March 29, 2009 by Atul.

Since I am attending the conference on SaaS- (SaaSCon 2009 , San Jose, CA) this coming week, I wanted to see how the EMR solutions and vendors are aligning themselves and/or designing the products to take advantage of this trend.For those unfamiliar with the SaaS terminology, the wikipedia definition and whatis definition are nearly the same: This is a way of renting software rather than buying it.I won’t get into the details of SOA (Service Oriented Architecture) or ASP (Application Service Provider) but it is important to know that SaaS is not a fad and has gathered enough momentum.In the meanwhile, other aspects of computing such as storage have also become mature enough to be available as a service.All these - software, storage, … - can be combined into a concept called “Everything As A Service”, typically represented as “XaaS” (X denotes the “don’t care/doesn’t matter” which component of the computing platform as all are available as service.). More on Xaas (pronounced as ZaaS) at this blog entry. Going back to the healthcare world, here are a few vendors who have jumped on the SaaS bandwagon (or at least have trend-aware marketing folks):MedPlexus :  “MedPlexus focuses on the business and clinical issues of the medical practice; using a combination of Software as a Service (SaaS) platform, BPO services, and a 360º practice performance analysis to provide solutions for its clients of all sizes.”RelayHealth : In their interview of this company, the blog HISTech Report writes:

RelayHealth’s SaaS Intelligent Network Encompassing Award-Winning Consumer Services, Revenue Cycle Management, and Pharmacy Transactions Prove the Power of Connectivity as a Service“.

Axolotl : From their press release about their product: Elysium’s community-wide Master Patient Index, EdgeServer(s), Interoperability Hub, Community Virtual Health Record, and EMR Lite with integrated e-prescribing are all provided as a software service (Saas).There are many others and expect more to join in.Of particular interest to me was a comment (in the TechCrunch’s note about a new product called Producteev- A SaaS product, recently announced and available):

Andy - March 18th, 2009 at 11:13 am PDT

I am a Systems Administrator for a small rural critical access hospital. We will be beginning implementation of a Electronic Medical Record system within the next 3 months. Producteev would help us manage this project more effectively. This project is going to last at least 2 years and affect over 200 employees. It is going to be very important that all tasks involved with the project are managed and communicated well to insure that the implementation goes as smoothly as possible. I have gone through the Producteev tour, and it looks like a product that would help us immensely.

It seems to me that SaaS- or rather, Xaas - will bring powerful solution options to the healthcare space in general and EMR/EHR area in particular. 

Posted in EMR, Reporting, PreviMed-General, Uncategorized | 2 Comments »

March 17, 2009 by Atul.

It is amazing how so many physicians are being misled by the lure of “free” EMR’s.    

There are at least 2 companies in the US that are blatantly declaring how they can introduce an EMR without costing the physician or the practice anything.  

Of course, it is not free!! In both these cases, the companies have deals with the vendors and will make some commission but also charge the practice for other hidden fees for , say, training and documentation. 

More serious, though, is the long term effect of this “free” offer. Since some of the products are not certified by CCHIT (or equivalent), these physicians will not see a dime of the stimulus incentive funds released by President Obama’s administration.

And then, the nasty surprises will come when the physicians want to change their hospital affiliation or introduce some additional capabilities in their EMR’s or have some new reporting function talk to it.

Then, they will realize that free is in fact quite expensive. By then, the damage, in terms of reputation hit, downtime and practice continuity - is already done.  

We don’t mind that the physicians - especially in ambulatory, independent group practice setting -  are frugal or that they are not experts in EMR architecture - After all, we expect the specialists to be exactly that and stay current by keeping updated in the field of medicine, not IT. But we are concerned about how some in the vendor community may be exploiting this to deliver a marginalized, sub-standard system.

We at PreviMed pride ourselves at offering vendor-neutral, future-proof EMR strategies for the forward thinking physicians - And just as we don’t take any kickbacks from vendors, we also don’t offer mis-matched trouble for “free” ! 

Contact us, if you will like to know more.

Posted in EMR, Reporting, PreviMed-General, Uncategorized | 1 Comment »

May 21, 2008 by Atul.

Whether outside the US or inside, it is important to get objective data so that patients can make an informed decision.

The US govt’s HHS has launched an advertising campaign to make folks aware about their website. Called Hospital Compare, this website-based tool provides a comparison, with pretty good user-oriented search flexibility.

 here’s a sample:

Top Hospitals 97%     Average For All Reporting Hospitals In The United States    79%  Average For All Reporting Hospitals In California    73%  KAISER FOUNDATION HOSPITAL - SANTA CLARA    92%  STANFORD HOSPITAL    87%  WASHINGTON HOSPITAL    67%           Top Hospitals represents the top 10% of hospitals nationwide. Top hospitals achieved a 97% rate or better.

 Be careful, though, as the reported data can be easily mis-interpreted by a lay person. If you look at the data, get a qualified person to help you understand the differences. Also, some/most of the information may be somewhat dated (thru 2007) and in fairness to Quality professionals, all hospitals are continuously engaged in improving to the extent possible.

Finally, this gives a picture of some parameters regarding hospitals’ performance, there are many many other aspects that you cannot capture here.

Posted in Reporting, Quality, Uncategorized | No Comments »