News
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A new HL7 standard, called Fast Health Interoperable Resources (FHIR), could allow clinical research organizations to extract data from patients' records.
Health Level Seven International, a standards body for health care data, is developing a new framework that will ease sharing of patients' electronic health records.
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2013 HIM Entry-Level Competency Standards
Click HERE to download in PDF. -
Eurofield Information Solutions (EIS) is also proud to announce the release of the enhanced TurboCoder with turbosearch.
View the turbosearch online demonstration at www.TurboCoder.com.au
The new turbosearch features:
Pre-emptive Search Help (PSH) detects when you have keyed three characters and offers a list of suggestions directly from the classification content. It will also provide suggestions for incorrectly spelt words.
Lead Term Search enables you to go directly to the Lead Terms in the Disease and Intervention Indexes providing a fast one click direct link to the code you require.
You can narrow or broaden your search with one click. Use the new turbosearch toolbar ‘toggle’ to change from ‘Lead Term’ in the Indexes to search ‘Everywhere’ in the classification.
And the best news – turbosearch is freely available NOW to all current TurboCoder subscribers.
Purchase and download directly at HERE
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SNOMED-CT to ICD-10-CM Mapper has been announced ny the NLM. A working demonstration is available on-line here.
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If you are looking to refresh your career in the new year do it the right way. Follow HIMAA WorkWeb on twitter. You will be notified of new positions as soon as they are listed in our WorkWeb pages. Whether you use your smartphone or desktop PC follow WorkWeb on twitter and be the first to know about the latest advertised positions for HIM and Clinical Coding professionals.
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A very short, interesting introduction to SNOMED-CT. Also has links to other SNOMED resources.
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HIMAA Advocacy/Representation
- As a result of a HIMAA submission, HIMAA has been invited to nominate representatives to NeHTA’s Stakeholder Reference Forum and Clinical Terminology & Information Reference Group.
- HIMAA is represented on Standards Australia’s IT 14-02 sub-committee, which is working on a revision to AS2828, among other things.
- HIMAA was represented at the DoHA forum to discuss the PCEHR Legislation Issues Paper on 25 July 2011.
- Along with HISA and ACHSM, HIMAA has been invited to collaborate with NeHTA to facilitate the “rollout” of its systems.
- A number of HIMAA Board members attended various workshops conducted by Health Workforce Australia (HWA) in relation to its National Health Workforce Innovation and Reform Strategic Framework for Action. In a “sidebar” conversation the HWA representatives specifically acknowledged their new found recognition of the essential role played by HIMs in achieving the healthcare reform agenda.
- Vicki Bennett co-chairs the Australian Health Informatics Education Council.
- HIMAA has representation on the NCCC ICD Technical Group (formerly Coding Standards Advisory Committee) and the NCCC DRG Technical Group (formerly Clinical Casemix Committee of Australia).
- HIMAA has remained actively involved with Professions Australia, of which HIMAA is a member.
- Formal submissions have recently been made to:
- Health Workforce Australia regarding a Health Informatics Workforce Scoping Study,
- DoHA regarding the Draft PCEHR Concept of Operations,
- QLD Health regarding an internal discussion paper on future workforce capabilities in Health Informatics, and
- NSW Health regarding its proposed scheme for the training of clinical coders.
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Multi-touch screen devices which you can carry any where, surf the web perform basic word processing applications and also read a journal, listen to audio casts. This is what health care professionals are looking at.
Many manufactures, ventured on this territory-noticeably,Cruchpad or JooJoo was a device with limited functions, it enabled you to surf the web and watch videos, but with the price at more that $300, it was not exciting enough.
Kindle, was promising but it performed only one function-to read e-books and surf the web on grey scale.
Ultra-light mobile computing devices generated a lot of interest among manufactures, they were portable and multi media rich enabled device, but the thumb mouse and split keyboard in some of the devices like Samsung Q1 didn’t come across as easy to learn for consumers.
