HTE DIGEST Vol 1 No. 3

Telehealth puts powerful tools in the hands of providers

Honeywell HomeMed President John Bojanewski takes a look at the evolution of telehealth and its impact on the provider-patient relationship

Reimbursement issues have delayed adoption of telehealth, however

insurers and CMS are gradually accomodating it’s use.

mHealth still untapped resource for docs

For the most part, providers are still wary over the mHealth movement. And this caution just might be preventing them from big care improvement opportunities, say the findings of a new study.

Docs get mHealth help to handle tough conversations

In a sign that some companies are swinging back from consumer-directed healthcare and looking to help the providers, one firm is developing a web-based and mobile platform to assist doctors in talking to patients about changing difficult behavior patterns.

“The past and current model of direct to consumer marketing and sales leaves

the patient to making treatment decisions without collaboration with their provider”

Study: Docs need to promote mHealth apps

“As a corollary to consumers purchasing mHealth apps, doctors must provide leadership

collaboration with their patients.”  If patients are going to accept this a formula should be available for some insurance coverage or be certain the patient can and will be able to afford the application. A verbal recommendation should be reinforced with a written prescription, which has a stronger meaning.

Black Book names leading practice EHRs

“It's no easy feat to be the best, even in the healthcare IT space, but one EHR vendor has come out on top, earning the highest scores for client experience and customer satisfaction in the small practice category.” This news is germane because a large number of users are very dissatisfied with current EHRs.

More modern and contemporary EHRs are now in the market.  Replacement costs will be significant.

Why penalize the early EHR adopters?

The way John Berneike, MD, sees it, being an early adopter of electronic health records has put him in line for unintended punishment under Stage 2 meaningful use.  Many providers purchased new EHRs several years ago to meet requirements for interoperabilty and now are faced with additonal mandates, as well as another expensive change to diagnostic coding, expanding ICD-9 to ICD-10.