Electronic health records enable researchers to access significant amounts of patient data, but identifying subjects with a specific condition can be difficult. In a recent study, researchers successfully designed three algorithms to identify patients with SLE, incorporating multiple counts of the ICD-9 code, laboratory testing, medication data and keywords. In the future, these algorithms may successfully transfer to other systems to aid research…
Medical Records Don’t Always Match What Patients Say
(Reuters Health)—Symptoms that patients describe to doctors may not always be documented in electronic medical records, a small U.S. study suggests. To test out how well the records match reality, researchers compared symptoms that 162 patients checked off on paper-based questionnaires with the information entered in patients’ electronic charts at eye clinics. Roughly one-third of…
Electronic Medical Records Have Mixed Impact on Quality, Quantity of Healthcare
The widespread implementation of electronic medical records (EMRs) and electronic health records (EHRs) has significantly changed the quality and quantity of healthcare for both the better and the worse. The digitalization of medical records provides comprehensive documentation of all events and actions associated with an individual’s medical care. Likewise, legibility, accountability and credibility are greatly…
RISE Registry Promises to Improve Care & Research for Rheumatology
In 2014, the ACR launched the Rheumatology Informatics System for Effectiveness (RISE), a national electronic health record (EHR)-enabled registry. The goal: To help participating rheumatologists and practices leverage the new wave of big data created by the use of EHR, advance research and improve overall quality of care. A new analysis examines the RISE structure and the initial patient data collected by the registry…
Choose the Right EHR the 1st Time
With so many electronic health record (EHR) systems on the market, it can be difficult to decide which one to choose. You may want to ask your peers for recommendations, visit practices that are using a system you’re contemplating and consider advice in trade journals. Jeffrey G. Lawson, MD, physician, Piedmont Arthritis Clinic, Greenville, S.C.,…
How to Get Your EHR Up … & Keep It Running
Implementing a new electronic health record (EHR) system is no easy task—and one that a physician shouldn’t tackle alone. From the onset, you need to get buy-in from your practice’s colleagues. To do this, designate a physician champion to take charge of the effort. “This is a challenging position, because it’s difficult to convince people…
RISE Offers Hope & Enhances Patient Care
For more than a decade, Kaleb Michaud, PhD, has volunteered for the American College of Rheumatology (ACR). As an associate professor at the University of Nebraska Medical Center, he spent much of that time serving on a task force dedicated to the development of RISE (the Rheumatology Informatics System for Effectiveness). As an enhanced version…
Patient Can’t Always Access Complete Medical Records, Doctors Say
(Reuters Health)—Technology makes it possible for patients to access medical records online, but a thicket of legal issues may still keep people from always seeing everything in their chart, some doctors say. The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) gives U.S. patients the right to access their medical records and control who else has…
Online Portals Can Function as Important Physician–Patient Communication Tools
Patient portals are online programs and applications that help patients and physicians interact. Although there are many different implementations, most will have some sort of messaging component to help with communication between the doctor and the patient, as well as access to at least some elements of the chart, such as test results. “Patients should…
Cyber Risks: A New Area of Liability for Medical Practices
Computerization of healthcare in general, and medical records in particular, has opened additional areas of liability for medical practices that many may not be addressing. A data breach of patient records can have major financial and business impacts on the practice when they occur. Data Intrusions Increasing The number of data intrusions hit a record…
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