New Report Forecasts Healthcare Information Technology Systems, with Electronic Health Records driving market, to be worth $53.8 billion by 2014
According to a new report by MarketsandMarkets, a research and consulting firm, applications like EMR and EHR, and physician practice management systems, which are used by both clinicians and larger healthcare providers to offer improved patient, are already big winners.
With information technology offering solutions seemingly taking over every aspect of healthcare data and information management, including clinical trials management systems, clinical decision support systems and data mining systems, hospital information systems, e-prescribing systems, ambulatory care management systems and patient management systems, the market for these general applications will rise at an overall 13.0 percent from 2009 to 2014, topping off at over $50 billion. Applications like EMR and EHR, and physician practice management systems are used by both clinicians and larger healthcare providers to offer improved patient are slated to lead the charge into 2014.
Best-in-Class Electronic Patient Medical Records Providers:
- Integrates all the clinical tools necessary for an interdisciplinary approach to services delivery
- Improves staff and resource utilization
- Enables coordinated compliance with accreditation organizations like CARF and JCAHO and speedier justification of medical necessity issues
Top Considerations before buying Electronic Patient Medical Records:
When leveraging hardware to improve EHR functionality select the right hardware based on medical practice/healthcare facility needs, making sure to perform a cost-benefit analysis and involve the right IT company from the beginning to ensure a successful implementation.
Key Providers:
1. MicroMD offers a solution in its MicroMD EMR that extends EHR from health centers, to large medical groups, and also to solo practices, and includes screening, immunization, and prevention templates, plus access to patient prescription coverage and drug formulary, reviews medication lists from other providers. MicroMD’s EMR patient routing system allows the viewing of lists of patients and their whereabouts at each stage in a patient's visit, including notifications of needed tests or procedures. A full-featured management system, MicroMD EHR offers scheduling, patient information, billing, integrated EDI solutions, advanced reporting, and mobile solutions...designed to provide a paperless environment, improve workflow, enhance care delivery and boost productivity.
2. Sunquest Information Systems, Inc. develops laboratory information systems, barcode point of care, and their Outreach Advantage solutions, like Sunquest's Integrated Clinical Environment (ICE), Encompass, and EMR Connectivity. Their solutions are all designed to create workflow excellence, decrease turnaround time and length of stay, boost productivity and give clinicians actionable results. Sunquest’s Diagnostic Intelligence offers real-time, dashboard-driven operational and clinical metrics. Their industry share includes more than 37% of U.S. hospitals.
3. Pragmate’s MedGrail Health Management System integrates the medical office with electronic patient records that offers many features to improve the healthcare experience. Features include secure bi-directional communication between patient and physician in real-time promoting an active dialogue. Patients may send requests for visit scheduling, lab test results and prescription renewals. The company's experience includes over 25 years of healthcare IT with over 30 years developing software systems for healthcare providers and payers, manufacturing, and financial institutions.
4. LaserNet offers electronic document delivery for a wide range of industries including eDelivery for healthcare and healthcare billing solutions. The company suggests that medical billing facilities most advantaged by eDelivery solutions are ones with multiple and fragmented practice management systems, or when there is a need to reduce costs and consolidate functions, including billing, customer service, and/or call centers. Affinity Health System outsourced the printing of its patient statements to LaserNet. Karen Hielsberg, Director of Patient Business Services at Affinity explained: “Our printed statements are now imaged and stored so that we can pull up the statement PDF when patients call with questions about their bill. This is a significant help to our staff, and they really appreciate the reassurance of having this option available at their fingertips to enhance their service to our customers.” Since 1994, LaserNet has created more than 100 million electronic eDelivery images annually. LaserNet solutions supports healthcare organizations with document delivery solutions that include secure electronic delivery, online bill payment, print and mail, custom document design, and archival services.
Electronic Patient Medical Records
Definition: Electronic Patient Medical Records (alternately known as Electronic Health Records or EHR) are the collected data representing a patient’s medical information in digital (electronic) form that can be viewed on a computer and easily shared by people taking care of the patient; and systematic collections of electronic patient health information for populations of in-patients and outpatients. Frequently, the electronic health records, or EHR, are embedded in health facility networks, or enterprise-wide information systems enabling them to be easily shared across different health care settings.
