I first came across these laptop carts when I first started working in healthcare about 5 years ago. Basically, we wanted somewhere we could store the laptops that was safe and that it could still be charging over night. So of course I wasn’t that interested in these carts when I passed by their booth at HIMSS. However, their hershey’s chocolate bar (full size in fact) drew me in. Then, I found out about the “brains” that are built into these carts now and I thought that others might be interested in it also. Pretty innovative.

This video coverage of HIMSS 10 sponsored by Practice Fusion and their Free EMR.

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The Drummond Group has just officially announced on their blog their intent to apply for and test EHR software to provide an alternative EHR certification to CCHIT. Here’s a few portions of their announcement:

After a thorough review of the recent NPRM along with months of consideration, DGI is excited to announce that we will be applying to be an ONC-ATCB this year.

As mentioned before, receiving the HHS requirements to become an authorized EHR testing and certification body was the missing piece in our decision to move forward. Now that we have that piece, we feel confident in announcing our intention to formally apply.

In our review of the NPRM, we found it sound, reasonable and a big step forward for formal testing and certification criteria to support Health IT. We will offer our comments as requested, but overall it was an excellent effort.

And this point about Drummond Group’s long term plans for EHR certification:

Last point. We won’t spend too much time here on this blog talking about the Permanent Certification program given the more immediate concerns of the Temporary Certification program. We will say we plan on being part of the Permanent Certification program. More importantly, we want to convey that since our initial press release last November, we have known that we are not in EHR testing for the short haul, but rather, the long term.

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Sometimes it’s the little things you catch at an enormous conference at HIMSS that are the most powerful. One of those came for me when I was talking to the VP of marketing from one of the EHR vendors on the floor. This was one of the most interesting people I met with at HIMSS.

As we were talking he kind of said off hand that one of the visitors to his booth had said Allscripts isn’t CCHIT certified.

Now I should clarify. Allscripts was CCHIT certified back in 2007. However, they didn’t do CCHIT certification and in 2008 but they still haven’t done any of the 2011 full CCHIT certification or Preliminary ARRA certification either.

As a side note, CCHIT has moved or taken down the previous years certification lists from their website (not sure why or where they moved them) (UPDATE: You have to drill down to the categories and you can find the previous years). However, they are listed on the EMR and EHR wiki.

The interesting point here is that Allscripts, an EHR company with possibly 21% EHR market share, hasn’t bothered with the CCHIT certification.

I have no doubt that Allscripts will be HHS certified (or whatever they end up calling the certification). However, they haven’t seen the need to go after the CCHIT certification. No doubt there sitting there waiting to get a cheaper EHR certification. This is true for a few hundred other EMR vendors as well.

Another interesting sign of the move away from CCHIT certification and on to the HHS certification.

And yes Allscripts, I am still mad at you for shutting me out of your party at HIMSS despite having registered and read the dozen or so emails you sent reminding me that I registered, but never telling me that I had to stop by your booth for a wristband.

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For one of the New Media Meetups at HIMSS we met at the Pervasive booth on the exhibitor floor. I must admit that I wasn’t quite sure what I’d find at the Pervasive booth, but I’d had a few interactions with the people behind the company and so I was excited to meet them in person.

Turns out when I first got there I was told about how Pervasive was taking the data stuck in EMR software or other healthcare software and was helping revenue cycle management companies extract that data out. I thought what they were doing was pretty interesting and so I caught this video explaining a little bit more about Pervasive:

This video coverage of HIMSS 10 sponsored by Practice Fusion and their Free EMR.

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During a meeting I held with the CEO of Aprima (previously iMedica), it came out that Aprima has created a learning management system for users of the Aprima EMR system. Ok, before you stop reading, hear me out.

Sure, every EMR vendor has some sort of online help or learning system by now. What I found interesting about the Aprima EMR learning management system is that it actually graded the doctors on what they learned.

Ok, doctors might hate to hear that they’re being graded, but that’s kind of missing the point. There’s a number of reasons why grading a doctor’s (or I guess other staff too) comprehension of the online learning is important.

