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How Paperless Offices Work - August 11, 2010
Orlando Florida --
by Diane Dannenfeldt
Browse the article How Paperless Offices Work Introduction to How Paperless Offices Work
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Photographer: Bartosz Ostrowski | Agency: Dreamstime
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If you've ever spent too long hunting through stacks of paper for an invoice or searching through paper files, you may have wished for a paperless office. You wouldn't be alone.
As soon as computers began appearing on office desks more than 20 years ago, so did the idea of paperless, electronic communication. But despite all the time that's passed, most businesses are far from operating without paper.
The arguments for tossing the piles of paper are strong. By eliminating paper in file cabinets, for example, a company can create more room and reduce off-site storage costs. By exchanging information electronically with vendors and customers, a business can make information quickly accessible -- and conversely more private and secure through the use of encryption, passwords and other security measures. For some businesses -- like those in the healthcare industry, which are governed by the Health Insurance Portability and Privacy Act (HIPAA) -- paperless records may be a regulatory requirement.
But the process of going paperless can be daunting. There are the costs of new equipment and software to consider, as well as that of converting paper records into electronic files. And there are decisions about how to make the move and when, how much existing paper to convert, how to handle paper that continues to flow in from vendors and customers, how to get employees onboard with the idea and trained in new systems, and how to simply keep doing business as usual during the conversion.
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Add to that the fact that, no matter what, a company probably can't be completely paperless. Some papers -- like signed, sealed deeds and legally binding contracts, or paper records for audits and IRS tax filings -- need to exist in their original form for legal or financial reasons or, particularly in the financial services industry, to show regulatory compliance.
Still, many companies will agree that becoming paperless, or at least paper-less, is well worth the effort. In this article, we'll take a closer look at how you can move your company closer to paperless -- from possible steps in the transition process to the available technology. We'll also look specifically at document management and consider how you can make your home office paperless, too.
On the next page, let's look first at the benefits some companies have realized by going as paperless as they can.
Benefits of a Paperless Office
There are many benefits with a paperless office, beyond simply having less paper to deal with. While you're unlikely to have a completely paper-free office, electronic communication and other systems can eliminate much of it. Let's take a closer look at how this has benefited some businesses:
1.Reduced costs and quicker access to information. MajesticInvites.com is an eight-person company that designs online invitations. Being paperless saves the company about $100,000 per year on printing, mailing, paper and storage space, reports Alina Uzilov, the company's president. And because employees can access electronic documents more quickly than paper, they can almost instantly respond to customer questions or make their changes [source: Small Business Computing].
2.More space. When he got ready to switch locations after making his office paperless, real estate broker Ed Branson of Branson's California Property noticed that he didn't even have half as many file cabinets as before going paperless [source: Microsoft.com].
Photographer: Peterfactor | Agency: Dreamstime
Many doctors' offices are transitioning to electronic medical records.3.Document security and easy information sharing. Obstetrician Rose Kung, M.D., found storing and retrieving paper patient charts was time consuming for her practice at Women's College Hospital in Toronto. Switching to an electronic document management system reduced chart filing and finding time -- and improved security of patient information. Password protection at different levels limits the access that office staff have to the information. Kung can also send electronic copies of patient records to physicians anywhere in the world [source: A&L Computer Software Limited].
4.Ability to handle company growth. Transervice Logistics in Lake Success, N.Y., helps companies manage their delivery systems. The human resources staff found they had more than 30,000 pieces of paper to track and store in their 1,000 employee records. With that information now stored electronically, the department was able to handle the addition of 500 employees (potentially 15,000 more pieces of paper) without needing additional space.
5.Access anywhere and electronic prescriptions. South Shore Skin Care Center, near Boston, has switched to an electronic medical records (EMR) system from paper patient charts. With the EMR, doctors can access patient information from anywhere at any time. They can also send electronic prescriptions directly to pharmacies [source: dBusiness News].
6.Less paper in. A company plans to accept paper faxes from customers. However, the company uses electronic faxing to intercept those faxes, turn them into electronic documents and keep them from coming into the company as paper.
7.Less temporary paper. At dentist Kambiz Moin's office in Manchester, N.H., not only are patient charts electronic, but also patient arrivals. A patient who arrives for an appointment types his or her name in a waiting room computer and puts a finger on a biometric reader. Their arrival is then posted on the office computers, color coded to show an early, on-time or late arrival [source: Orthodontic Products Online].
8.8. Less paper out. Tax professional Joseph Anthony in Portland, Ore., files clients tax returns electronically, eliminating paper returns, and then turns the return into a PDF document that he gives the client on a rewriteable CD. The next year, the client brings back the CD to have another year's return added [source: Microsoft.com].
Taken one step at a time, moving toward a more paperless office doesn't have to be difficult. Go to the next page for some steps to put the process in motion.
Transitioning to a Paperless Office
If you're considering the transition to a paperless office -- or at least a more paperless office, you may be wondering where to start and what you'll need. Many companies offer document management systems, hardware, software and consulting services to help improve electronic communication on the road to having no paper. We'll look at some of those later in this article. For now, let's explore the process.
Photographer: Izaokas Sapiro | Agency: Dreamstime
Faxes can be sent electronically to individual computers instead of requiring hard copies.
Here are some decisions for you to consider before you start the transition to a more paperless office:
•How much of your paper do you want to convert? How far back do you want to go in converting paper files?
•How will you handle the paper that still comes in from vendors, partners or customers? Or, that you can't convert, like legal or tax-related documents?
•How expensive is new equipment or software, or both, and how does that fit your budget?
•What's your proposed process for going paperless and your time frame?
•How will you inform staff and get them to buy into the process so they accept the changes you want and don't slide back into heavy paper use?
•How much help do you need from outside? (This could be a consultant to manage the conversion process, a vendor for new equipment and software, a firm to do actual data conversion, a hosting service to move electronic files off site, security experts, or employee trainers.)
•How will you handle paper reduction on an ongoing basis? For instance, whose job will it be to scan and electronically file incoming paper?
Based on recommendations from experts and companies who have gone through the process, here are some basic steps for the transition process.
1.Commit to going to a paperless office, and convince staff to go along with it by explaining the advantages for each of them individually, and as a group, and involving them in the process.
2.Check your existing computer hardware to make sure it's robust enough to handle added applications and file storage. Make sure you have a reliable backup system for all the files you will be adding.
3.Analyze what you need and plan to accomplish. Think about what you're likely to need in the future with a growing business, as well as now. Think about which documents need to be accessed often or quickly, which need extra security, and which could be weeded out after a certain time.
4.Develop a transition plan and a timetable.
5.Start small with just a single department or area of our business so you can address any problems before broadening your scope.
6.Research the available tools to help you (document management systems, electronic faxing, scanners, data backup systems, security systems, document conversion companies, process consultants).
7.Select and arrange to buy the tools you plan to use. For software, consider fit with your needs, ease of use and implementation, cost, and integration with your existing systems. And don't neglect backup needs to keep electronic data from being lost.
8.Do a small test project; make any needed changes; and then move to the transition in your first department.
9.Develop a plan for ongoing company-wide use. Include a document storage plan for employees with specific guidelines.
10.Gradually take your paperless transition through the company.
Next, let's look at a key part of any paperless office -- the document management system.
Managing Digital Documents
Digital documents, like paper, need to be stored so they can be retrieved and used as needed. For a paperless office -- or more likely, a near paperless one -- you'll need a way to turn paper documents into digital, or electronic documents.
That type of communication transformation is handled by a document imaging system. Since not having paper is unlikely, you'll probably find an ongoing need to turn paper into electronic files. A document management system usually goes beyond that transformation to deal with all documents -- computer generated, as well as those that are faxed, scanned or e-mailed.
Photographer: Scrambled | Agency: Dreamstime
To create a paperless office, documents can be scanned into digital format using a scanner.
The basic document imaging system consists of a scanner and software that allows paper documents to be scanned, converted to electronic images and saved in PDF, TIFF or other formats for storage on CDs, DVDs, a computer hard disk or a network server.
Most document imaging systems include optical character recognition (OCR). This allows the images to be recognized as text when saved as searchable PDFs or copied into programs like Microsoft Word or Excel. With OCR, you also can search for specific words or phrases within a scanned document.
Document management systems provide the electronic file cabinets and filing system tools. They combine data storage space with software that goes beyond document imaging to include functions such as audit trail and reporting tools, document expiration controls to delete documents at specified dates and Web-based document viewing.
More advanced document management systems offer extras such as:
•User authentication for increased security
•Automatic e-mail notification
•Digital signatures
•Data encryption for secure sending
•Custom keys that provide prompts for correct indexing
•Targeted solutions for industries such as health care, financial or manufacturing
•Multimedia filing, bringing together various types of files such as visual images, video, text and spreadsheets
If you have large quantities of paper documents to turn into electronic files or need help getting the job done quickly, you may want to outsource document imaging to a company like microMEDIA. One of the company's current on-site conversion projects includes OCR and fully searchable PDF files with more than 25 million images.
And if you don't have a robust enough server or want to store electronic files off site, many document imaging companies offer a hosted server solution. Web-based document hosting allows you to store or back up your files on their server and then access them securely anywhere, any time. The advantage is that valuable files are off site in case your company's server goes down or cannot be used on site, like during a hurricane.
Beyond your company's paperless needs, employees may have a home office. On the next page, we'll look at how to bring a paperless look to your home office.
Going Paperless at Home
Photographer: Richard J. Thompson | Agency: Dreamstime
In a home office, it's possible to back up files to a computer rather than having stacks of paper. Whether you're a solo entrepreneur or a telecommuter working full or part time from home, there's no reason your home office can't be as paperless as possible. In fact, given limited space and available time, the move to electronic communication and reduced paper may be even more important at home than in a conventional office. Most of the same concepts apply, only on smaller scale.
Start your at-home push to paperless by taming your inner pack rat. No, you probably don't need marketing materials from five years ago or every scrap of paper related to completed projects. Reduce junk mail by calling 1-888-OPT-OUT (1-888-567-8688) to stop receiving credit card offers. Once you've cleared out the unnecessary, you can work to keep those newly cleared spaces clear permanently.
