Great-grandfather hesitated when it was time to sell the horse and buy a car. Outfitting your rural home with indoor plumbing was no doubt frightening to those who preferred an outdoor privy in back. We still don’t know how electricity works – only that it does. Many physicians prefer to write scripts in barely legible cursive handwriting, and overwhelm their patient and dedicated staffs with mountains of files, each easily misplaced folder containing a patient record. They hold on to this preference often out of whimsy, an attachment to the familiar sometimes referred to as “it’s just the way we’ve always done it.”

Physicians can be like any of us, a recalcitrant lot. Change can be painful and expensive. Long-term benefits of change can seem like a distant horizon, especially if medical school is fading into memory as it gives way to the grueling rigors of an everyday practice.

But we are entering, together if not hand-in-hand, a different world. It is already 2009. While the former Bush Administration made motions toward the digital age and began to strategize in that inevitable direction, the Obama Administration is full steam ahead. Stimulus monies, reimbursements for those fortunate physicians wishing to take advantage of EMR software opportunities while the getting is good, will begin to be disbursed as of January 1, 2011. What participation in the digital revolution that is now optional will become mandatory for physicians and hospitals by 2015. It is not the time to balk like great-grandfather did when it was time to sell the horse. Procrastination is as unsanitary today as it was when indoor plumbing was perceived as “unnatural” by those who were soothed by the privacy of their outdoor privies. Waiting too long to go digital might allow competitors to pass one by. Fox Meadows Software has been in the business of helping physicians in 20+ specialties longer than almost anyone else. We want to help. It’s okay to wait, to make the best choice for your situation, to get precisely the right EMR package that is destined to serve you well. Just know that the clock is ticking, and that the choosing is inevitable, as inevitable as turning on a light once was.

To learn more about electronic medical records, emr software, medical billing software visit Foxmeadows.com.

President Obama has been keeping up the pressure to reform the U.S. Healthcare System, with a centerpiece of his new juggernaut of change focused clearly on EMR software packages. General Electric has also opened May with a reflexive big corporate marketing push called Healthymagination. It too promises to help move us closer to digital patient recordkeeping in every sense. But the $787 billion economic stimulus package, with a healthy chunk of those funds directed at EMR modernizing, remains the boulder that’s been rolled down the hill. Poised to benefit from these Obama-era free market tidings is Fox Meadows software, and the platform of extremely relevant packages they now support.

It isn’t as if Fox Meadows is a new kid on the digital EMR block. For years we’ve been providing efficacious solutions while serving thousands of physicians in 20+ specialties nationwide. But with all that’s suddenly going on, and with that giant boulder of healthcare reform suddenly picking up speed as it rolls down that glorious hill that some like to call “the future,” a new urgency is entering the mix. Always a learning curve exists for physicians embracing change and trying a software package that is optional now, but in just a few years, will become mandatory. The curve to reach an 80% efficiency ratio typically takes three to six months – even under the best of circumstances. The 80% threshold doesn’t mean a whole lot now, but come January 1, 2011, it will become a crucial factor determining reimbursement for stimulus-related purchases of EMR software packages. If the threshold fails to be met by a physician no matter how well intentioned – he or she will be sent to the back of the line as any reimbursement check will be delayed. Thoughts of selecting the right package are legitimate and necessary too, but if the trigger is not pulled in time …

Fox Meadows is available to assist any physician seeking to stay ahead of the curve. It takes courage to make decisions that entail considerable expense on the front end, decisions that can launch a physician’s office into a brave new digital world. We want to help while there’s still time. There is still time. But soon it will be 2010. As the day declaring “zero hour” nears, more physician’s offices and hospitals will be deciding. It’s like a thriller, only medical care reform is much better than any movie.

To learn more about electronic medical records, emr software, medical billing software visit Foxmeadows.com.

It was additional reinforcement for his pro-EMR position as if any was needed. In his remarks of May 11, 2009, he emphasized once again how essential healthcare reform is to America. Like Franklin D. Roosevelt three generations before him, President Obama’s plans are ambitious, but necessary, not only to right an ailing economy, but to establish a foundation of stability for the future. The President recognized a clear, indisputable fact: When it comes to healthcare spending, “we are on an unsustainable course that threatens the financial stability of families, businesses, and government itself.” Prior to making his timely remarks, the President had just concluded an “extraordinarily productive” meeting with organizations that “are going to be essential to the work of healthcare reform in this country.” But what he had to say about EMR software solutions was perhaps most telling.

