didn’t agree with all of his suggestions, I enjoyed the review and it offered a good set of guiding principles. ?Since I was Acting National Coordinator for about the same duration as Vindell will serve, (Fall of 2013 – after Farzad Mostashari departed, and before Karen DeSalvo arrived) I’ll offer some thoughts?from?one who has been in his?position. Certification. ?The health IT certification program is the core of ONC’s responsibility to the nation. ?Whil...
Source: Docnotes - August 15, 2016 Category: Primary Care Authors: Jacobr Tags: Electronic Medical Records Medicine and technology Uncategorized Usability Value Source Type: blogs

More on uncoupling clinicians from EHR clerical oppression
At my August 6, 2016 post (link) I wrote of my belief that " best practices " for EHR evolution call for:... a return to paper (specialized forms depending on the setting) for clinical data capture by busy doctors and nurses, and data entry into a computer via clerical personnel.I presented a late 1990 ' s real-world experiment in creating such a system for invasive cardiology in the Delaware hospital system, Christiana Care Health System, where I was CMIO at that time.As at the links http://cci.drexel.edu/faculty/ssilverstein/cases/?loc=cases&sloc=Cardiology%20story and https://web.archive.org/web/20140...
Source: Health Care Renewal - August 9, 2016 Category: Health Management Tags: Christiana Care Health System healthcare IT difficulties ICCD invasive cardiology paperless Source Type: blogs

Enlisting a Large Cohort of Citizen Scientists for Precision Medicine Research
< p > Dr. Eric Topol, & #0160;director of the < a href= " http://www.stsiweb.org " > Scripps Translational Science Institute (STSI) < /a > , is recognized as & #0160;a national leader in & #0160;digital healthcare. I follow him closely on Twitter and his tweets & #0160;about various aspects of healthcare are always outstanding. He and Scripps have recently been awarded a $120 million grant for a totally new type of research involving & quot;citizen scientists & quot; & #0160;(see: < a href= " http://medicalxpress.com/news/2016-07-scripps-million-medicine.html " > Scripps Research gets $120 million to change medicine < /a >...
Source: Lab Soft News - July 28, 2016 Category: Laboratory Medicine Authors: Bruce Friedman Tags: Clinical Lab Testing Electronic Health Record (EHR) Healthcare Information Technology Medical Consumerism Medical Research Public Health Informatics Source Type: blogs

A Reminder Of The Need To Properly Protect Electronic Medical Records From Un-Authorised Access.
This appeared last week.GP suspended after accessing wife's medical records11 July 2016 A DOCTOR accused of domestic violence by his wife has been suspended after trawling through her medical records without her consent.The wife of Dr Tahir Shah claimed their marriage was increasingly volatile and eventually led to a death threat against her.She complained in June 2012 that he was looking through her medical records without permission.In a sworn affidavit she said he replied to the effect: “Why not? You are mine, everything of yours is mine … I am your husband … I can check anything I want”.He was then alleged to h...
Source: Australian Health Information Technology - July 19, 2016 Category: Information Technology Authors: Dr David More MB PhD FACHI Source Type: blogs

Proposed Drug and Device Laws Should Be Pushed to 2017
By PAUL BROWN, TRACY RUPP, and STEVEN FINDLAY Senate leaders now say they won’t consider companion legislation to the House-passed 21st Century Cures Act until September, after months of delay. Lawmakers would then have to reconcile the differing House and Senate versions, presumably by year’s end during a lame-duck Congress. We believe the summer delay is a good thing, and that Congress should actually extend consideration of the complex legislation into 2017 when must-pass FDA funding through industry user-fees will be on the congressional calendar. That way, lawmakers can debate the implications of the propos...
Source: The Health Care Blog - July 14, 2016 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: John Irvine Tags: Uncategorized 21st Century Cures Act Consumer's Union FDA User Fees Medical Devices Steven Findlay Source Type: blogs

Two recent stories of EHR un-exceptionalism, and a connection to prior HC Renewal posts including my own experiences
Conclusions During the initial phase of implementation of an EHR, inaccuracies were more common in progress notes in the EHR compared to the paper charts. Residents had a lower rate of inaccuracies and omissions compared to attending physicians. Further research is needed to identify training methods and incentives that can reduce inaccuracies in EHRs during initial implementation.Apparently not covered in the article was the issue of patient harms that might have occurred (and could still occur) due to the "significantly higher rate of inaccurate documentation" in the EHR. "Beaumont Hospital" caught my eye, as...
Source: Health Care Renewal - July 13, 2016 Category: Health Management Tags: Beaumont Hospital cerner healthcare IT difficulties healthcare IT litigation Mismanagement PinnacleHealth Siemens Siemens Healthcare Soarian Source Type: blogs

ONC Kicks Off Blockchain Whitepaper Contest
Hold onto your hats, folks. The ONC has taken an official interest in blockchain technology, a move which suggests that it’s becoming a more mainstream technology in healthcare. As you may know, blockchain is the backbone for the somewhat shadowy world of bitcoin, a “cryptocurrency” whose users can’t be traced. (For some of you, your first introduction to cryptocurrency may have been when a Hollywood, CA hospitals was forced to pay off ransomware demands with $17K in bitcoins.) But despite its use by criminals, blockchain still has great potential for creating breakthroughs for legitimate businesses, notably banki...
Source: EMR and HIPAA - July 11, 2016 Category: Information Technology Authors: Anne Zieger Tags: EHR Electronic Health Record Electronic Medical Record EMR Healthcare Healthcare Interoperability HealthCare IT Bitcoin Bitcoin in Healthcare Blockchain Cryptocurrency LinkedIn NIST ONC Peter Nichol Source Type: blogs