Next, switch to electronic with everything you can. Electronic banking eliminates statements and checks. Online credit card and financial statements knocks out more paper. Check to see what other accounts, like insurance, you can make online. The same goes for project proposals, resumés and invoices. When paper comes to the door, handle it once, and recycle or shred as much as you can immediately.
Make PDF documents of your receipts and save them online instead of printing out paper copies. Create an online filing system that's easy to understand. And develop a regular back-up system that you do at least weekly to make sure you don't lose important documents. A flash drive or CD can work, unless you have enough data to need an external hard drive for back-up.
Consider getting an inexpensive scanner, if you don't already have one, to scan and save receipts, contracts and other documents. If you need to return a signed contract and your employer or client is willing, you can scan the contract, sign it and fax it back. If not, you can at least scan and save the signed contract for your records.
Take that concept a step further, and consider signing up for electronic fax services. Several companies offer this service and accompanying software for as little as $40 per month. With electronic faxing, or Internet faxing, as it's sometimes called, you can send and receive faxes without a paper-using fax machine. Any document you create on your computer can be sent to a fax machine via e-mail or the Web.
Add a firewall and evaluate your software to make sure you have adequate security for your electronic documents and can protect them from cyber-thieves. If you think you need more, buy something more robust.
Work on one area at a time to gradually build to a nearly paperless office. Plan an annual end-of-year clean-out. Go through files, and move everything that simply needs to be stored onto CDs.
And accept the fact that some paper won't go away. Deeds, birth certificates, notarized documents and some tax-related items just need to be stored securely. Fortunately, by the time you've made the other changes, you probably won't need a large box to store the paper you've left!
Next, let's consider paperless office solutions beyond document management systems that can make a paperless office work better.
Paperless Office Solutions
Photographer: Akhilesh Sharma | Agency: Dreamstime
Electronic paper records allow users to access information from any device, including PDAs.While document management is an important part of the paperless office, other technology can help make the switch to electronic communication easier. If your goal is to eliminate paper, take a look at these options.
Data Back-Up -- For a paperless solution to work, a company needs the security of knowing digital documents are duplicated. This can be done through on-site back-up to a disk, hard drive or server. However, some less-used data can simply be archived, or stored on or off site for record keeping or in case it's needed at some point [source: Digital Assets].
Companies providing document hosting services frequently offer data archiving services. They may also offer data mirroring, in which an exact copy, or mirrored repository, of your database is kept off site so that your company can connect to it and use it at any time.
Electronic Faxing -- With electronic faxing, a company no longer needs paper-using fax machines. Incoming faxes are converted to digital images and sent to individual e-mail boxes. Similarly, documents created on the desktop can be sent to a fax machine via e-mail or the Web. Faxing also is more secure because paper copies can't be lost or left on a fax machine for everyone to see.
Security Solutions -- While electronic documents provide a level of security beyond paper on their own, you may want to go beyond the security offered as part of a document management solution. In choosing a security solution, consider the three main points of security: Does it provide confidentiality by protecting against unauthorized entry? Does it have integrity in that data within the device can't be altered? And does it limit availability by requiring authorization before the database can be used?
As technology advances, other solutions to the paper problem will undoubtedly emerge. One in development is Xerox Corp.'s electronic paper, which allows notations on thin digital displays with a stylus. The notations can either be erased or saved digitally. Another, Anoto Group's intelligent paper, also allows notations with a stylus, but using a magnetic ink. The notations appear on the paper and simultaneously on a computer screen.
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For more information please call (407) 494-4EHR (4347) or visit us at: http://www.sencilo.com and let us "Uncomplexify your Information
Technology"
Sencilo HealthIT Solutions eHealthcare Architecture: More than technology With Sencilo HealthIT Solutions eHealthcare Architecture, you can leverage the same productivity tools and technology resources that have transformed business. And you get a full portfolio of services too. By working with Sencilo HealthIT Solutions, you can get:
A dedicated customer team
A website customized for your institution
A full portfolio of robust solutions
Easy setup, implementation and maintenance
Simple ordering and delivery
Technology training
Flexible financing options
Sencilo HealthIT Solutions Professional Services makes it easy.
In addition to providing high-quality technology at a low cost, Sencilo HealthIT Solutions Professional
Services can help you plan your healthcare computing from the ground up. By working with you from the initial construction phases, we can help you save time and money and lead to a truly customized solution.
Sencilo HealthIT Solutions Professional Services offers complete services that include:
Design
Procurement
Installation
Training
Maintenance
Support
About Us
Sencilo HealthIT Solutions is a Florida-based integrator specializing in EHR Cost Cutting storage, security and managed services solutions. Sencilo delivers a comprehensive portfolio of products from best-of-breed hardware and software from multiple manufacturers including Allscripts, VMware, Dell Fujitsu EMC, Hitachi, Symantec, IBM, HP, Cisco, Microsoft, Gateway Sencilo has offices throughout Florida including: Orlando Lake Mary Daytona, Medical City solutions include Security "meaningful use" "meaningful usage" EMC HP IBM Quantum Compliance Gartner Magic Quadrant Quadrent LTO Daytona Beach Deland Melborne Tampa Clearwater, Dragon, Voice Recognition, Dragon Dictation
Network Backup appliance Data Recovery Backup Health IT Healthcare IT Digital Hospital Allscripts Patient Data electronic health record P4P rules and the HITECH Act PayerView Rankings practice management tools $44,000 in Medicare or $66,000 in Medicaid from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act eClinicalWorks, Allscripts, NextGen, GE Centricity, and Meditech Electronic Healthcare IT Medical Records EHR Clinical Practices eClinicalWorks Allscripts Florida EMR, EHR, electronic medical record, health, records, practice management systems solutions, medication services, PHR Otolaryngology, Orthopaedics, pediatrics, eprescribe, dermatology, electronic documention, CCI edits, CPT codes, ICD 9 Codes, ICD 10 codes, comploiance, electronic medical records, Pain Nuerosurgery, Urology, Ophthalmology, Cardiology, Billing, Appointment Scheduling, clinicalworks, eClinicalWorks, solutions for physicians, hospitals, clinical education and medical services Computerized Patient CPR, Order Entry, CPOE, Document Clinical Information Informatics, Computer-based, SOAP, HIT, Healthcare Encounter Forms, web based, online, clinical rules database, electronic prescribing, e-prescribing, eprescribing, athenaClinicals, certified EMR, certified EHR, HITECH Act VAR Reseller Dealer hipaa privacy doctor, healthcare performance management, data security, hosting, arra, free, InterFAX, MyWay, HIPPA, EasyPayMedicare, MedicAID, SureScripts, FNC, billing, superbill iMedica Tiger on Windows, eprescribe pqri simple practice management revenue cycle e-cw e-clinicalworks greenway emds nextgen ge sage athena epic klas Dragon NaturallySpeaking speech recognition Google Health, Microsoft Healthvault Health Internet certified "meaningful use" violations HealthPresence Health Presence Sencilo “transformative” telemedicine medicaid medicare Seminole County Medical Society Orange county Orlando Medical News Trusted Advisor e-Prescription e-Rx CareTracker paperless scanning document storage hippa audits iscribe document scanning fi-6130 fi-6040 CCHIT ARRA surescript
Allscripts Welcomes Final Rule for Meaninful Use of Electronic Health Records - August 11, 2010
Orlando Florida --
PR Newswire
CHICAGO, July 13
CHICAGO, July 13 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Allscripts (Nasdaq: MDRX) extended its support for the US Health and Human Services Department's release today of the final rule on "meaningful use" of an Electronic Health Record (EHR).
(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20081013/AQM041LOGO)
(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20081013/AQM041LOGO)
The rule clarifies the requirements physicians must satisfy to earn financial incentives for automating and connecting their practices under the HITECH Act, part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009. The final rule was accompanied by a second rule setting standards, implementation specifications, and certification criteria for EHR technology in an effort to help physicians ensure their purchases will deliver the value the rule is designed to drive.
"Allscripts, representing our many clients, was pleased to be a participant in the Agency's development of the final rule, and believes that clear guidance can only help accelerate the use of information technology, which will ultimately transform the way healthcare is delivered," said Glen Tullman, Chief Executive Officer of Allscripts. "This is a milestone for our industry and one that sends a clear message to physicians. The tipping point is here and the time to act is now. Physicians can make informed buying decisions with a clear view into what exactly will be required of them and the Electronic Health Record vendor they select. As the market leader, Allscripts is confident that our solutions will be certified to meet or exceed the standards set by the final rule, and we look forward to helping our clients achieve meaningful use and, more importantly, meaningful value from the use of their electronic health record."
Signed into law by President Obama on February 17, 2009, the HITECH Act authorizes the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to provide a reimbursement incentive for physician and hospital providers who demonstrate the "meaningful use" of an Electronic Health Record. The incentive payments -- ranging from $44,000 to $64,000 per physician over five years -- begin in 2011 and gradually phase down before penalties for non-EHR use are applied in 2015.
The final rule on meaningful use can be found online at: http://www.ofr.gov/OFRUpload/OFRData/2010-17207_PI.pdf
The final rule on standards, implementation specifications, and certification criteria for EHR technology can be found online at: http://www.ofr.gov/OFRUpload/OFRData/2010-17210_PI.pdf
Allscripts Stimulus Roadmap Webcast
Allscripts will host a webcast at 10 a.m. Central Time on Thursday, July 15, 2010 to review the final rule and provide a roadmap for physician practices hoping to qualify for ARRA incentive payments.
To register for the webcast, follow this link: http://www.allscripts.com/muwebcast715.
Later this month, Allscripts will host a series of more in-depth sessions on the Meaningful Use rules. To register for any of those sessions, follow this link: http://www.allscripts.com/muwebcastseries.
Additional Information on ARRA and Meaningful Use
Allscripts has recently deployed a number of resources to help physician practices demonstrate "meaningful use" and take advantage of the ARRA incentives:
■The Allscripts Stimulus Program provides physicians with a guarantee that the Allscripts Electronic Health Record they select will meet the HHS certification criteria for Electronic Health Records. Physicians can also benefit from the Allscripts financing program requiring no payments for software for six months, as well as programs focused on faster implementation to ensure physicians can access the Federal Stimulus incentives.
■The Allscripts Stimulus Center provides the latest information on ARRA, including frequently asked questions on Meaningful Use and Certification.
