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Not according to this recent letter  to HITS (today). I think he has a point, but can VistA really be seen as a counter-revolutionary EHR? I am not sure. VistA has some significant shortcomings which may make it less effective as an enterprise EHR if the institution wants a "plug and play" system. Read the article and see if you agree.

 

http://www.modernhealthcare.com/article/20101022/NEWS/310229992/1031

456 Views 0 Comments Permalink
Rob. Porcelli, Ph.D.
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Ben:

 

It may be the most expensive, but when did any version of CPRS, VistA, or OpenVista, have a GUI Pharmacy, Dental Package, Patient Portal, a quick and easy to use ER package, Surgical Package, etc.? These may be the some of the issues that directed the Coasties away from the open source varieties of an EHR. Furthermore, many institutions do not want to be involved with "owning the code" and having the ability to customize the software to be more useful and specific for their needs. I would suspect that protecting our ports and coastlines is making more sense to the decision makers than managing the nuts and bolts of an EHR.

 

Just a thought.

 

Rob. Porcelli, Ph.D.

502 Views 0 Comments Permalink
Ben Mehling
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HealthCareITNews reports that on October 4th, the Federal Business Opportunities website announced that the Coast Guard has selected a commercial EHR vendor:

Coast Guard awards Epic $14M contract for new EHR

The U.S. Coast Guard awarded Epic Systems Corp. a $14 million  contract to set up an electronic health record system with a broad array of state-of-the-art e-healthcare features.

The Epic system has modules for integrated medical, dental, laboratory, pharmacy, radiology and a patient portal. Under the contract, the firm will also provide training, testing, help desk services and back-up operations. The deal was announced Oct. 4 on the Federal Business Opportunities website.

 

For the moment, set aside the issue of selecting the most expensive EHR available on the market today.

 

Enjoy the irony in the statement claiming a "broad array of state-of-the-art e-healthcare features" -- features that were likely innovations from license free, government owned EHR systems.

 

The real question is, why can't these agencies recognize they have access to a license free, proven and high quality EHR. There's little doubt that this sort of implementation could be done for a fraction of the cost on either the VistA or RPMS platforms. Those systems have long track records of delivering affordable solutions across the range of possible care environments (hospitals, clinics, rural, etc.).  Were either of the existing and  government owned EHRs even considered in this process?

 

Further, why can't these agencies look to HHS' NHIN Connect project as proof that there is a viable model for cross-agency collaboration that multiplies their resources and accelerates the development. Waste and further silo-ing of data is the natural outcome when these agencies do not collaborate amongst themselves.

 

I guess the real question is, will anyone in the  legislature take notice and force these agencies to take a harder look at the vetted solutions already available and in use within mulitple federal agencies?

 

Read the entire article at HealthCareITNews.

802 Views 0 Comments Permalink Tags: coast_guard, epic, ehr
Ben Mehling
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Houston Neal of SoftwareAdvice has posted an opinion on the Regional Extension Center, including a survey:

 

What  do RECs offer that the market doesn’t? We find ourselves asking this  over and over again. It’s the foremost problem with RECs; they don’t  have a strong value proposition.


RECs are tasked with three main duties:


  • provide training and support services to assist providers in adopting EHRs;
  • offer information and guidance to help with EHR implementation, and;
  • give technical assistance as needed.

 

This is great except health IT consultants, software vendors and  third-party research firms already offer these services. Not to mention,  EHR software vendors provide implementation, training and support  themselves. It’s unlikely an REC will be more efficient than a software  vendor at supporting it’s own system.


So do we really need another player in the market? Sure RECs are  highly subsidized to support the provider, but is this the right trusted  advisor for a practice betting its entire operation on a new system?


REC campaigners might point to other benefits like “group purchasing”  as a reason to join. But group purchasing doesn’t help if it interferes  with free market forces.

 

Read the entire post and take the survey at SoftwareAdvice.com.

468 Views 0 Comments Permalink Tags: rec, regional_extension_centers, arra, stimulus, meaningful_use, ehr
Ben Mehling
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In today's post "Marking the Road Ahead", Dr. Blumenthal provides a summary of current work and priorities, as well as some insight into important dates:

 

  • Done: Release of new grant programs for HIE and HIT Workforce growth
  • First ~30 regional extension centers established, January 2010
  • Remainder of regional extension centers, March 2010
  • Meaningful Use criteria (from CMS) released "in a matter of weeks"
  • More programs between now and the end of Q1 2010

 

Read and subscribe to the ONCHIT HIT Buzz blog.

1,071 Views 0 Comments Permalink Tags: david_blumenthal, onc, stimulus, meaningful_use, hie, certification
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This forum serves as a focal point for information related to healthcare and health IT policy and legislation, particularly as it relates to interoperability, affordability, transparency and quality. Group members can both access a variety of information and engage in discussion of relevant issues.

Owned by: David Macfarlane Ben Mehling

Tags: health_policy, legislation, health_information_technology

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Created: Jan 23, 2009

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