Apple studied these mistakes with care- remember Apple Newton.When Iphone was released at first it was popular as it was smart, small, sexy using sensor based touch screen. It was also internet based with multimedia rich applications product. Over the span of few years, many applications were built around it resulting in the tremendous popularity of Iphone.
Courtesy of: Constructive Medicine
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The following story appears on Dr David More's Blog, "Australian Health Information Technology" at: http://aushealthit.blogspot.com.
NHS pulls the plug on its £11bn IT system
After nine years and with billions already spent, doomed computer system is abandoned
By Oliver Wright, Whitehall Editor
Wednesday, 3 August 2011A plan to create the world's largest single civilian computer system linking all parts of the National Health Service is to be abandoned by the Government after running up billions of pounds in bills. Ministers are expected to announce next month that they are scrapping a central part of the much-delayed and hugely controversial 10-year National Programme for IT.
Instead, local health trusts and hospitals will be allowed to develop or buy individual computer systems to suit their needs – with a much smaller central server capable of "interrogating" them to provide centralised information on patient care. News of the Government's plans comes as a damning report from a cross-party committee of MPs concludes that the £11.4bn programme had proved "beyond the capacity of the Department of Health to deliver".
The Commons Public Accounts Committee (PAC) said that, while the intention of creating a centralised database of electronic patient records was a "worthwhile aim", a huge amount of money had been wasted.
"The department has been unable to demonstrate what benefits have been delivered from the £2.7bn spent on the project so far," Margaret Hodge, chair of the PAC, said. "It should now urgently review whether it is worth continuing with the remaining elements of the care-records system. The £4.3bn which the department expects to spend might be better used to buy systems that are proven to work, that are good value for money and which deliver demonstrable benefits to the NHS." A further £4.4bn was expected to be spent on other areas of the vast IT project.
The nine-year-old NHS computer project – the biggest civilian IT scheme ever attempted – has been in disarray since it missed its first deadlines in 2007. The project has been beset by changing specifications, technical challenges and clashes with suppliers, which has left it years behind schedule and way over cost.
Accenture, the largest contractor involved, walked out on contracts worth £2bn in 2006, writing off hundreds of millions of pounds in the process. Months earlier, the US supplier IDX, contracted to provide software in and around London, had also withdrawn from the project, making a $450m (£275m) provision against future losses from the two contracts.
The PAC said part of the problem had been weak leadership in the department. "The department could have avoided some of the pitfalls and waste if they had consulted at the start of the process with health professionals," it said.
Read the whole story HERE.
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The purpose of this article is to describe how I have been able to use “cloud technology” to simplify the process of getting useful clinical information from my patients. Since I am a neurologist, I have more than a passing interest in the management of patients with Parkinson’s disease. The successful management of this condition is highly dependent on the patient-physician communication regarding how their disease state is responding to their Parkinson regimen. Too much medication causes involuntary movements while inadequate dopamine stimulation results in the inability to move. Since there are several different Parkinson’s medications, all of which have different half-lives and durations of actions, the resultant clinical effectiveness is highly variable. Therefore, correlating clinical status with timing of medication ingestion is the only reliable means to make appropriate medication adjustments.
Ideally, a patient log or journal should be completed at half hour intervals to capture this information. An analogous condition in Primary Care would be regulating a Diabetic. Insulin type and dosage need to be correlated with blood glucose determinations obtained throughout the day in order to optimize the Insulin regimen.
Courtesy: Dr Steven Zuckerman, MD. Read the whole article HERE.
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85. Test, retest, and test the network and wireless
Far too many EHR implementations fail because of basic technology issues. Of course, the blame usually gets placed squarely on the head of the EHR company. However, in many of the cases, the EHR company has no control over the issues you have. Your local wireless and network is one place where you can doom an EHR installation and the EHR company can do nothing about it. If you want to have a great EHR installation make sure you have a great network and/or wireless infrastructure set up and tested.
