Q: Physicians are afraid of EMR (Electronic Medical Record) project failure, so why should their practice go through the headache of integrating EMR now?
A: Murphy’s law states that if anything can go wrong, it will, and EMR integration is no stranger to this rule. However, project failure is certainly avoidable if the practice takes the [...]

Q: Nursing Charges: Many of our nursing charges, such as PICC line, transfusion or Telemetry are currently on paper. Is it possible to handle these items electronically within MEDITECH?
A: One of the easiest ways to automate this type of charging is to build it into the Nursing Interventions as part of a CDS. [...]

Q: Most physicians don’t understand the technology world, so how do physicians who view technology as something that is foreign to them even begin to understand which EMR/HIT vendor to choose?
A: It is important to choose an EMR/HIT vendor that caters to the needs of their practice, as different vendors offer slightly different things. It’s [...]

Q: Since physicians don’t like change and are not often interested in changing the way they practice, why should they purchase electronic medical records (EMR) for their group practice?
A: Physicians interested in EMR for their practice should not view this as an all or nothing shift in the way they will practice medicine. MDs should [...]

This past week I had the opportunity to speak with about 30 CFOs. Some were from community hospitals and others were from critical access hospitals. All were there for the same reason: to learn about the federal EHR Incentive Program. But before I went into the details of Stage 1 of “Meaningful Use” I took [...]

If you’ve been attending the numerous seminars covering ARRA and HITECH stimulus money you know the vendors are trying to sell electronic health/medical records. And that is justifiably so. Without the technology there will be no way to achieve the meaningful use requirements. But the ultimate goal isn’t to have an EMR in every physician [...]

If you know anyone within our industry, then you know that the EMR vendors are on the prowl. No, not for customers looking to become ready to prove meaningful use in time to cash in. The vendors are hunting for people – healthcare information technology professionals to hire. It’s a great time to be looking [...]

Any MEDITECH organization has the potential to unlock the effectiveness of their health information system (HIS) by investing within the organization’s workforce (by providing opportunities, and incentives), processes improvement workflows/designs, and technology. Having the right technologies in place is pivotal in achieving the highest quality of care, however, if the existing workflows are not [...]

Every health care delivery entity in the country wants a share of the federal government’s $36 billion incentive package to install electronic health records. However those who do not quickly develop a strategy, and then act on it, may be unable to receive benefits under the requirements of the package. And worse, they [...]

Implementing an electronic medical record (EMR) system is the easy part. In order to bring value to the healthcare organization, it is important to adhere to the “meaningful use” doctrine set forth by the Obama Administration. An extra incentive to adhere to meaningful use of an EMR system is that healthcare organizations will receive monetary [...]