RAND Corporation

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Ebola, Electronic Medical Records, and Epic Systems

Michelle Malkin | Michellemalkin.com | October 7, 2014

A Dallas hospital’s bizarre bungle of the first U.S. case of Ebola leaves me wondering: Is someone covering up for a crony billionaire Obama donor and her controversy-plagued, taxpayer-subsidized electronic medical records company? Last week, Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital revealed in a statement that a procedural flaw in its online health records system led to potentially deadly miscommunication between nurses and doctors. The facility sent Ebola victim Thomas Duncan home despite showing signs of the disease—only to admit him with worse symptoms three days later.

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Epic Retains Lobbyist to Improve Image on Capitol Hill

Darius Tahir | Modern Healthcare | September 10, 2014

Electronic health-record giant Epic Systems Corp. has hired a lobbying firm for the first time to counter a perception on Capitol Hill that its EHR systems aren't interoperable with other vendors' technology. The Verona, Wis.-based company retained lobbyists Card & Associates in August, according to the federal Lobbying Disclosure Act database. Epic says in the registration that it's making the move to “educate members of Congress on the interoperability of Epic's healthcare information technology.”

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Epic Systems Feeling Heat Over Interoperability

Darius Tahir | Modern Healthcare | October 1, 2014

Epic Systems' August decision to retain a Washington lobbyist was widely seen as a sign that the leading electronic health-record system vendor is feeling political heat based on the perceived lack of interoperability between its EHR systems and other systems.

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Epic Systems, Leading Defense EHR Bidder, Slammed For Lack Of Interoperability

Bob Brewin | Nextgov.com | October 3, 2014

Epic Systems, considered the front-runner for the Defense Department’s $11 billion electronic health record contract, has come under sustained criticism for lack of interoperability with other EHRs, including most recently a front-page story in The New York Times last Sunday...

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FDA Issues RFQ for Large Scale EHR Study - Wants to Leverage VA's Open Source VistA EHR and Database for Research

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) yesterday issued a Request for Quotation (RFQ) for a large-scale electronic health record (EHR) system. This RFQ is very important as the objective is to develop a platform to support a critical project by the FDA's Division of Bioinformatics and Biostatistics (DBB) "to conduct research to assess the safety and surveillance of FDA regulated products through the FDA adverse event reporting systems..." Adverse drug reactions are one of the leading causes of death in the US, thus finding which drugs cause negative interactions is of vital importance. The project requires "use of the large electronic medical record (EMR) system..." The project is going to leverage the largest, most comprehensive, and clinically relevant medical records database, that of the US Department of Veterans Affairs (VA).

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For Hospitals on the Edge, Health IT is the Tipping Point

Without question, massive health IT expense and the predominant proprietary IT model are threats to a hospital or health system’s financial viability, to its solvency. We’re seeing some examples even now. Michigan’s Henry Ford Health System recently reported a 15 percent decrease in net income as a result of uncompensated care and $36 million spent on a proprietary EHR system. According to health system CEO Nancy Schlichting, “We knew that 2012 and 2013 would not be easy years for the system because of the Epic costs.” Read More »

Health IT Now recommends HHS, Congress take steps against non-interoperable systems

Marla Durben Hirsch | FierceEMR | June 18, 2014

Health IT Now, buoyed by RAND's recent report on electronic health records, has called on the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and Congress to "decertify systems that require additional modules, expenses, and customization to share data," and to investigate business practices that prohibit or restrict data sharing in federal incentive programs.

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HealthITNow.org Encouraged By RAND Corp. Report On EHRs

Press Release | HealthITNow.org | June 13, 2014

Yesterday, the RAND Corporation issued the report Redirecting Innovation in U.S. Health Care: Options to Decrease Spending and Increase Value. As the report states, there are several technologies that could significantly improve health outcomes and lower costs for patients if only the lack of interoperability didn’t stand in their way.

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How Community Health Centers Support Patient-Centered Care

Sara Heath | Patient Engagement HIT | August 21, 2017

Each year, HHS celebrates Community Health Centers week. It is a time where the agency recognizes the impact community health centers have on patient-centered care and how they promote access to care in vulnerable or medically underserved populations...

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How EHRs Tied Up Physician Time in 2015

Troy Parks | AMA Wire | December 11, 2015

As the year draws to a close, we’re taking a look at five of the topics that struck a special chord with the medical community throughout 2015. Burdensome regulations and technology have led physicians to spend considerable time struggling with their electronic health records (EHR). Fortunately, policymakers and health IT developers are starting to take note...

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Improving Quality of Care: How the VA Outpaces Other Systems in Delivering Patient Care

Steven M. Asch, Elizabeth A. McGlynn, Mary M. Hogan, et al | RAND Corporation | December 21, 2004

In its 2001 report Crossing the Quality Chasm, the Institute of Medicine called for systematic reform to address shortfalls in U.S. health care quality. Recommended reforms included developing medical informatics infrastructure, a performance tracking system, and methods to ensure provider and manager accountability...How does the VA measure up against other U.S. health care providers? Read More »

In Second Look, Few Savings From Digital Health Records

Reed Abelson and Julie Creswell | CNBC | January 11, 2013

The conversion to electronic health records has failed so far to produce the hoped-for savings in health care costs and has had mixed results, at best, in improving efficiency and patient care, according to a new analysis by the influential RAND Corporation. Read More »

In Second Look, Few Savings From Digital Health Records

Reed Abelson and Julie Creswell | New York Times | January 10, 2013

The conversion to electronic health records has failed so far to produce the hoped-for savings in health care costs and has had mixed results, at best, in improving efficiency and patient care, according to a new analysis by the influential RAND Corporation. Read More »

Inside The Struggle For Electronic Health Record Interoperability

Greg Otto | FedScoop | August 20, 2014

Over the past few months, stories have popped up chronicling doctors’, clinicians’ or other health care providers’ headaches moving to and/or accessing EHRs. The chorus of complaints has led the Senate Appropriations Committee to submit language in a draft bill that calls for a report from the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) on what “the challenges and barriers” are to EHR interoperability.” Read More »

It’s The System, Stupid: Reversing The Law Of Unintended Consequences

Edmund Billings | Medsphere | February 4, 2013

We should have seen it coming, really. It was entirely predictable, and the most recent RAND report proves it. We incentivized comprehensive IT adoption, making it easier to bill for every procedure, examination, aspirin, tongue depressor, kind word and gentle (or not) touch without first flipping the American healthcare paradigm on its head... Read More »