Health IT Law Blog : Health IT Law Blog : Post & Schell: Law Firm : HIT & Electronic Health Records

The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) released its report on integrated delivery systems (IDSs) in healthcare. The report found that electronic health record systems (EHRs) are able to improve patient care among such IDSs.

Via GAO:

Some IDSs said that using EHRs supports their patient care strategies such as care coordination, disease management, and use of care protocols by increasing the availability of individual patient and patient population data and by improving communication among providers.

All 15 IDSs which took part in this study have implemented EHR systems. Mayo Clinic, one of the participants, reported that "the EHR helps avoid overutilization and duplication of services."  Several other IDSs reported significant savings because of EHR use, including Marshfield Clinic in Wisconsin, which reported that its e-prescribing feature reduced "errors related to illegible handwriting and unintentional drug interactions." In addition, Marshfield's EHR requires physicians to consider appropriate "preferred alternatives" for prescription drugs, saving payers and patients $2.5 million in 1 year.

You can find the full report here.

"Health Care Delivery: Features of Integrated Systems Support Patient Care Strategies and Access to Care, but Systems Face Challenges," U.S. Government Accountability Office, GAO-11-49 November 16, 2010.

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According to American Medical News (AMN), a new report by Manhattan Research states that online communications by physicians have increased by 14% since 2006.  The survey of 1900 physicians found that 39% of physicians use online communication tools such as email, secure messaging, or instant messaging.

Dermatologists lead all other surveyed practices in the volume of online communications, which, according to Girish Munavalli, MD, assistant professor of dermatology at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, can be attributed to "a lot of triage calls and calls for clarification of instructions" which come from dermatologists' large patient volumes. "This is perfect for short e-mail communication and reminders," added Dr. Munavalli.

Dermatologists are followed by oncologists, neurologists, endocrinologists, infectious disease specialists, and primary care physicians.

Of course, certain obstacles remain.  Some doctors abstain from using such technology because of liability worries, while many patients prefer in-person meetings because of concerns regarding privacy of their health information.  Still, the report suggests that this increase may be due to the growing comfort level and acceptance of online communication between physicians and patients.  And it may even indicate a larger trend of greater familiarity and use of other health-related technologies, such as EMRs and personal health records.

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