ICD-10 is really here. Yes, for real. After three delays and much discussion and deliberation, ICD-10 is near. 

This October ICD-10 will really happen. Here's the deal: 

1. The ICD-10 deadline was first set for October 2011, then for October 2013, then for October 2014. 
2. But, it seems that the fourth time just might be the charm. 
3. Recent proceedings in the House Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee hearing on ICD-10 featured seven witnesses, with only one of these witnesses opposing the transition to the new code set. 

As electronic medical records take their place in modern medicine, new questions arise as to the use of EMR, medical education and technology, and the use of electronic documentation as a tool for teaching. 

Now, first year medical students are tech-savvy and able to be on top of the times when it comes to health IT. EMR is starting to be included as part of medical curriculum.  This new addition to many medical education programs adds value. EMR is relevant to medical education because electronic documentation is becoming a necessity, especially with new meaningful use requirements and the shift to ICD-10. 

EMR education can be beneficial to not only medical students, but also to nurse practitioners, physician assistants, and physicians. The electronic medical record can be useful in guiding through the process of assessing the patient. The EMR helps give insight into the background of the patient and can help lead to the key facts and information to reach a potential diagnosis. EHR use can help in listing red flags, risk factors, and warnings about potentials risks for the patient in reaching a diagnosis. For example, EMRs can warn about patient drug allergies or interactions and assist in addressing patient treatment programs. This can help providers to limit their liability. For medical students and healthcare professionals learning the new technology and where technology intersects with patient care, EMR teaching can be truly beneficial. 

Information gathered via LinkedIn post:Using the Electronic Medical Record as a Teaching Tool

Scribe Solutions will attend the American Academy of Emergency Medicine's 21st Scientific Assembly. This conference will be held in Austin, Texas and will run from February 28th through March 4th. 

Interested in hiring medical scribes? Do you have staffing needs in terms of EMR documentation? Scribe Solutions can help! Feel free to stop by the Scribe booth to speak with a representative from our company and to grab an information packet.

BOOTH 302 is where Scribe will be! 

Would you like some background on EMR and medical scribes now to see if scribes might be right for you?

Read this information segment below and then stop by our booth at AAEM in a few weeks...we'll see you then! 

Connection Between Scribes and EMR:

By definition provided by the U.S government Health IT website, an electronic medical record (EMR) is a digital version of a paper chart that contains all of a patient’s medical history from one practice. An EMR is mostly used by providers for diagnosis and treatment.

EMRs are more beneficial than paper records because EMRs lead to improved efficiency and organization of records. Digital management systems for tracking patient care and maintaining that patients are properly informed about their health via online records is key to keeping up in the digital age.

Using EMRs can be overwhelming to doctors who are more accustomed to paper charts. 

This is where the scribes come in! Medical scribes focus on completing all of the electronic record work while the physician focuses on the patient.

According to the American College of Emergency Physicians the following are the main duties of scribes:

• to follow a physician through his or her work day and chart patient encounters in real-time using a medical office's Electronic Health Record and existing templates

• generate referral letters for physicians, manage and sort medical documents within the EHR system, and assist with e-prescribing

  Thus, by handling data management tasks, scribes allow physicians to have more time with patients and to better manage their patient treatment time.

A recent article in the Houston Business Journal, titled, "How EMRs will save health care" looks at some of the benefits of EMRs and how the technology is aiding many in the healthcare industry. 

 One physician group, the Southeast Texas Medical Associates LLP, was featured in the article as an example of a physican-owned health care organization that finds EMRs to be beneficial. James Holly, CEO of the physician group (SETMA) said that EMRs "play a big role in making the process more efficient for patients." His group uses EMRs to send data between specialists and primary care physicians within the network, according to the article. 

