Dear Healthcare IT Insider,
Every year at about this time the medical market space is inundated with survey and poll results extolling the most wired, connected, technologically savvy healthcare facilities. It seems as though any practitioner at these information technology Shangri-Las can summon up a complete patient healthcare record through a wireless handheld device.
The reality is that the vast majority of healthcare IT is adopted in an incremental fashion, with digital and analog processes existing side-by-side. The most practical consideration for staggered implementation of electronic healthcare record (EHR) technology is the cost to do so, both capital and human.
According to a report issued by the Boston-based Medical Records Institute, the greatest penetration of healthcare IT into medicine is in the billing and administrative side of the practice. However, once a group has succeeded with establishing EHR capabilities on the business side, it turns its attention to clinical implementations. One of the most important features in this area for physicians is access to lab and radiology results.
To learn more about how healthcare providers are working toward implementing EHR technology, click here. As a Healthcare IT Insider subscriber, you have access to this story before it's published for the rest of our AuntMinnie.com members at the end of the week.
In other news, the past few weeks has seen the inauguration of an exclusive feature for the Healthcare IT Digital Community -- our series on how to survive, grow, and profit from a satisfying career in healthcare informatics. Authored by Dan Erler of executive search firm The Howard Group, the series shares key advice and techniques Erler has developed over nearly three decades. We'll be posting updates to Erler's series a couple times each month, so be sure to check in often.
Finally, if you have a comment or story to share about any aspects of healthcare IT, please get in touch with me at [email protected]. I look forward to hearing from you.