“We are computerizing medical records in a way that will protect our privacy.” In that single sentence is a pronouncement for a more sustainable future. If EMR solutions can become pervasive enough to become the rule rather than the exception at U.S. hospitals and at tens of thousands of physician offices nationwide, his ambitious plan just may work.

It won’t be magical. Between now and January 1, 2011, when the floodgates to accept EMR reimbursement stimulus funds will officially open up, an unprecedented opportunity exists for physicians and hospitals to realign their mindsets and embrace a digital way of thinking. While a certain comfort level might exist in the tangible nature of paper trail-fed patient records, and in writing prescriptions with a scrawled and often illegible script, it is no longer feasible to rely on such outmoded, costly methods. User-friendly digital recordkeeping becoming ubiquitous will make a huge difference. But procrastination is not in order. If physicians choose to delay implementation of EMR software packages by putting off their selection processes, the stresses of a learning curve made essential by long overdue healthcare reform may well become untenable. This kind of stress is avoidable. Physicians, it’s time to act. Digital recordkeeping is inevitable. The time to select and implement your EMR software solution is not yesterday, it is today.

David York is with Fox Meadows, a provider of electronic medical records software, EMR Software, and medical billing software. To learn more about electronic medical records, emr software, medical billing software visit Foxmeadows.com.

So far, the new Obama Administration has brought us a stimulus plan that included a healthy healthcare component with EMR mandates giving it teeth. An ingredient that seemed to be missing for producing concerted action among U.S. physicians was a big corporate response to Obama’s initiative. Now, perhaps it is here.

May 7, 2009, should be inserted into your calendar as a day of “smart” bandwagon leaping. It’s the day when General Electric launched “Healthymagination,” a generous commitment of $6 billion “to enable better healthcare focusing on cost, access, and quality.” Of this total, half (about $3 billion) is pledged by 2015 to foster healthcare innovation, delivering better patient care at lower cost, with EMR software packages for the public and private sectors becoming an integral part of the mix. With EMR packages in place to a much greater extent than currently, GE targets to improve healthcare access are likely to be met.

In fact, among the critical need areas outlined by Healthymagination is “accelerating healthcare information technology,” a bullet point that implies proliferating EMR software and could well be the key. GE Chairman and CEO Jeff Immelt had this to say, “Healthcare needs new solutions. We must innovate with smarter processes and technologies that help doctors and hospitals deliver better healthcare to people at lower cost.”

Immelt seems to be echoing President Obama and his federal administrators as they’ve discussed the $787 billion stimulus with its billions set aside for EMR-related innovations. Mandates are now in place to “come onboard” with necessary modifications to the way we do healthcare in the U.S., including the January 1, 2011, starting point to begin receiving stimulus funds designated for EMR purposes. With that firm deadline looming for physicians and hospitals to bring the “paperless” revolution to their own offices and patient records, the race to beat the rush has begun as 2009 ticks down. But impetus is added when big corporate joins the bandwagon as GE has done. Former U.S. Senator Tom Daschle, a member of GE’s Healthymagination advisory board asserts, “We can only find real solutions in healthcare when business, government, and their partners work together.” How correct he is.

David York is with Fox Meadows, a provider of electronic medical records software, EMR Software, and medical billing software. To learn more about electronic medical records, emr software, medical billing software visit Foxmeadows.com.

On April 14, 2009, in an important table-setting address given at Georgetown University in our nation’s capital, President Barack Obama provided a measure of hope as a recession continued. His sense of hope was buttressed by a Biblical allusion from the Sermon of the Mount in an earlier address given by Jesus the Christ more than two millennia ago. President Obama compared our current economic miasma to “shifting sands,” and offered to replace our current underpinning with something firmer, something made of a substance used figuratively and literally to support the weight of our new realities. “We cannot rebuild this economy on the same pile of sand. We must build our house upon a rock,” Mr. Obama said, as if offering a parable. This new foundation buttressed by a rock – hopefully one like Gibraltar – will itself be supported by five pillars, especially one which enacts the President’s health care reforms to lower costs for families and businesses.

To learn more about electronic medical records, emr software, medical billing software visit Foxmeadows.com.

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) is off and running. President Obama’s bold federal initiative, in response to our current economic meltdown of 2008-2009, has met congressional approval to the tune of $787 billion. A sizable chunk of that stimulus money, close to $20 billion (currently budgeted at $17.2 billion) is “earmarked,” to use that much maligned term (with apologies in advance to Senator John McCain) for EMR software packages. Intended is more like it, but the meaning is clear: a lot of federal dollars is set to reimburse physicians and hospitals for their soon-to-be-mandated purchases of federally compliant Electronic Medical Records software systems. For many, the transition will be too costly to undertake without the rebates. But if physicians in their offices can move into the 21st century with a certain aplomb, overcoming their natural distrust of change (it’s human nature), Fox Meadows will be there for them.

