Healthcare IT News For VARs — October 31, 2014
By Megan Williams, contributing writer
In this week’s news, California reports an increase data breaches with — 15 percent from the healthcare sector. Also, nurses are dissatisfied with EHR (electronic health record) systems, and a study found 26 percent of healthcare data breaches since 2009 have involved a contractor or business associate.
Healthcare Accounted For 15 Percent Of CA Data Breaches In 2013
California saw a rise in data breaches of 28 percent between the years of 2012 and 2013, according to an annual report released by state Attorney General Kamala Harris. The report cites 298 breaches in 2012 and 2013, affecting 18.5 million California residents — a 600 percent increase. Of those breaches, 25 were in the healthcare sector, accounting for 15 percent of the overall total. The majority of those (70 percent) were a result of physical theft or loss.
AJMC Shows Clinical Decision Support Use Improves Care Quality
The American Journal Of Managed Care has released a study that was launched with the goal of determining whether clinical decision support (CDS) is associated with improved quality indicators. The study, which covered 900 million outpatient primary care visits to EHR-using clinics between 2006 and 2009, found that the use of clinical decision support was associated with improvement in some quality measures, indicating that Meaningful Use standard implementation may improve nation-wide indicators and outcomes once the program is complete.
Nurses Increasingly Dissatisfied With EHR Systems
Black Book Market Research’s 2014 Loyalty Poll, a survey of over 13,650 nurses, found that 85 percent of them still struggle with flawed EHR systems on a daily basis. Only 26 percent believe that the systems improve the quality of patient information. Regarding care quality, the vast majority (94 percent) stated they didn’t believe that EHRs had improved nurse-to-care team communication — 90 percent actually believed the systems had made communication with patients worse. Overall, the survey found a 92 percent dissatisfaction rate with EHR systems, with most (88 percent) blaming hospital administrators for the issue, according to Healthcare Traveler.
Contractors Found To Pose Security Risk To Providers
GlobeNewswire reports that among the dangers that healthcare providers face in protecting their data, contractors and other business associates are primary offenders. Beasley highlighted this risk at the annual conference for the American Society For Healthcare Risk management (ASHRM). According to the article, 26 percent of the breaches since 2009 have involved business associates.
Most Providers Only “Somewhat” Ready For ICD-10
According to ICD-10 Monitor, the Healthcare Billing And Management Association resurveyed members in October to learn about their level of preparedness for ICD-10’s 2015 implementation. In the survey, 80 companies responded, with sizes ranging from less than 25 to over 300 employees. The survey revealed both positive and negative results, with more members (compared to the previous survey) indicating they are confident in their system’s ability to handle ICD-9 and -10 concurrently. However, 23 percent reported that updates are not yet complete and only 45 percent are confident they will be ready.
Healthcare IT Talking Points
This article from Health Data Management examines a case involving the 28-provider, United Regional Physician Group and issues it was having with high dissatisfaction levels with its EHR system. They brought in management consultants to evaluate their revenue cycle, and found high turnover in IT and general satisfaction issues around their EHR implementation. While the general sentiment was to replace the EHR, multiple factors in the case suggested that optimization would have been a better option. The results and the impact the changes have had on the system’s Meaningful Use attestation are covered in the article.
For more news and insights, visit BSMinfo’s Healthcare IT Resource Center.