Provider Directories: Past, Present and Future
By Justin Sims
Tens of thousands of times each day, clinical staff use search engines like Google to find phone or fax information, call each other to check whether the other party accepts a certain insurance, and fax each other lengthy patient records. It is inefficient, slow, prone to error, and exacerbated by a lack of reliable, centralized information about healthcare providers.
2019 EHR Incentives Focus on Referrals & Access to Records
By Justin Sims
August 9, 2018 — Last week, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) published its Final Rule for hospital EHR incentives for 2019. Within this rule, the Promoting Interoperability Programs are all about giving providers and patients better access to digital medical records, especially in support of care transitions. And the data supporting the ongoing challenges with paper are staggering.
CMS is Getting Serious About "Promoting Interoperability"
By Justin Sims
June 21, 2018 — Last month, CMS announced a major overhaul of the “meaningful use” EHR incentive program for hospitals. They intend to replace the incentives, in place since 2011, with “Promoting Interoperability” or PI, beginning in January 2019. This plan demonstrates a renewed commitment to creating a healthcare ecosystem that actually exchanges health records in support of better patient care.
The Year of Universal Medical Record Sharing
January 19, 2018 — Ask any doctor if they can freely share digital patient records outside of their organization, or access patient information stored in another organization’s EMR, and the answer is typically a resounding “no”. This unfortunate reality perpetuates the use of fax and express or postal mail and contributes to frustration and burnout. In a recent study, 56% of physicians cited too much charting and paperwork as the primary cause. In 2018, this can and must change.