■The Allscripts Legislative & Regulatory Action Center is a place to learn about and take action on issues that are critical to the provider community, providing a simple, 'one touch' connection to elected officials.
■'Go' is a website designed for physicians and other providers who are considering deploying Electronic Health Records and other healthcare information technologies. Available at www.allscripts.com/go, the site provides easy access to best practices and success stories from the Allscripts client community of more than 160,000 physicians, 800 hospitals, and 10,000 post-acute care facilities.
About Allscripts
Allscripts uses innovation technology to bring health to healthcare. More than 160,000 physicians, 800 hospitals and more than 10,000 post-acute and homecare organizations utilize Allscripts to improve the health of their patients and their bottom line. The company's award-winning solutions include electronic health records, electronic prescribing, revenue cycle management, practice management, document management, care management, emergency department information systems and homecare automation. Allscripts is the brand name of AllscriptsMisys Healthcare Solutions, Inc. To learn more, visit www.allscripts.com.
For more Allscripts news, follow us on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/AllscriptsMisys
This news release may contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the federal securities laws. Statements regarding future events, developments, the Company's future performance, as well as management's expectations, beliefs, intentions, plans, estimates or projections relating to the future are forward-looking statements within the meaning of these laws. These forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties, some of which are outlined below. As a result, actual results may vary materially from those anticipated by the forward-looking statements. Among the important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those indicated by such forward-looking statements are: the volume and timing of systems sales and installations; length of sales cycles and the installation process; the possibility that products will not achieve or sustain market acceptance; the timing, cost and success or failure of new product and service introductions, development and product upgrade releases; competitive pressures including product offerings, pricing and promotional activities; our ability to establish and maintain strategic relationships; undetected errors or similar problems in our software products; compliance with existing laws, regulations and industry initiatives and future changes in laws or regulations in the healthcare industry; possible regulation of the Company's software by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration; the possibility of product-related liabilities; our ability to attract and retain qualified personnel; our ability to identify and complete acquisitions, manage our growth and integrate acquisitions; the ability to recognize the benefits of the merger with Misys Healthcare Systems, LLC ("MHS"); the integration of MHS with the Company and the possible disruption of current plans and operations as a result thereof; maintaining our intellectual property rights and litigation involving intellectual property rights; risks related to third-party suppliers; our ability to obtain, use or successfully integrate third-party licensed technology; breach of our security by third parties; and the risk factors detailed from time to time in our reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including our 2009 Annual Report on Form 10-K available through the Web site maintained by the Securities and Exchange Commission at www.sec.gov. The Company undertakes no obligation to update publicly any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
SOURCE Allscripts-Misys Healthcare Solutions, Inc.
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Read more: Allscripts Welcomes Final Rule for 'Meaningful Use' of Electronic Health Records
----------
For more information please call (407) 494-4EHR (4347) or visit us at: http://www.sencilo.com and let us "Uncomplexify your Information
Technology"
Sencilo HealthIT Solutions eHealthcare Architecture: More than technology With Sencilo HealthIT Solutions eHealthcare Architecture, you can leverage the same productivity tools and technology resources that have transformed business. And you get a full portfolio of services too. By working with Sencilo HealthIT Solutions, you can get:
A dedicated customer team
A website customized for your institution
A full portfolio of robust solutions
Easy setup, implementation and maintenance
Simple ordering and delivery
Technology training
Flexible financing options
Sencilo HealthIT Solutions Professional Services makes it easy.
In addition to providing high-quality technology at a low cost, Sencilo HealthIT Solutions Professional
Services can help you plan your healthcare computing from the ground up. By working with you from the initial construction phases, we can help you save time and money and lead to a truly customized solution.
Sencilo HealthIT Solutions Professional Services offers complete services that include:
Design
Procurement
Installation
Training
Maintenance
Support
About Us
Sencilo HealthIT Solutions is a Florida-based integrator specializing in EHR Cost Cutting storage, security and managed services solutions. Sencilo delivers a comprehensive portfolio of products from best-of-breed hardware and software from multiple manufacturers including Allscripts, VMware, Dell Fujitsu EMC, Hitachi, Symantec, IBM, HP, Cisco, Microsoft, Gateway Sencilo has offices throughout Florida including: Orlando Lake Mary Daytona, Medical City solutions include Security "meaningful use" "meaningful usage" EMC HP IBM Quantum Compliance Gartner Magic Quadrant Quadrent LTO Daytona Beach Deland Melborne Tampa Clearwater, Dragon, Voice Recognition, Dragon Dictation
Network Backup appliance Data Recovery Backup Health IT Healthcare IT Digital Hospital Allscripts Patient Data electronic health record P4P rules and the HITECH Act PayerView Rankings practice management tools $44,000 in Medicare or $66,000 in Medicaid from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act eClinicalWorks, Allscripts, NextGen, GE Centricity, and Meditech Electronic Healthcare IT Medical Records EHR Clinical Practices eClinicalWorks Allscripts Florida EMR, EHR, electronic medical record, health, records, practice management systems solutions, medication services, PHR Otolaryngology, Orthopaedics, pediatrics, eprescribe, dermatology, electronic documention, CCI edits, CPT codes, ICD 9 Codes, ICD 10 codes, comploiance, electronic medical records, Pain Nuerosurgery, Urology, Ophthalmology, Cardiology, Billing, Appointment Scheduling, clinicalworks, eClinicalWorks, solutions for physicians, hospitals, clinical education and medical services Computerized Patient CPR, Order Entry, CPOE, Document Clinical Information Informatics, Computer-based, SOAP, HIT, Healthcare Encounter Forms, web based, online, clinical rules database, electronic prescribing, e-prescribing, eprescribing, athenaClinicals, certified EMR, certified EHR, HITECH Act VAR Reseller Dealer hipaa privacy doctor, healthcare performance management, data security, hosting, arra, free, InterFAX, MyWay, HIPPA, EasyPayMedicare, MedicAID, SureScripts, FNC, billing, superbill iMedica Tiger on Windows, eprescribe pqri simple practice management revenue cycle e-cw e-clinicalworks greenway emds nextgen ge sage athena epic klas Dragon NaturallySpeaking speech recognition Google Health, Microsoft Healthvault Health Internet certified "meaningful use" violations HealthPresence Health Presence Sencilo “transformative” telemedicine medicaid medicare Seminole County Medical Society Orange county Orlando Medical News Trusted Advisor e-Prescription e-Rx CareTracker paperless scanning document storage hippa audits iscribe document scanning fi-6130 fi-6040 CCHIT ARRA surescript
Doctors eager for $27B in electronic health records incentives - August 11, 2010
Orlando Florida -- Dr. Michael W. Steppie, who has stacks of patient health files at his nine Central Florida dermatology offices, is ready to make the move to a tidier, more efficient electronic version of medical records.
But the Associates in Dermatology president has delayed doing so because, like many health care providers, he wants a piece of the $27 billion in federal economic stimulus incentives available to hospitals and doctors to implement electronic health records.
Electronic health records can improve patient care by eliminating errors such as misreading a doctor’s handwriting, and they can alert staff when medication issues arise.
Steppie didn’t want to buy an expensive system until the federal government released its much-awaited “meaningful use” rules, which outline how to qualify for the incentives. “We wanted to wait to make sure whoever we went with would be able to meet the government guidelines.”
That waiting period now is over.
The final rules were released July 13 and published in the Federal Register on July 28. They outline what providers must do to qualify for the first phase of incentives in 2011-2012. "More rules will be issued later for the other phases of the decade-long program", says Brian McCarthy CEO and well-known HealthIT solutions company for Sencilo HealthIT Solutions in Lake Mary Florida.
Doctors like Steppie were glad the federal government loosened the original proposed rules, which came out in January and sparked more than 2,000 comments.
“Meaningful use” of electronic health records means doctors and hospitals must use the technology to improve patient care significantly, says McCarthy.
For example, if a doctor orders a drug electronically, rather than using a typical paper prescription, the system automatically can check for drug-to-drug reactions and allergies. In addition, data could be shared between health care providers caring for the same patient, which would avoid errors and unnecessary repetition of medical tests.
The federal government decided to make health care providers meet fewer objectives initially and phase in requirements more slowly. For instance, the new rules reduced the amount of prescriptions that must be transmitted electronically from 75 percent to 40 percent.
That’s good news for doctors and hospitals.
A doctor who meets the new rule can get up to $44,000 through Medicare or $63,750 through Medicaid to install electronic health records systems, while hospitals can get millions of dollars to do so.
A 2009 analysis by PricewaterhouseCoopers found the average three-physician practice would invest $173,750 to $296,000 to buy and maintain an electronic medical record system during a two-year time period. Allscripts MyWay is changing all that. Today you can get a complete suite of Office Management software including EHR for under $20,000 per doctor.
Despite the cost, there is a big incentive to buy the pricey systems: Hospitals and doctors who aren’t “meaningful users” of electronic medical records by 2015 will get paid less by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. Medicare and Medicaid account for almost half of all U.S. health care expenditures.
Meanwhile, the University of Central Florida (www.ucf-rec.org) got $7.6 million in federal stimulus funds this spring to help local doctors choose and implement electronic medical records.
Becky Cherney, CEO of Orlando-based Florida Health Care Coalition, said the toughest part of installing an electronic health records systems is finding the funding, training the staff and putting all the records into the system. “Relaxing these ‘meaningful use’ rules is huge because it’s a huge process,” she said.
Dennise Bevesque, owner a local Billing Service in Orlando, said the biggest challenge for smaller medical practices switching to e-records is the cost.
For example, one of her clients — a solo internist in Clermont — spent $25,000 four years ago for an electronic health records system. But it doesn’t comply with all the new federal rules.
Worse yet, the company that made the system was sold to another firm that in 2011 will discontinue the program Echavarria uses, so he may have to buy another one. “Everybody is trying to get the money from the federal government,” he said. “But it’s getting more difficult for physicians.” Again had the doctor looked a little more into the company he was investing in vs. the initial cost he would of been far better off. Companies like Allscripts have over 180,000 doctor using their product and is a darling of Wall Street, with a marketcap of over $2.5B.
