Healthcare IT News For VARs — December 5, 2014
By Megan Williams, contributing writer
In this week’s news, EMRs (electronic medical records) are taking stronger hold in Canada, and ICD-10 faces potential further delays.
Canadian Doctors Adopting EMR
Use of EMRs in Canada is escalating, according to the Canadian Medical Association. The 2014 National Physician Survey revealed that 75 percent of physicians use EMR when retrieving patient notes via laptop or desktop — a number that’s up from 26 percent seven years earlier. The findings fly in the face of the myth that Canadian physicians are against using new technology in their work. Additionally, their experiences with EMR have been generally positive, with 65 percent reporting that they saw improved quality of care since implementation.;
Providers Outsourcing More Revenue Cycle Services
According to HealthcareDive, providers are responding to the growth in value-based payment models by increasingly outsourcing their revenue cycle services. A Black Book study has found that the outsourced revenue cycle management market should hit $10 billion by 2016. The majority of facilities outsourcing the practice have seen benefits in the form of improved revenue numbers.
CMS Rule Pushes Health IT Among Medicare Shared Savings ACOs
CMS has proposed a rule intended to increase health IT use among Medicare Shared Savings Program participants, according to EHR Intelligence. The rule, which should be published next week, features a provision that would require Shared Savings ACOs to spell out their plans for using health IT to improve care coordination through exchanged health information.
Payers Banding Together To Aid Smaller Providers With ICD-10
Payers including BCBS of Michigan and Humana have come together to form the ICD-10 Consortium — an organization dedicated to aiding smaller payers through the transition to ICD-10. They will meet with specialist groups like cardiology and dermatology to prioritize the most frequently used ICD-9 codes, and then map them to ICD-10. The theory is that by identifying the top 25 most used codes, smaller practices can get a better handle on the impact that ICD-10 will have on their practices. Read more at HIT Consultant.
Congress Looking To Potentially Delay ICD-10, Again
According to Government Health IT, ICD-10 could be pushed out yet again as a casualty of arguments over general healthcare policy. Groups opposed to ICD-10 have advocated for adding a two-year delay to the fiscal year 2015 Labor-HHS-Education Appropriations Bill — “a piece of must-pass legislation” that’s been in limbo because of partisan funding provisions. Even if the delay isn’t added to the appropriations bill, other, upcoming legislation could be used to carry the delay.
Healthcare IT Talking Points
A recent government report discusses the path to creating a national health system in the U.S. that is capable of learning from, and adapting to changes in the healthcare environment. The report is based on the findings of an independent group of scientists, called JASON, was paid for by the Agency For Healthcare Research And Quality. The full report, available on HealthIT.gov, provides findings and recommendations around achieving a “Learning Health System,” and includes discussions of risk stratification, clinical DSS, opening EHR APIs, and more.
For more news and insights, visit BSMinfo’s Healthcare IT Resource Center.