HIPAA 4010 to 5010 migration, is your EHR and practice management software ready?
The 5010 standards replace the existing 4010/4010A1 version of HIPAA transactions, which go back nearly a decade—an eternity in the tech world and address many of the shortcomings in the current version, including the fact that 4010 does not support ICD-10 coding.
Make sure that your EHR and practice management software has made the move to 5010.
As of this month the drchrono platform has been moved over to 5010, so when the medical industry is ready to move from ICD-9 to ICD-10 we are ready.
(The ICD-9 codes have ~16,000 diagnosis codes and ICD-10 has ~64,000 diagnosis codes.)
CMS will be forcing the US healthcare system to fully move over to ICD-10 October 2013.
The switch to ICD-10 and 5010 facilitates more accurate coding, billing, and reimbursement.
Eric Schmidt of Google talks about cloud computing and how Google can help in healthcare through search analysis trending.
In Eric’s examples in this video he talks about rises in anonymous query trends alerting google about potential Pandemic, e.g.: Flu Trend queries. In these situations Google alerts the healthcare professionals when these query rises happen. This alert system within Google saves 10 to 30 thousand lives a year.
The next time you’re at Costco ogling flat screens and buying a pallet of paper towels, you may also be surprised to learn that Costco members are now eligible to receive incentive pricing on a Costco-branded cloud-based electronic medical record. During my maiden voyage to Costco after arriving in the Bay Area, I saw a promotion for a Costco-branded EMR, billed as a “Service of the Month.” I was so baffled that I almost crashed into the guy with the cart brimming with hot dog buns. Fortunately, he was more amused than annoyed with me. (When I asked him to pose for this photo, he thought I was crazy.)
I’m not sure if posting marketing materials in Costco’s exit lane is an effective way to target a potential audience of EMR purchasers. However, it demonstrates that EMR marketers will take just about any approach to find a customer.
I picked up the promotional materials on the way out of the store and conducted some research after getting home. I was also surprised to learn that the Costco/EMR partnership was not a first for big-box retailers. Sam’s Club and Dell had a brief affair with another EMR company, eClinicalWorks in 2009, but soon dissolved its partnership due to lack of interest among members.
Given the failed relationship between Dell, Walmart and eClinicalWorks, why is Costco now selling a cloud-based EMR? I asked myself this question. Then I asked this question on Quora and am beginning to collect responses. What’s yours?
Today we released the Amazon Kindle Fire EHR patient check-in app. We are the first healthcare platform to ever venture into using a Kindle Fire in a medical setting. You can download this version of the Kindle Fire app here.
A high level video of the Kindle Fire in action -
Our goal? To focus on the ever growing innovative tech market, the tablet market is part of our future, physicians should have mobile options in a medical setting.
I am lucky enough to share a co-working space with a woman who recently graduated from the American College of Traditional Chinese Medicine. As a result, I get to be the beneficiary of health advice that lies beyond the parameters of traditional Western approaches. Rather than the anatomic or organ systems approaches I’m accustomed to, TCM’s approach is based on “the ancient Chinese perception of humans as microcosms of the larger, surrounding universe—interconnected with nature and subject to its forces. The human body is regarded as an organic entity in which the various organs, tissues, and other parts have distinct functions but are all interdependent. Health and disease relate to balance of the functions.” Searching for an analogy when reading this translation of the Classic Chinese Medicine text Huángdì Nèijīng, I think of an interactive weather map of the body. Turns out that TCM practices also rely heavily on maps of one kind of another.
One of the diagnostic foundations of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) is tongue evaluation. This practice assesses a patient’s general energetic condition. Because the tongue is positioned somewhere between the interior and exterior of the body, it is particularly well suited to detect imbalances. Different areas of a patient’s tongue correspond to the different channels of the body. The color, texture, shape, and regions of the tongue are mapped and provide clues to diagnosis and therapeutic approach and progress. In addition, the tongue is also particularly well suited for photography in a clinical environment, provided the patient is a willing participant. A series of chronological photographs of the patient’s tongue can also provide a vivid picture of their clinical course and the effectiveness of therapies.
Most Common Topographic Representations of the Tongue in Traditional Chinese Medicine
Once a diagnosis is made, TCM practitioners may use acupuncture to treat imbalances in the body. In acupuncture, small thin needles are placed in points along meridians of the body clear blockages and release “qi,” the body’s energy. Of the over 350 points along 12 major meridians of the body can also be best represented on a map of the human body. For an acupuncturist to track the points that they use in treatment, they typically record the point in a record by number. However, a visual map of a human body be a great addition to an acupuncture record and would likely be a more efficient means of recording and annotating these procedures.
A Model of Acupunture Points in the Human Body
TCM practice, along with a litany of other Western subspecialties can leverage files with annotation. This can be a valuable tool in developing a comprehensive and information-rich medical record. This can also be a valuable tool in the education of patients. DrChrono’s FreeDraw feature provides a seamless way to integrate images and annotate. But it’s up to the practitioner to find creative and efficient ways to use it.
Have you found a way to use FreeDraw that we should know about? Let us know.