For more information please call (877) 904-4EHR or visit us at: http://www.sencilo.com
Why Sencilo HealthIT Solutions
When it comes to your healthcare computing needs, Sencilo HealthIT Solutions's main objective is to provide a turnkey solution that can essentially sustain itself. When you choose Sencilo HealthIT Solutions, you don't just gain a vendor who provides you with technology. You get a business partner who walks with you through every step of the process
Sencilo HealthIT Solutions eHealthcare Architecture: More than technology
With Sencilo HealthIT Solutions eHealthcare Architecture, you can leverage the same productivity tools and technology resources that have transformed business. And you get a full portfolio of services too. By working with Sencilo HealthIT Solutions, you can get:
A dedicated customer team
A website customized for your institution
A full portfolio of robust solutions
Easy setup, implementation and maintenance
Simple ordering and delivery
Technology training
Flexible financing options
Sencilo HealthIT Solutions Professional Services makes it easy
In addition to providing high-quality technology at a low cost, Sencilo HealthIT Solutions Professional Services can help you plan your healthcare computing from the ground up. By working with you from the initial construction phases, we can help you save time and moneyâ€â€and lead to a truly customized solution.
Sencilo HealthIT Solutions Professional Services offers complete services that include:
Design
Procurement
Installation
Training
Maintenance
Support
About Us
Sencilo HealthIT Solutions is a Florida-based integrator specializing in EMR EHR Cost Cutting storage, security and managed services solutions. Sencilo delivers a comprehensive portfolio of products from best-of-breed hardware and software from multiple manufacturers including VMware, Dell Fujitsu Data Domain, EMC, Hitachi, Symantec, HDS, IBM, Commvault, Xiotech and HP. Its technical expertise is known throughout the storage and security industry. Clients include leading corporations, major financial institutions, top universities, government facilities, as well as small to medium size businesses. Sencilo's professional services include consulting, integration, project management, storage virtualization installation, maintenance and knowledge transfer.
Sencilo has offices throughout the Southeast including Florida Georgia Alabama South North Carolina Texas Atlanta Jacksonville, Daytona Beach, Tampa, St. Petersburg, Orlando, Hialeah, St. Augustine, Gainesville, Ocala, Palm Coast, Clearwater, Kissimmee, Lakeland, Maitland and Cape Canaveral Green Simpana Offerings Projects: BC DR planning Replication De-Dup De-Dupe iSCSI SAN NAS VMware Security EMC NetApp HP IBM Quantum Compliance VTL Data Domain vs Gartner Magic Quadrant Quadrent LTO Backup Exc Pure Disk NetBackup Networker TSM Commvault BakBone D2D D2D2T compare cloud data deduplication thin provisioning DXi Global Compression DDX virtual tape library Data Reduction SEPATON FALCON compare Celerra CLARiiON Equallogic Sencilo HealthIT Solutions NS20 NS40 CX4 CX3-20 CX3-40 CX3-80 FAS2050 FAS3050 Xiotech Nexsan Avamar DLD3 1500 D3 Storwiz storage compression data Ocarina Networks A-SIS compare Sepaton infopro BlueArc OnStor Microsoft Unified Storage data protection StorageX Brocade FAQ SSD Solid state disk SANmelody FalconStor tier zero Xiotech ISE nx4 ax4 greenBytes ZFS Sun Top 10 ROBOBak managed services hosting cloud grid Datacore Compellent compellant equallogic lefthand networks don't buy storage stop buying storage itguardian cherub networks Arkeia Network Backup appliance Data Recovery Backup Health IT Healthcare IT Digital Hospital Allscripts Patient Data electronic health record P4P rules and the HITECH Act PayerView Rankings practice management tools $44,000 in Medicare or $66,000 in Medicaid from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act eClinicalWorks, Allscripts, NextGen, GE Centricity, and Meditech
Electronic Healthcare IT Medical Records EMR EHR Clinical Practices eClinicalWorks Allscripts Florida EMR, EHR, electronic medical record, health, records, practice management systems solutions, medication services, PHR Otolaryngology, Orthopaedics, Pain Nuerosurgery, Urology, Ophthalmology, Cardiology, Billing, Appointment Scheduling, clinicalworks, eClinicalWorks, solutions for physicians, hospitals, clinical education and medical services Computerized Patient CPR, Order Entry, CPOE, Document Clinical Information Informatics, Computer-based, SOAP, HIT, Healthcare Encounter Forms, web based, online, clinical rules database, electronic prescribing, e-prescribing, eprescribing, athenaClinicals, certified EMR, certified EHR, HITECH Act VAR Reseller Dealer hipaa privacy doctor, healthcare performance management, data security, hosting, arra, free best cheap low cost
Will EHR Usage Drive Down Malpractice Insurance? - August 4, 2010
Orlando Florida -- Depending upon whom you believe, the numbers are all over the place in terms of how much defensive medicine costs the healthcare industry and the country.
Defensive medicine costs total between $100 billion and $178 billion per year, according to Stuart Weinstein, MD, in an article in the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons. The cost rises dramatically when you include the cost of defending malpractice cases, compensation payouts and additional administrative costs. Weinstein put the tab that the average American family pays to cover the cost of defensive medicine at $1,700 to $2,000 annually.
A recent study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine estimated the cost of defensive medicine to be $60 billion annually. Another estimate put the total between $650 billion to $850 billion spent on unnecessary medical care.
The solution proposed by many is tort reform - capping damages. At last week's iHT2 Summit Health IT Summit in Denver, Barry Chaiken, MD, CMO of DocsNetwork Ltd., and outgoing HIMSS chairman, said that the medical malpractice system is "broken." He suggested a malpractice system that is no fault and that empowers quality.
Can EHR Be the Answer?
Here's another thought. It may be Holy Grail thinking today, but if we get to a critical mass of EHR adoption, the scenario could very well play out. By the time we get to critical mass, one hopes, that EHR systems have matured. If physicians use the clinical decision support in EHRs and employ evidence-based medicine, which are either already embedded in the EHR or can be loaded into the application, there's a good chance that patient safety would be enhanced and a higher quality of care would be provided. Say all physicians practiced medicine this way and best practices and reporting for quality and meaningful use were employed. If all healthcare providers followed national standard guidelines, malpractice caseloads would shrink, leaving us to deal with true malpractice cases. "Using products like Allscripts-Misys MyWay can provide documented evidence that the Doctor and staff used medical best practices that will stand up in court", says Brian McCarthy CEO of Sencilo HealthIT Solutions of Orlando Florida and well-known expert witness on the subject.
For more information please call (877) 904-4EHR or visit us at: http://www.sencilo.com
Why Sencilo HealthIT Solutions
When it comes to your healthcare computing needs, Sencilo HealthIT Solutions's main objective is to provide a turnkey solution that can essentially sustain itself. When you choose Sencilo HealthIT Solutions, you don't just gain a vendor who provides you with technology. You get a business partner who walks with you through every step of the process
Sencilo HealthIT Solutions eHealthcare Architecture: More than technology
With Sencilo HealthIT Solutions eHealthcare Architecture, you can leverage the same productivity tools and technology resources that have transformed business. And you get a full portfolio of services too. By working with Sencilo HealthIT Solutions, you can get:
A dedicated customer team
A website customized for your institution
A full portfolio of robust solutions
Easy setup, implementation and maintenance
Simple ordering and delivery
Technology training
Flexible financing options
Sencilo HealthIT Solutions Professional Services makes it easy
In addition to providing high-quality technology at a low cost, Sencilo HealthIT Solutions Professional Services can help you plan your healthcare computing from the ground up. By working with you from the initial construction phases, we can help you save time and moneyâ€â€and lead to a truly customized solution.
Sencilo HealthIT Solutions Professional Services offers complete services that include:
Design
Procurement
Installation
Training
Maintenance
Support
About Us
Sencilo HealthIT Solutions is a Florida-based integrator specializing in EMR EHR Cost Cutting storage, security and managed services solutions. Sencilo delivers a comprehensive portfolio of products from best-of-breed hardware and software from multiple manufacturers including VMware, Dell Fujitsu Data Domain, EMC, Hitachi, Symantec, HDS, IBM, Commvault, Xiotech and HP. Its technical expertise is known throughout the storage and security industry. Clients include leading corporations, major financial institutions, top universities, government facilities, as well as small to medium size businesses. Sencilo's professional services include consulting, integration, project management, storage virtualization installation, maintenance and knowledge transfer.
Sencilo has offices throughout the Southeast including Florida Georgia Alabama South North Carolina Texas Atlanta Jacksonville, Daytona Beach, Tampa, St. Petersburg, Orlando, Hialeah, St. Augustine, Gainesville, Ocala, Palm Coast, Clearwater, Kissimmee, Lakeland, Maitland and Cape Canaveral Green Simpana Offerings Projects: BC DR planning Replication De-Dup De-Dupe iSCSI SAN NAS VMware Security EMC NetApp HP IBM Quantum Compliance VTL Data Domain vs Gartner Magic Quadrant Quadrent LTO Backup Exc Pure Disk NetBackup Networker TSM Commvault BakBone D2D D2D2T compare cloud data deduplication thin provisioning DXi Global Compression DDX virtual tape library Data Reduction SEPATON FALCON compare Celerra CLARiiON Equallogic Sencilo HealthIT Solutions NS20 NS40 CX4 CX3-20 CX3-40 CX3-80 FAS2050 FAS3050 Xiotech Nexsan Avamar DLD3 1500 D3 Storwiz storage compression data Ocarina Networks A-SIS compare Sepaton infopro BlueArc OnStor Microsoft Unified Storage data protection StorageX Brocade FAQ SSD Solid state disk SANmelody FalconStor tier zero Xiotech ISE nx4 ax4 greenBytes ZFS Sun Top 10 ROBOBak managed services hosting cloud grid Datacore Compellent compellant equallogic lefthand networks don't buy storage stop buying storage itguardian cherub networks Arkeia Network Backup appliance Data Recovery Backup Health IT Healthcare IT Digital Hospital Allscripts Patient Data electronic health record P4P rules and the HITECH Act PayerView Rankings practice management tools $44,000 in Medicare or $66,000 in Medicaid from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act eClinicalWorks, Allscripts, NextGen, GE Centricity, and Meditech
Electronic Healthcare IT Medical Records EMR EHR Clinical Practices eClinicalWorks Allscripts Florida EMR, EHR, electronic medical record, health, records, practice management systems solutions, medication services, PHR Otolaryngology, Orthopaedics, Pain Nuerosurgery, Urology, Ophthalmology, Cardiology, Billing, Appointment Scheduling, clinicalworks, eClinicalWorks, solutions for physicians, hospitals, clinical education and medical services Computerized Patient CPR, Order Entry, CPOE, Document Clinical Information Informatics, Computer-based, SOAP, HIT, Healthcare Encounter Forms, web based, online, clinical rules database, electronic prescribing, e-prescribing, eprescribing, athenaClinicals, certified EMR, certified EHR, HITECH Act VAR Reseller Dealer hipaa privacy doctor, healthcare performance management, data security, hosting, arra, free best cheap low cost
How to Best Meet Meaningful Use under the HITECH Act - July 29, 2010
Orlando Florida -- Quality improvement initiatives in provider organizations often go bad when they are mandated from the top down, and not integrated into clinical workflow and compete with other priorities, asserts Chris Wood, M.D., a family physician and medical director for information services at Intermountain Healthcare in Salt Lake City.