84. Have ONE number to call
This recommendation applies more to large EMR installations than it does to small ones. The basic suggestion is not to give one phone number for EMR issues (ie. I can’t login) and another for technology related issues (ie. my PC crashed). The problem with multiple lines is that people don’t generally know the difference between an EMR issue and a PC issue. At the end of the day, they’re likely to consider almost everything an EMR issue. So, they’re going to call the same number anyway. You might as well just have one number that knows how to triage the issue well and direct them to the right support resource.
83. Remember who the support team’s customers are
Another recommendation for hospital EHR support. It is a great idea to remember that the support team’s customers are the clinicians that are calling for help. Prepare them for the calls they’re going to get. While clinicians are highly educated, that doesn’t guarantee that their education included even basic computer skills. You’ll be surprised how many of the issues have to do with basic computer skills as much as any EMR specific support.
Courtesy of: EMR and EHR Forum. Read more Here.
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Regarding ICD-10, Australia has already "been there, done that." In Hayes' recent webinar, our guest speaker, health information manager Debbie Abbott, relayed some lessons learned from her experience rolling out ICD-10 to more than 200 facilities in Queensland, AU.
Debbie's team consisted of three major working parties: impact assessment, education and information technology. Key issues included: IT systems, vendor readiness, implementation plan/coordinators, education, DRG changes, output rates, identification of key stakeholders, and support.
Tips to overcome issues included:
- Predicting impact of output rates (program), ongoing education 18 months prior to implementation (all stakeholders)
- Focusing on processes
- Involving all stakeholders
- Putting the right people in the right roles (in the working parties)
- Providing education tailored to end users - not everyone needs to know everything. They also gave end users various ways to learn, including online, in person, etc.
And get this: Everyone LOVES ICD-10!
We were happy to hear that everyone Debbie works with loves ICD-10! She cited better classification, fewer "dump codes" (e.g., non-defined DX codes ending in 9 and 0) and better processes. They took the opportunity to enhance their workflows and processes during the transition.
It has been 12 years now that Australia has been using ICD-10, and Debbie reported that the impact was minimal.
Overall, Debbie said that their focus on education, early preparation and good work groups were the keys to their success. Now they are preparing for ICD-11 in 2015!
Courtesy: ADVANCE for HIM
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Link: Process Variation Podcast
As more Physicians and Hospitals strive to meet requirements for Meaningful Use incentives, the topic of process variation comes to mind. Generally speaking, Nurses observe variation in all patient encounters. Some variations represent downward trends in patient stability or condition, while others trend upward with improved conditions and wellness. Often negative variations cause immediate clinical action, interventions and/or treatments.
I had not given much thought to the topic of process variation and its management as a tool to reduce costs and improve care until I heard this podcast from Hospitals & Health Networks. The ability to manage, recognize and act upon patient status trends in real-time has the potential to improve the quality of health care delivery and to lower cost of care. An interesting thought..
Courtesy: Healthcare & Technology
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Each year, billions of pieces of health data are generated as patients visit the doctor’s office, go to the ER, undergo procedures and answer the requisite personal questions at each location. That doesn’t include the volumes of patient data generated by health plans, pharmacies, labs or even the patients themselves. Alarmingly, the majority of this data is not easily transferred, shared or made actionable./p>
The price we pay? An astounding $404 billion for poor healthcare coordination as shown in this The Price We Pay for a Broken Healthcare System infographic. In a more light-hearted attempt to exemplify the many issues, challenges and frustrations associated with the lack of health data coordination, Jonathan Rauch of The National Journal brings to life the inexcusable state of healthcare coordination today (you can access the video too.)
All healthcare stakeholders – patients, providers and health plans, are challenged by the lack of interoperability and high administrative costs associated with simple tasks such as scheduling patient appointments. A Markle Survey identified that close to 80% of both the public and doctors want hospitals and doctors to share information to better coordinate care, cut unnecessary costs and reduce medical errors. One Marlin & Associates report identified the high costs associated with manual administrative transactions and the use of paper records – a staggering $150 Billion per year.