First, is that it gives the EMR vendor an idea of how well the practice has actually learned the training. We all know that it’s one thing to go through a training and another to really learn what’s being taught. Second, based on the number of times the user had to retake the “test” you can gain a decent idea of how quickly that person is able to pick up technical concepts.

Plus, I think this type of testing can also provide the EMR vendor some feedback as to which trainings need to be improved. If everyone fails the prescribing module, then maybe you need to improve the product or improve the training that’s being given.

Finally, having a learning management system like this in place could also extend to training doctors on how using that EMR can help you meet the meaningful use guidelines required to receive the EMR stimulus money. Yes, pretty much everything has to come back to meaningful use, doesn’t it?

I’m not sure that Aprima has taken their learning management system this far, but it sounds like they’re heading down some of these paths.

Another quick side note from my visit with the CEO of Aprima was their “Take a Tablet” program that let’s doctors take a tablet to play with during the sales cycle. Basically, they want the doctor to learn to be comfortable using a tablet for other things so that using the EMR on the tablet will be natural as well. Pretty interesting way to “train” the doctors on the tablet technology.

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On more than one occasion I’ve talked with people about the work the people at MModal are doing in the healthcare IT space. I think they’re a really interesting technology that could save all those doctors that want to still dictate their notes. MModal offers an interesting solution for preserving the valuable story that a narrative tells while also pulling out the key data elements into granular, reportable pieces.

I don’t think I need to say much more about MModal. Just watch this video interview I did with them at HIMSS 10:

This video coverage of HIMSS 10 sponsored by Practice Fusion and their Free EMR.

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On Thursday at HIMSS I attended a session called “Implementing and Measuring EMR ROI in the Specialty Practice” by Peter M. Deane, MD. This was the second such session that I attended. I was and am really interested in how practices are measuring the ROI in their clinic.

I found this second session really interesting since Dr. Deane talked about the benefits he received from his EMR and yet, he still wasn’t doing his clinical notes electronically. Yes, it felt a little bit wrong to say that he uses an EMR when he isn’t writing his clinical notes electronically yet. However, what I found really interesting was that he was starting to see a whole laundry lists of benefits from his EMR even though he was only partially implemented.

Honestly, I think that understanding the real benefits of an EMR in your practice is one of the keys to selecting and implementing an EMR. In fact, that’s why I have a whole section talking about the guaranteed, possible and dubious benefits of an EMR implementation in my just released EMR selection book.

Back to the session, Dr. Deane had an interesting point about paper charts. In his slide it said, “Documentation is easy–to do poorly.” This is an interesting point, because I’ve found that EMR doesn’t necessarily take a doctor who is poor at documenting and make them better. However, what an EMR does do is hold people more accountable for what their documenting.

Another key point that was offered in this session was in regards to the EMR selection process, “Decide: None is perfect, nor will the vendors ever by ‘ready’ for some.” I couldn’t agree more. Setting reasonable expectations is key to any successful EMR implementation. Go in with unreasonable expectations and you’re doomed for failure. That doesn’t mean you can’t be ambitious, but you can be reasonable at the same time.

I also loved how Dr. Deane talked about the different types of leadership models in practices. He called them: “Command and control model (large institutional or central tyranny-style practices)” or “Consensus model (fraternity-style practice).” Understanding this dynamic is really important as you work to gain buy in for your EMR implementation.

Another interesting insight he made was that people Fear Change. Ok, that’s not new. However, he clarified that “change means extra work” and “they also fear being left behind.” This is interesting advice during an EMR implementation. I guess the point being that pace of an EMR implementation matters.

Dr. Deane also talked about the value of your EMR vendor customizing the EMR for you. I’ve seen the value of this first hand. It really does empower staff for your EMR vendor to do something for your office. Plus, it’s a real benefit to be able to point to those changes as your EMR progresses. Remember that EMR is a journey and not a one time event.

Here’s a list of other EMR benefits he highlighted:
-3 clerical positions ($70k per year)
-Supplies and less printing ($3,500 per year)
-Enhanced Reimbursement
-Faster A/R turnover time
-PQRI Incentives

Not a bad session. Too bad it was on Thursday just before the closing keynote, so many at HIMSS had already gone home. Lucky for you, I stayed and could summarize it for you here;-)

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I must admit that the thing I probably wanted to see most on the HIMSS exhibit floor was these washable keyboards. I can’t tell you how many times my nurses have asked for a way to wash their keyboards. Plus, it didn’t hurt that I had a way to get a free washable keyboard for myself too.