That’s why Wood worries that the HITECH Act’s incentive payments for meaningful EHR use will result in providers documenting meaningful use, but not really becoming meaningful users. For instance, one meaningful use criteria requires 80 percent of patients to have at least one problem on their problem list. Intermountain, which started building its EHR in 1968, currently has 1.7 million patients in its records database, with 58 percent having at least one problem on their list.
Wood wasn’t thrilled with some colleagues’ suggestions on how to get to the 80 percent threshold--document that 22 percent don’t have a medical problem or mandate physicians to put a problem on the list. But is that really meaningful use? Wood doesn’t think so.
The answer, he says, is to use the capabilities of information systems and the data within them to build problem lists into clinician workflow and associate a problem with appropriate billing data, such as the CPT code. “Automation must improve productivity without damaging clinical workflow,” he said at the Institute for Health Technology Transformation’s Summer Health IT Summit in Denver.
Having some component of an EHR for four decades, Intermountain has a formidable data warehouse supporting its 23 hospitals and more than 140 clinics. Using that data has helped the organization implement “bottom up” quality initiatives created within the organization with hard numbers that show whether the initiative are working, Wood says.
For instance, a survey of Intermountain physicians in 1985 found 100 percent said antibiotics to prevent post-surgical infection were given at the right time, but data showed only 40 percent compliance. Knowing that, the hospital was able to raise the rate to 58 percent one year later and 96 percent by 1991.
In another example, Intermountain went against conventional wisdom and waited until the 39th week of gestation for elective pregnancy inducements. The result, because the cervix was more ready for delivery and the baby spent more time in the womb, was significantly fewer Cesarean sections and admissions into the neonatal intensive care unit. Billings for these services went down, but costs went down more.
So, to get real meaningful use out of an EHR, Wood advises selecting a system with customizable documentation tools and granular data capture capability, establishing a data warehouse, and creating clinical teams to work on specific high-risk initiatives. “Start planning now on how to get the juice from your investment in HITECH.”
For more information please call (407) 494-4EHR or visit us at: http://www.sencilo.com
Why Sencilo HealthIT Solutions
When it comes to your healthcare computing needs, Sencilo HealthIT Solutions's main objective is to provide a turnkey solution that can essentially sustain itself. When you choose Sencilo HealthIT Solutions, you don't just gain a vendor who provides you with technology. You get a business partner who walks with you through every step of the process
Sencilo HealthIT Solutions eHealthcare Architecture: More than technology
With Sencilo HealthIT Solutions eHealthcare Architecture, you can leverage the same productivity tools and technology resources that have transformed business. And you get a full portfolio of services too. By working with Sencilo HealthIT Solutions, you can get:
A dedicated customer team
A website customized for your institution
A full portfolio of robust solutions
Easy setup, implementation and maintenance
Simple ordering and delivery
Technology training
Flexible financing options
Sencilo HealthIT Solutions Professional Services makes it easy
In addition to providing high-quality technology at a low cost, Sencilo HealthIT Solutions Professional Services can help you plan your healthcare computing from the ground up. By working with you from the initial construction phases, we can help you save time and moneyâ€â€and lead to a truly customized solution.
Sencilo HealthIT Solutions Professional Services offers complete services that include:
Design
Procurement
Installation
Training
Maintenance
Support
About Us
Sencilo HealthIT Solutions is a Florida-based integrator specializing in EMR EHR Cost Cutting storage, security and managed services solutions. Sencilo delivers a comprehensive portfolio of products from best-of-breed hardware and software from multiple manufacturers including VMware, Dell Fujitsu Data Domain, EMC, Hitachi, Symantec, HDS, IBM, Commvault, Xiotech and HP. Its technical expertise is known throughout the storage and security industry. Clients include leading corporations, major financial institutions, top universities, government facilities, as well as small to medium size businesses. Sencilo's professional services include consulting, integration, project management, storage virtualization installation, maintenance and knowledge transfer.
Sencilo has offices throughout Florida including: Jacksonville, Daytona Beach, Tampa, St. Petersburg, Orlando, Hialeah, St. Augustine, Gainesville, Ocala, Palm Coast, Clearwater, Kissimmee, Lakeland, Maitland and Cape Canaveral Green Simpana Offerings Projects: BC DR planning Replication De-Dup De-Dupe iSCSI SAN NAS VMware Security EMC NetApp HP IBM Quantum Compliance VTL Data Domain vs Gartner Magic Quadrant Quadrent LTO Backup Exc Pure Disk NetBackup Networker TSM Commvault BakBone D2D D2D2T compare cloud data deduplication thin provisioning DXi Global Compression DDX virtual tape library Data Reduction SEPATON FALCON compare Celerra CLARiiON Equallogic Sencilo HealthIT Solutions NS20 NS40 CX4 CX3-20 CX3-40 CX3-80 FAS2050 FAS3050 Xiotech Nexsan Avamar DLD3 1500 D3 Storwiz storage compression data Ocarina Networks A-SIS compare Sepaton infopro BlueArc OnStor Microsoft Unified Storage data protection StorageX Brocade FAQ SSD Solid state disk SANmelody FalconStor tier zero Xiotech ISE nx4 ax4 greenBytes ZFS Sun Top 10 ROBOBak managed services hosting cloud grid Datacore Compellent compellant equallogic lefthand networks don't buy storage stop buying storage itguardian cherub networks Arkeia Network Backup appliance Data Recovery Backup Health IT Healthcare IT Digital Hospital Allscripts Patient Data electronic health record P4P rules and the HITECH Act PayerView Rankings practice management tools $44,000 in Medicare or $66,000 in Medicaid from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act eClinicalWorks, Allscripts, NextGen, GE Centricity, and Meditech
Electronic Healthcare IT Medical Records EMR EHR Clinical Practices eClinicalWorks Allscripts Florida EMR, EHR, electronic medical record, health, records, practice management systems solutions, medication services, PHR Otolaryngology, Orthopaedics, Pain Nuerosurgery, Urology, Ophthalmology, Cardiology, Billing, Appointment Scheduling, clinicalworks, eClinicalWorks, solutions for physicians, hospitals, clinical education and medical services Computerized Patient CPR, Order Entry, CPOE, Document Clinical Information Informatics, Computer-based, SOAP, HIT, Healthcare Encounter Forms, web based, online, clinical rules database, electronic prescribing, e-prescribing, eprescribing, athenaClinicals, certified EMR, certified EHR, HITECH Act VAR Reseller Dealer hipaa privacy doctor, healthcare performance management, data security, hosting, arra, free best cheap low cost
HHS Fines Rite Aid $1 Million for HIPAA Privacy Rule Violations, Will You Be Next? - July 29, 2010
Orlando Florida -- Rite Aid to Pay $1 Million to Settle HIPAA Privacy Case
Rite Aid Corporation and its 40 affiliated entities have agreed to pay $1 million to settle potential violations of the HIPAA Privacy Rule, HHS announced. Rite Aid, one of the nation's largest drug store chains, agreed to take corrective action to safeguard the privacy of its customers when disposing of identifying information on pill bottle labels and other health information.
Rite Aid came under scrutiny after television reporters videotaped incidents in which pharmacies were shown to have disposed of prescriptions and labeled pill bottles containing individuals' identifiable information in industrial trash containers that were accessible to the public. These incidents were reported as occurring in a variety of cities across the United States. Rite Aid pharmacy stores in several of the cities were highlighted in media reports.
Disposing of individuals' health information in an industrial trash container accessible to unauthorized persons is not compliant with several requirements of the HIPAA Privacy Rule and exposes the individuals' information to the risk of identity theft and other crimes, the HHS noted.
"It is critical that companies, large and small, build a culture of compliance to protect consumers' right to privacy and safeguard health information," said Georgina Verdugo, director of the Office of Civil Rights, the HHS arm that undertook a joint investigation of Rite Aid with the Federal Trade Commission. "We hope that this agreement will spur other health organizations to examine and improve their policies and procedures for protecting patient information during the disposal process."
Among other issues, the reviews by OCR and the FTC demonstrate that:
* Rite Aid failed to implement adequate policies and procedures to appropriately safeguard patient information during the disposal process;
* Rite Aid failed to adequately train employees on how to dispose of such information properly; and
* Rite Aid did not maintain a sanctions policy for members of its workforce who failed to properly dispose of patient information.
Under the HHS resolution agreement, Rite Aid agreed to pay a $1 million resolution amount to HHS and must implement a corrective action program that includes:
* revising and distributing its policies and procedures regarding disposal of protected health information and sanctioning workers who do not follow them;
* training workers on these new requirements;
* conducting internal monitoring; and
* engaging a qualified, independent third-party assessor to conduct compliance reviews and render reports to HHS.
In addition to paying the settlement, Rite Aid signed a consent order with the FTC to settle potential violations of the FTC Act.
The HHS Resolution Agreement and Corrective Action Plan can be found on the OCR website.
OCR has FAQs that address the HIPAA Privacy Rule requirements for disposal of protected health information.
Information about the FTC Consent Order agreement is available at http://www.ftc.gov.
