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Thursday, September 8, 2011

Need a Reason to Invest in EHR? How about 6!


Yes, electronic health records (EHR) systems are an expensive investment. But do their returns amount to an offer you can't refuse?

Here are the top six ways EHR will pay for itself in cost savings and increased quality, according to your colleagues, (and they don't even mention government incentives.):
  1. Payroll Savings

    • EHR isn't necessarily about reducing staff, it's also about freeing up existing staff to do more meaningful, practice-building work instead of filing and looking for charts or resubmitting paperwork multiple times...

  2. Improved Quality Control

    • “EHR encourages and supports precise documentation and thinking throughout the case that improves the quality of care and reduces legal exposure” Dr. Castleberry says...

  3. Real Estate Savings

    • Paper files need space, and as a practice grows, these files require more space...

  4. Enhanced Disaster Prevention

    • When paper files are destroyed, they are gone for good...

  5. Easy Referral and Consult Letters

    • In the past, a referral letter required setting time aside to write or dictate the letter, then tasking a staff person with typing and formatting it, sending it to the patient or doctor, confirming it was received and resending it if it wasn't....

  6. Effective Marketing

    • By using patient demographic information along with medical information an EHR can create reports to help decide on certain marketing methods....
Read more of this article by Lee Ann Murphy, Contributing Editor of Optometric Managment


Friday, June 10, 2011

The Incentive is Real: $75M Distributed in First Round of Meaningful Use

CMS announced that more than 300 health care providers have received a total of $75 million in Medicare incentive payments for demonstrating meaningful use of electronic health records, HealthLeaders Media reports (Tocknell, HealthLeaders Media, 5/27).

CMS estimates more than 42,600 eligible physicians and hospitals have registered for the Medicare and Medicaid incentive programs, and roughly 485,000 could be eligible to participate, according to AHA News (AHA News, 5/26).

A list of health care providers who received Medicare meaningful use payments is available on a CMS website (Modern Healthcare, 5/27). The amounts of the specific payments were not revealed.

Wednesday, May 4, 2011

COME VISIT US @ TOA/TEXMED May 13-14, 2011

Click on the image above to find out more.
See you in Houston!

Friday, April 1, 2011

ASCRS 2011: What a Great Meeting!

What a great meeting in San Diego, thanks to everyone who stopped by our booth and to all our friends @ASCRS. See you next year in Chicago!

But if you can't wait that long we still have a few more stops this year, next one is in Texas. Learn more.

See more pics from this years ASCRS Symposium and Congress in San Diego: http://on.fb.me/dXnJ7b

Monday, March 14, 2011

Are you eligible? Study: Many Physicians Eligible for Incentives but Lack EHR

"Many physicians are eligible for federal incentive payments for the meaningful use of electronic health records but lack a basic EHR system, according to a study published in the journal Health Affairs, Healthcare IT News reports.

Overall, researchers found that nearly 83% of office-based physicians are eligible for either the Medicare or Medicaid incentive program."

Friday, February 4, 2011

IO CEO Highlighted in Newest Edition of "Ophthalmology Managament"


Our own CEO, Gregory Leopold, speaks about the importance of EMR/EHR certification and buying the system that's right for you in the newest edition of the "Ophthalmology Management" magazine.

-Mr. Leopold urges ophthalmologists to get involved with choosing an EHR for their practice. “You can have someone else screen for you, but at the end of the day, you should buy the EMR that feels right to you.” The most important predictor of a successful implementation, he contends, is physician commitment and comfort with their EHR choice.
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Read the full article titled "At the EHR Starting Line" by René Luthe, Senior Associate Editor of "Ophthalmology Management.

“If the system costs you time in the exam room, it will cost you much more than what you ‘saved’ when you bought it." - Gregory Leopold http://bit.ly/ieHEJC