Journal of Urgent Care Medicine

Optimizing EHR Functions May Help Prevent Physician Burnout

Long hours, an overabundance of bureaucratic tasks, and perceived lack of respect from coworkers and administrators are the perfect recipe for physician burnout, if Medscape’s 2018 Physician Burnout and Depression Report is to be believed. Another source cited—increasing reliance on electronic health records—may also be the gateway to reducing the risk for burnout, however, according to a new article published online by Advisory Board. The difference between an EHR’s potential to be a burden or …

Alleged Faulty EHR Security Leads to Billion Dollar Lawsuit

eClinicalWorks has been hit with a $1 billion class-action lawsuit over allegations that it failed to protect the security of millions of patient’s records—and that one patient with cancer actually died as a result of faulty patient EHRs. The latter charge says the deceased was “unable to determine reliably when his first symptoms of cancer appeared as his medical records failed to accurately display his medical history on progress notes.” More broadly, the suit contends …

The Cost of Compliance Continues to Climb—Plan Accordingly

The Merit-Based Incentive Payment System (MIPS), the EHR incentive program, and other Medicare programs are driving the cost of complying with federal regulations through the roof, according to a new survey from the Medical Group Management Association (MGMA). The group says nearly half of practices in the U.S. spend more than $40,000 per full-time physician to keep up—while 14% say that figure is $100,000 or more per physician. The MGMA says the wide range is …

CMS May Have Overpaid $729 Million in Incentives—Now They Want It Back

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) may have doled out more than $729 million in incentive payments for use of electronic health record systems that didn’t actually comply with federal standards, according to the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) at Health and Human Services. The OIG has already uncovered instances where providers who received payments could not document that they were using electronic health records in “meaningful” ways—a key requirement to reap …

Providers Not Likely to Face Legal Problems from eClinicalWorks settlement

Some urgent care providers have expressed concern that they could be the next subjects of Department of Justice scrutiny in the wake of eClinicalWorks agreement to settle federal charges. Those fears stem from the idea that incentive payments they received from eClinicalWorks could be viewed as ill-gotten gains. (As we told you just days ago, the company had been sued over charges it falsely certified that its EHR met all government criteria and that it …

eClinicalWorks Settlement Will Take the Sting Out of Switching to New EHR Systems

Electronic health record vendor eClinicalWorks’ has been fined $155 million for violating the False Claims Act. The company’s misfortune could be the urgent care industry’s (and patients’) gain, however, by making it easier for healthcare providers to switch from one EHR system to another. eClinicalWorks was sued over claims that it falsely certified that its EHR met all government criteria and that it failed to adequately test its software before release; to adequately debug systems …

Greenway Health Suffers Direct Hit in Ransomware Attack, Affecting EHR Platform

Greenway Health has acknowledged that some of its customers lost full use of the company’s Intergy electronic health records platform due to a recent ransomware attack. The company says it expects minimal loss of data, and that there is no evidence to suggest that any patient data has been misused at this time. Greenway has vowed to support affected practices, and maintains that no further problems are expected, either on Intergy or its other platforms.

UCA Asks Price to Delay New EHR Requirements

The Urgent Care Association (UCA) has petitioned Secretary of Health and Human Services Tom Price, MD to delay implementation of Stage 3 of the Meaningful Use program, as well as “Stage 3-like” measures in the MIPS program, indefinitely. UCA joined with 15 other organizations in crafting a letter that also requested that eligible clinicians not be required to move to EHR technology certified to the 2015 edition. Release of proposed requirements for MIPS and APMs …

Clinicians: Don’t Let the EHR Distract You from the Patient

It’s no surprise that patients prefer doctors who pay attention to them—but new data show that patients can feel they’re competing with computer screens for the physician’s focus, which can lead to concerns about the quality of care they’re receiving. A study by medical sociologist Richard Frankel, PhD of the Indiana University School of Medicine found that some doctors spend more than 80 percent of their time in exam rooms interacting with their computer instead …

EHR Interoperability: A Bridge to Nowhere

Lee A. Resnick, MD, FAAFP In the beginning, interoperability and health information exchange (HIE) were key selling points for physicians considering adoption of and investment in electronic health records (EHRs), but today most are left feeling misled, stranded on a bridge that leads nowhere. The Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMMS) defines EHR interoperability as “the ability of different information technology systems and software applications to communicate, exchange data, and use the information that …

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