In the past several years, the prestigious South Carolina-based firm has made its mark in thousands of offices nationwide, amassing a proven track record of diagnostic and treatment efficacy. Our EMR solutions have helped thousands of physicians participating in more than 20 specialties to not only accept technological advances of great magnitude, but to expect an intuitive functionality that makes essential patient information instantly available at the point of care. To many patients who are used to old-fashioned disordered chaos at the mercy of paper, this paperless trend is nothing short of miraculous. In many instances, direct patient care becomes possible if not probable when it was unlikely before. Physicians are being freed up to experience something they might never have dared to imagine – that clinical encounters can be pleasant for the physician and patient alike.

It’s certain that EMR solutions from Fox Meadows will be compliant to newly established federal guidelines when the time comes. But January 1, 2011, is the day when the money gods will officially open the floodgates to reimbursement for compliant packages. A significant date for you may well be now, today, in 2009, so that the learning curve for transition post-purchase (three-to-six months is typical for most new users) doesn’t sneak up on your office or facility, and the 80% usage requirement (a prerequisite for reimbursement) becomes a smoother reality. Let Fox Meadows provide you with the right EMR solution to help you get there. Don’t procrastinate when your future is waiting.

To learn more about electronic medical records, emr software, medical billing software visit Foxmeadows.com.

On Tuesday, April 14 2009, President Barack Obama offered a message of hope at Georgetown University. He did warn of a period of future economic hardship for Americans, but also praised “signs of hope” in the national economy which were the result, in large measure, of his administration’s $787-billion economic stimulus legislation, which has already “spurred consumer demand” and partially restored the flow of credit so crucial to businesses. “By no means are we out of the woods just yet. But from where we stand, for the very first time, we are beginning to see glimmers of hope,” Obama said, “And beyond that, way off in the distance, we can see a vision of America’s future that is far different than our troubled economic past.” Obama’s vision won’t be established on the shifting sands of Clinton & Bush-era deregulatory fiscal policies, but instead be anchored on something firmer. He alluded to Jesus and the deity’s Sermon on the Mount, found in the Bible. “We cannot rebuild this economy on the same pile of sand. We must build our house upon a rock,” Obama said, and he wasn’t necessarily referring to the first Pope. The rock-buttressed foundation the President referred to will have “five pillars.” One of them is especially pertinent: Enacting his health care reforms to lower costs for families and businesses.

U.S. health care remains beset with problems. Spiraling costs have removed the safety net of health insurance from forty-eight million Americans, while millions more are left in a gray category of “under-insured,” a precarious predicament that leaves patients in sometimes equally dire straits. Those who are insured may receive care, but it’s often compromised. Inefficient and potentially lethal in itself, without the reassuring presence of state-of-the-art EMR software systems, antiquated systems of record-keeping and data collection hold sway – likely placing additional millions at risk while contributing mightily to cost increases that seem to never quit. President Obama’s health care reform package promises big changes for the better in its mandate: U.S. physicians must begin using EMR systems to process their patient data by 2014. In fact, January 1, 2011, is the day essential and long-overdue reform truly begins – as stimulus reimbursement for EMR package purchases kicks off on that super day. But the timing is urgent. It’s now, in 2009, that proactive physicians and hospitals will begin the “gold rush” toward cost savings and efficiency in ever increasing numbers, despite a persistent recession. There’s also the 80% usage rate to consider, and it’s prudent to remember that the mandate calls for this viable percentage to be a fixture and to be in effect – learning curve windows on EMR packages are conservatively 3-6 months. So yes, as another Easter passes there is hope for the U.S. health care industry – perhaps more than a mere glimmer.

David York is with Fox Meadows, a provider of electronic medical records software, EMR Software, and medical billing software. To learn more about electronic medical records, emr software, medical billing software visit Foxmeadows.com.

Peter Naismith called his physician in his Akron office thirty-seven times during a five-day span to retrieve his medical records. “I needed them to get an MRI,” the 53-year-old Naismith asserts. “The receptionist kept putting me off because my doctor still has paper files,” he says, “It’s my contention that they couldn’t find them. I suspect that my records were lost somewhere in their office.” Naismith works as a police officer and is familiar with electronic record-keeping. “All of our criminal files are computerized and easy to find. Why couldn’t they have done that with my medical records? I told my doctor to get rid of the paper files and he just tried to laugh it off. I wasn’t in the mood for laughing as I might have a tumor, and without my records, the hospital won’t do the MRI.”

