The agony and ecstasy of electronic medical records
Health care providers’ frustration is running high, and even advocates say the movement has fallen short.
electronic medical records
Articles
Regenstrief CEO Tierney to depart for Texas job
Dr. Bill Tierney, who has led the Regenstrief medical informatics research operation for five years, will become chair of the department of population health at the Dell Medical School at the University of Texas at Austin.
Hospitals hiring scribes to tame electronic medical records
A growing number of hospitals locally and nationally hiring scribes to help doctors fill out electronic medical records, which were billed as a time-saver over paper charts.
Health tech startup aiming for fences
Flying under the radar for much of its existence, local health tech startup hc1.com Inc. now thinks it’s ready to soar. The company, spun out last year from Zionsville-based Bostech Corp., is on pace to generate annual revenue of $10 million by year’s end. And it thinks business could triple next year.
Company news
Diagnotes Inc., an Indianapolis-based health IT company, announced today that it has closed on $1 million in funding from life sciences and early-stage growth company investors. The investment group was led by Indiana University’s Innovate Indiana Fund and includes BioCrossroads’ Indiana Seed Fund II, Stepstone Angels and other investors. The funding will help Diagnotes commercialize its communication system for on-call health care providers. The Diagnotes system allows providers and patients to connect with on-call doctors and nurses while delivering key patient information from the electronic health record to the point of care.
Endocyte Inc. recorded $14.5 million in revenue during the first quarter and a loss of $3.9 million, or 11 cents per share. The West Lafayette-based drug development firm is still working with European regulators to win approval to launch its first drug, vintafolide. The drug, targeted for drug-resistant ovarian cancer, would be commercialized with New Jersey-based Merck & Co. Inc. Merck’s payment last year of $120 million is Endocyte’s sole source of revenue. The company’s cash pile declined during the first quarter from $201.4 million to $185.9 million. Endocyte officials reaffirmed their predictions that the company will have cash and cash equivalents between $145 million and $160 million at the end of 2013.
Franciscan St. Francis Health has partnered with WhatNext.com, a Carmel-based online support network that matches up cancer patients according to their diagnosis, stage and age. More than 10,000 Americans have registered to use WhatNext.com, including 400 patients in Indiana. “People are trying to make sense of a whole universe of new and staggering volume of medical information at the same time they are trying to figure out what’s next and to stay emotionally strong,” said David Wasilewski, who launched WhatNext.com in September 2011. “Our site helps patients benefit from those who have been there.”
Health records operation looking to raise $20M
The Indiana Health Information Exchange Inc. hopes to raise roughly $20 million over three years to take its health information technology services to hospitals around the country.
EMR causes hospital wait times to soar
Columbus Regional Hospital saw wait times double in its emergency room after it began using electronic records in late June, according to the Associated Press. Even now, wait times are longer than usual, even though they have lessened.
Doctors, hospitals follow only parts of Regenstrief’s IT prescription
The great results Regenstrief Institute has produced over the years in studies at Indianapolis’ Wishard Memorial Hospital have not held up when conducted in a wider variety of settings.
Electronic health records bring $135M to Indiana
The federal stimulus program to speed “meaningful use” of electronic medical records is starting to generate significant cash for Indiana health care providers: More than $135 million has flowed to more than 2,000 Hoosier hospitals and doctors since January 2011.
Fort Wayne health IT firm looks to Indianapolis for talent
By the end of 2012, Medical Informatics Engineering anticipates that its six-person Indianapolis workforce will have doubled to 12, then to as many as 25 over the following year or so.
Do electronic records really save money?
Even though researchers at the Indianapolis-based Regenstrief Institute Inc. demonstrated more than 20 years ago that electronic health records and test ordering systems significantly reduced costs in Indianapolis’ Wishard Health Services’ system, a recent study of electronic health records among office-based physicians came to the opposite conclusion.
Firm tries again with personal health records
Even though Google Inc. has given up on the business of electronic personal health records, Fort Wayne-based NoMoreClipboard.com is launching a new service it thinks will crack open the market.
Franciscan’s electronic records rollout shows industry growth
Franciscan Alliance will spend more than $100 million over the next two years to install a common electronic medical record system at its 13 hospitals and more than 165 physician practices. It’s a sign of the growth of the health information technology industry in Indiana, which a new BioCrossroads report says generates $200 million a year in sales and is growing at 8 percent annually.
Fort Wayne firm to open health info to patients
With electronic medical record systems proliferating, there’s information galore about patients. But it’s not so easy for patients to get at it. Now Fort Wayne-based NoMoreClipboard has been charged to design ways to fix that problem.
Indiana Health Information Exchange hires new CEO
Harold Apple takes over for J. Marc Overhage, who will remain with the organization as its chief strategic officer and national policy adviser. IHIE is one of four operational exchanges in Indiana that allows for the sharing of medical records electronically.
Former iSalus CEO sues tech firm for breach of contract
Mark A. Day is suing Indianapolis-based technology firm iSalus Healthcare, claiming he was dismissed without cause and is entitled to severance pay and benefits.
IU gets $4 million grant for new research center
IU will use its Lilly Endowment grant to open its news Center for Law, Ethics and Applied Research in Health Information.
iSalus sees business boom as docs chase stimulus cash
The company is seeing a rush of new sales for its Web-based electronic medical record system from doctors, who all stand to
receive bonus payments from the federal stimulus act for computerizing their patient records.
VA hospital, health-info exchange enter pilot project
The Roudebush Veterans Affairs Medical Center and the Indiana Health Information Exchange are going to work to make
their medical record systems talk to each other in a pilot project spearheaded by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.