http://www.histalkpractice.com/2009/01/01/monday-morning-update-1509/ Physician practice and systems news and opinion Thu, 02 Sep 2010 14:43:17 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 http://www.histalkpractice.com/2009/01/01/monday-morning-update-1509/comment-page-1/#comment-9 V. Thakkar, M.D. Thu, 08 Jan 2009 16:09:46 +0000 http://histalkpractice.com/2009/01/01/monday-morning-update-1509/#comment-9 This month marks my 1 year anniversary for using Practice Fusion for my half-time private practice as the exclusive method of charting. I use it every day and i operate a 90% paperless practice. I am a technophile but even more than that i am a productivity-phile. Over the last 10 years I've used a half dozen Emrs and tried another half dozen. For my purposes, Practice Fusion is one of the best for speed and ease of use, including features that i need, and for cost. Sure they are new and dont yet have all the bells and whistles of the more established products & vendors, but this is changing fast. They are also eager for feedback from doctors to continually make their product better. What i think will drive their survival and growth in the marketplace is that they will live and die by making their product appealing to physicians since their subscriber base will drive their ad revenues. In addition, if Practice Fusion becomes a viable player (I think they already are) what physician will continue to spend $5k to $40k for an EMR that they could get for free? The ads are unintrusive and the majority are not pharmaceutical ads. I've seen ads for vacations, new cars, even naturopathic treatments. The post above mentions "selling de-identified patient data" --everyone should be aware that ANY EMR vendor can do this without the physician or patient's permission--it is provisioned within the infamous HIPAA policies. Therefore, why not let those revenues help my bottom line? This month marks my 1 year anniversary for using Practice Fusion for my half-time private practice as the exclusive method of charting. I use it every day and i operate a 90% paperless practice. I am a technophile but even more than that i am a productivity-phile. Over the last 10 years I’ve used a half dozen Emrs and tried another half dozen. For my purposes, Practice Fusion is one of the best for speed and ease of use, including features that i need, and for cost. Sure they are new and dont yet have all the bells and whistles of the more established products & vendors, but this is changing fast. They are also eager for feedback from doctors to continually make their product better. What i think will drive their survival and growth in the marketplace is that they will live and die by making their product appealing to physicians since their subscriber base will drive their ad revenues. In addition, if Practice Fusion becomes a viable player (I think they already are) what physician will continue to spend $5k to $40k for an EMR that they could get for free? The ads are unintrusive and the majority are not pharmaceutical ads. I’ve seen ads for vacations, new cars, even naturopathic treatments. The post above mentions “selling de-identified patient data” –everyone should be aware that ANY EMR vendor can do this without the physician or patient’s permission–it is provisioned within the infamous HIPAA policies. Therefore, why not let those revenues help my bottom line?

]]> http://www.histalkpractice.com/2009/01/01/monday-morning-update-1509/comment-page-1/#comment-6 Harry Flashman Sun, 04 Jan 2009 00:55:38 +0000 http://histalkpractice.com/2009/01/01/monday-morning-update-1509/#comment-6 I believe California already has laws on its books like Maryland is contemplating - the Knox/Keene Act, iirc. I don't encourage legislation myself, as a rule, but the position could be a valid one: what kind of consumer protection needs to be in place for those who might entrust all of their medical care to a single source? I believe California already has laws on its books like Maryland is contemplating – the Knox/Keene Act, iirc. I don’t encourage legislation myself, as a rule, but the position could be a valid one: what kind of consumer protection needs to be in place for those who might entrust all of their medical care to a single source?

]]>