Next President Should Require EHR Adoption
The Commonwealth
Fund
wants the next
US president to
ensure that all
health care providers
use electronic
health records (EHRs) and
participate in health data exchange,
according to a new report.
The report, which addresses how the
future president should handle the
country's health care system, explained
how health care payers should
help finance the adoption of health
information technology systems. The
report also noted, however, that if the
payment system is revamped to reward
physicians for quality care, financial
support might not be needed to
push physicians to adopt EHRs.
"Within 5 years, all providers should
be required to use an electronic health
record and to participate in a health
information exchange network that
links information across clinical settings,"
according to the report.
James Morgan, chair of the Commonwealth
Fund's Commission on a
High Performance Health System, said
that "further work needs to be done on
the exact mechanisms by which we
get" all physicians to use EHRs.
B. Braun's Smart Pump Technology Wins Accolades
B. Braun has been recognized
as "Category
Leader" in the KLAS
Top 20 Mid-Year Report
Card for Smart
Pump Technology
for 2007. The
KLAS Top 20 Report
is a biannual
report card of vendor performance.
Based on the opinions of health care
executives, managers, and clinicians, B.
Braun Smart Pumps outscored the
competition, receiving high marks in
the categories "Contracting Experiences,"
"Keeps Promises," "Technology
Easy to Implement/Support," and
"Works as Promoted."
Gale White, vice president of Infusion
Systems, said the recognition echoes
the response the company receives
from customers using B. Braun's
Outlook Safety Infusion System suite of
products and services. "Our design
goals for the pumps—safety, reliability,
and ease of use—reflect what our customers
need and want," said White.
The Outlook 300 Safety Infusion
System improves department efficiency
by identifying trends in medication
delivery use and accesses a real-time
view of intravenous (IV) therapy progress
for continuous maintenance. The
system also provides immediate access
to DoseGuard dose-limit data for
continuous safety improvement, tracks
medication-delivery trends to identify
clinical support and training needs, and
gives at-a-glance visualization of vital
information concerning a patient's IV
therapy.
HHS Awards Grants for Health Care Information Network
The Department of Health and Human
Services (HHS) recently awarded $22.5
million in contracts to 9 health information
exchanges (HIEs) for pilot implementation
of a Nationwide Health Information
Network (NHIN). The contracts
are successors to 4 contracts for developing
NHIN models.
The new contracts represented a critical
step toward meeting the Bush administration's
goal of having electronic
health records for most Americans by
2014, according to John Loonsk, MD,
director of the Office of Interoperability
and Standards in HHS' Office of the
National Coordinator for Health Information
Technology.
In consideration for the grant monies,
the HIEs did not have to be operational
when they submitted their proposals, but
they had to show that they had assembled
the necessary components for an
operational HIE with substantial participation
from the medical community and
an open government structure. The
group will exchange information securely
with one another and within their
organizations, and they will implement
scenarios marked as priorities by the
American Health Information Community,
an HHS advisory committee.
The groups will work collectively
through an NHIN Cooperative organized
by the national coordinator's office. The
cooperative will hold 3 public meetings
and demonstrate its outcomes in the fall
of 2008.
MRA Helps Independents Increase
Profits
McKesson Corp's recently launched
McKesson Reimbursement Advantage
(MRA) is advancing the future of independent
pharmacy by connecting independent
pharmacies to new solutions
designed to help them increase their profits
and offer new sources of revenue.
Amid continued pressure on reimbursement
rates due to Average Manufacturer
Price legislation and other
industry issues, all pharmacy practice
settings need to focus on maximum
reimbursement for the drugs they dispense
to patients. Recognizing the importance
of addressing underadjudicated,
unpaid, and underpaid claims, chain
pharmacies perform real-time validation
and processing of claim submission data
to optimize reimbursement and minimize
errors.
Independent pharmacies, however,
generally lack the time and resources to
perform edits and reconcile claims. They
also may lack the time to follow up with
third-party payers to get the money.
MRA will provide pharmacies with a
reimbursement optimization package,
comprising financial and analytic services,
customer care, and market-leading
pre- and postedits. Pilot data indicate a
pharmacy can increase its net profit by
$150 to $1250 per month using the solution.