While Naismith’s predicament isn’t that unusual, fortunately it’s becoming less common. A dramatic transition to EMR software packages is already occurring in physician’s offices all across America in anticipation of the U.S. Congress spending $17.2 billion in stimulus monies devoted to the now mandated move to paperless.

Naismith’s physician still scribbles prescriptions on tiny scrip sheets that can easily get lost and are difficult to read because, according to Naismith, “The guy writes like a first-grader who needs to get his knuckles rapped.” Other patients unwilling to be quoted publicly mention forgetting to tell the doctor about past conditions and therefore getting the wrong medication, or filling out medical forms until their fingers ache. But as the ghost of the Christmas future once said pointedly in the pages of A Christmas Carol — “It doesn’t have to be this way, my dear Mr. Scrooge.” Indubitably it doesn’t. Even a recent survey published in The New England Journal of Medicine reported that doctors who control patient management electronically attest that such record-keeping helps improve the quality and the timeliness of care. Besides improving care, going paperless also reduces errors and is playing an increasing role in cost containment – the very object of Obama’s health care reform in the first place. But there’s also a financial incentive. According to the mandate now in place, physicians in compliance by January 1, 2011 (well before the 2014 cut-off date) are eligible for reimbursement for purchases of EMR software packages if they purchase a federally certified package, and can establish 80% usage in their practices. Considering that there’s a three to six month learning curve in the transition (unless the physician is also a computer whiz) the rush to buy compliant packages is already on. The digital world of record-keeping beckons.

David York is with Fox Meadows, a provider of electronic medical records software, EMR Software, and medical billing software. To learn more about electronic medical records, emr software, medical billing software visit Foxmeadows.com.

During the turbulent years of the recent Bush Administration, U.S. physicians saw the writing on the wall. Antiquated gathering of medical records was giving way, albeit slowly, to “paperless” electronic medical record-keeping. By 2004, 38% of U.S. physicians had gone “paperless.” It was anticipated by many astute physicians and clinicians that someday the government would begin footing the bill for this imminent switchover. As a consequence of many factors, including lack of private resources, medical professionals hesitated, even balked at the big change looming.

Now the Bush Administration is gone, although that President too had moved in a direction of universal EMR. Bush’s more modest plan was sabotaged, even ambushed, by a national financial crisis rivaling the catastrophe of several generations earlier referred to as The Great Depression. Now that very crisis of 2008-2009 has become the catalyst for an even bolder federal initiative called ARRA – the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. ARRA will pay for electronic software solutions that will do the trick – bold software initiatives provided by Fox Meadows in the twin arenas of EMR and Practice Management.

Fox Meadows EMR solutions have already amassed a proven track record of diagnostic and treatment efficacy in thousands of offices nationwide. Thousands of physicians participating in 20+ specialties have learned to expect an intuitive functionality that makes essential patient information instantly available at point of care. In many cases, direct patient care becomes possible if not probable when it was unlikely before. These physicians have discovered that the many tasks of a clinical encounter can even become, well … pleasant – for physician and patient alike.

As a complement to the software firm’s excellent EMR solutions are packages designed for the Practice Management arena. These packages simultaneously create an “Obama-prescribed” integration of electronic medical record-keeping and a practice management solution gearing practices toward optimal performance. Flexible and robust, our EMR/PM solutions combine into an award-winning suite that supports the complex workflows known to exist in a busy patient care environment.

When you consider Fox Meadows solutions like MediNotes EMR and MediNotes Clinician, Obama’s ARRA couldn’t have come along at a better time.

To learn more about electronic medical records, emr software, medical billing software visit Foxmeadows.com.

It already has an acronym: American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. IT could be also argued as integral to ARRA, if you consider “it” as its own acronym, Information Technology as applicable to the sprawling U.S. medical system. But comprehensive software packages provided by companies such as Fox Meadows should only increase their use during the next few years, as electronic modernization becomes federally mandated.

Such software applications are about to bring offices into a bright future filled with the promise of increased efficiency bundled with vastly improved patient care.

Obama’s ARRA is huge. The act includes more than $20 billion in grants and loans as well as creative incentives to spur physicians into this brave new world. Now is the time to “go paperless.” The stimulus monies kick in on January 1, 2011, but that is a bit misleading. Without a 3-6 month preparatory “learning curve,” the ability to properly utilize the packages at a government-mandated 80% usage rate just won’t happen. In addition, long lines of medical applicants to purchase the new systems should be in full swing by mid-2010, let alone in the year’s waning days. The rush to exploit the stimulus funding to help purchase EMR packages will create a veritable logjam for necessary switchovers. By 2015 when the mandates kick in with fee decreases for physicians still “papered,” up to 90% of medical professionals are expected to have “gone paperless.”