Holly went on to discuss just how important he finds EMRs to be, and as the head of a physician group, how he thinks EMRs are changing health care as we know it. He says that he thinks EMRs can only improve in the future, saying " I think in 10 more years, we're going to be in a much more robust position than we are now...I think the (health care information exchange) will be mature, and most practices, if not all, will be integrated through the HIE."

While Holly is forward-thinking and seems to embrace the technology, that is not the case with mnay physicians. Also, Holly is optimistic towards the HIE, which in theory is a groundbreaking idea. But, in reality, many physicians and healthcare workers are skeptical of the HIE, and worry that a lack of communication many occur between different health care systems and different physicians and hospitals. Another question that many physicians and healthcare workers alike are raising is the question of errors in reporting when using EMRs.

As for the fear of, and the room for errors when using EMRs, there are many options to prevent errors. Medical scribes can assist in this space and can allow for more accuracy and less room for error when using EMRs. Scribes work side-by-side with the physicians and serve as personal assistants and data entry specialists when it comes to the EMRs. This allows physicians more time for patient care, and this also prevents physician data entry errors on EMRs. 

It seems that EMRs are here to stay, especially with Meaningful Use requirements coming up and the need for electronic documentation of patient records. Scribes can help doctors, especially since there is such a high learning curve for these clinicians. Doctors prefer to care for their patients, and they want to provide quality care; physicians do not want to type into EMRs all day long. EMRs and the HIE still have some kinks to work out, but as with any new technology and concept, it takes time to enact and adapt to change. Healthcare workers, be it physicians, physician assistants, nurses or nurse practitioners need to embrace change in order to increase efficency, and many can do this using a medical scribe.

America's doctors are burned out. Well, America's healthcare workers are burned out as a whole. 

Just how burned out are American healthcare workers? According to an article by Kimberly Palm on LinkedIn, 50% or more of doctors, nurses, and other health care workers are burned out; in stating this, Palm is referring to the latest research. 

Palm cites reasons such as builtup stress that lingers from med school into residency into practices. She notes that often times "doctors are not prepared to take on the stresses and responsibilities of running a business". 

We get it. Palm is right when she says that doctor burnout can be attributed to the difficulties of running a business, something doctors learn nothing about during med school. 

Another stressor that Palm doesn't mention: data entry into EMRs. 

Add EMRs to the long list of reasons for doctor burnout. But, there is a solution and an easy fix to help keep our gifted doctors practicing and doing what they love. 

Scribes can be the solution. Medical scribes can take away the additional stress that EMRs may cause for doctors today. 

October 1, 2015 is a big date. Things will change. Be prepared!

AthenaHealth recently hosted a webinar on transitioning to ICD-10. According to AthenaHealth, "the new code set, ICD-10, increases the number of reporting codes from about 13,600 to more than 69,000"; so as you can see, there are some complexities to changing from ICD-9 to ICD-10. 

As you can see in the increase in number of reporting codes, there will be an increase in reporting detail with ICD-10. This transition from ICD-9 to ICD-10 could be very costly for your organization, but there are some preventative measures you can take as a precautionary step.

As a precaution, you and your organization need to converse with your vendor and keep up with the vendor as you transition to ICD-10.

In order to avoid unnecessary costs and headaches, you should ask your vendor some important questions. Here are some helpful questions you should ask your vendor to allow for a smoother transition to ICD-10:

1. What is covered by contracts?
2. What are plans and timelines?
3. How will systems work with both ICD-9 and ICD-10?
4. What does implementation process entail?
5. What are costs, if any, for training and support in shift to ICD-10?

Info gathered at AthenaHealth webinar. For more info on AthenaHealth visit their website http://www.athenahealth.com/

As you all know, EHR is present in modern health care, and it is here to stay.

That being said, it is not being welcomed by all, and many are criticizing EHR. Some doctors are less than thrilled with EHR capability and ease of use. But, while there is criticism, like with any new tool introduced into an industry, EHR is useful and changing modern health care for the better. Yes, EHR can be overwhelming and too much to handle at times for the physicians, but that is why medical scribes exist. Hiring scribes can help.

