Physician Registration for MU money

Farewell to Jobs

Mobile phones used to open records - and doors - in healthcare

Mobile phones are making their presence felt in healthcare, where physicians are using them to access health records and health facilities.

Two separate announcements this week highlight new methods for authentication. Imprivata and PhoneFactor have announced a reseller partnership that will merge the former’s OneSign authentication and access management platform with the latter’s phone-based multi-factor authentication service. Meanwhile, HID Global is adding iCLASS digital authentication to Blackberry smartphones using Near Field Communications (NFC) capabilities.

The Imprivata-PhoneFactor announcement aids physicians and patients who want access to medical records through their mobile phones. The HID Global announcement focuses on healthcare workers who want to use their smartphones to enter hospitals or log onto restricted-access workstations.

“For our customers, improved clinician satisfaction and productivity result in better patient care,” said Ed Gaudet, chief marketing officer of Lexington, Mass.-based Imprivata. “The joint Imprivata/PhoneFactor solution delivers an excellent method of strong authentication for physicians and nurses who are already accustomed to carrying their phones and need both on-premise and remote access to patient records.”

The joint solution allows users to receive an automated phone call or text message from PhoneFactor when logging into a hospital’s system from a remote location. The user answers the call and presses the ‘#’ sign, or replies to the text message, to authenticate through Imprivata’s OneSign Anywhere platform.

“Patients place a tremendous amount of trust in their healthcare providers and that includes an expectation that practitioners will safeguard their privacy,” said Tim Sutton, CEO of Overland Park, Kan.-based PhoneFactor. “The joint PhoneFactor/Imprivata solution helps healthcare providers meet that expectation by ensuring that only authorized users have access to systems containing patient records. This is critical for regulatory compliance, but perhaps more importantly, is essential to maintaining patient trust.”

“As healthcare delivery organizations extend the reach of their most critical clinical systems to remote locations and mobile devices, the demand for convenient and secure access increases,” said Barry Runyon, vice president of research for industry analyst Gartner. “By combining single sign-on with phone-based strong authentication, particularly out-of-band approaches that mitigate man-in-the-middle and man-in-the browser attacks, healthcare delivery organizations can simplify clinician access to PHI while preventing unauthorized use.”

HID Global, the Irvine, Calif.-based developer of identity and access management solutions, is taking the process one step further for new BlackBerry Bold 9900/9930 and BlackBerry Curve 9350/9360 smartphones. The smartphones can be activated with the company’s iCLASS digital credentials, making them compatible with iCLASS readers. Through this process, users can hold their BlackBerry smartphone in front of the reader, as they would do with a smartcard.

“This industry first is an important milestone in the deployment of mobile access and identity solutions using NFC technology on smartphones,” said Tam Hulusi, senior vice president of strategic innovation with HID Global. “We will continue to innovate in the delivery of secure identity, as NFC-enabled smartphones represent a complementary new platform that we believe will expand the access control market and our online card services business while improving user security and convenience.”

Source: HealthCare IT News 

Physicians' Perception Of EHR Is Often Defined By Previous Usage

Physicians' Perception Of EHR Is Often Defined By Previous Usage, Sage Survey Shows

August 4, 2011

Meaningful use is still the strongest driver to implement the technology

Sage Healthcare Division, developer of electronic health records (EHR) for medical practices across North America, recently released the results of a survey conducted among physicians nationwide in an effort to examine perceptions and determine attitudes toward these systems. The sample included both physicians using EHR and those in the market for this technology.

The purpose of this study was to gain a better understanding of potential cost savings, benefits of these systems to small and midsized practices and to find any intangibles of using EHRs, such as physicians providing care from multiple locations or helping physicians have more time away from the office because of increased mobility and connectivity.

"Implementation of EHRs in the U.S. continue to grow as an increased number of physicians and staff gain a better understanding of the efficiency and cost-saving benefits of using the technology," said Betty Otter-Nickerson, president of the Sage Healthcare Division. "However, a significant number of office-based practices have yet to implement an EHR solution. Sage's survey was conducted to examine current perceptions and predominant trends that will help us design the best solutions to maximize the benefits of EHR."

The survey findings indicated that meaningful use incentives are still one of the strongest drivers for most physicians (64%) to implement EHR technology, but for 32 percent of those who are in the market for EHR, insufficient capital is still a key challenge to move to EHR.

Interestingly, both users and potential buyers of an EHR solution see the value of using the technology but have substantially different perceptions and expectations on the system. In fact, EHR users said they measure their EHR success through reporting and tracking healthcare outcomes (64%) and error reduction (62%), but those who have yet to purchase EHR responded they would measure EHR success through increased revenue (74%) followed by reporting and tracking healthcare outcomes (60%).

