September/October 2010

Prime Clinical Systems has joined with internet fax service provider Fax.com to offer Internet Faxing on Intellect. Internet Faxing is a process where faxes may be sent by email or through the web instead of using a modem and phone line to send faxes via a fax machine.

Enhanced Patient Appointment Reminders

Intellect allows clients to send appointment reminders to patients via email, by text to a cell phone, or through CallSTAFF to a patients’ home phone or cell phone. As of Intellect software version 9.12.10, enhancements have been made to the Email and CallSTAFF Appointment Reminder features in the Appointment Schedule.

Updated Hosted Workshop Schedule

An Updated Workshop Schedule is now available online through our main website www.primeclinical.com. Once logged-in, select the Workshops & Ongoing Classes button on the right to access the Workshop Schedule. This schedule also includes our Ongoing Classes.

PCM News

PCM "Age" Auto-Fill

The Age auto-fill was converted into a database auto-fill so that the age is properly calculated based on the document date and not the current date. Prior to this, the Age was being calculated based on the current date and that was a problem if documents were being attached for dates other than today. Some offices may not have a problem with this, but for pediatric offices and other offices, this makes a big difference. This also accommodates the “Attach Last” option where the age is properly calculated based on the new document date instead of just pasting in the text from the prior document.

Meaningful Use

We are all hearing a lot about “Meaningful Use” in recent days, but also a lot of confusing statements about what that means and how physicians who use an EMR are going to be affected. While “Meaningful Use” is very much a work in progress, there are some things that are known that will help us all prepare for this very important aspect of using an EMR. It is our hope that the following FAQs will assist your practice in dealing with “Meaningful Use”.

Intellect and OnSTAFF 2000 News

Intellect and OnSTAFF 2000

In the menu to the left there is an option titled "Industry News" that contains information specific to clearing houses, Highmark, Medi-Cal Updates, Medicare, Navicure, NPE, Noridian, Palmetto Medicare, and other institutional information. This month the following additions were made to Medi-Cal Updates, under the Submit Claims option:

Intellect: Billing Options Now Have Preview Button

Since the Billing>Statement>Group of Patients option is generally used to print statements for individuals, small batches of patient accounts, or specific groups of statements, a [Preview] button has been added to the bottom of the screen to allow users to verify the information on individual statements before they are printed.

PCS Administrative Notes

5010 File Format

Prime Clinical Systems will begin testing the new 5010 file format with carriers in the coming year. The 5010 format changes and requirements are planned for release in the third quarter of 2011.

Kick Off Your EMR Pursuit!

Holiday Schedule

Please note that Prime Clinical Systems will be open as usual on the following dates:

Prime Clinical will be closed Thursday, November 25, and Friday, November 26, in commemoration of Thanksgiving. We wish you, our clients, a safe and healthy holiday.

Industry News

ONC Clarified EHR Certification Issues

The Office of the National Coordinator has published a 20-item Frequently Asked Questions document about the temporary electronic health record certification program, and there are some interesting questions and answers.

FCC Approval of 'White Spaces' Opens Door
for Health Care Wi-Fi Use

Last week, the Federal Communications Commission approved a proposal to free up for unlicensed use television "white space" frequencies that advocates say will improve health care providers' ability to serve rural areas, HealthLeaders Media reports. The white space frequencies are unused airwaves between television channels.

National Library of Medicine
Opens Application Portal

The National Library of Medicine has created a new website to promote software applications that allow developers and the public to tap into the library’s resources more broadly and effectively. The website offers application programming interface (API) tools for interacting with the library’s most popular databases and search engines, including ClinicalTrials.gov and Medline Plus.

Mobile Tools Enhance Patient Care

Many hospitals and health care providers are embracing new mobile technologies to improve patient care, the San Jose Mercury News reports. Two main areas where new technology is of benefit is in physician support and data collection.

Federal Policies Help Drive
More Growth in E-Prescribing

The use of electronic prescribing has increased significantly in the past year, and observers say that growth will continue as key federal policy initiatives take effect.

At the fifth annual Safe-Rx Awards on Capitol Hill last week, e-prescribing network Surescripts announced that more than 200,000 office-based prescribers -- or one out of every three physicians, nurse practitioners and physician assistants -- now use e-prescribing. That's up from 156,000 e-prescribers at the end of 2009 and 74,000 at the end of 2008.

According to Surescripts, 47 states more than doubled their use of electronic prescription routing, and 29 states more than doubled their use of electronic prescription benefit information.

Certification Testing Procedures OK'd

The National Institutes of Standards and Technology has published approved procedures that Authorized Testing and Certification Bodies will use as part of the process of certifying that electronic health record products support meaningful use requirements under the HITECH Act.

Interesting Facts

How Important Do You Consider Certification
When Evaluating an Ambulatory EHR System?

Sixty-six percent of health care providers said certification is very important when evaluating ambulatory electronic health record systems, according to a new CapSite survey.

An additional 23% of survey respondents said certification is important. Just 2% of health care providers surveyed said certification is not important, while 9% of respondents said they were unsure how important certification is when considering an ambulatory EHR system.