Fox Meadows solution for EMR is sure to emerge as a leading solution. Packages provided by Fox Meadows are already helping thousands of physicians in more than 20 medical specialties to automate their practices in ways they could barely imagine just a few months ago.

To learn more about electronic medical records, emr software, medical billing software visit Foxmeadows.com.

Physicians must begin using EMR systems to process their patient data by 2014. In fact, the time for physicians and hospitals to begin their switchovers is NOW. Stringent conditions exist in order for physicians and hospitals to take advantage of the new economic stimulus package pertaining to EMR software packages. Among those conditions is 80% usage while purchasing a federally certified package. January 1, 2011 is the day it all begins. It’s worth noting that a preparatory “learning curve” window (3-6 months lead time) is essential for the required 80% usage rate is to be achieved by the Obama-mandated deadline.

Even prior to the introduction of President Obama’s stimulus, the U.S. healthcare information technology industry spent $28 billion annually. This figure could triple by 2019. Some of these increased expenditures are expected to be recouped in the digitizing of Medicare and Medicaid programs.

The stimulus bill, already renamed as the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, is expected to make the use of electronic medical records nearly universal by 2015, when up to 90% of U.S. physicians will be fully invested in EMR. Physicians will be paid less by that year if they aren’t using EMR. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, or ARRA, is also expected to engender multistate computer networks so that physicians and hospitals will be able to exchange medical records over the Internet instead of via fax lines. But the getting there won’t be easy. The figure for physicians currently using EMR systems is estimated at 38%, according to a February 2009 survey conducted by the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta.

The period between autumn 2010 and January 1, 2011 is expected to resemble a “gold rush” as physicians and hospitals rush to take advantage. So the timing is urgent, during 2009, not late in 2010, for physicians to potentially exploit what looks to be an electronic medical records bonanza.

David York is with Fox Meadows, a provider of electronic medical records software, EMR Software, and medical billing software. To learn more about electronic medical records, emr software, medical billing software visit Foxmeadows.com.

Every Presidential succession, a new President seems to make promises to modernize U.S. healthcare, most of them he can’t keep. The Obama Administration’s ambitious agenda to reform a broken healthcare system seems calculated in a similar fashion. But everything is not always as it seems. This time, the new measures offered might achieve results – especially in relation to electronic medical records software implementation.

Healthcare IT (Information Technology) has surfaced as a distinct priority backed up by dollars – lots of dollars; even with some substantial shaving of dollars in the stimulus package ($30 billion was originally allotted for Healthcare IT), the numbers remaining are still a “healthy” $19 billion. Much of the administration’s attention is focused on mechanisms that improve access to data, of which a prominent facet has to be electronic medical records systems and software.

An Obama stated objective is to “invest in proven strategies to reduce preventable medical errors.” This inevitably leads to finger pointing at a “paper system” where physicians jot down prescriptions in often ineligible handwriting, where patient files and records are misplaced and have to be needlessly duplicated or even created anew from scratch, sacrificing not only paper but efficiency and perhaps safety in the old-fashioned processing. In fact, a wider adoption of medical records should save lives.

EMR systems are quite efficient and proficient in the managing and dispensing of prescription drugs, the primary source of medical errors. But can the Obama-era U.S. healthcare juggernaut take full advantage of a newfound electronic data stream? How much of the data will be quantifiable in a traditional sense? The size of data warehouses will be growing radically. Can the stream be mined adequately in the coming years for qualitative analysis? These questions will pose enormous challenges, but also offer potentially staggering rewards.

David York is with Fox Meadows, a provider of electronic medical records software, EMR Software, and medical billing software. To learn more about electronic medical records, emr software, medical billing software visit Foxmeadows.com.

President Barack Obama’s nearly $800 billion stimulus package has included several endowments for improving the state of medical record-keeping in the United States, in an effort to modernize and improve overall patient care along with hospital efficiency. High on his list is to eliminate the laborious and cumbersome manual scanning of millions of documents relevant to a patient’s medical history and ongoing care.

Physicians and clinicians of varied description, together with their harried staffs, currently spend an estimated jillion hours each year searching for – and when they find them – searching through, patient files for essential information. That figure may be conservative. Says John Doe S. Smith, M.D., based in East Greenacres, Rhode Island, “We used our state-of-the-art little green abacus to figure it out. In 2008, my staff and I spent 1.64 jillion hours searching for patient records. That’s up from 2007, when we spent 1.47 jillion hours doing the same thing.”

