EHR Technology

Our latest analysis of the annual ranking of payers based on hassle factor is here. The good news: Most insurers are paying faster, denying less, and making their processes more transparent. But there's still room for improvement.

Those who bought an EHR before the government started paying doctors to do so are wondering what they should do now. Here's how to judge whether your old system will meet the requirements to collect the stimulus dollars, or if you'd be better off starting anew.

The computer era changes the ground rules for what constitutes useful content in a note. The goal is to get information committed to computer storage in a way that will be useful to both the computer and the practitioner.

How has your practice helped physicians learn to use an EHR?

Do you need to speed up the process of finding an EHR solution that is good enough? Eberhardt Rechtin, in a wonderful little book called "Systems Architecting: Creating and Building Complex Systems," lists a number of heuristics that I find useful.

With registration for Medicare and Medicaid EHR incentive programs officially underway, there may still be some questions about which systems will qualify practices and hospitals for federal dollars. CMS offers some answers here.

I can easily see what we’ll need to do for the meaningful use thing. But there are a few things that will need to be explained to me and my staff.

For small practices, implementing an EHR and achieving meaningful use is a whole lot easier with a helping hand. Newly created regional extension centers are there to provide it. Here’s how to make the best of them.

A few months ago, we posted some of our readers' top questions on the topics of EHRs and meeting meaningful use with answers directly from CMS. In response, several of you sent us new questions to ask the Federal agency on your use of the technology and how to be in the best position to receive federal incentive payments. Here are your answers.

Anyone who thinks that physicians' slow adoption of EHRs makes them modern-day Luddites hasn't seen a doc with an iPad. Tablet computing does seem uniquely suited to healthcare, and physicians are warming quickly to the intuitive gizmos. But will tablets revolutionize medical practice - and yours?

Here's some simple guidance on how to comply with the Stage One initiatives of CMS' meaningful use initiatives and achieve meaningful use of your EHR.

The current ballyhoo over EHR has interrupted what would have otherwise been a gradual evolution of EHR with the most effective, easiest to use products winning out over time. A fork in the road has developed and two possible futures for EHR are now before us.

To stay safe and weed out the billing and collections problems stifling your practice's revenue stream, our experts recommend a "bottom-to-top" assessment of your entire billing operation.

There's a real shift in EHR vendors' attitudes. It seems that the small-sized practice's moment has arrived.

Can your new EHR play nice with your old practice management system? Or should you just replace them both at the same time?

Windows (in the generic sense) provide an organizing theme (a metaphor if you like) that takes multi-tasking out of the geek realm and makes it more understandable to the general public, thereby helping them to unlock the power of the computer.

The Affordable Care Act, signed into law in 2010, is the roadmap for healthcare reform for the next decade. The legislation includes several initiatives that will impact the way physicians operate and change their everyday business practices. Here is a year-by-year outline of the biggest benchmarks that will affect physician practices.

You've probably heard of state and regional Health Information Exchanges, but what the heck are they, exactly, and can they be of any use to your practice?

Is staff mediocrity costing you money? Here's how to fix it.

The Office of Inspector General included "identical notes" as an area of interest in its 2011 Work Plan. Make sure your patient notes reflect each unique encounter.

Every provider and practice administrator thinks his or her staff is above average, so they frequently take the recommended training intervals and cut them way down. But chances are even - 50/50, to be precise - that your staff is below average, and that it will actually take more , not less, time to become fully productive with a new EHR system.

How an EHR behaves is highly dependent on design and other technical properties of the underlying hardware and software. These basic properties are essentially unalterable and can have lasting, and often negative, effects on what a product can do today and whether physicians will find it easy to understand and pleasant to use.

Looking for the best defense against possible litigation? According to plaintiffs' attorneys, good communication and proper documentation are your best weapons when legal action threatens. Here's the inside scoop on how to protect yourself against lawsuits, straight from the people who make a living filing them.

Want to get your physicians enthused about your new EHR? Nix the big educational lectures and set a good example.

To cash in on federal incentives, you need the right equipment and a good understanding of what it means for your EHR to be certified. Here's your primer.