EHRs

A guide to the annual event taking place in Washington, DC next week, as well as virtual and live gatherings around the country. Topical and timely themes include precision medicine, telehealth, interoperability and population health. 

In an early-adopter program at the National Institutes of Health, the cloud-based genomics platform will be used to gauge how best to deliver precision medicine data to clinicians at the point of care.

Doctors spend more than half of their time on EHRs and deskwork and only about 27 percent in direct clinical visits with patients. One researcher said the industry needs to refocus doctors' efforts from facing computer screens to engaging patients.

Cloud-based IT developer athenahealth announced Aug. 29 that it has acquired the care coordination platform Patient IO to expand the company's focus on patient-centered care.

An Intermountain Healthcare study conducted at 27 team-based medical practices and 75 traditional practices revealed that delivering integrated mental and physical healthcare in team-based primary care settings yields better results for patients and also reduces the rates of healthcare utilization and lowers cost.

In pilot testing a new way to compile healthcare information electronically, researchers at the Regenstrief Center for Biomedical Informatics are using HL7's FHIR specification.

OCHIN, the multi-state information network serving 170 health organizations and more than 10,000 clinicians, has launched Acuere, a real-time data aggregation system meant to help drive clinical improvements and operational efficiencies.

In their professional journals, at conferences, on social media and healthcare blogs, and in comments to federal regulators, the nation's doctors are expressing growing anger and frustration about the changes MACRA will bring.

How should population health look and work? There's a five-step process to getting there, said Michael Dulin, MD, director of the academy for population health innovation at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.

Cerner, athenahealth and other members of the EHR interoperability organization say members can soon self-enroll in the CommonWell network via their portals.