digiChart Newsletter

Who to Call at digiChart

Third Quarter 2008

We are pleased to introduce the new digiChart quarterly newsletter. This communication is designed to provide our clients with helpful hints about our products and services and to highlight the latest product offerings and announcements. digiChart appreciates your continued business and values your feedback and ideas.

digiChart News
E-prescribing Mandates
Remain in Control of Every Birth - From Anywhere
digiChart OB-GYN Version 7.0 Receives CCHIT Certification

Product Tips
Do It Yourself Troubleshooting

Calendar
digiChart Educational Opportunities
Industry Events

Customer Highlight
Greater Carolina Women's Center in Charlotte, North Carolina Improves Patient Satisfaction with digiChart

Helpful Hint
Healthleaders Media e-Newsletter

digiChart News

E-Prescribing Mandates
As seen in Health Data Management June 9, 2008

Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.), chair of the Senate Finance Committee, has introduced Medicare reform legislation that includes several information technology provisions, including mandated e-prescribing.
The bill, S. 3101, is titled the Medicare Improvements for Patients and Providers Act of 2008 and has bi-partisan co-sponsors. As introduced, it would create incentives for providers to use electronic prescribing systems from 2009 through 2013. It also mandates electronic prescriptions for Medicare beneficiaries starting in 2011 with payment penalties of up to 2% for providers who do not e-prescribe. Clinicians who write prescriptions infrequently would be exempt.
The bill also would clarify the use of data collected under the Part D drug benefit plan for research and other purposes and require accreditation of providers of the technical component for advanced diagnostic imaging services. Major non-I.T. provisions include elimination of a 10.1% physician fee schedule cut on July 1 and repeal of the Medicare Laboratory Competitive Bidding Demonstration Project. Full text of S. 3101 soon will be available at congress.gov.

Remain in Control of Every Birth - From Anywhere
As you know, more than 60% of adverse events in OB are the result of:

digiChart has added an exciting new technology to our offerings that improves communication and safety and significantly decreases the patient’s and your risk in labor and delivery.
AirStrip OB^TM allows doctors and clinical staff to view fetal monitoring wave forms, real time census, vitals and nursing notes for any OB patient, right on a Smart Phone - anytime, anywhere.

In order to gain access to this revolutionary technology, the hospital(s) where your patients deliver must purchase AirStrip OB^TM. If you would like more information and would like for your hospital to adopt this technology, please call digiChart's AirStrip OB^TM representative, Rob Hamilton, 407-579-8913, or email rhamilton@digichart.com.

digiChart OB-GYN Receives CCHIT Certification
In March of this year, digiChart received certification for digiChart OB-GYN version 7.0 from the Certification Commission for Healthcare Information Technology (CCHIT®) and was determined to meet the Commission's ambulatory electronic health record (EHR) criteria for 2007. The Certification Commission is an independent, non-profit organization recognized by the federal government as an official certification body for healthcare information technology products.
As a CCHIT Certified product, digiChart's EMR has been tested and passed inspection of 100 percent of a comprehensive set of criteria for:

The CCHIT Certified mark – a "seal of approval" for EHR products – provides the first consensus-based, government-recognized benchmark for ambulatory EHR products. By looking to products with the CCHIT Certified seal, physicians and other providers can reduce their risk in selecting an EHR product, allowing them to focus their evaluation on the special needs of their practices.

Product Tips

Do It Yourself Troubleshooting
If you experience display issues with digiChart OB-GYN, your first step should be to the review your Internet Explorer settings. This step may be done immediately and  without digiChart Support Team assistance. Though you may have recently checked your Internet Explorer Settings, some updates from Microsoft and other vendors do automatically change these settings back to factory defaults and can begin to cause problems.

Calendar

digiChart Educational Opportunities
digiChart offers regularly scheduled web-based training for new and existing clients.  Web-based training saves time and money for your practice and typically fits more easily into a busy practice’s schedule. Fees will apply.  A few of the available training classes include:

For more information or to register, visit https://digichart.webex.com  or contact the digiChart Support team.

Industry Events
AdvancedMD User Group  • July 29 – August 1, 2008 • Snowbird, Utah
www.advancedmd.com
Medical Group Managemt Assoc. (MGMA) Annual Conference  • October 19 -21, 2008 • San Diego, CA
www.mgma.org
digiChart User Group • November 8-9, 2008 • Nashville, TN
Click here to register
HIMSS Annual Conference and Exhibition • April 4 – 8, 2009
www.himss.org
ACOG Annual Clinical Meeting • May 2 – 6, 2009 • Chicago, IL
www.acog.org
Obstetrics and Gynecology Assembly (OBGA)  • May 3 – 6, 2009 • Orlando, FL
www.mgma.org

Customer Highlight

Greater Carolina Women’s Center in Charlotte, North Carolina Improves Patient Satisfaction with digiChart
When Greater Carolinas Women’s Center in Charlotte, North Carolina implemented digiChart OB-GYN, the practice’s nine physicians were not sure how their patients would react to an EMR, particularly a patient-focused feature unique to digiChart, the Patient Portal.

digiChart’s Patient Portal allows women to enter their complete medical histories prior to an office visit via the Internet or at a kiosk in the waiting room. When patients are scheduled, digiChart OB-GYN automatically produces a document which instructs the patients on how to access the Patient Portal and enter their medical history.

The Greater Carolinas team had a number of concerns. How would their patients react to entering history on computers? Did they have computers with Internet access, and could they even use computers? Would they find it easy to enter the information? Would they trust sending their medical information via the Internet?

Just a few months after Greater Carolinas’ successful implementation of digiChart OB-GYN, they surveyed 55 patients who had completed their history either at home or at the office computer kiosk. Overall, Greater Carolinas found patients enjoy using the Patient Portal. The practice’s original concerns subsided completely.

• 84% of the women reported being comfortable with putting their personal medical data on the Internet.
• Only one patient felt unsure of using a computer, and she was easily assisted by a staff member.
• 95% of the patients found entering information into digiChart OB-GYN easy.

Greater Carolinas discovered an added benefit to digiChart OB-GYN’s Patient Portal --  increased patient satisfaction. Richard Boesel, OB-GYN and Greater Carolinas CEO, explains: “My partners and I were fully committed to implementing an EMR but that didn’t mean our patients were. Their response surprised us.”

Not only are they willing to use the Internet, they’re excited to see our practice enter the technology age. Our experience indicates that patients who complete our history questionnaire in advance communicate more openly and take more ownership of their care. That’s leading to a higher degree of satisfaction with our practice in general.”

digiChart plans to expand the Patient Portal. In the future, medication refill requests, test results, and secure patient-practice messaging will be added to the Patient Portal. The Patient Portal allows the practice to build a stronger relationship with their patients.

Are you using digiChart in a unique way to better serve patients, improve efficiency in your office, or enhance your financial performance? Please share what you are doing with other digiChart users by writing a brief explanation and sending it to Charlotte Adams, cadams@digichart.com.

Helpful Hint