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Author Archives: Robert Rowley, MD
About Robert Rowley, MD
Dr. Rowley brings together three areas of expertise, and helps shape Practice Fusion in a unique way. He has been a practicing primary care physician for over 30 years, and as an early EHR adopter, has been practicing without paper charts since 2002. He has been involved in governance and directorship of health care delivery in a managed care setting in California for over 20 years. He also has a strong technology background and helped develop the very first version of Practice Fusion based on tools created for his own practice. Formerly Medical Director of Practice Fusion, Dr. Rowley helped guide the development of the EHR as an essential tool for our doctors, and as a valuable resource for healthcare overall. Connect with Dr. Rowley: 
What Are the Experiences of Family Physicians With Their EHRs?
At the recent conference of the California Academy of Family Physicians, I had an opportunity to give a talk on various aspects of using health IT in clinical practice. One talk was on “High tech, high touch healthcare,” which focused on methods to avoid having the EHR get in the way of the interpersonal doctor-patient relationship. The other talk was on “Measuring patient engagement,” which looked at 3 domains of this question: (1) measuring patient experience (patient satisfaction), (2) on-line… read more >
Comments on Stage 2 Meaningful Use Proposed Rules
We have looked at the proposed Stage 2 Meaningful Use regulations, and have submitted commentary about them. There are actually 2 different NPRMs (notices of proposed rule-making) that are currently in the open comment period: (1) the Meaningful Use regulations, which define what doctors and other eligible professionals need to do in order to demonstrate Meaningful Use beginning in 2014, and (2) the Certification regulations, which define what EHR vendors must do in order to have products that can be… read more >
Posted in Health Policy, Meaningful EMR Use
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The Conversion to ICD-10 to be Postponed for 1 Year
The conversion to ICD-10, which was earmarked for postponement by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) in an announcement in February, is now slated for a 1-year postponement. It was originally supposed to go into effect October 1, 2013 – this postponement will therefore give until October 1, 2014 to come into compliance. In a document to be published in the Federal Register today, HHS cites the results of a survey conducted by the Centers for Medicare and… read more >
As Health Care Changes, So Must its Technology
We are in the early phases of an unprecedented tidal wave of change in the healthcare delivery system. The prior method of delivering care, characterized by a vast cottage industry of small, independent practices functioning in a fee-for-service environment, is being replaced by coordinated delivery systems charged with managing populations and functioning in a performance-based environment. The trends have been progressing over the past decade. According to the Center for Studying Health System Change, small clinical practices (solo and 2… read more >
Measuring the Patient Experience in Health Care
In order for health care to be effective, it is important for all of us (as patients) to engage with the healthcare delivery system in an active way. This can be a challenge if that delivery system doesn’t work well, is not focused on the overall patient experience, or is preoccupied with its internal machinations rather than on its most important goal – to deliver high quality service tailored to our individual needs. Often, when we encounter the healthcare system,… read more >