For more information please call (407) 494-4EHR or visit us at: http://www.sencilo.com and let us "Uncomplexify your Information
Tecnology"
Why Sencilo HealthIT Solutions
When it comes to your healthcare computing needs, Sencilo HealthIT Solutions's main objective is to provide a turnkey solution
that can essentially sustain itself. When you choose Sencilo HealthIT Solutions, you don't just gain a vendor who provides you
with technology. You get a business partner who walks with you through every step of the process
Sencilo HealthIT Solutions eHealthcare Architecture: More than technology With Sencilo HealthIT Solutions eHealthcare Architecture, you can leverage the same productivity tools and technology resources that have transformed business. And you get a full portfolio of services too. By working with Sencilo HealthIT Solutions, you can get:
A dedicated customer team
A website customized for your institution
A full portfolio of robust solutions
Easy setup, implementation and maintenance
Simple ordering and delivery
Technology training
Flexible financing options
Sencilo HealthIT Solutions Professional Services makes it easy.
In addition to providing high-quality technology at a low cost, Sencilo HealthIT Solutions Professional
Services can help you plan your healthcare computing from the ground up. By working with you from the initial construction phases, we can help you save time and money and lead to a truly customized solution.
Sencilo HealthIT Solutions Professional Services offers complete services that include:
Design
Procurement
Installation
Training
Maintenance
Support
About Us
Sencilo HealthIT Solutions is a Florida-based integrator specializing in EHR Cost Cutting storage, security and managed services
solutions. Sencilo delivers a comprehensive portfolio of products from best-of-breed hardware and software from multiple
manufacturers including Allscripts, VMware, Dell Fujitsu EMC, Hitachi, Symantec, IBM, HP, Cisco, Microsoft, Gateway
Sencilo has offices throughout Florida including: Orlando Lake Mary Daytona, Medical City
solutions include Security "meaningful use" "meaningful usage" EMC HP IBM Quantum Compliance Gartner Magic Quadrant Quadrent LTO
Network Backup appliance Data Recovery Backup Health IT Healthcare IT Digital Hospital Allscripts Patient Data electronic health
record P4P rules and the HITECH Act PayerView Rankings practice management tools $44,000 in Medicare or $66,000 in Medicaid from
the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act eClinicalWorks, Allscripts, NextGen, GE Centricity, and Meditech Electronic Healthcare
IT Medical Records EHR Clinical Practices eClinicalWorks Allscripts Florida EMR, EHR, electronic medical record, health, records,
practice management systems solutions, medication services, PHR Otolaryngology, Orthopaedics, Pain Nuerosurgery, Urology,
Ophthalmology, Cardiology, Billing, Appointment Scheduling, clinicalworks, eClinicalWorks, solutions for physicians, hospitals,
clinical education and medical services Computerized Patient CPR, Order Entry, CPOE, Document Clinical Information Informatics,
Computer-based, SOAP, HIT, Healthcare Encounter Forms, web based, online, clinical rules database, electronic prescribing, e-
prescribing, eprescribing, athenaClinicals, certified EMR, certified EHR, HITECH Act VAR Reseller Dealer hipaa privacy doctor,
healthcare performance management, data security, hosting, arra, free, InterFAX, MyWay, HIPPA, EasyPayMedicare, MedicAID,
SureScripts, FNC, billing, superbill iMedica Tiger on Windows, eprescribe pqri simple practice management revenue cycle e-cw e-
clinicalworks greenway emds nextgen ge sage athena epic klas Dragon NaturallySpeaking speech recognition Google Health, Microsoft Healthvault Health Internet certified "meaningful use" violations HealthPresence Health Presence Sencilo “transformative”
telemedicine medicaid medicare Seminole County Medical Society Orange county Orlando Medical News Trusted Advisor e-Prescription e-Rx CareTracker
Huntington Memorial Hospital Selects Allscripts Community Solution to Create a Connected, Collaborative Health Community - July 20, 2010
Orlando Florida --
CHICAGO and PASADENA, Calif., July 20 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Allscripts (Nasdaq: MDRX) announced today that Huntington Memorial Hospital has selected the Allscripts Community Solution to power Huntington Health eConnect, a Health Information Exchange (HIE) that enables physicians, hospitals and other health care providers across the San Gabriel Valley to connect and collaborate for a team approach to patient care, regardless of where they are located or which clinical technologies they use.
(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20081013/AQM041LOGO)
(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20081013/AQM041LOGO)
"Huntington Health eConnect is another example of our commitment to provide the necessary resources to improve patient safety and care in our community," said Steve Ralph, Chief Executive Officer of Huntington Memorial Hospital. "Our partnership with Allscripts started with our offering of HuntingtonRx earlier this year which has been well received by our affiliated physicians. Expanding our partnership and investment in the health of our community by building an advanced, secure method of care collaboration is vital to ensure the continued delivery of cost-effective, high quality care in our community now and for future generations."
The Allscripts Community Solution combines the Allscripts Community Record with the Allscripts Community Exchange. The Community Record, powered by dbMotion, collects data from virtually any Electronic Health Record or other clinical IT system, enabling providers to view a virtual patient record across a health system or community. The Exchange efficiently connects and manages electronic transactions of all kinds between health systems and community/affiliated physician practices.
Using the Allscripts solution, Huntington Health eConnect will allow healthcare organizations and physicians to securely and confidentially view and share clinical information across the full continuum of care. The infrastructure is designed to support data from multiple sources in a variety of formats, and harmonizes the data into a uniform, aggregated, usable structure so it can be displayed or shared with other electronic health records, personal health records (PHRs), and decision support systems across the community. Practices still using paper charts can use a secure web-based 'on-ramp' to the virtual patient record and electronic healthcare highway for communicating and collaborating with other care providers connected through Huntington Health eConnect.
"Connecting both the hospital-based and office-based care environments and ensuring that all physicians and care givers can seamlessly share meaningfully harmonized data necessary for true care collaboration is a core requirement in meeting our goals for clinical excellence," said Debbie Tafoya, Vice President and Chief Information Officer at Huntington Hospital. "We are committed to delivering the information our caregivers need when they need it, in the method that supports the way they provide care."
Allscripts Chief Executive Officer Glen Tullman commented, "Huntington Hospital is taking a leadership role by working with physicians across the San Gabriel Valley to provide them with new tools to work together, regardless of where they work or what systems they use. This partnership fulfills our shared vision of leveraging information technology to create collaboration between providers in all care settings, helping to improve the quality and lower the cost of care."
About Huntington Memorial Hospital
Huntington Hospital is a 636-bed not-for-profit hospital that is home to the only trauma center and regional NICU in the San Gabriel Valley. Renowned for its programs in cancer care, neurosciences and cardiovascular services, Huntington is an active teaching hospital with Graduate Medical Education programs in internal medicine and general surgery. The hospital has a regional neonatal intensive care unit, treating babies with the highest acuity. For over 117 years, Huntington has been committed to serving its community with excellence, compassion and respect. For more information, visit www.huntingtonhospital.com or call (626) 397-5464. Twitter: @HuntingtonNews. Facebook: Huntington-Memorial-Hospital
About Allscripts
Allscripts uses innovation technology to bring health to healthcare. More than 160,000 physicians, 800 hospitals and more than 10,000 post-acute and homecare organizations utilize Allscripts to improve the health of their patients and their bottom line. The company's award-winning solutions include Electronic Health Record, Electronic Prescribing, Revenue Cycle Solutions, Practice Management, Document Management, Care Management, Emergency Department Information Systems and Homecare automation. Allscripts is the brand name of Allscripts-Misys Healthcare Solutions, Inc. To learn more, visit www.allscripts.com.
For more Allscripts news, follow us on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/AllscriptsMisys
----------
For more information please call (407) 494-4EHR (4347) or visit us at: http://www.sencilo.com and let us "Uncomplexify your Information
Technology"
Sencilo HealthIT Solutions eHealthcare Architecture: More than technology With Sencilo HealthIT Solutions eHealthcare Architecture, you can leverage the same productivity tools and technology resources that have transformed business. And you get a full portfolio of services too. By working with Sencilo HealthIT Solutions, you can get:
A dedicated customer team
A website customized for your institution
A full portfolio of robust solutions
Easy setup, implementation and maintenance
Simple ordering and delivery
Technology training
Flexible financing options
Sencilo HealthIT Solutions Professional Services makes it easy.
In addition to providing high-quality technology at a low cost, Sencilo HealthIT Solutions Professional
Services can help you plan your healthcare computing from the ground up. By working with you from the initial construction phases, we can help you save time and money and lead to a truly customized solution.
Sencilo HealthIT Solutions Professional Services offers complete services that include:
Design
Procurement
Installation
Training
Maintenance
Support
About Us
Sencilo HealthIT Solutions is a Florida-based integrator specializing in EHR Cost Cutting storage, security and managed services solutions. Sencilo delivers a comprehensive portfolio of products from best-of-breed hardware and software from multiple manufacturers including Allscripts, VMware, Dell Fujitsu EMC, Hitachi, Symantec, IBM, HP, Cisco, Microsoft, Gateway Sencilo has offices throughout Florida including: Orlando Lake Mary Daytona, Medical City solutions include Security "meaningful use" "meaningful usage" EMC HP IBM Quantum Compliance Gartner Magic Quadrant Quadrent LTO Daytona Beach Deland Melborne Tampa Clearwater, Dragon, Voice Recognition, Dragon Dictation
Network Backup appliance Data Recovery Backup Health IT Healthcare IT Digital Hospital Allscripts Patient Data electronic health record P4P rules and the HITECH Act PayerView Rankings practice management tools $44,000 in Medicare or $66,000 in Medicaid from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act eClinicalWorks, Allscripts, NextGen, GE Centricity, and Meditech Electronic Healthcare IT Medical Records EHR Clinical Practices eClinicalWorks Allscripts Florida EMR, EHR, electronic medical record, health, records, practice management systems solutions, medication services, PHR Otolaryngology, Orthopaedics, pediatrics, eprescribe, dermatology, electronic documention, CCI edits, CPT codes, ICD 9 Codes, ICD 10 codes, comploiance, electronic medical records, Pain Nuerosurgery, Urology, Ophthalmology, Cardiology, Billing, Appointment Scheduling, clinicalworks, eClinicalWorks, solutions for physicians, hospitals, clinical education and medical services Computerized Patient CPR, Order Entry, CPOE, Document Clinical Information Informatics, Computer-based, SOAP, HIT, Healthcare Encounter Forms, web based, online, clinical rules database, electronic prescribing, e-prescribing, eprescribing, athenaClinicals, certified EMR, certified EHR, HITECH Act VAR Reseller Dealer hipaa privacy doctor, healthcare performance management, data security, hosting, arra, free, InterFAX, MyWay, HIPPA, EasyPayMedicare, MedicAID, SureScripts, FNC, billing, superbill iMedica Tiger on Windows, eprescribe pqri simple practice management revenue cycle e-cw e-clinicalworks greenway emds nextgen ge sage athena epic klas Dragon NaturallySpeaking speech recognition Google Health, Microsoft Healthvault Health Internet certified "meaningful use" violations HealthPresence Health Presence Sencilo “transformative” telemedicine medicaid medicare Seminole County Medical Society Orange county Orlando Medical News Trusted Advisor e-Prescription e-Rx CareTracker paperless scanning document storage hippa audits iscribe document scanning fi-6130 fi-6040 CCHIT ARRA surescript
Billions in EHR Incentive Funds Up for Grabs as Doctors Go Digital Across the Country - July 20, 2010
Orlando Florida --
California, New York and Florida stand to earn the greatest incentives through physician health IT adoption. Sencilo HealthIT Solutions teams with small medical practices across the country as they switch from paper medical charts to Electronic Health Records.
