EHR and Health IT Topics for Your Next Story
The health IT sector is a booming and major changes are coming to the medical office. Practice Fusion's media team would love to talk with you about one of the following themes in healthcare technology:
Economy
- Doctors going digital
According to the CDC, only 10% of physicians have a fully-functional Electronic Medical Record system in use. But things are changing; doctors across the country are making the switch from paper record systems to computers. The EMR market is shifting toward lightweight, affordable systems for the small practice and adoption rates are on the rise. The transition helps doctors and patients: electronic medical records have been shown to improve practice efficiency, increase the quality of care and reduce medical errors.
- The economic stimulus plan
On February 17, 2009, President Barack Obama signed into law a plan for economic recovery designed to pull the United States out of a deep recession. Encompassing $789 billion in funding for stimulus programs, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) included $19 billion to promote the adoption of Electronic Medical Record (EMR) technology. Individual doctors and eligible medical providers can receive $44,000 or more for "Meaningful Use" of an EHR system starting in 2011. Practice Fusion authored a detailed study of the impact of the economic stimulus plan on job creation, physician EMR adoption and academic programs in healthcare.
Healthcare
- Patient Survey
There are an estimated 200,000 deaths in the US each year from preventable medical errors. And at least 1.5 million people are sickened, injured or killed by medication errors. Widespread use of electronic medical records has the potential to dramatically improve the safety of US health care. Clearer prescriptions, instant access to allergies and medical history, continuity of care between providers, automated alerts for drug interactions – health IT can save lives.
- Chronic disease & American health
133 million Americans, almost half of the population, live with one or more chronic disease. Diabetes, heart disease, cancer and asthma are widespread in the US and are a tremendous, $1.5 billion burden on our healthcare system. Practice Fusion, with the company's focus on health IT, preventative medicine, national health research and primary care, is dedicated to helping tackle the issues of chronic disease in the US. It is our goal to create happier doctors and healthier Americans.
- Health IT in education
Colleges and universities across the country have received grants under the economic stimulus plan to train students in health IT. Practice Fusion works with over two dozen academic programs in the US to provide free Electronic Medical Record software for students and instructors. We feel strongly that this new generation of medical, nursing and informatics students should receive hands-on training in the latest health IT systems.
Technology
- Health technology
New technology is changing the health IT market dramatically. Instead of bulky, expensive and difficult to maintain client servers, more doctors are looking toward lightweight, affordable web-based or software as a service (SaaS) systems. Practice Fusion is a pioneer in the delivery of web-based electronic medical records. With centralized data storage, our team is able to deliver Fortune 500 level security, redundancy and storage to any doctor in the US.
- Free business models
Practice Fusion stands out from the health IT landscape for delivering an EMR system to doctors entirely for free where others charge $50,000 or more. While novel for the enterprise sector, the idea of making valuable services available for free is widespread in the online consumer space. Practice Fusion was included as a case study in "Free: The Future of a Radical Price" by Wired's Chris Anderson. Our free business model accelerates and simplifies our growth.
- Medical records security
Locally stored medical records – whether on paper or on client-side hardware – are highly vulnerable to theft, damage and loss. If a medical practice is hit by a natural disaster or fire, they can lose years of crucial patient data. If a locally-stored chart is stolen or accessed without authorization, there is no way to track that theft. With web-based storage, medical records are securely accessible anytime. Practice Fusion users have experienced catastrophic fires and floods and were able to continue practicing with no interruption online.