What will be the future of Physician-Owned Practices?

The Healthcare Landscape is in the process of undergoing a major change courtesy reforms which have either been brought in or are scheduled in the near future. These reforms are expected to pose huge challenges for providers as they grapple with ICD-10 coding standards, payment and reimbursement reforms, new healthcare models like Accountable Care Organizations etc. They are expected to also make huge investments in meaningfully adopting EHRs or face penalty. All this is taking a toll on the revenue stream. Physicians who are otherwise expected to focus on providing care to their patients in the best possible way are now required to devout a considerable amount of their valuable time in understanding the mandates and adapting to them. Does it mean the moving forward we are unlikely to come across independents physicians? Well, the Federal push to adopt Health IT has kind of compelled many physicians to join hospitals or similar such setups in order to ensure exemption from the additional burden to investing in IT and having to keep up the multitude of technological and regulatory requirements .

The financial and administrative strain on these private practices has resulted in physicians actively looking out for opportunities for affiliation. The move seems quite logical also; to let existing setups deal with all matters not directly related to patient care while the physicians can channelize your energies into it. As early as 2005, the percentage of physician–owned practices was at 66% but has reduced considerably to 33% by 2013. Also, the new physicians entering the industry do not seem too keen to own an independent practice; concerned mainly by the administrative hassles involved in holding one and the resultant squeeze in the profitability levels. For the hospitals also, acquiring Physicians goes a long way in ensuring an increase in the cash flow. At the end of the day hospitals are business entities which have to operate profitably to serve their patients better and also in a larger sense project the industry as lucrative to young people looking at taking up the medical profession. Since adoption of IT mandates has increased the financial pressure on the independent establishments, long term sustainability efforts seem to be channelized towards their affiliation to hospitals.

Inspite of all these developments, there are quite a number of physicians who still want to operate in an independent manner. To make it a reality they need to have an upgraded and integrated software revenue cycle management, practice management and electronic health records. This was revealed by a survey which was conducted amongst Practices which are Meaningful Stage 1 attested. This is where cloud based EHRs and RCMs have innovated and come up with solutions that meet all regulatory requirements. Cloud Based EMR requires a user to pay a subscription fees rather than purchase it. The fees generally need to be paid on a monthly basis. Users, i.e. physicians in this case, are not required to make any investment on associated hardware and software. It is reckoned as cloud because the storing of data is done across a network of data storage centers and not in any one particular location.

The major reasons for physicians to want to adopt this model, so as to enable them to have an independent existence, are:

• They do not have to bother about meeting the HIPPA regulation

• The onus to meet Meaningful Use also lies with Vendor

• The model offers exceptional flexibility for Physicians on the move

• There is High focus on data security and protection

• It is highly cost effective

There are also some drawbacks of using Cloud based EHRs. The major ones are:

• High dependence on vendors for data backups and security

• Setup likely to suffer if the vendor closes down

If a physician is looking at the possibility of entering into a long-term relationship with a vendor, then it would be cost effective to buy the software. However, in the given circumstances when a lot of consolidation is taking place in the EHR marketplace, licensing is a better option. Physicians looking for getting software developed can hire developers from healthcare software development companies in India who can help build clinical and EHR/EMR software projects within allocated budgets and time schedules.

We provide healthcare mobile app development services. To know more about the expertise of our healthcare software developers, please visit us at Mindfire Solutions.

How is mHealth metamorphosing Healthcare delivery?

Various researches have indicated the various benefits which implementation of mHealth is to bring forth in the healthcare industry. Although there is an inclination to quantify the benefits in monetary terms, the real focus should be on identifying the major changes in healthcare delivery which mHealth is going to bring about. The accuracy of monetary benefits is always going to be debatable but not the tangible benefits drawn from mHealth adoption. Of the many benefits predicted two areas which are going to see some real changes are remote patient monitoring and chronic disease management. In the event of the first, it will result in patients spending less time in hospitals and in outpatient visits. What has been really exciting is to have mHealth hardware getting directly linked to companion apps.

However, mHealth is expected to grow more so as Smartphone-based rather than being delivered through bespoke devices. As far as chronic disease management is concerned, from addressing high healthcare costs, inequality of care and medicinal waste, mHealth can actually bring about some serious positive change in lifestyle. Plus, it allows patients in some capacity to manage their health independently. For a chronic disease like diabetes, triggered mainly by incorrect lifestyle, mHealth can prove a really meaningful contribution in managing it well. For e.g. patients can use the proven apps to adhere to treatment regimes. Physicians can use make use of Patient portals to communicate directly with patients and provide information on disease management. All these and many more channels can be used to get patients to manage their blood glucose levels and reduce instances of emergency room visits and readmissions. Studies done have also indicated that with the younger lot, who unfortunately suffer from the disease, there are apps specially designed which use pictures and text messages which engage them to improve their compliance to care process at home. Also, it helps to get responses to queries from physicians in quick time. The texting program has seems to be gaining in popularity with text reminders ensuring better adherence.

