Experience the EHR in Action

Experience EHR in action and leave your fears of the unknown behind! Introduction to the Electronic Health Record is a 7-week course that will introduce you to the EHR in a way that you didn’t think possible — with hands-on experience. Learning your place in this ever-changing industry is key to properly placing yourself in future roles. Explore how this new technology relates to our industry and familiarize yourself with the terminology in order to increase your value in the marketplace.

This introductory course, developed and taught by the EHR Training Academy, is the perfect way to experience the EHR in action and understand how your existing skill set can be transferred to roles of the future.

AHDI Eligible Members: $100

List Price: $125

Introduction to the EHR Online Course (December/January)

December 1, 2011 – January 31, 2012

Registration closes November 15, 2011

You will receive a welcome email and instructions prior to the start of the course.

Introduction to the EHR Online Course (January/February)

January 1, 2012 – February 29, 2012

Registration closes December 15, 2011

You will receive a welcome email and instructions prior to the start of the course.

Kaiser Completes EHR Implementation

Three Kaiser Permanente hospitals in northern California recently completed implementation of electronic health records, completing the organization's enterprise-wide inpatient and ambulatory adoption of EHRs that started with the first implementation in 2004.

As part of the initiative, Kaiser went live with personal health records software in 2007, and more than 3 million members logged in 27 million times in 2009 alone, according to the Oakland, Calif.-based organization. Outpatient EHR implementation in 431 facilities was complete in April 2008.

Twenty-four of Kaiser’s 36 hospitals have attained Stage 7, the highest level, on the HIMSS Analytics scale to measure IT adoption. Kaiser expects many, if not all, of the remaining hospitals to reach Stage 7 during 2010. Kaiser’s core EHR vendor is Epic Systems Corp., Verona, Wis. From Health Data Management.

EHR Regulations May Discourage IT Adoption: AHA

The American Hospital Association says the regulations proposed by federal administrators to use stimulus payments to encourage widespread adoption of electronic health-record systems may actually discourage many providers from even trying to use the technology.

The government’s proposed list of 23 measures to demonstrate so-called "meaningful use" of EHR systems is so daunting that even hospitals that already have long-established systems may not qualify for stimulus payments because regulators have proposed hospitals meet every criteria before they become eligible to receive the federal grants, according to the AHA. Read more at Modern Healthcare.

Lisa Grabert, senior associate director for policy at the American Hospital Association, will speak at the 5th annual AHDI/MTIA Advocacy Summit on Thursday, March 25. Cynthia Brown, vice president of government affairs for the American Medical Association, will also speak at the event. For more information about the Advocacy Summit, including details on hotel and registration, please click here. If you have any questions about the event, contact Greg Doggett at (859) 512-3284 or gdoggett@ahdionline.org.

Webinar: The Consequences of "Meaningful Use" and EHR Certification for the Medical Transcription Sector

With great anticipation, the Centers for Medicare & Medicare Services recently released proposed regulations on "meaningful use" and EHR certification. Physicians and healthcare enterprises would have to meet these regulations to qualify for billions of dollars in federal financial incentives for EHR adoption. The federal government’s efforts to spur EHR adoption have broad and sweeping consequences for medical transcription service owners and healthcare documentation professionals. During this webinar, Scott Shalett of the Dewey Square Group, the lobbying firm AHDI and MTIA have been working with since last June, and AHDI/MTIA CEO Peter Preziosi, PhD, CAE, will provide an overview of the consequences, what efforts are being made to position the medical transcription sector for success in the rapidly changing health IT landscape, and what you can do to support those efforts leading up to the 5th annual AHDI/MTIA Advocacy Summit from March 23 to 25 in Washington, DC. Please click here to register for this webinar.

Med Students Not Ready to Use EHRs: Study

Does the medical-school curriculum adequately prepare students to diagnose and treat patients using an electronic health record? That’s the question educators at the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Medicine set out to answer this year. The preliminary conclusion: probably not. As a result, the school may add course work to teach students how to incorporate the EHR into an encounter with a patient. Read more at ModernHealthcare.com.

Medical Transcription Industry Celebrates Health IT Week

Washington, DC, November 3, 2009 – As health information managers and professionals across the country celebrate the health information & technology industry this week, the Association for Health Care Documentation Integrity (AHDI) and the Medical Transcription Industry Association (MTIA) announced their support for a healthcare reform package that improves electronic health records (EHRs) as well as patient safety. Read the full press release on the AHDI and MTIA websites.

Medical Transcription: Proven Accelerator of EHR Adoption

The recently enacted Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (HITECH Act) of 2009 represents an important first step towards achieving the vision of a nationwide, fully interoperable electronic health record (EHR) system. However, the gap between that vision and current reality remains wide. Many healthcare providers still use paper records. Other providers have tried to implement EHR systems, but unfortunately, many such projects have failed. "Industry experts agree that failure rates of electronic medical record (EMR) implementations range from 50 to 80 percent." Clearly, the challenges of EHR adoption and implementation remain great.

Read more here: http://www.ahdionline.org/scriptcontent/Downloads/White_Paper-Medical_Transcription-Proven_Accelerator_of_EHR_Adoption.pdf