Also, current EHR users are more aware of additional benefits than those who haven't implemented the technology yet and expected achievements with EHR are stronger for those who have already purchased the solution.

Other Key Findings

All survey participants:

• Seventy-seven percent saw ease of use and quickness as a top characteristic in an EHR solution
• Thirty-nine percent of respondents ranked improved and timely access to accurate patient information as the most important reason to achieve their EHR goals, followed by reduced time spent in information search and management (34%)
• Physicians who have already implemented EHR perceive more value in lower costs and improved staff efficiency than those in the market for an EHR solution (35% versus 25%)
• When surveyed physicians were asked about SaaS as an alternative to an in-office solution, both those with or without EHR (39%) had security and data privacy concerns about the outsourced solution.

EHR users:

• Physicians who have already implemented EHR largely reached their business goals of lower costs and improved patient service (80%) and improved staff efficiency (74%)
• Seventy-two percent of those surveyed saw the increased availability of floor space that was previously occupied by paper records as a major advantage of EHR, second only to reduced administrative costs (82%)
• Fifty-six percent see error reduction as the number one tangible benefit of EHR, followed by ability to share patient information (38%)
• Sixty-eight percent have seen mobile access to information as the biggest intangible benefit of EHR (34%)
• Of all the EHR users surveyed, 52 percent said that reduced paper and office expenses saved them the most money
• Seventy-six percent of respondents said they would invest in EHR again.

Non-EHR Users:

• Of all the non-EHR users, 30 percent would prefer having in-office EHR to an outsourced solution, such as SaaS or off-client software

"Some of our EHR customers have indicated they are spending more time away from the clinic because of the system's efficiency and accessibility off-site," said Otter-Nickerson. "This accessibility also saves them time during each patient visit, which translates into more quality time spent with the patient. Another great advantage of EHR is that doctors can look up a patient's entire history and have a comprehensive view of their health. Consequently, doctors can make more informed decisions, thus improving the quality of care and potentially generating better health outcomes."

Sage has been providing ambulatory healthcare systems for almost 30 years, serving more than 400,000 healthcare professionals including 80,000 physicians in the United States with EHRs, practice management systems and other services to streamline patient care. Each year, Sage clients serve more the 133 million patients.

About Sage Healthcare Division
Sage Healthcare Division provides end-to-end clinical and financial technology solutions so physicians and medical professionals can work with patients instead of paperwork. Serving more than 400,000 healthcare professionals including 80,000 physicians, Sage Healthcare Division provides electronic health records and practice management systems, processes 33 million transactions and 1.3 million e-prescriptions monthly, and serves several specialties including primary care, OB/GYN, pediatrics, cardiology and orthopedics in all sized practices and Community Health Centers. Physician-focused and patient centric, Sage Healthcare Division is based in Tampa, Fla., and is a division of Sage North America. For more information, visit www.sagehealth.com.

About Sage North America
Sage North America is part of The Sage Group plc, a leading global supplier of business management software and related products and services, principally for small to medium-sized businesses. Sage North America employs 3,900 people and supports more than 3 million small and midsized business customers. Formed in 1981, Sage was floated on the London Stock Exchange in 1989. Sage has more than 6 million customers and 13,600 employees worldwide. We operate in over 24 countries covering the UK, Europe, North America, South Africa, Australia, India and China. For more information, visit www.sagenorthamerica.com.

SOURCE: Sage Healthcare Division

Being Successful !!

Success, defining it varies based on perspective of the person who is trying achieve. Some cases, you believe achieve money that never end is success. In other cases, achieving a title which you always wanted can be defined as success. Money, Title, Pride, Peace in Life or Joy all can be tied to success.

I believe, success is something you achieve everyday and compiling those success along the way can make you successful. You will achieve you goals regardless what they are, if you try to achieve success everyday. What is success in day to day ? Person can be successful at something if he knows what he is doing, just getting work done doesn't make anyone successful. So next time when you get up and go to do work, think of that do you have motive around doing it or do you think you will achieve something by doing what you doing , You would ask, what if i work at burger-king at 6$ an hour, where is success in that work. It comes down to what you want to achieve, you consider that as 6$/hr paycheck and you flipping burger without any real goal behind it there is nothing to it. But for example, you see that as your experience in Customer Service and you are learning human behavior while doing it can be useful eventually to get you another stage.

So focus on what you doing, why you doing it and what is that you are trying achieve that can lead you to your goal.

Success is not something measurable that is something you feel inside you ...