Posts Tagged ‘emr’
Dr. Ware Will Launch a New Low-cost Electronic Health Records/Practice Management System
Dr. Ware, in partnership with Microsoft and PracticeFusion, is happy to announce the launch of a world-class Electronic Health Records EMR/PMS system on September 15, 2009. In step with our SaaS (Software as a Service) and “managed services” business model we will be offering doctors and hospitals a suite of offerings targeted at reducing IT costs while increasing efficiency and bringing patients improved care. The three primary modules in this system will be:
Practice Fusion addresses the critical needs of today’s healthcare environments by providing a revolutionary application and delivery model for physicians and patients at no cost. Practice Fusion’s award-winning, free, web-based applications require no on-site software, hardware and integration, eliminating the burden of supporting traditional enterprise software products. As a result, Practice Fusion dramatically reduces costs and complexities, enabling medical practitioners to deliver the highest level of care possible to their patients.
Microsoft® HealthVaultTM, is a platform that puts people in control of their health data. It helps them collect, store, and share health information with family members and healthcare providers, and it provides people with a choice of third-party applications to help them manage things like fitness, diet, and health. Microsoft has also developed HealthVaultTM Search, a new intuitive Web search service that helps people discover answers to their health questions, learn more about topics important to them, confidentially store the information they discover, and act on that knowledge to improve their health and wellness. Healthcare organizations can use the HealthVault platform to deliver compatible tools and services to facilitate communication between patients and healthcare professionals and enable patients to participate more actively in their care.
Microsoft Online Services makes it easy for you to leverage and rapidly deploy familiar Microsoft server products as flexible services. These hosted services-our Business Productivity Online Standard Suite-include the following:
Exchange Online
Provide employees access to e-mail, calendar, and contacts from virtually anywhere, at anytime, on desktops, laptops, and mobile devices-while helping to protect against malware and spam. Exchange Online can be rapidly deployed, flexibly expanded, and is designed to be securely administered using a powerful yet easy-to-use Web-based console.
SharePoint Online
Share documents, contacts, calendars, and tasks in a single location. Based on Microsoft Office SharePoint® Server 2007, SharePoint Online delivers rich collaboration capabilities that enable team members to flexibly and efficiently collaborate, find organizational resources, search your intranet site, and manage content and workflow.
Office Live Meeting
Connect with colleagues and customers through real-time meetings, training sessions, and events using only a PC with an Internet connection. Hosted Web conferencing services from Microsoft Office Live Meeting give your employees the power to collaborate wherever they are, to set up project meetings, brainstorm ideas, and collaborate on whiteboards without the cost and hassle of travel!
Office Communications Online
Enable users to find and rapidly connect with the right person from the applications they use most. Office Communications Online provides streamlined access to rich presence and instant messaging capabilities that are centrally managed by IT and work seamlessly with a range of Microsoft Office system programs.
With this combination of services doctors and hospitals can concentrate on caring for their patients while they employ low-cost integrated solutions that promote communication between all participants involved in a patient’s care – labs, pharmacies, insurance companies, employers, family members, etc. I.T. support resides on the desktop and is monitored full-time for immediate response. PracticeFusion is free, Microsoft® HealthVaultTM is free, and Microsoft’s Online Services are as little as $15 a month per user for the complete suite. No in-house server(s), networks, IT staff required. Additionally an integrated solution allows patients to use devices at home: like blood-glucose meters, pulse oximeters, blood-pressure gauges, and even scales. The data is automatically uploaded to the patient’s HealthVaultTM account and then made available, by the patient, to medical professionals and/or family, etc. If you would like more information we would love to speak with you. Feel free to contact us.
Taking Control of Your Health Records
I think it would be great if I, a patient, could have a copy of my own health record, or medical chart. Not that I don’t trust my doctor but it is my health. Besides, when I need to go to a specialist, or to an emergency room, it would be handy to have my medical record with me. It is extremely inconvenient, not to mention redundant, to have to fill out my contact information and medical history every time I see a different health professional. Now with electronic medical records gaining wider acceptance shouldn’t I be able to have a digital copy of my own records? It seems reasonable to me.
The obvious problem with making the patient responsible for his own medical record is the fact that many patients are not that responsible. Medical records contain very sensitive data, like social security numbers, which can, in the wrong hands, wreak havoc. The security and privacy concerns outweigh the convenience issues. Also there is the matter of doctors having to make an extra set of records for patients. Back-logged busy practices are not about to add this to their current overload.
However an answer may be lurking. Microsoft’s HealthVault and Google Health are two laudable efforts in the Patient’s Health Record (PHR) revolution. Patients taking more active ownership of their healthcare can only be a good thing but what about the security concerns? The idea behind these ventures is to centralize the data, secure the data, and allow patients to decide who can access their data. As more doctors come online with EMR systems that interface with these PHR systems patients will only need to give access to a specialist to immediately “send” them their medical records. No more forms – imagine!
Another benefit has to do with patient wellness. Devices like blood pressure monitors, pulse oximeters, blood glucose meters, scales, and pedometers, interface with HealthVault and Google Health. This means the doctor’s plan for the patient can be monitored beyond the office. Specialized applications manage patients’ diet and exercise plans and log the results. Other apps connect to drug stores, labs, insurance companies, employer’s plans, and more.
But what do you do if you want to use Microsoft HealthVault now and your doctor is not with the program? Well, tell them to get with the program. Dr. Ware (that’s us) is committed to helping physicians and patients use technology to improve healthcare. Contact us with your physician’s office number and we will contact them on your behalf to explain the benefits to them. HealthVault and Google Health are free. Another alternative, if your doctor uses an EMR system but does not want to access your HealthVault account, is to ask them to copy your record to an encrypted USB jump drive. You can supply both the jump drive and the encryption. The video at the end of this article will show you how.
Please don’t let the tortoise-speed of healthcare professionals discourage you. We can help at no cost to you. Please contact us.