Yet despite this millstone of work dragging many practices into a kind of perpetual drudgery, some physicians remain hesitant to implement an Electronic Medical Record system, but would still like to be a paperless office. Others are considering implementing Medinotes e EMR and would enhance their scanning capabilities if there only was a way. Fox Meadows is offering an option that just might work: MediNotes eScan. Its benefits are many. Did you know that eScan will improve office productivity, allow for quick retrieval of documents (which saves money), and even helps to ensure patient privacy? By setting specific permissions on a document or document types, a clinician can provide only those users who NEED to view a document access to it; eScan also tracks who has viewed, modified, or exported a document and on what date or dates. For multiple practice locations, eScan works even better. The system allows medical staff to easily share documents with other employees across multiple practice locations. Scanning and storing files electronically has yet another built-in advantage also – you can rest assured that documents remain safe and backed-up in case of a fire or other unexpected natural disaster.

E-Scan is an intermediate solution that if implemented on a wide scale across the United States, might prove to some skeptics that the President’s ambitious stimulus package, or at least a crucial component of it, is actually working.

To learn more about electronic medical records, emr software and medical billing software, visit Foxmeadows.com.

Medinotes E is already a fixture in the offices of some 50,000 clinicians nationwide. If there’s one company that is ready to fill the needs of the President’s new economic stimulus package – in the arena of EMR software and the long overdue modernization health care in America – it’s Fox Meadows. For instance, our Practice Management Software is helping thousands of physicians in more than 20 medical specialties automate their practices with intuitive functionality – intuitive because it’s flexible to a myriad of office environments. Imagine essential patient information that IS available at the point of care. Add into the mix electronic prescribing capabilities, chief complaint templates to make documentation fast and efficient, patient graphics to illustrate diagnostic and treatment information, and patient instructions that can be printed or emailed. If he experienced a demonstration of Medinotes E in action, President Obama would be surely be impressed and in his eloquent oratorical style, he’d probably mention the obvious: Medinotes e maximizes a physician’s time for direct patient care in the most efficient way imaginable.

Administration officials might observe how our competitor’s EMR and practice management software can be confusing and require a physician’s staff to navigate from screen to screen for the correct information that’s needed STAT – as a few of the bugs have yet to be worked out in their software packages. By contrast, Medinotes e uses a new approach based on clinical work flow that has an additional benefit of reducing training time for busy medical staff. Based on a facsimile of multi-tasking concepts designed for internet users, convenient tabs in Medinotes e allows physicians and their helpers to efficiently manage the multitude of tasks inherent in a clinical encounter. The system’s capabilities are uncanny: Medinotes e can display multiple patients, encounter notes, work flow items, patient messages, alerts, and inter-office communications.

Medinotes e from Fox Meadows has to be precisely what President Obama ordered.

To learn more about electronic medical records, emr software and medical billing software, visit Foxmeadows.com.

President Obama’s speech lining up EMR and other health care niceties (in his ambitious stimulus package designed to improve a U.S. economy) is as precarious as any encountered since the Great Depression sounded laudatory and necessary. “If we’re to improve the quality of our health care while lowering its costs, we will have to make the immediate investments necessary to ensure that within five years, all of America’s medical records are computerized. This will cut waste, eliminate red tape, and reduce the need to repeat expensive medical tests. But it just won’t save billions of dollars and thousands of jobs – it will save lives by reducing the deadly, but preventable, medical errors that pervade our health care system.”

In an ideal world, the President would be justly optimistic, but Obama’s goal is hardly a new one. In fact, President George W. Bush, Obama’s unpopular predecessor, set a similar time period in announcing his EMR initiative buttressed on a series of regional programs. The Bush initiative, like many Bush initiatives, failed. But can Universal EMR work?

America’s largest institutions won’t have to start from scratch. Varying implementations of EMR are already in place at Veteran’s Administration’s hospitals across the country. One hurdle at the VA is that electronic documents have been predominately utilized to facilitate business outcomes, rather than patient care. What EMR systems need to do is provide cognitive support to medical practitioners, in the manner that certain EMR systems already do in hundreds of private medical practices nationwide. If a computerized medical records system is too cumbersome and too rigid, it might not be much of an improvement; but, if an EMR system is user-friendly, and is flexible, it would be a huge step in a positive direction. If a Federal EMR standardized system would only follow the lead of certain packages of state-of-the-art EMR software already available in the private sector, President Obama’s ambitious goals are more likely to be realized.