Last week's announcement of final guidelines for medical providers and EHR vendors has officially kicked off the national health IT transition. As part of the 2009 economic stimulus plan (ARRA), billions have been earmarked to incentivize the Meaningful Use of Electronic Health Record (EHR) technology in the US. Eligible medical providers can each qualify for $44,000+ in stimulus incentives starting in 2011, incentives that will drive health IT adoption and could bring as much as $4 billion to individual states.
Sencilo has researched the total EHR incentives at stake in each state based on the number of eligible medical providers. These totals reflect the incentives that could be paid directly to physicians, nurse practitioners and physician assistants as a boost to local economies. The fastest growing EHR community in the country, Sencilo and it's partner Allscripts work daily with medical practices making the switch from paper charts to the company's free, web-based EHR system. Company experts are available to discuss the relevance of these figures compared to state demographic and health quality data.
State EHR Incentive Potential
1.California, $4.60 billion
2.New York, $3.52 billion
3.Florida, $2.39 billion
4.Texas, $2.37 billion
5.Pennsylvania, $1.84 billion
6.Illinois, $1.52 billion
7.Ohio, $1.44 billion
8.Massachusetts, $1.36 billion
9.New Jersey, $1.27 billion
10.Michigan, $1.25 billion
11.Virginia, $1.05 billion
12.North Carolina, $1.03 billion
13.Georgia, $1.01 billion
14.Maryland, $1.00 billion
15.Washington, $871 million
16.Tennessee, $804 million
17.Missouri, $755 million
18.Arizona, $718 million
19.Wisconsin, $713 million
20.Indiana, $686 million
21.Minnesota, $683 million
22.Connecticut, $618 million
23.Colorado, $617 million
24.South Carolina, $567 million
25.Oregon, $523 million
26.Louisiana, $506 million
27.Kentucky, $483 million
28.Alabama, $475 million
29.Oklahoma, $334 million
30.Kansas, $322 million
31.Mississippi, $316 million
32.Iowa, $313 million
33.Arkansas, $306 million
34.Utah, $290 million
35.District of Columbia, $266 million
36.Nevada, $235 million
37.New Mexico, $227 million
38.West Virginia, $215 million
39.Maine, $209 million
40.Nebraska, $198 million
41.Hawaii, $192 million
42.Rhode Island, $180 million
43.Idaho, $140 million
44.Delaware, $124 million
45.Montana, $115 million
46.Vermont, $108 million
47.Alaska, $100 million
48.South Dakota, $89 million
49.North Dakota, $78 million
50.New Hampshire, $77 million
51.Wyoming, $62 million
"The EHR incentive plan was created, not to just dramatically improve the safety and quality of healthcare, but also to provide an economic stimulus to the country," said Brian McCarthy, CEO of Sencilo HealthIT Solutions. "By providing incentives to physicians, ARRA has already created a booming health IT sector with opportunities for health IT professionals, hardware manufacturers, technology companies, medical providers and local healthcare organizations. As the EHR transition timeline approaches and incentives begin to be paid in 2011, we will see the real impact of Washington's EHR campaign at the local level."
The new EHR stimulus criteria include 15 mandatory tasks and 10 "a la carte" menu items, from which the provider needs to accomplish five. Broadly, medical providers will need to begin electronically recording patient health data, providing patients with access to their health information, e-prescribing, using interaction warning and clinical decision support tools, linking together different parts of the healthcare systems and reporting quality measures for public health monitoring using a certified EHR system.
Sencilo can connect reporters to local medical professionals who have completed or are in the process of making the EHR transition. Medical providers are available to share response to the new criteria, thoughts about stimulus incentives and plans for using the $44,000 bonus. Visit www.sencilo.com for more analysis on Meaningful Use.
About Sencilo HealthIT Solutions, offer Allscripts MyWay a web-based Electronic Health Record (EHR) system to physicians. With charting, scheduling, e-prescribing, billing, lab integrations, unlimited support and a Personal Health Record for patients, EHR addresses the complex needs of today's healthcare providers and disrupts the health IT status quo. Allscripts customer number over 180,000 doctors in country.
About ARRA - On February 17, 2009, President Barack Obama signed into law a plan for economic recovery designed to pull the United States out of a deep recession. Encompassing $789 billion in funding for stimulus programs, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) included $19 billion under the HITECH Act to promote the adoption of Electronic Medical Record (EMR) technology in healthcare. Individual doctors and eligible medical providers can receive $44,000 or more for "Meaningful Use" of an EHR system starting in 2011.
For more information please call (407) 494-4EHR (4347) or visit us at: http://www.sencilo.com and let us "Uncomplexify your Information Technology"
Sencilo HealthIT Solutions eHealthcare Architecture: More than technology With Sencilo HealthIT Solutions eHealthcare Architecture, you can leverage the same productivity tools and technology resources that have transformed business. And you get a full portfolio of services too. By working with Sencilo HealthIT Solutions, you can get:
A dedicated customer team
A website customized for your institution
A full portfolio of robust solutions
Easy setup, implementation and maintenance
Simple ordering and delivery
Technology training
Flexible financing options
Sencilo HealthIT Solutions Professional Services makes it easy.
In addition to providing high-quality technology at a low cost, Sencilo HealthIT Solutions Professional
Services can help you plan your healthcare computing from the ground up. By working with you from the initial construction phases, we can help you save time and money and lead to a truly customized solution.
Sencilo HealthIT Solutions Professional Services offers complete services that include:
Design
Procurement
Installation
Training
Maintenance
Support
About Us
Sencilo HealthIT Solutions is a Florida-based integrator specializing in EHR Cost Cutting storage, security and managed services solutions. Sencilo delivers a comprehensive portfolio of products from best-of-breed hardware and software from multiple manufacturers including Allscripts, VMware, Dell Fujitsu EMC, Hitachi, Symantec, IBM, HP, Cisco, Microsoft, Gateway Sencilo has offices throughout Florida including: Orlando Lake Mary Daytona, Medical City solutions include Security "meaningful use" "meaningful usage" EMC HP IBM Quantum Compliance Gartner Magic Quadrant Quadrent LTO Daytona Beach Deland Melborne Tampa Clearwater, Dragon, Voice Recognition, Dragon Dictation
Network Backup appliance Data Recovery Backup Health IT Healthcare IT Digital Hospital Allscripts Patient Data electronic health record P4P rules and the HITECH Act PayerView Rankings practice management tools $44,000 in Medicare or $66,000 in Medicaid from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act eClinicalWorks, Allscripts, NextGen, GE Centricity, and Meditech Electronic Healthcare IT Medical Records EHR Clinical Practices eClinicalWorks Allscripts Florida EMR, EHR, electronic medical record, health, records, practice management systems solutions, medication services, PHR Otolaryngology, Orthopaedics, pediatrics, eprescribe, dermatology, electronic documention, CCI edits, CPT codes, ICD 9 Codes, ICD 10 codes, comploiance, electronic medical records, Pain Nuerosurgery, Urology, Ophthalmology, Cardiology, Billing, Appointment Scheduling, clinicalworks, eClinicalWorks, solutions for physicians, hospitals, clinical education and medical services Computerized Patient CPR, Order Entry, CPOE, Document Clinical Information Informatics, Computer-based, SOAP, HIT, Healthcare Encounter Forms, web based, online, clinical rules database, electronic prescribing, e-prescribing, eprescribing, athenaClinicals, certified EMR, certified EHR, HITECH Act VAR Reseller Dealer hipaa privacy doctor, healthcare performance management, data security, hosting, arra, free, InterFAX, MyWay, HIPPA, EasyPayMedicare, MedicAID, SureScripts, FNC, billing, superbill iMedica Tiger on Windows, eprescribe pqri simple practice management revenue cycle e-cw e-clinicalworks greenway emds nextgen ge sage athena epic klas Dragon NaturallySpeaking speech recognition Google Health, Microsoft Healthvault Health Internet certified "meaningful use" violations HealthPresence Health Presence Sencilo “transformative” telemedicine medicaid medicare Seminole County Medical Society Orange county Orlando Medical News Trusted Advisor e-Prescription e-Rx CareTracker paperless scanning document storage hippa audits iscribe document scanning fi-6130 fi-6040 CCHIT ARRA surescript
CMS releases EHR meaningful use final rule - July 20, 2010
Orlando Florida --
July 19, 2010 — On Tuesday, July 13, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) released a Final Rule, which defines “meaningful use” of an electronic health record (EHR).
Demonstrating meaningful use of an EHR is one requirement for obtaining a federal incentive bonus for use of an EHR. In January, when the proposed rule on meaningful use was released, ACA identified a number of concerns with the proposed meaningful use criteria and ACA outlined those concerns in comments to CMS.
