Tag Archives: electronic medical records

Need a Second Opinion? Try the Cleveland Clinic Online

A mother was advised her college-age daughter needed an implanted defibrillator to protect against a rare, genetic heart disorder. Not wanting to drag her daughter home from college to get a second opinion, she turned to the Cleveland Clinic – whose doctors were able to view her daughter's MRI online.  For a fee of $565, Cleveland Clinic physicians were able to reassure her that her daughter was fine and did not need the device. [link] Online second opinions are also offered by Massachusetts General and Johns Hopkins. [link]

Hits & Misses – 2009/01/26

Rhode Island gets the nation's first Medicaid block grant.

Rhode Island will be the first state to cap overall spending on Medicaid in an experiment starting early this year…In exchange, the state will be allowed to change health care programs that have been tightly controlled by the federal government.

Does gastric bypass surgery save money?

For years, Bob Clegg's insurance company paid out some $3,000 a month for doctor visits, drugs and medical devices to treat the health problems caused by his obesity. In September 2007, when his weight peaked at 380 pounds (172 kg), he had gastric bypass surgery, and now his health issues – joint pain, sleep apnea and esophageal problems – have vanished, and so have the medical bills.

The downside of digitizing patient records.

An unrealistically fast rollout could lead to unqualified technicians installing systems in ways that lead to frustration and backlash among doctors… "My data's a mess and my patients are angry."

Flush those toxins?

It is the opinion of mainstream and state-of-the-art medicine and physiology that these claims are not only ludicrous but tantamount to fraud…The contents of what ends up being consumed during a "detox" are essentially stimulants, laxatives and diuretics.

Just How Well Do EMRs Work?

To visit the Marshfield Clinic, a longtime innovator in health information technology, is to glimpse medicine's digital future.

A computerized patient record is a continuously updated document that includes the patient's health history, medications, lab tests, treatment guidelines and doctors' and nurses' notes.  However, there is no crisp, conclusive cost-benefit arithmetic. Marshfield can point to various measurable savings, but has scant proof they outweigh the millions spent in the past and the $50 million-a-year technology budget. [link]

The Big Apple Adopts EMRs

About 1,000 primary care physicians are participating, with subsidies from the city. [link] Among the benefits:

Cliffs Notes-style advice on how to handle medical problems based on a patient's age, sex, ethnic background and medical history. It prompts doctors to provide routine tests and vaccinations, advises them on appropriate treatment and medication for certain conditions, and warns of potentially dangerous drug interactions….

In April, the city will begin sending participating doctors report cards on how their preventive efforts compare to their peers.

Example of fictional diabetic patient benefiting. However, patients don't get to know their doctor's score. And only five doctors are giving patients access to their own records from home computers.

The Downside of EMRs

US health care reformers who believe that forcing hospitalsElectronic Medical Records and physicians to participate in centralized electronic information systems for patient records, test results, and physician order entry should be concerned about what is happening in Britain. Three major London hospitals had their information systems shut down by the Mytob worm on November 18, 2008. The incident shows the downside of electronic medical records (EMRs): patient care can be put at risk and costs can increase.

The affected hospitals activated emergency paper and pen backup systems. Ambulances were diverted to other hospitals. Electronic patient records were not accessible. And the incident reportedly caused delays in care and treatment. Another worry is that the worm could put confidential data at risk by allowing hackers to control the network and receive information from it. [link] Continue reading The Downside of EMRs

Doctors Online

It's amazing what the free market can do:

Online DoctorsPatients will no longer have to wait a month to see a doctor for an urgent sore throat, wait all day for a doctor to return their call or leave work midday and drive a long distance for a routine appointment. Instead, patients will log on to their computers and find themselves face-to-face with physicians over Webcam.

They also have electronic medical records and malpractice insurance. Medicare patients need not apply.

Full story here. NCPA summary here.

Daschle

With Tom Daschle slated to become the next HHS Secretary, there has been a mad rush to get a copy of his book, Critical: What We Can Do About the Health Care Crisis, which apparently no one had previously read. Since booksellers can't possibly meet the demand, here is my brief attempt to satisfy your curiosity.

The main ideas: Medicaid expansion, Federal Employee Health Benefits Program (FEHBP) for everyone who wants to enroll, Medicare for the nonelderly as a FEHBP option, a play-or-pay mandate for individuals, income-based, refundable tax credit subsidies (both at work and away from work), a play-or-pay mandate for employers, electronic medical records, a national health board ("to establish a single standard of care for  every other provider and payer"…covering every disease from cancer to diabetes  and even depression), preventive care, dental health, mental health, long-term care, home care, community health centers and combating obesity. Continue reading Daschle

Forget the Doctor. You Can Have Your Own EMR

This is from an article by Anne Eisenberg in the New York Times:

New tools are being developed that may help harried patients, including those with chronic health conditions, monitor their medications, home tests and other details. The information can then be posted to a Web page that the patient can choose to share with a doctor, pharmacist, friend or caregiver.

Among the products:

  • HealthVault (http://www.healthvault.com/) by Microsoft lets users upload data directly to their account from about 50 devices, including many blood pressure and heart rate monitors, blood glucose meters and weight scales.
  • NoMoreClipboard (http://www.nomoreclipboard.com/) can draw data from HealthVault to fill in information in medical forms typically required for an initial visit to a doctor.
  • TrialX (http://www.trialx.org/) matches patients to relevant clinical trials based on their health information.