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Meaningful Use – Fraud or Frenzy

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Robert Rowley downloaded the CMS data on Meaningful Use and did an interesting analysis in his article about EHR vendor strength. I was intrigued, so I downloaded the same data, created a pivot table or two, and did my own analysis.

As the CEO of a growing EMR business, I was curious to see how we did. What I found was quite scary. 74% of the providers who attested for CMS funds using our system were NOT OUR CUSTOMERS. Attesting for Stage 1, in some cases, only requires the provider to show they signed an agreement with an EMR vendor to install their products. Yet, I did not expect the results to be this fraudulent.

The Meaning Use Rap [Video] and a Little Nerdy Info about HIEs

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If you work in healthcare it is pretty likely that you’ve heard the term “Meaningful Use.” While many find it to be much more annoying than beneficial, I find that many people actually do not have any idea what it means.

The “Meaning Yoose Rap” does a great job of giving a general idea of what meaningful use is, what it does for patients, and how providers can benefit from implementing.

The High Cost of HIPAA Violations [Infographic]

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HIPAA was instituted in order to protect the personal health information (PHI) that resides in the hands of healthcare providers and organizations. Those involved in the line of care include, but are not limited to, nurse, doctors, healthcare information technology (HIT), pharmacies,and health insurance companies. And nearly everyone who touches a patient has some access to at least some portion of the patients PHI.

MEDITECH Nurse Leader and Home Health Conference

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Recently I had the honor of speaking at the MEDITECH Nurse Leader and Home Health Conference. For those of you who are not already familiar, MEDITECH is a leading provider of hospital based EMRs (Electronic Medical Records). They offer a cost effective solutions to assist healthcare organizations with providing collaborative care across the continuum and meeting the requirements of ARRA and Meaningful Use.

Differences Between EMR, EHR, and PHR

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Many people do not realize there are differences between an electronic medical record (EMR), electronic health record (EHR), and a personal health record (PHR). I myself am guilty of often using the terms EHR and EMR interchangeably. There are, however, some defining differences that set these health and medical records apart.

7 Tips to Be a Successful Clinical Informatics Nurse

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Again the names of clinical informatics nurses vary. You may be called an informatics nurse, an analyst, a nurse informaticist, information technology nurse support, or any number of titles. Your role in nursing is going to be altered, but still very impactful to the patients in the community you serve.

6 Reasons Why Nurses Should Use Social Media

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Social media offers many benefits to it’s users. Nurses in particular have the ability to gain many skills that can improve their nursing practice by using social media. While many in healthcare fear social media for various reasons, there is greater good that can come of it for healthcare as a whole.

Is Medication Timing More Important Than Good Patient Care?

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In my years of bedside care I often had to go outside of the 30 minute window for timed medications for the benefit of the patient. Most of the times these times are arbitrary anyhow. If a medication is ordered once per day it doesn’t really matter what time of day the patient gets it. It should fit within their normal routine not within what the pharmacy schedules it. I never once received any sort of reprimand for my medication timing. I often had to request the scheduled times for medications be changed by the pharmacy, but many times I had to give the medication at a different time and documented the reason why.

Electronic Medical Records: Huge Profits to Be Made in the Push for Meaningful Use

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The New York Times has has an article about Epic’s EMR system titled Digitizing Health Records, Before It Was Cool. Epic is only one of many large EMR vendors who produce software to manage patient medical records and other data related to the overall business and function of healthcare organizations. A few others worth mentioning are Allscripts, Meditech, Cerner, I.B.M., McKesson, Siemens and GE Healthcare. They all have their benefits and drawbacks. Most of them have similar challenges when it comes to overall function and impact on patient care. But most of them are also diligently working to correct their shortcomings.

High Fives in Healthcare: Taking Time to Celebrate Your Victories

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I sincerely hope you still feel the rush of endorphins when you get a successful IV stick. I encourage you to smile, be proud, and ask your co-worker for a high five (after a good hand washing of course) the next time you change a particularly challenging dressing. Turn to the side and tell the nurse beside you how excited you are that your patient made the transfer from the bed to the chair successfully. Heck, share with your patient how excited you are that their kidneys produced an adequate amount of volume of the shift. I can’t tell you how happy I’ve had patients get when I complement their kidneys and acknowledge their bodies success and our collective success of a productive and healing shift.