Health IT

You work hard to provide high-quality service, but billing and collecting for your work is getting harder than ever. Here’s a primer on the technology tools that can help.

Electronic labs can make your life easier, but first you have to get past the implementation process.

Do you know what your employees and colleagues are sending out of your company’s e-mail system? You’d better. You need a policy to protect yourself - and your patients.

If EMRs were interoperable, patient data would always be accessible, wherever (and by whomever) a patient is treated. That’s the Holy Grail. Will it ever happen?

A pediatric group gets help resolving its digital decision.

So the truck rolls up to your office, and you take delivery of your new EMR system. Now what? Relax and follow our step-by-step plan to EMR success.

It’s a whole new world of telephonic choices, and it can get confusing. Don’t complete that telephone upgrade without reading our primer.

What are physicians like you doing when it comes to purchasing new office technologies? Our Fifth Annual Technology Survey cuts through the hype and gives it to you straight.

The EMR industry is beginning to undergo some wrenching changes. Here’s what it means for you.

Conventional wisdom has it that doctors who use EMRs are better prepared to treat patients comprehensively - especially those with chronic conditions. New research, though, is raising doubts. What’s the real story?

Patient-entered histories can streamline office visits. But can you trust them to tell their stories without you?

Incidents of data theft grab media headlines almost daily. How can you ensure that your data remains secure? We give you the best bets for implementing that “ounce of protection” that can protect your patients and your practice.

Dispensing corporate cell phones may be a given in your practice, but don’t fall into a money trap.

Have you heard about that “free” electronic medical records system that your local hospital, government agency, or EMR vendor is offering? Sounds good, right? But be careful. While there are ways to get EMR software for little or no cost, there are still expenses (and sometimes other strings) attached.

The days of “detailer” visits may be ending. As physicians shift rapidly to the Internet for clinical and professional information, pharma companies are following suit.

You’ve been handwriting prescriptions for years and are reluctant to change. We understand. But e-prescribing technology is inexpensive, easy to use, and can make your life easier and keep your patients safer. Is it time to dump your Paper Mate?

With so much health information - some of it credible, some of it hokum - available on the Web, and so many of your patients using it to diagnose themselves before coming to see you, isn’t it time someone put together a physician-friendly guide to the Internet? Well, someone has.

We’re all for steering your practice onto the information superhighway, but not without buckling up first. Keeping your practice’s sensitive files (and your patients’ secrets) safe from prying eyes may seem daunting, but we can get you there in five easy steps.

Before you turn over your old computer to your nephew, sister-in-law, or church group, make sure there isn’t private information still lurking inside. It’s not as simple as hitting the delete button.

They can be a little intimidating, those IT geeks, what with their tech jargon and oh-so-superior attitude. But it’s your practice. Those are your computers. Here’s how to foster a positive relationship with the experts who keep them humming.

Ever thought about starting your own online journal, or “blog”? It may be good for business, and it’s easier than you think.

You may be excited about your new EMR, but for some of your patients, a new gizmo in the exam room will take a little getting used to. Some people get nervous about new technology, so you’d better introduce it carefully.

New research is raising uncomfortable questions about the connection between EMRs and improved patient outcomes. Can information technology really make you a better physician?

Tired of having your claims rejected by payers who seem to be looking for any reason under the sun not to pay you? Try these “claims scrubbing” tools to reduce, and appeal, those denials.

Steve Ryan, MD, rebuts the most common “reasons” many physicians give for sticking with paper.