News 9/2/10

HIE vendor Availity acquires RCM service-provider RealMed. No terms were disclosed, though Availity says RealMed’s operations will remain in Indianapolis.

Allscripts-Misys and Eclipsys are now Allscripts Healthcare Solutions, as the merger is finalized. To celebrate, Glen Tullman, Phil Pead, and a dozen others rang the opening bell on NASDAQ. Familiar name, but new logo, new color, and a  new leadership team, with Allscripts-Misys alums taking most of the top spots.

Southwest Kidney Institute (AZ) selects athenaCollector, athenaClinicals, and athenaCommunicator for its 50-provider practice.

Speaking of athenahealth, I see they have added an amusing 2-minute video to their site called “Tame the Beast.” Jonathan Bush’s larger-than-life personality is one of the company’s best assets, in my opinion, and this clip highlights JB’s ability to effectively deliver his message with deadpan humor. It’s worth a look, even just to see the cameo of his beautiful daughter.

Jonathan Bush’s cross-town competitor, Girish Kumar Navani of eClinicalWorks, is named as one of 16 recipients of a Mass High Tech 2010 All-Stars Award. The award recognizes “dynamic and influential leaders of New England’s innovation economy.” He took top honors in the Health IT category.

The number of readers tuning into HIStalk Practice continues to grow. In August, we once again exceeded 10,000 visits, which is up 52% from a year ago. Thanks for stopping by and telling your friends. Of course, thanks to our sponsors, especially those very first ones a year and a half ago who took a gamble that HIStalk Practice would make it past the first couple of slow months! Their love helps fund my shoe budget, which in turn contributes to world beautification.

The local business journal says the 281-provider Austin Regional Clinic (TX) is shopping for its first EMR. Austin-based e-MDs is said to be in the running, though the clinic is working to create its short list of just three or four vendors.

More evidence that text messaging is effective way to help kids follow their doctors’ orders: the Pediatric Health Transplant Program at NY-Presbyterian/Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital reports that its two-way texting program significantly decreases the likelihood of organ rejection due to medication non-adherence.

Weno Healthcare applies to be an EHR authorized certification and testing body (ATCB). Weno, which already has an EHR testing and certification program, also offers a free SaaS-model EMR (or $1,000 for a "government certified version”) and an e-health community to connect providers. A quick tour about Weno’s Web site left me with the impression that the company runs a much smaller operation than CCHIT or Drummond Group.

The ambulatory EHR market will double from $1.3 billion in 2009 to an estimated $2.6 billion in 2012, according to a new Frost & Sullivan study. By 2013, the market will peak at $3 billion and fall to $1.4 billion by 2016. More details here.

E-mail Inga.

Intelligent Healthcare Information Integration 9/1/10

EHR Songs

– sung to EHR vendors, regulators, and users in the modern “elevator pitch” time

If you have more glass and steel and shiny art nouveau
In your headquarters and offices to and fro
Then it’s time to reconsider
And maybe be a quitter
Cause you’re more a drain than help for healthcare’s woe
——–
You need retoolin’, baby, I’m not foolin’
We gonna send you back to design schoolin’
Way down inside, honey, you need it
We gonna get you to share
We gotta get you to share
Whoooa…
Wanna whole lotta share’n (X 4)
——–
App me, app me, app me, baby, please
Let me pick and choose what suits my needs
Never underestimate my cred inside my head
I know which tools I think are best of breeds
——–
Payment-O, I need you
MU, yes, we’re trying
Payment-O, I need you so
Could you ease it in?
Workflow mess, assorted tasks
Sleepless nights, you bring
And all to prove, we’re on the move
And complying
Payment-O, I need you so (X 2)
——–
Please allow me to introduce myself
I’m the tool of wealth and means
I’ve been around for a long, long year
Broke many an org’s money schemes
I was round back when Hendrix sang
Brought many a doc doubt and pain
Made damn sure CIO guy
Shook my hand and sealed his fate
Pleased to meet you
Hope you guess my name
——–
You can app if you want to
You can leave old code behind
Cause compet’s don’t app
And if they don’t app
Well, they’re no friends of mine
——–
Please release us, let us go
For we don’t love you anymore
To waste our practice seems a sin
Release us and we’ll EH –R again
——–
This ain’t no party, this ain’t no insco
This ain’t no PQRI
No time for waiting, or getting ready
I ain’t got time for that now
——–

Props (or, better yet, apologies) to Englebert, T. Heads, Stones, Zep, Cars, and Men At Work.

From the trenches…

“When the music changes, so does the dance.” – African proverb

 

Dr. Gregg Alexander, a grunt in the trenches pediatrician, directs the “Pediatric Office of the Future” exhibit for the American Academy of Pediatrics and is a member of the Professional Advisory Council for ModernMedicine.com. More of his blather…er, writings…can be found at his blog, practice web site or directly from doc@madisonpediatric.com.