07-26-13 | Blog Post
EMR: A three-letter acronym that evokes four-letter word-style reaction from many in the healthcare industry.
But there’s no need for soap in the mouth, says Sandy Vosk and Steven Caruso. In fact, the chief operating officer and president of ImageDoc USA, respectively, will discuss how a transition to electronic medical records (EMR) can improve profitability and efficiency while reducing risk during Online Tech’s next ‘Tuesday at 2’ webinar.
The HITECH Act of 2009 has created unprecedented demand for EMR systems. While many are taking only the mandatory steps – and apprehensively, at that – Caruso says it’s time for organizations to realize they “can be the beneficiaries of EMR rather than the victims.”
Still, they understand the challenges of getting there.
“Managing change of this magnitude is a paradigm shift,” Vosk said. “These are healthcare professionals, not IT professionals. The people selling software applications just want to sell software, they’re not change agents. So how do they really implement it and get the benefits of that technology?”
That’s the key question Vosk and Caruso will attempt to answer in their presentation, “How to Achieve Maximum ROI and Patient Satisfaction via EMR,” at 2 p.m. EDT on Tuesday, July 29. (Register here.)
The webinar is designed to offer organizations a “roadmap” to follow before, during and after software adoption and EMR implementation. They’ll discuss getting started, where to find resources, what to do with current content and how to quantify those benefits.
Despite looming deadlines of the HITECH Act, Vosk and Caruso say a majority of the medical space has not conformed. And some those that have taken steps have only reached a level of semi-automation.
“A common sight remains a doctor that has an iPad in one hand and a file in another,” Vosk said. “At some level, those files are their pacifier. But semi-automation is inefficient and they won’t get the benefit.”
Explaining the return on investment of a complete EMR transition is another item on Vosk and Caruso’s presentation checklist.
“There’s an unbelievable growth rate in digital and paper documents,” Caruso said. “Under the radar is the exorbitant expense in real estate and labor to handle those documents. Even those practices that are sophisticated and engaged are maintaining costs associated with thousands and thousands of boxes of files. Get key information converted, get rid of the paper, free up space to service patients better. It’s all about managing change.”
Supporting these EMR systems are HIPAA compliant infrastructures, including HIPAA compliant clouds, colocation and managed servers. Read more about the requirements in our HIPAA Compliant Hosting white paper.
This white paper explores the impact of HITECH and HIPAA on data centers. It includes a description of a HIPAA compliant data center IT architecture, contractual requirements, benefits and risks of data center outsourcing, and vendor selection criteria.
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