David York is with Fox Meadows, a provider of electronic medical records software, EMR Software, and medical billing software. To learn more about electronic medical records, emr software and medical billing software, visit Foxmeadows.com.

In his Plan for a Healthy America, Presidential candidate Barack Obama called for lowering costs through investment in electronic health information systems at the Federal level, acknowledging that paper-based medical records are cumbersome and error-prone. In several of his stump speeches, he drummed home the point that processing paper claims was also twice as expensive. While still a candidate, he pledged to invest $10 billion a year through 2013 to move the U.S. health care system, a juggernaut if there ever was one, towards a broad adoption of standards-based electronic health care systems, including electronic medical records.

In his December 8, 2008, radio address, President-elect Obama discussed his extensive plans for stimulating the economy. Included in his plans was a significant investment in EMRs. “In addition to connecting our libraries and schools to each other through the internet, we must modernize our health care system. This won’t just save jobs – it will save lives. We will make sure that every doctor’s office and hospital in this country is using cutting edge technology and electronic medical records so that we can cut red tape, prevent medical mistakes, and help save billions of dollars each year.”

As President Obama’s February 2009 stimulus package neared its historic passage, the President gave a speech in Washington, D.C. continuing his clarion call for providing electronic patient records throughout the United States within the next five years. Explained the President in the impressive oratory style that has already come to define him, “To improve the quality of our health care while lowering its cost, we will make the immediate investments necessary to ensure that within five years, all of America’s medical records are computerized. This will cut waste, eliminate red tape, and reduce the need to repeat expensive medical tests. But it just won’t save billions of dollars and thousands of jobs – it will save lives by reducing the deadly, but preventable, medical errors that pervade our health care system.”

On this issue of EMR software, Barack Obama has remained as steadfast as a straight arrow.

David York is with Fox Meadows, a provider of electronic medical records software, EMR Software, and medical billing software. To learn more about electronic medical records, emr software and medical billing software, visit Foxmeadows.com.

Larry Blaisdell has been a chiropractor for eleven years. While he’s always maintained a busy practice, it was beset with what he calls “disorganization issues.”

“My assistants would misplace a patient’s medical history, especially as it applied to chiropractic care, and I’d lose three or four hours hunting for that one file,” he says. “It got to be more than annoying, it was plain frustrating.” What Dr. Blaisdell used to do was adjust to his office dysfunction. “I’d make adjustments for time I knew I’d lose to disorganization issues,” he asserts. “but the time allotted for these adjustments kept increasing.”

Forced to do something proactive, he purchased Medinotes e for Chiropractic from Fox Meadows. Medinotes e has revitalized the Blaisdell practice. “Everything is much better now,” he asserts.

Medinotes e for Chiropractic is an electronic medical record system with exceptional features and functionality. Newly redesigned, users now have complete control over the system and are able to create custom displays and intake screens, add or remove items from the hierarchical tree, and quickly toggle between multiple patient folders. This flexible software program has been broken down into four convenient views: Practice View, Patient View, Document View, and Object View.

“Practice view is global,” Blaisdell agrees. It gives a chiropractor a global view of events occurring within his/her practice. A chiropractor’s staff is able to review all Patient/Practice alerts, messages, patient-flow, pending results from reference laboratories, pending histories from Instant Medical History, automated tasks, and more.

Patient View is able to display multiple patients simultaneously; each with their own color-coded tab. Patient View Screens can be completely customized.

Document View is actually a second global view, enabling a chiropractic office to quickly filter all Medinotes e documents by document type, provider, or date. It can follow-up such sorting with equally relevant printing – printing to specific printer settings designated for that document type.

The Object View is also exciting. This feature gives chiropractors an opportunity to review, customize, and save templates and examination dialogs in one convenient area.

No wonder Medinotes e from Fox Meadows Software is revitalizing chiropractic practices.

To learn more about Electronic medical records, emr software, medical billing software, visit Foxmeadows.com.

Medinotes E makes life easier for thousands of clinicians struggling to comply with the ponderous Federal HIPAA regulations established in 1996, so much so, that the software solution has been certified for the regulations by the HIPAA Academy, a national HIPAA educator and certification specialist. This certification accords that Medinotes e 4.3 meets or exceeds the HIPAA standards required for an electronic medical record software, but just don’t take the Academy’s word for it.

