Posted by: AtlasMD

May 14, 2014

The ICD-10 Emperor Has No Clothes

They howled ICD-10 was delayed. And they howled loud and fierce.

Apparently, the life of U.S. healthcare hangs in the throes of 68,000 diagnosis codes.

Meanwhile, the rest of the world has switched to ICD-10. But here’s a secret. The World Health Organization’s version of ICD-10 has about 16,000 codes, equivalent to ICD-9-CM.

Let’s reiterate: The rest of the world is not using ICD-10-Clinical Modification set, which has 68,000 codes.

The Canadian version of ICD-10 has about 16,000 codes, but the physicians do not use those codes for billing and reimbursement. They use a more limited code set of about 600 three-digit codes.

Read more

Posted by: Josh Umbehr, M.D.

April 30, 2014

Direct Care Is A Declaration Of Doctor Independence

Originally appeared on KevinMD.com

Yes, it really is time to revoke the health-care mandates issued by bureaucrats who ARE NOT in the profession of actual healing.

Daniel F. Craviotto Jr. writes on WSJ.com, “In my 23 years as a practicing physician, I’ve learned that the only thing that matters is the doctor-patient relationship.”

Craviotto, Jr. is a doctor who embodies the fight of Direct Care. How we interact and treat our patients truly is the practice of medicine. There’s a problem with the rising cost of health care (for starters, Oregon spent over $1,000 per subscriber on just a website to sign up for coverage that might not even provide a doctor).

Read more

Posted by: AtlasMD

April 1, 2014

45% Of Physicians Say EMRs Make Care Worse And Cost Practices Money

It’s another case of hate to say we told you so. Looks like for too many doctors, their worst EMR fears have come true, proving to be expensive, a drain on staff and technically inadequate. A total of 45% of respondents to a study said that in fact, patient care is worse since implementing EMR.

Read more

Posted by: AtlasMD

March 27, 2014

That Didn’t Take Long. Congress Delays ICD-10 Legislation.

icd10

Congress is now going to vote to delay the ICD-10 implementation date.

Read more

Posted by: AtlasMD

March 21, 2014

Knock, Knock, Knocking On The Broken Door…

haha

Direct care + Atlas.md EMR = affordable care, accessible doctors, awesome benefits (free procedures, discounted labs, wholesale prescriptions, and a business person ready to negotiate for everything else. Oh, and it’s all HIPPA-free…

Posted by: AtlasMD

March 2, 2014

The Future Of EMRs: Too Many Clicks And Too Little Savings

Kevin MD might be the honorary ambassador of EMR frustration. He recently wrote about his EMR disappointment. He writes, “It takes me over 50 mouse clicks, all while scrolling through dozens of screens, to document a straightforward office visit for a sinus infection. Refilling a single prescription electronically, which I do over a hundred times a day, takes over 10 clicks.” You’ve heard this story all before, right? It’s what no tech conglomerate making these machines will ever publicize — EMRs are for the most part, epic exercises in mindless clicks. And to make it worse, reports from left leaning publications say that digital health records offer little savings.

Read more

Posted by: AtlasMD

January 30, 2014

LISTEN: Atlas.md Podcast, Ep. 14

LISTEN: Atlas.md Podcast, Ep. 14

We’re back and a LOT has happened! Seriously, 2014 is going to be a year of paradigm shift — the status quo isn’t going to cut it if insurance premiums jump 50-60% and fee-for-service docs are being told to keep 6 months of cash on hand to protect themselves from ICD-10 payment delays. Great news, though, we’re working with large unions comprised of 10-15k employees — manufacturing unions, school district unions, others — and excited about how vital this could be in the spread of direct care. And there are more physicians cutting the red tape — A practice in Oklahoma opens April 1st; Dr. Michael in Missouri is almost ready to start operating cash-only; an office in New Mexico opens February 1st; and several more are slated for the next few months. Once this ball gets rolling, we’re convinced it’s not going to slow down.

LISTEN TO EPISODE 14 OF THE ATLAS MD PODCAST HERE

In this episode, the docs outline best practices for direct care pricing, share a surprising story of insurance intimidation, and offer insight into the effects that insurance-free medicine will have on healthcare.

Posted by: AtlasMD

January 16, 2014

Atlas.md EMR Update — Better Search, Better Patient Charts And More

Atlas.md EMR Update — Better Search, Better Patient Charts And More

If you’re using Atlas.md EMR, expect a significant boost in functionality. If you aren’t using the Practice Management/EMR software yet, sign up for a free trial here.

What’s new in Atlas.md EMR?

Read more

Posted by: AtlasMD

November 23, 2013

Atlas.md EMR — Tutorial Video — Calendar

Drs. Josh and Doug demonstrate the Calendar feature of Atlas.md. Set appointments and reminders, and sync them with your devices.

VIEW ALL ATLAS.MD EMR TUTORIAL VIDEOS

Have more questions about Atlas.md? Send them to hello[at]atlas.md …

Want to try Atlas.md EMR? Sign up for free at Atlas.md/signup.

Posted by: AtlasMD

November 19, 2013

David Do On Why EMR Companies Don’t Care About Usability

In his op-ed blog post, David Do, MD exposes the cold hard truth of EMR failure—their inherent un-usability.
He says, “I overheard nurses praising the pilot of a new technology with the promise of improving communication, safety, and saving on healthcare spending. The innovation: two-way texting. That’s one of the many indicators that hospitals are stuck the technological stone-age.”

Great point. It’s almost embarrassing that these common technologies are BIG NEWS in the healthcare world. You’d think an industry that’s in and of itself a cutting-edge phenomenon (saving lives by doing things that require tremendous education and skillful implementation) would use equally sophisticated tools outside of the operating room. But that’s not the common case. Dr. Do calls out the assumption that new technology will magically make EMR in healthcare automatically better. “In reality,” Do writes, “there’s good and bad technology, and there are good and bad EMRs.”

Sounds about right.

Read more