Hurricane Katrina Information for Mississippi Hospitals

. HHS partners with governors, Louisiana to speed EHRs in Gulf States

The Department of Health and Human Services today announced agreements with the Southern Governors’ Association and Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals to promote the widespread use of electronic health records in the Gulf Coast regions affected by Katrina and other recent hurricanes. The governors’ association will host a Gulf Coast Health Information Task Force that will bring together local and national resources and coordinate planning to help physicians, hospitals and other health care providers rebuild patient medical records electronically, HHS said, while the Louisiana agency will develop a prototype for sharing health information and supporting electronic health records that can be replicated throughout the region. “The initiatives announced today align with national efforts to advance the use of electronic health records and accelerate secure sharing of health information among providers,” said National Coordinator for Health Information Technology David Brailer, M.D.

[ via AHA News ]

Congressman: Rebuild Gulf hospitals with technology to increase flow and safety

U.S. Representative Patrick Kennedy (D-RI) wants the federal government to help the Gulf region build a state-of-the-art hospital system that improves safety, enhances information security, and increases flow in waiting rooms and patient treatment. He outlined his proposal in a Providence Journal op-ed column.

According to Kennedy, the use of technology to provide electronic medical records will reduce the time needed to glean a patient's history through discussion and scouring paperwork. Hospitals with strong information technology could order tests faster, give updated information to other medical staff, and follow patients from non-intensive spaces, all of which would increase flow though the hospital. Electronic scheduling could reduce the need for waiting areas, as well.

Since hospitals have been largely wiped out due to hurricanes Katrina and Rita, the federal government will provide funding to rebuild the infrastructure. The additional costs of IT excellence would be outweighed by operational savings the technology provides, said Kennedy.

To read the complete column, click here (free registration required).

[ via Patient Flow Weekly ]

HIMSS and IT Companies Donating IT to Practices Affected by Hurricanes

The Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society is requesting donations of software, hardware and technology services for physician practices affected by hurricanes Katrina and Rita, American Medical News reports.

Several HIMSS members already have expressed interest in donating electronic health record and practice management software, according to Pat Wise, vice president for electronic health record initiatives at HIMSS. Wise said physicians will receive the initial technology and services at no cost, but the organization does not yet know how long these services will be available at no cost, American Medical News reports.

Allscripts is offering electronic prescribing software at no cost for one year to physicians affected by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. If physicians decide to continue using the software after the first year, they will be charged the regular rate, said Allscripts spokesperson Lisa Johnson.

MD Synergy and ProxyMed have partnered to offer practices affected by the hurricanes no-cost, Web-based physician practice management software and electronic claims processing services through March 2006. Physicians will have no obligation to buy the technology or software, but ProxyMed officials say they see it as an opportunity for practices to observe the advantages of EHRs. "Hopefully they will like what they see and they will be able to stick with it," said John Lettko, CEO of ProxyMed. "If they decide they don't want to stick with it ... we will give them all of their data on a CD-ROM or some other device that they can use to load it on their PC" (Chin, American Medical News, 10/24).

[ via iHealthBeat ]