Health News
- Lame-duck Congress Could Cut Funding For Critical Access Hospitals; More Than Two Dozen In Kentucky
Critical access hospitals, which in most states are rural facilities with fewer than 25 beds, may be under attack in the lame-duck session of Congress, former national rural-health director Wayne Myers writes for the Daily Yonder. President Obama's...
- Expect More Hospital Mergers Across The Country, Some With Unlikely Partners, Moody's Investors Service Report Predicts
Reflecting several hospital mergers that have already taken place in Kentucky, a new report from Moody's Investors Service predicts hospitals will continue to band together across the country as they respond to changes in health care. "The difficult...
- Companies Partner To Accelerate Adoption Of Electronic Health Records In Rural Hospitals
Anthelio, a health information-technology support company, and Heartland, a hospital information-systems vendor, have partnered to speed up implementation of electronic health records at rural hospitals so the facilities can get federal incentives, reports...
- Electronic Health Records Are Helping Nurses Provide Better Care, Big Study Finds
Electronic health records are helping nurses get better health outcomes and are improving nursing care, the first big study on the subject has found. The study conducted by the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing involved 16,000 nurses at 316...
- Federal Cuts, Financial Instability And Competition Leave Many Rural Hospitals Fearing The Future
Many rural hospitals could be forced to close because of cuts to the Critical Access Program and the fact that, according to the National Rural Health Association, , 41 percent of critical-care hospitals are losing money, reports Jenny Gold of Kaiser...
Health News
Patient care, hospitals' future at stake as smaller hospitals lag behind larger ones in electronic health records
Electronic health records have been hailed as a great boon to patients and health-care providers, but the next phase of their implementation poses obstacles for many small, independent hospitals, Jennifer Bresnick reports for EHR Intelligence.
Most hospitals have implemented a basic EHR system, but costs have discouraged them from purchasing the advanced capabilities called for by the federal health-reform law that allow them interact with other systems to share and analyze data and use clinical data warehousing, population health management and quality benchmarking. Not having these advanced capabilities may hurt these small hospitals in the long run, Bresnick reports.
?The larger hospitals are doing well,? Lorren Pettit, vice president of market research for HIMSS Analytics, told Bresnick. ?But we have seen that where the applications are behind the curve tends to be in the smaller hospitals. There really is a correlation between hospital size and the breadth and depth of their applications?how advanced their infrastructure is.?
Pettit said he is concerned about critical access hospitals, those that limit their beds and procedures in return for slightly larger Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements. Kentucky has 29 such hospitals. He fears they are getting too far behind the larger hospitals in implementing the advanced capabilities of the electronic health records, creating a situation where there is a difference in the quality of care between urban and rural areas.
Pettit said the most successful critical area hospitals are those that are part of a larger system that helps them with their technology. He told Bresnick, "Being an independent, small hospital . . . there?s just too much at stake and too much investment, and it?s going to impede a lot of these hospitals from moving forward.?
Most hospitals have implemented a basic EHR system, but costs have discouraged them from purchasing the advanced capabilities called for by the federal health-reform law that allow them interact with other systems to share and analyze data and use clinical data warehousing, population health management and quality benchmarking. Not having these advanced capabilities may hurt these small hospitals in the long run, Bresnick reports.
?The larger hospitals are doing well,? Lorren Pettit, vice president of market research for HIMSS Analytics, told Bresnick. ?But we have seen that where the applications are behind the curve tends to be in the smaller hospitals. There really is a correlation between hospital size and the breadth and depth of their applications?how advanced their infrastructure is.?
Pettit said he is concerned about critical access hospitals, those that limit their beds and procedures in return for slightly larger Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements. Kentucky has 29 such hospitals. He fears they are getting too far behind the larger hospitals in implementing the advanced capabilities of the electronic health records, creating a situation where there is a difference in the quality of care between urban and rural areas.
Pettit said the most successful critical area hospitals are those that are part of a larger system that helps them with their technology. He told Bresnick, "Being an independent, small hospital . . . there?s just too much at stake and too much investment, and it?s going to impede a lot of these hospitals from moving forward.?
- Lame-duck Congress Could Cut Funding For Critical Access Hospitals; More Than Two Dozen In Kentucky
Critical access hospitals, which in most states are rural facilities with fewer than 25 beds, may be under attack in the lame-duck session of Congress, former national rural-health director Wayne Myers writes for the Daily Yonder. President Obama's...
- Expect More Hospital Mergers Across The Country, Some With Unlikely Partners, Moody's Investors Service Report Predicts
Reflecting several hospital mergers that have already taken place in Kentucky, a new report from Moody's Investors Service predicts hospitals will continue to band together across the country as they respond to changes in health care. "The difficult...
- Companies Partner To Accelerate Adoption Of Electronic Health Records In Rural Hospitals
Anthelio, a health information-technology support company, and Heartland, a hospital information-systems vendor, have partnered to speed up implementation of electronic health records at rural hospitals so the facilities can get federal incentives, reports...
- Electronic Health Records Are Helping Nurses Provide Better Care, Big Study Finds
Electronic health records are helping nurses get better health outcomes and are improving nursing care, the first big study on the subject has found. The study conducted by the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing involved 16,000 nurses at 316...
- Federal Cuts, Financial Instability And Competition Leave Many Rural Hospitals Fearing The Future
Many rural hospitals could be forced to close because of cuts to the Critical Access Program and the fact that, according to the National Rural Health Association, , 41 percent of critical-care hospitals are losing money, reports Jenny Gold of Kaiser...