One doctor in particular discussed his thoughts on EHR in a recent article, and his comments were interesting and important, because they help us understand the physician perspective.

Dr. Danny Newman discussed EHR with Georgia Health News. He realizes that electronic health records are here to stay, and he has seen firsthand some of the benefits of replacing paper charts with electronic ones. He said that one advantage of EHR is electronic prescribing of medications, which he says reduces mix-ups caused by illegible or messy handwriting.

But, as mentioned above, we all know that physicians are still not thrilled with EHR, despite seeing some of the benefits associated with going electronic.

Newman highlights his frustration, saying, “They’re (EHR) supposed to be more efficient...but I think they’re less efficient”. According to the article, for Newman a patient visit now produces five pages of notes, instead of a single page in the pre-EHR days, and it takes about five minutes to fill in the EHR for one visit. Newman is pretty clear in his frustration with EHR, when he says, “It’s taking away time from my patients".

As Newman says, nowadays “Many doctors feel like they’re data entry clerks”.

But they don’t have to be, and there is a helpful solution: scribes.

Use of electronic medical record systems is associated with considerable loss of free time per clinic day, according to a research letter published online Sept. 8 in JAMA Internal Medicine.

This does not make EMR look like a good data managment method to adopt.

But, EMRs are the way of the future, and can be very beneficial...with the help of a medical scribe. 

Doctors should treat patients; they shouldn't be typing all day and trying to use new technology. 

Clement J. McDonald, M.D., from the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Md., and colleagues surveyed the American College of Physicians' national sample of internists to examine the extent of EMR-associated time loss. Data were obtained from 411 respondents (mainly attending physicians).

"The loss of free time that our respondents reported was large and pervasive and could decrease access or increase costs of care," the authors write.

Meaningful Use was created in order to create infrastructure for the health information system in American medical industry today.

The various stages were thought out and decided upon in order to ensure successful EHR use to establish an electronic health information network in the United States.

• Stage 1 - this stage was established for data capture and sharing to start taking place

• Stage 2 - this stage, began in January 2014, and intends to advance processes

• Stage 3 - this stage leads to improved outcomes

Requirements for Providers:

When looking at requirements for providers, these must be broken down into Medicare program requirements and Medicaid program requirements.

• Medicare program meaningful use requirements include 13 core measures that must be met and 5 of 9 optional measures. A 90 day reporting period to execute against goals of the program is also required.

• Medicaid program requirements include showing proof that the practice has purchased and installed a government certified EHR and after 1 year the practice must then meet the medicare requirements also with the 13 core measures.

Meaningful Use and its requirements intend to allow for progress tracking and more connectivity.

While using EHR will improve connectivity and is the way of the future, it is a lot of work for practices and physicians. But, it doesn't have to be! Scribes can help.

• Our medical scribes here at Scribe Solutions perform all the data entry work but also can assist in other services such as tracking labs, transcribing radiology reports, attending to patient needs, and helping physicians organize data.

• Scribe Solutions understands the demands that physicians face and offers a low cost, innovative approach to significantly improve the process of patient care.

You may be surprised to learn that the majority of U.S. medical records are not available electronically. Despite this alarming fact, the U.S. medical industry is increasingly switching to EHR. According to the American Journal of Managed Care (AJMC), in 2008, fewer than 10% of hospitals utilized a basic EHR system.

But, by 2009, doctors and hospitals were starting to adapt and began to switch to EMR due to funding from the stimulus from Medicare and Medicaid payments. 

The EMR switch is sweeping the U.S. medical space, with 60% of hospitals having adopted at least a basic EHR system today, according to AJMC. 

Health IT is becoming more important each and every day. As doctors and hospitals become more and more accountable to the quality of the care they provide to patients, high-tech, high-performing electronic medical records will be key to successful treatment and management of patients.