Courtesy: HL7 Standards.
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My family and I have escaped this week to our favorite vacation destination, Pensacola Beach. And so I sit here writing in the cozy confines of the condo that we call home for close to a week nearly every summer. I gave barely a thought to how I was going to transmit this blog to the HealthcareScene.com servers while here. As it turns out, there is no WiFi, which means I’m relying on my iPhone to do a bit of online research, my laptop for Word, and the hotel across the street’s business center with which to cobble it all together.
My connectivity issues pale, of course, in comparison to those of providers working outside of their hospital’s four walls – be it in emergency situations such as the aftermath of a hurricanes like Ivan and Dennis, which hit Pensacola back in 2004 and 2005, respectively, or as part of a routine provider/patient encounter in telehealth programs. I wonder how providers at Pensacola’s Sacred Heart Hospital, where I was born (and no, I’m not telling you what year), handled patient care in the aftermath of Ivan, which devastated the town and outlying beach communities, and how mobile health solutions might better enable them should Mother Nature pay the same sort of visit today.
Courtesy of the EMR Newsletter
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SIN: Singapore to Combat Dengue With Facebook and Twitter
Singapore’s National Environment Agency (NEA) is going to use new media channels, such as Facebook and Twitter, to fight dengue fever. They plan to release dengue updates on the new media channels that will provide information on, for example, the latest dengue clusters or areas that have been earmarked as high-risk. According to the Jakarta Globe, the goal is to realize these plans within the next three months.
The information is currently available only on the dengue website of the NEA and through a NEA iPhone application, which was released in early July this year. With the use of Facebook and Twitter, the public will be enabled to post feedback and provide information, if Singaporeans notice an increase of mosquitoes in a certain area.
The NEA is also developing software that can identify the species of mosquito from a photograph. It could enable NEA personnel to identify larvae, pupae or mosquitoes of the Aedes species, which spreads the dengue viruses. They plan to integrate this software with the iPhone app to make it available for the public as well.
These new measures will complement existing strategies. Singapore already uses methods of close monitoring and applying preventive measures to control dengue outbreaks.
Jakarta Globe:
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Larry Dignan, Editor-in- Chief of ZDNet and SmartPlanet as well as ZDNet’s sister site TechRepbulic has an interesting piece up today titled “Assessing the corporate tablet field: Why the enterprise may be different”. In it he lays out a series of pros and cons for each potential tablet contender in addition to the primary criteria enterprise markets will look at when making their decisions. The two factors the article focuses on are bundling for price advantages and integration. Let’s take a quick look at those two areas in relation to HP and the TouchPad to see if they have what it takes to be a real contender in the corporate world.
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For the first time the International Health Terminology Standards Development Organization (IHTSDO) conference will feature an Implementation Showcase.
The IHTSDO Working Sessions and Implementation Showcase will take place in Sydney, Australia on October 10 – 14. In line with this years theme 'Implementing SNOMED CT: Realizing the Benefits', the Showcase will allow attendees to interact with SNOMED CT implementers from around the world who will share their first hand knowledge about the challenges, benefits and lessons learned of implementation. Workshops and education sessions will focus on approaches to implementing SNOMED CT for beginners as well as for advanced users. Session attendees will also have an opportunity to visit vendors in the vendor exhibit area.
In addition, meetings of the Quality, Content, Technical, and Implementation and Innovation Committees will be open for attendees to join the discussions.
The October Working Sessions and Implementation Showcase provides a valuable opportunity for attendees to learn more about the latest in terminology products in health systems, services and products from around the world.
The National E-Health Transition Authority (NEHTA) administers SNOMED CT licensing in Australia on behalf of IHTSDO and makes it available for use within the Australian eHealth community.