SMARTMD Monthly Newsletter- A Timely Summary of Your IT News

Head of ONC, Blumenthal issues news message

The following message was sent out on April 5, 2010, from Dr. David Blumenthal, National Coordinator for Health Information Technology. Excerpts from it are printed below.

The office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) is responsible for putting forward a vision for nationwide, interoperable health IT. Our work requires that we also support the creation of a learning health system that is patient-centered and uses information to continuously improve health and health care of individuals and the population. We have begun to get input for a detailed roadmap outlining goals, principles, objectives, strategies, and tactics toward this effort. This roadmap will pave the way to our vision and help keep us accountable. The original Federal Health IT Strategic Plan was published in June 2008. As part of the 2009 HITECH Act, included in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the ONC is required to update the 2008 Strategic Plan. The updated Federal Health IT Strategic Plan will outline objectives, milestones, and metrics related to health information exchange and associated privacy and security protections, electronic health record utilization, and will address the needs of underserved populations to reduce health disparities. It will primarily address the time period of 2011 through 2015 but also will lay the groundwork for continued innovation and progress beyond 2015.

Physicians are still unaware of requirements and nearly half say it will not impact their buying

In an excellent article written by Healthcare IT News (http://www.healthcareitnews.com) Associate editor Molly Merrill, in their March 29, 2010 issue, she writes there exists a small percentage of physician practices that are planning to implement an EHR has grown in the last six months, according to a new vendor survey. But while the percentage of respondents who said the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) was driving technology adoption more than doubled during this period, most are still unaware of requirements and nearly half say it will not impact their buying decision.

The article evolved around the results from Cambridge, Mass.-based NaviNet, America's largest real-time healthcare communications network, who conducted the survey via email earlier this month, targeting physician practices with 10 or fewer physicians. The survey generated 269 responses. The survey found that 17 percent of respondents say their offices will implement a new EHR by end of 2011. Of those, 68 percent will do so within the next 12 months. If EHR adoption follows previous growth rates, the industry can expect an even higher percentage of practices implementing EHRs than predicted, NaviNet projects. The percentage of respondents with no plans to implement an EHR has decreased significantly, the survey found. In 2009, 31 percent reported they had no plans to implement EHR. In 2010, only 21 percent say the same.

An interesting result of the survey also indicates that nearly twice as many provider offices IT buying decisions are driven by concern about not being reimbursed versus the potential to earn incentives. In 2010, when respondents were asked what external factors were influencing their offices' decisions about changes to technology, 53 percent said CMS mandates a 14 percent spike over 2009.

Regarding administrative concerns, nearly the same percentage of respondents in 2009 and 2010 cited the need to manage their practices' administrative overhead more effectively as a driver behind IT adoption 44 percent in 2009, 45 percent in 2010.

Regarding ARRA incentives, in just six months the percentage of respondents that said ARRA was driving technology adoption more than doubled 12 percent in 2009 to 27 percent in 2010.

The article concluding by sharing these lasting results of the survey:

• Forty-six percent of physicians said they are not ready to pursue adoption;

• Twenty-seven percent of practices say they do not need an EHR;

• Twenty-six percent of practices do not how they will achieve return on investment.

Cellular carriers are jumping into the revolution of mobile technology that identifies and acts on medical problems

A recent news article in Business Week magazine (www.BusinessWeek.com) written by author Kelly Capell states that... "Until recently, the only connection between cell phones and health was the fear they might cause cancer or traffic accidents". It is interesting to note that now cellular operators are trying to become providers of wireless-health-care products and services. The market, known as mobile or m-health, spans everything from text messaging services to remind people to take medications to implants that monitor heart patients. There are even pills with edible computer chips; the chips send signals to a skin patch, which in turn transmits data to a doctor's cell phone or computer. The information helps doctors track when patients take their medicines and whether there are adverse reactions. In this Business Week piece, Alessio Ascari who leads McKinsey's mobile-health-care initiative from Milan states "mobile has the potential to revolutionize the health-care system by increasing efficiency, lowering costs, expanding access to care, and improving patient outcomes" .

So does every other major cell-phone player. AT&T Wireless, Sprint Nextel and Verizon are investing in m-health. The cell-phone providers are joining a crowded field. Medical equipment giants such as GE Healthcare, Philips are developing remote monitoring devices, wearable sensors, and health-related mobile-phone applications as rising costs force a shift in patient care from the hospital to the home.

With Tele Health technology almost becoming a mainstay of all conversations lately, perhaps M-Health was its predecessor becoming almost a must-have, M-Health, T-Health all work hand in hand.

The iPhone - A medical device?

In January, a moment that all kinds of mobile application developers have long feared finally arrived, when the FDA decided that an iPhone image viewer from Cleveland-based vendor MIMvista was a class III medical device that requires pre-market approval. Dr. Alberto Gutierrez of the FDA's Center for Devices and Radiological Health states the following we understand the potential and benefit of having these devices in the marketplace, but we would like to make sure that they perform in a way that would lead to [their] safe and effective use and that the public is protected," he informed radiology news site AuntMinnie (www.AuntMinnie.com). Since MIMvista designed the application, called Mobile MIM, as a diagnostic product, the company is making plans to conduct clinical trials even though Mobile MIM already carries a European seal of approval and is available in the UK, Australia, Hong Kong, Singapore and India.

But with Apple's larger, higher-resolution iPad, anything is possible in how far radiology mobility can be taken.

Survey reveals number of doctors going online to help patients

Direct from www.iHealthbeat.org, a site not to be overlooked in being an informed physician reveals that in 2009, 39% of U.S. physicians connected with patients online through e-mail, secure messaging services or instant messaging, according to a Manhattan Research survey.

In 2007, 31% of U.S. doctors used e-mail, secure messaging services or instant messaging to connect with patients online, while 25% of U.S. physicians connected with patients online in 2006.

According to the 2009 survey, dermatologists are the top specialty group connecting with patients online, followed by medical oncologists and neurologists. Results are based on a Q1 2009 nationally representative sample of 1,900 practicing U.S. physicians.