The E-Accelerator Methodology was used to review HIPAA requirements from the perspective of a Medinotes e patient. All HIPAA mandates apply to these clients. HIPAA Academy has attempted to identify the maximum number of situations where a service or feature in Medinotes e could provide relief. Recommendations were grouped under the most appropriate mandate, with highest impact recommendations listed first.

The evaluation method used is essential to indicate if an individual ChartingPlus response is “acceptable” or “unacceptable.” In instances where recommendations were accomplished quicker than suggested, in a way that provided greater protection, an “exceptional” evaluation is given.

The overall response has proved satisfactory or exceptional. Every area considered met the criteria of “acceptable” or “exceptional.” The product particularly excels in how privacy is ensured by embedded security features.

Fox Meadows has always valued confidentiality, integrity, and availability as a critically important triumvirate. This three-pronged list of attributes is evident in every product we install, as shown in our approach and designated product features. Our staff strives to look beyond the specific request to discover broader applications. Medinotes e, for instance, logs every change a user makes. Confidentiality is reiterated when all scripts sent to users are encrypted. Sometimes our staff feels compelled to “blaze a new trail,” if methods used in the past are proving inadequate. If a process needs to be redesigned or even replaced, it gets done. That’s the Fox Meadows mandate for excellence.

To learn more about Electronic medical records, emr software, medical billing software, visit Foxmeadows.com.

V.P., a neurology-inclined practitioner based in Rhode Island, used to misplace patient records on a daily basis. “It was annoying, and potentially dangerous,” he says. “Our system consisted of hard copy folders, all paper, with no electronic interfaces. Folders were stacked in odd corners of the office, and were subject to my idiosyncratic whims as to where they might be found. Our situation was precarious to say the least.”

Recently, V.P. has acquired a state-of-the-art electronic medical records system, providing a comprehensive database for patient information, histories of treatment, diagnoses, and follow-up.

The new system has required a minimal learning curve, as navigation is simple; note windows and other graphics allow for straightforward access of information. With his new EMR package designed especially for chiropractors, V.P. can follow every patient while multi-tasking with impunity.

To purchase his EMR software package, V.P. explored the features and functionality of more than a dozen similar packages which were available for his clinical specialty. Some were confusing and required his staff to migrate from screen to screen for the information they were seeking. “We were looking for a system with less navigation, not more,” V.P. asserts.

EMR packages which utilize tab concepts for simplicity and ease of navigation were the most attractive options. Tabs in an electronic medical record allow for an unprecedented level of multi-tasking, which in turn contributes to an extremely well-organized and efficient chiropractic office environment. V.P. ended up choosing an EMR solution that offered a variety of views. His choice of EMR package contained a global view of events occurring within his practice; was able to display multiple patients at a time, each with their own color-coded tab; allowed for a comprehensive sorting of relevant documents; and also allowed for the opportunity to review, customize, and save templates.

David York is with Fox Meadows, a provider of electronic medical records software, EMR Software, and medical billing software. To learn more about Electronic medical records, emr software, medical billing software, visit Foxmeadows.com.

The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), enacted into law 13 years ago in 1996, remains in force. Within 18 months of the regulations being enacted, the U.S. Secretary for Health & Human Services adopted a set of standards from those already approved by private standards developing organizations. These were for certain electronic health transactions including claims, enrollment, eligibility, payment, and coordination of benefits. The most relevant administrative provisions were (and still are):

1.

A mandate on providers and health plans, with a strict timetable. According to this mandate, providers and health plans are required to use the standards for the specified electronic transactions now that they have been adopted. Plans and providers may comply directly, or may use a health care clearinghouse. Certain health plans, in particular workers compensation, are not covered.
2.

Privacy. The HHS Secretary recommended privacy standards for health information to Congress. These remain in effect.
3.

Preemption of state law. The bill supersedes state laws, except where the Secretary determines that the state law is necessary to prevent fraud and abuse, to ensure appropriate state regulation of insurance or health plans, addresses controlled substances, or for other purposes. Privacy regulations do not preempt state laws that impose more stringent requirements. These provisions do not limit a state’s ability to require health plan reporting or audits.
4.

Penalties. The bill imposes civil financial penalties and prison for certain violations.

That’s the bad news. The good news is that certain applications of electronic medical records software have evolved to the point where compliance with HIPAA regulations has been made much easier. Certain features of these relevant software modules can often identify situations where methodology relief exists. Conclusions can be drawn, privacy concerns can be met, and even encryption of scripts is available in some instances.

David York is with Fox Meadows, a provider of electronic medical records software, EMR Software, and medical billing software. To learn more about Electronic medical records, emr software, and  medical billing software, visit Foxmeadows.com.