CMS’ final rule on meaningful use reflects changes in response to ACA’s concerns. Specifically, the requirement to electronically prescribe medication has
been modified so that individuals who write fewer than 100 prescriptions in one year will not have to meet the requirement to e-prescribe to achieve meaningful use.
In response to ACA concerns, CMS has also changed the criteria so that the performance of medication reconciliation is no longer an essential objective for demonstrating meaningful use.
For an overview of the final rule on meaningful use click here. Please look for updates on these regulations and EHRs in upcoming ACA publications.
Source: American Chiropractic Association,
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For more information please call (407) 494-4EHR (4347) or visit us at: http://www.sencilo.com and let us "Uncomplexify your Information
Technology"
Sencilo HealthIT Solutions eHealthcare Architecture: More than technology With Sencilo HealthIT Solutions eHealthcare Architecture, you can leverage the same productivity tools and technology resources that have transformed business. And you get a full portfolio of services too. By working with Sencilo HealthIT Solutions, you can get:
A dedicated customer team
A website customized for your institution
A full portfolio of robust solutions
Easy setup, implementation and maintenance
Simple ordering and delivery
Technology training
Flexible financing options
Sencilo HealthIT Solutions Professional Services makes it easy.
In addition to providing high-quality technology at a low cost, Sencilo HealthIT Solutions Professional
Services can help you plan your healthcare computing from the ground up. By working with you from the initial construction phases, we can help you save time and money and lead to a truly customized solution.
Sencilo HealthIT Solutions Professional Services offers complete services that include:
Design
Procurement
Installation
Training
Maintenance
Support
About Us
Sencilo HealthIT Solutions is a Florida-based integrator specializing in EHR Cost Cutting storage, security and managed services solutions. Sencilo delivers a comprehensive portfolio of products from best-of-breed hardware and software from multiple manufacturers including Allscripts, VMware, Dell Fujitsu EMC, Hitachi, Symantec, IBM, HP, Cisco, Microsoft, Gateway Sencilo has offices throughout Florida including: Orlando Lake Mary Daytona, Medical City solutions include Security "meaningful use" "meaningful usage" EMC HP IBM Quantum Compliance Gartner Magic Quadrant Quadrent LTO Daytona Beach Deland Melborne Tampa Clearwater, Dragon, Voice Recognition, Dragon Dictation
Network Backup appliance Data Recovery Backup Health IT Healthcare IT Digital Hospital Allscripts Patient Data electronic health record P4P rules and the HITECH Act PayerView Rankings practice management tools $44,000 in Medicare or $66,000 in Medicaid from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act eClinicalWorks, Allscripts, NextGen, GE Centricity, and Meditech Electronic Healthcare IT Medical Records EHR Clinical Practices eClinicalWorks Allscripts Florida EMR, EHR, electronic medical record, health, records, practice management systems solutions, medication services, PHR Otolaryngology, Orthopaedics, pediatrics, eprescribe, dermatology, electronic documention, CCI edits, CPT codes, ICD 9 Codes, ICD 10 codes, comploiance, electronic medical records, Pain Nuerosurgery, Urology, Ophthalmology, Cardiology, Billing, Appointment Scheduling, clinicalworks, eClinicalWorks, solutions for physicians, hospitals, clinical education and medical services Computerized Patient CPR, Order Entry, CPOE, Document Clinical Information Informatics, Computer-based, SOAP, HIT, Healthcare Encounter Forms, web based, online, clinical rules database, electronic prescribing, e-prescribing, eprescribing, athenaClinicals, certified EMR, certified EHR, HITECH Act VAR Reseller Dealer hipaa privacy doctor, healthcare performance management, data security, hosting, arra, free, InterFAX, MyWay, HIPPA, EasyPayMedicare, MedicAID, SureScripts, FNC, billing, superbill iMedica Tiger on Windows, eprescribe pqri simple practice management revenue cycle e-cw e-clinicalworks greenway emds nextgen ge sage athena epic klas Dragon NaturallySpeaking speech recognition Google Health, Microsoft Healthvault Health Internet certified "meaningful use" violations HealthPresence Health Presence Sencilo “transformative” telemedicine medicaid medicare Seminole County Medical Society Orange county Orlando Medical News Trusted Advisor e-Prescription e-Rx CareTracker paperless scanning document storage hippa audits iscribe document scanning fi-6130 fi-6040 CCHIT ARRA surescript
Meaningful Use Rules Make Sense To Patients - July 20, 2010
Orlando Florida --
Posted by Marianne Kolbasuk McGee on July 20, 2010 09:07 AM
I'm not a doctor or nurse. Nor am I a hospital administrator, CIO or health IT worker. However, I am a patient. So while the government's long-awaited, meaningful use, stage 1 "core objectives" could very well entail a lot of process changes and costly technology to implement for healthcare providers, from a patient perspective--my perspective--many of the requirements sound reasonable, even commonsensible.
For instance, among core objectives for healthcare providers in stage 1 is supplying more than 50% of patients with an electronic copy of the patient's health information within three business days of patients asking.
Patient's health information just that--the patient's information. An individual expecting to get a copy of his or her medical information within three days of asking sounds rational to me. Granted, waiting three days isn't exactly the same as real time access to data. But in some states today, rules say patients should be able to receive copies of their medical information "within a reasonable amount of time." That wait could last weeks.
So, by comparison, waiting no more than three days for getting an electronic copy is reasonable, unless a patient is in urgent need of these records sooner. Of course for healthcare providers who don't already have some kind of e-health record system plans in place, fulfilling those requests might sound impossible now. (Then again, isn't the chore of making photocopies of paper records for patients even more work for providers?)
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The State of Mobile Security
Once a patient's health information becomes routinely digitized, it's also reasonable to expect that many records could be available to patients (via a portal, for instance) much sooner than three days--maybe immediately (as long as sensitive data, like important lab results, for instance, are vetted first by clinicians.)
Among other core requirements are maintaining active lists for health problems, diagnoses, drug allergies and medications for 80% of patients. Again, that's basic--but important information--that can help improve the safety and quality of care that patients receive, especially when patients receive care from multiple providers. Sounds like a no-brainer.
The next wave of meaningful use requirements that come in stages 2 and 3 will likely be tougher to meet, since health department officials admit that many of the original and more challenging stage 1 goals set out in the proposed rules released earlier this year are just being deferred to later.
And while the core requirements aren't perfect, from a patient's perspective, many appear very practical.
As time goes on, the government won't be the only one raising the bar in its meaningful use requirements. Patients' expectations in the quality and safety of care they receive--and timely, easy, secure access to their own health information--will continue to rise, too.
----------
For more information please call (407) 494-4EHR (4347) or visit us at: http://www.sencilo.com and let us "Uncomplexify your Information
Technology"
Sencilo HealthIT Solutions eHealthcare Architecture: More than technology With Sencilo HealthIT Solutions eHealthcare Architecture, you can leverage the same productivity tools and technology resources that have transformed business. And you get a full portfolio of services too. By working with Sencilo HealthIT Solutions, you can get:
A dedicated customer team
A website customized for your institution
A full portfolio of robust solutions
Easy setup, implementation and maintenance
Simple ordering and delivery
Technology training
Flexible financing options
Sencilo HealthIT Solutions Professional Services makes it easy.
In addition to providing high-quality technology at a low cost, Sencilo HealthIT Solutions Professional
Services can help you plan your healthcare computing from the ground up. By working with you from the initial construction phases, we can help you save time and money and lead to a truly customized solution.
Sencilo HealthIT Solutions Professional Services offers complete services that include:
Design
Procurement
Installation
Training
Maintenance
Support
About Us
Sencilo HealthIT Solutions is a Florida-based integrator specializing in EHR Cost Cutting storage, security and managed services solutions. Sencilo delivers a comprehensive portfolio of products from best-of-breed hardware and software from multiple manufacturers including Allscripts, VMware, Dell Fujitsu EMC, Hitachi, Symantec, IBM, HP, Cisco, Microsoft, Gateway Sencilo has offices throughout Florida including: Orlando Lake Mary Daytona, Medical City solutions include Security "meaningful use" "meaningful usage" EMC HP IBM Quantum Compliance Gartner Magic Quadrant Quadrent LTO Daytona Beach Deland Melborne Tampa Clearwater, Dragon, Voice Recognition, Dragon Dictation
Network Backup appliance Data Recovery Backup Health IT Healthcare IT Digital Hospital Allscripts Patient Data electronic health record P4P rules and the HITECH Act PayerView Rankings practice management tools $44,000 in Medicare or $66,000 in Medicaid from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act eClinicalWorks, Allscripts, NextGen, GE Centricity, and Meditech Electronic Healthcare IT Medical Records EHR Clinical Practices eClinicalWorks Allscripts Florida EMR, EHR, electronic medical record, health, records, practice management systems solutions, medication services, PHR Otolaryngology, Orthopaedics, pediatrics, eprescribe, dermatology, electronic documention, CCI edits, CPT codes, ICD 9 Codes, ICD 10 codes, comploiance, electronic medical records, Pain Nuerosurgery, Urology, Ophthalmology, Cardiology, Billing, Appointment Scheduling, clinicalworks, eClinicalWorks, solutions for physicians, hospitals, clinical education and medical services Computerized Patient CPR, Order Entry, CPOE, Document Clinical Information Informatics, Computer-based, SOAP, HIT, Healthcare Encounter Forms, web based, online, clinical rules database, electronic prescribing, e-prescribing, eprescribing, athenaClinicals, certified EMR, certified EHR, HITECH Act VAR Reseller Dealer hipaa privacy doctor, healthcare performance management, data security, hosting, arra, free, InterFAX, MyWay, HIPPA, EasyPayMedicare, MedicAID, SureScripts, FNC, billing, superbill iMedica Tiger on Windows, eprescribe pqri simple practice management revenue cycle e-cw e-clinicalworks greenway emds nextgen ge sage athena epic klas Dragon NaturallySpeaking speech recognition Google Health, Microsoft Healthvault Health Internet certified "meaningful use" violations HealthPresence Health Presence Sencilo “transformative” telemedicine medicaid medicare Seminole County Medical Society Orange county Orlando Medical News Trusted Advisor e-Prescription e-Rx CareTracker paperless scanning document storage hippa audits iscribe document scanning fi-6130 fi-6040 CCHIT ARRA surescript