You can check out the washable keyboards I found from Econo-keys at their website. They have some pretty creative products when it comes to keeping keyboards clean. I tried out the typing myself and didn’t have any problem adapting to the keyboard. I thought it might be a challenge, but it wasn’t. Ok, enough of my talk, check out this video showing off the product and then read to the bottom for the free giveaway:

This video coverage of HIMSS 10 sponsored by Practice Fusion and their Free EMR.

The best news of all is that I was able to convince the good people at Econo Keys to give me a couple extra free washable keyboards to give away on EMR and HIPAA. Yes, that’s right. Your very own free washable keyboard.

In order to enter to win, all you have to do is promote EMR and HIPAA in some way. Maybe you tweet a link, maybe you link to EMR and HIPAA from your blog. Maybe you link to it from an EMR group on LinkedIn. Maybe you’ll be more creative than I. Just let me know what you did to promote the site in the comments and I’ll choose a couple winners from there.

7 more videos from HIMSS on the way shortly.

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I’m very happy to finally publish my first e-Book on EMR selection called “Selecting the Right EMR.” It’s 35 pages which I believe will help doctors and practice managers select the right EMR. This EMR selection e-Book is a good mix of education about the various types of EMR software and the advantages and disadvantages of those differences.

Selecting the Right EMR – $49.99

To give you an idea of the content, here’s the Table of Contents for the EMR selection book:
Table of Contents:
Introduction
EMR vs. EHR
Gaining EMR Implementation Buy-In
Narrowing the Field of EMR Vendors
Tools for Narrowing the Field of EMR Vendors
Details to Consider When Evaluating EMR Vendors
EMR Demos
EMR Site Visits
EMR Vendor Background Check
Selecting the EMR
Contract Negotiation
Managing Expectations
Resources

Since this is the launch of my EMR selection e-Book, I’m making a special offer to those who purchase the book. If you purchase the book and find a topic missing that would be valuable in your EMR selection process, drop me a note and I’ll do my best to provide you more content on that topic.

Selecting the Right EMR
$49.99

Bulk Sales – I’ve had a number of inquiries about being able to buy this e-Book in bulk so that vendors can give this away to their customers. For example, a number of Managed IT service providers have expressed interest in purchasing in bulk. Let me know your needs on my Contact Us page and we’ll be happy to work with you on it.

Affiliates – I’ve also setup the ability for other websites and bloggers to make affiliate sales of the EMR Selection e-Book. You can sign up and find out more details here. I’m currently offering a 40% commission for affiliates. Let me know if you have any questions.

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I’m really interested in trying to differentiate between the 300+ EMR vendors lately. Not to mention understanding what innovations will shape the EMR markets going forward. More on the second subject later. The first one has become even more important to me since tomorrow I plan on launching an e-book on EMR selection. Thus, I was really intrigued by a blog post by Didier Thizy from macadamian entitled, “Electronic Medical Records – 3 Key Differentiators”

In the post, he says that he’d stump EMR vendors at HIMSS 10 the following questions:
“With so many major EMR competitors out there, what is your product’s differentiator?” “What makes you stand out from the crowd?”

It’s interesting, because I asked a number of EMR vendors similar questions. Didier offers the following three answers which are NOT EMR differentiators:

• “Our EMR has been an industry standard for 20 years”
• “Our EMR is SaaS-based”
• “Our EMR is CCHIT certified”

He then offers 3 “Real” EMR differentiators:

• “Our EMR has excellent UI and usability”
• “Our EMR is designed for a particular specialty”
• “Our EMR’s technology makes the user’s life easier”

I like his 3 differentiators. I’m going to think about this and allow people to comment and then add some differentiators of my own. However, I think one problem with this list is that you need to also provide a method for measuring these differentiators. It’s easy for every EMR vendor to say that they have great usability. It’s a much harder thing to really make it usable.

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