Information technology an overarching theme of this year’s work
The ACR President Joseph Flood, MD, Reviews Past Year in Rheumatology
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Google Glass Has Potential for Rheumatology, Orthopedic Surgery
Wearable smart-glass device could enable untethered access to electronic health records, be conduit for clinical decision making
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The ACR: Looking Ahead to 2015 and Beyond
Incoming president E. William St.Clair, MD, sets goals, reviews groundwork for the coming year
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Rheumatology Informatics System for Effectiveness Registry Can Improve Patient Care
RISE data entry process syncs with patients' electronic health records to create quality improvement reports, chart progress
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Electronic Health Records Systems Distract Physicians from Patient Care
Junior rheumatologist says EHRs equal the 'End of Humane Reasoning' when it comes to patient care, practice management
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HIPAA Security Standards: What Rheumatologists Need to Know
Maintain compliance with updated federal rules governing privacy protection for patient health information
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Medical Data, Cybercriminals’ Holy Grail, Now Espionage Target
SINGAPORE (Reuters)—Whoever was behind the latest theft of personal data from U.S. government computers, they appear to be following a new trend set by cybercriminals: targeting increasingly valuable medical records and personnel files. This data, experts say, is worth a lot more to cybercriminals than, say, credit card information. And the Office of Personnel Management... [Read More]
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How Non-Transferable EHRs Have Affected Physician Practices
Full disclosure: I am not a rabid fan of dogs. None rank among my best friends. Perhaps my antipathy stems from a memorable childhood event, when I was chased down the street where I lived by a neighbor’s large and not-so-friendly hound. He seemed to be twice my size, and this explains why I may... [Read More]
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Electronic Health Records Software Often Written Without Doctors’ Input
(Reuters Health)—The reason why many doctors find electronic health records (EHR) difficult to use might be that the software wasn’t properly tested, researchers suggests. Current guidelines and industry standards suggest that new EHR software should be tested by at least 15 end users with a clinical background to make sure they are usable and safe... [Read More]
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KeMo Disease: A Newly Recognized Debilitating Musculoskeletal Disease
Dr. Simon Helfgott’s essay, “Barking at the Moon,” in the July 2015 issue of The Rheumatologist, about the unintended consequences of EHRs (electronic health records) prompted me to share my experience regarding the newly recognized KeMo disease. Keyboarding and mouse-clicking (KeMo) activity now consumes about 50% of the medical clinician’s day, as the modern EHRs... [Read More]
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Patients OK with Secure Web Portals for Test Results
(Reuters Health)—Of all the ways for patients to receive their medical test results, one option—password-protected websites—appears to be preferred much of the time, a study suggests. U.S. researchers surveyed about 400 adults and found they were generally comfortable with web portals regardless of how sensitive the test results might be. This was among the most... [Read More]
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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... [Read More]
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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... [Read More]
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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... [Read More]
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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... [Read More]
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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... [Read More]
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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.,... [Read More]
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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...
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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... [Read More]
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Data Tool: How to Design an EHR Algorithm to Identify SLE Patients
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...
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