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Author Archives: Hal Amens
About Hal Amens
Hal Amens is the President of Lyon, Popanz & Forester and a senior management consultant specializing in systems development and process improvement. He is a Certified Consultant with Practice Fusion. He has been blogging about electronic medical records for three and a half years at emrnet.wordpress.com and is a frequent contributor to EHRbloggers. Hal published The HIPAA Implementation Newsletter and developed HIPAA privacy and security programs for two mental healthcare providers with services ranging from acute care through out-patient. He managed the redesign of the user interface for an SaaS EMR system. He brings a fresh approach to healthcare and data based on experience in service industries in the US and overseas. Connect with Hal: 
New Medical Role: Tracker
Two recent news stories caught my eye. One is about a pharmaceutical package produced by Proteus Biomedical, a U.S. company, that will be on the market in the UK this fall. A patient’s medication will be shrink wrapped for each dose. As an example, the first package in the morning may include four pills for medication and an additional pill. When the patient opens the package and swallows all five pills the fifth one is activated by liquid in the… read more >
Improve Healthcare by Removing Obstacles
There are two ways to improve a process. The most common is to figure out how to do itdifferently. The other is to remove the obstacles that keep it from working as well as it should in its current form. Doing it differently is more dramatic but often more costly and almost always more difficult to implement because it requires more changes and there is a natural human tendency to resist change. Some examples: Elderly patients have to deal with… read more >
Posted in Health Research, Patient Safety, Public Health
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Take Your Medicine
In today’s complex world simple solutions can still be effective. Widespread press coverage of an article published in the Nov. 14 online edition of the New England Journal of Medicine, to coincide with its presentation at the American Heart Association annual meeting in Orlando, Florida. reported that less than half of patients discharged after a heart attack take their prescribed medications. Patients’ adherence rates ranged from 36% to 49% if they had to make a co-pay of $10 to $25. … read more >
Posted in EMR Research, EMR Usage, Health Research
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EMRs Redefine ‘Available Research Data’
Traditional research almost always starts with a statement about a problem or opportunity, collects relevant data, and then analyzes the data to derive a solution or a strategy. The definition of “relevant data” is derived from the study’s opening statement and scoped by available resources. The rapid evolution of integrated, cloud-based electronic medical record (EMR) systems offers an alternative approach to the data step. You still need a statement about a problem or opportunity to provide guidance and scope for… read more >
Posted in EMR Research, Health Research
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EHR Tracking for Drugs and Devices
Cloud-based, integrated electronic health records (EHR or EMR) systems provide a new paradigm for the collection and use of data for long term research about drugs and devices after FDA approval — commonly referred to as Phase IV testing. The new paradigm is particularly relevant for drugs and devices for chronic diseases and conditions because long term use may lead to adverse events that do not occur during the shorter term testing required prior to FDA approval. The significance of… read more >
Posted in EMR Research
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