This is a Getting Started resources discussing the Add-ons for EHRs and EMRs; what Add-ons do you need, should you be paying for them and do you need every add-on? What should we know about Add-ons?
The speakers are Mark Anderson CEO, AC
Group, Inc. and our roving reporter Robert "Bob" Gleeman.
Click the play button
below to play this interview.
Requires Flash Player.
These are my notes from the interview:
- There are a number of additional things you might want to add on. For example, have a scanner to scan in the Insurance Card. That can be really useful.
- Some of the typical EMR Add-ons are:
- Clinical knoweldege base
- Zinks knowledge base.
- Health & Maintenance alerts.
- Clinical Protocols and National Requirements; Doctor doesn't need to research and enter all that data. It's already uploaded
- Probably 30 categories of add-ons.
- Would the vendor raise with the Doctor?
- Talk to the Vendor -- each Vendor will bring up certain things. e-Prescribing. raise a drug-to-drug database and it's worth asking what is the source for that. Who is the company -- which database. Did they build or use from a Nationaly renowned company.
- What shoujld the doc have in mind to ask about an add-on.
- When the Vendor raises an Add-on, the Doctor has to ask "Is this part of the Product, or is this an add-on with an additional cost?"
- A lot of vendors are charging maybe $25.00 a month for access to SureScripts or Rx Hubs. They may not mention that, but it is an added costs.
- Some of the products can provide for the scanning of documents; is it their product or third-party -- and if third-party what is the cost for that.
- InstantMedicalHistory -- an add-on that probably 30 of the top vendors have today which allows the patient to go on-line using a computeror through a kiosk to answer the Review of Systems, HPI, Social 7 family Hiostory -- but allows the patient to enter all of this data. Sometimes comes in as discrete data. Allows patient to be part of the data-entry form. Why not give the patient the Social Medical History and how you feel today.
- Direct Link to Medical Test -- either a one-way of bi-directional interface. Any time you need data from an external source. I'm want those results back to the EMR. It could be a free or add-on costs. But the biggest issue is that I want the Lab Test to go to the correct Lab Company. Remember the HealthCare plans dictate where those labs can go. I want them to come back as discrete data. And is that a one-way or a two-way, bidirectional. What's the additional cost to get that data in.
- Any add-on product should be part of the cost proposal. And you need to include within your contract how they are going to work today and in the future. The contract must state who will provide the two-way interface and if it doesn't work who is going to get it fixed. Is the Doctor going to call the Lab company or will the EMR vendor get it fixed.
- So the EMR Vendor will support the EMR product, but you buy all these Add-ons and the EMR Vendor can say "not my problem", but you bought the Add-on from them. That's where the Contract needs to be looked at.
- You need some experience as to What works with what. Unless you know and the vendor can prove that they've integrated a specific add-on, then you want pretty specific language in your contract to make sure they're going to follow through.
- Would you recommend that a Doctor visit a reference site which has that EHR and that Add-On? We're always talking about the EMR product, we're not asking about the complete solution, if you like "The Digital Medical Office of the Future".
- When does your Drug database get updated, it it online. Series of additional questions that need to be asked. Very rare today that you see an EMR being sold without Add-Ons because the EMR vendor will just not have that knowledge or expertise like the ones mentioned above.
- One example; I want to have a card-scan so that when I scan in the Driving License, it automatically places the picture into the EMR or PM system but also takes off the address, date of birth, sex of the patient. Have they actually done this, not that they could build an interface in the future, because a lot of times the future never actually gets here.
Is that a real product -- MediCard allows the drivers licenses to be scanned in and to pull off whatever information is on the Driving License.
- IntelliFinger - TEPR conference award. Also do the credit card to pay for your co-pay. So the patient arrives and scans their finger themself with the biometric device and they're already checked into for their appointment - including a request for payment collection now or later. All these things can be done in a kiosk like format.
- There are some great little products out there that are really nice add-ons that help improve the customer-satisfaction and the efficiency of a practice.
... and Mickey says hello to everybody.
Thanks again to Mark Anderson, AC Group for supporting our Getting Started resources
for Doctors Researching EMR solutions.
For more information about the subjects discussed here you can contact Mark
Anderson at the details listed below.
See our other Getting Started resources
here.
Mark R. Anderson CPHIMS, FHIMSS
CEO and Healthcare IT Futurist
AC Group, Inc.
118 Lyndsey Drive
Montgomery, TX 77316
(c)
281-413-5572
(f) 832-550-2338
email: mra@acgroup.org
web: www.acgroup.org
Posted
Jul 31 2008, 08:00 AM
by
Nick Harrington