Overall, these are early stages for adoption of mHealth apps. Most of the ones available currently do not have a high degree of sophistication, and are underutilized. However, it is laying the foundation for the next level of innovation to follow where the apps developed will be more suited to the changing healthcare landscape. Since a lot of changes related to healthcare IT are scheduled in the next few years, with some mandated by the federal government, the mobiles apps in the future will have to take into account the regulatory compliances to pervade into the lives of all stakeholders in the industry. The mHealth market is entirely in sync with the smartphone application market. Hence, the adoption is sure to pick from developed countries before it moves to others. In absolute terms, mHealth will see a exponential adoption since the number of people using smartphones and tablets is expected to be in billions in the next 5 years. That is also the time when it is expected to have entered the commercialization phase. But between then and now some major changes will also have to be done. For instance the regulations will have to be modified and defined in clear terms and the solutions have to handle more complex situations. The changes currently taking place in the operational models in the industry will create a an environment conducive to mHealth adoption. One of the studies done to identify the trends which will shape the market for mHealth had the following points to share

• The main driver for the mHealth usage will be the penetration of Smartphones
• There will customized mHealth applications available for smartphones or tablets
• Most of the applications will be native
• There are likely to be niche stores for mHealth apps
• The commercialization phase will require better regulations to be in place
• The market will be driven by the buyers
• The traditional health distribution channels will start adopting mHealth apps
• Countries with high smartphone penetration and healthcare budgets will be the main benefactors
• The chronic diseases will draw special focus
• New business models will come into play

With the adoption rate for mHealth apps on the rise, healthcare software testing also starts assuming increasing importance. It becomes vital and hence imperative to use app testers to test the robustness and security of the apps before they are rolled out to the patients and users.

We provide Healthcare software development services. To know more about the expertise of our healthcare application developers, please visit Mindfire Solutions.

Measures to handle Health IT hazards

Implementation of the Medicare and Medicaid EHR incentive programs has led to widespread adoption of EHRs everywhere. The trigger to all this was with the Obama government encouraging the adoption of Health IT by passing the Recovery Act in 2009. In the year 2011, the Medicare and Medicaid EHR incentive programs made it possible for physicians, hospitals, and other eligible providers to draw incentives for adopting and meaningfully using certified electronic health records. Health IT, besides all the benefits that it is supposed to bring forth, also needs to ensure safety of patients. Understanding the relevance of this area, the federal government has established a communications infrastructure to capture data about IT-related patient safety events. This is expected to hugely benefit the providers since it will result in the right intervention to handle issues when they arise. Thus new systems, when they get implemented, should without fail take into account the safety of patients. Two things hold the key to achieve this; more engagement from the Patient’s end and provision for exchange of patient information among providers. Surveys conducted have indicated some common occurrences of problems which can broadly be categorized to fall under the following heads:

• Information that is very coarse : generic statements

• Information that’s too fine : being very specific reduces chances of considering alternatives

• Missing reality : only reports and numbers do not necessarily indicate the actual situation

• Multiplicity : results / analysis from various sources suggesting conflicting information

These are problems which physicians encounter when they deal with Information systems in real time. What needs to be done here is to have a provision for giving feedback to system developers on a regular basis to close the loopholes. Physicians need to be empowered to suggest improvements when they observe problems. Not providing feedback and being operationally efficient in following what the systems prompt can in the long run prove to be a big pitfall for the industry.

Health IT is expected to bring about tremendous benefits to patients care. However since it involves complex technologies, there are high chances of mistakes occurring in its roll out. Information errors comprise a major chunk of the potential hazards of Health IT. From data mismatches to interoperability failures between devices and systems to distractions caused by smartphones and devices, all these have the potential to undo or spoil a lot of the positives of health IT implementation. If we take the last point into account, the event does not seem to be as fatal as the effect it ends up having. In today’s world of BYOD culture, physicians carry their own smartphones and tablets to work. It is quite obvious to have a lot of apps available in these devices in addition to the ones which are required to work with. Since a lot of these apps have live updates etc. it is quite normal to get distracted by them if one were using the device during patient visits with the apps switched on. Apart from the fact that it may lead to mistakes and missing out on relevant information, focusing more on the device might lead to not noticing vital clues in patients affecting the quality of care. The medical schools are trying to address the matted by devising special courses to help the future physicians learn about ways to integrate technology into their workflow without getting distracted or affected in ways which might prove to be detrimental.

Experts in the industry are suggesting ways by which the concern of safety in Health IT can be addressed. One such recommendations is to device a framework which can be rolled out in three phases and get combined with EHR implementation and related Meaningful Use requirements. The important thing to keep in mind is to incorporate safety into training of Healthcare providers and also into certification of software products. The software developers involved in developing these complex systems also need to be involved and explained their need to share responsibility for the safety. Finally measures should be taken to ensure that physicians find it easy and convenient to share their feedback and concerns whenever they want to. Nothing can be more vital than their feedback. Healthcare software development teams can help you build clinical and EHR/EMR software projects within allocated budgets and time schedules.

We provide healthcare mobile app development services. To know more about the expertise of our Healthcare software developers, please visit Mindfire Solutions.