Industry Watch
(PDAs) and wireless network hardware, free of charge.
The docs also obtain a one-time upload of their patients'
medical information, along with product training, imple-
mentation and consulting.
Officials with the state's largest health insurer say each
doctor equipped with a handheld will save the organiza-
tion about $3,000 per year by linking to a system that
automatically weeds out pricey prescription options.
BCBSNC, which covers more than 3.3 million members,
eventually wants all doctors in its state network to trade
their prescription pads for handhelds. Blue Cross affiliates
in Massachusetts, Maryland, Delaware and Pennsylvania
have undertaken similar initiatives.
Electronic Medical Records
Continuity of Care Standard Approved
ASTM International, a standards development organi-
zation, has released a standard specification for a core set
of patient data that follows patients as they receive care.
The data set includes the most relevant information about
a patient's health status, treatment, allergies, medications
and tests. It also contains basic information about a patient's
identification, family health history, insurance, advance
directives, care plan and care provider.
West Conshohocken, Pa.-based ASTM worked with
Health Level Seven, an Ann Arbor, Mich.-based standards
development organization, to map the data set to HL7
messaging standards. Eleven organizations helped develop
the standard, including the Healthcare Information and
Management Systems Society, the American Academy of
Family Physicians (AAFP), the American Medical Asso-
ciation and the Medical Group Management Association.
AAFP is leading an effort, called Project Continuity of
Care, to accelerate use of the standard and integration
with EMRs. For more information on specification E2369,
visit www.astm.org.
Medical Management
IT Helps Set Priorities
Enhanced health information technology with applica-
tions for predictive modeling and identification of high-risk
members has helped medical management companies to
prioritize consumer contact, a URAC report reveals. The
finding is one of several detailed in "Trends and Practices
in Medical Management." The report is based on sur-
vey results from 282 medical management companies,
along with insight gleaned from telephone interviews and
focus groups.
The report indicates that technology has not replaced
one-to-one person contact in some medical management
areas, particularly case management. Most survey re-
spondents agreed that there are greater opportunities for
medical management in the future, particularly in the areas
of consumer-directed health care, electronic utilization
8 March 2006 HEALTH MANAGEMENT TECHNOLOGY
Briefly
JCAHO Recommends Reconciling Patient Medi-
cations. To help prevent medication errors, the Joint
Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organiza-
tions (JCAHO) encourages healthcare organizations
to reconcile a patient's medications as the patient
transitions from one care setting, service, practitioner
or level of care to another. The process involves five
steps: 1) developing a list of current medications;
2) developing a list of medications to be prescribed;
3) comparing the medications on the two lists;
4) making clinical decisions based on the comparison;
and 5) communicating the new list to appropriate
caregivers and to the patient. To view alert #35 issued
mid-January, visit www.jcaho.org.
New Board Certification in Disaster Medicine.
Physicians may now earn board certification in disas-
ter medicine, according to The American Board of
Physician Specialties. The certification was formed
because of the need for responders to organize and
coordinate disaster planning. The board will accept
applications from physicians of various specialties on
May 1 and plans to administer the first examination
in the fall of this year.
AHA and CMS Establish Clearinghouse for
Coding Questions. The American Hospital Asso-
ciation and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid
Services launched a clearinghouse for questions on
the Healthcare Common Procedure Coding System
(HCPCS) for filing insurance claims. The clearing-
house also will help educate hospitals, policy makers
and the public on HCPCS coding and offer quar-
terly publications to help providers use established
HCPCS codes properly. Submit questions online at
www.ahacentraloffice.org.
GE Healthcare Partners for Hospitalwide Wire-
less. GE Healthcare signed an exclusive, worldwide
agreement with Vienna, Va.-based MobileAccess Net-
works to create the GE Enterprise Access solution.
It is designed to help hospitals deploy a full range of
wireless services and applications (including Wi-Fi,
paging and public safety radio) over a single network
infrastructure.
Misys Acquires Payerpath. The UK-based parent
company of Misys Healthcare Systems is acquiring
Payerpath Inc., provider of Web claims management
services, for $49 million in cash. Misys designs and
develops clinical information solutions for physician
practices, acute healthcare organizations and the
homecare sector.
management and predictive modeling. Another key finding
is that medical management companies customize their ap-
proach to the specific needs of clients as they upgrade and
integrate their technology platforms. The 52-page report
is available free at www.urac.org.
www.healthmgttech.com