The cost for the system is slated at less than $5000 per year. United is looking for 
revenues in every area they can find it, to include competing with other electronic medical record companies. To take advantage of this offer and special version of Care Tracker you need to be federally qualified and this software states you will be able to demonstrate “meaningful use”, which is getting pretty gray these days along with all the other formulas being used presently in healthcare, not that this is a bad thing but are we emphasizing the use over actual care in what we are seeing in the press today?
I just wonder how the medical community looks at putting all their eggs in the same basket with a health insurer? Trust? I guess they can think about it as they file for their over change claims created by Ingenix/United over a period of 15 years and come to some type of conclusion as once again it’s all about those algorithms that create profits and a closer tie in is perhaps what is being targeted here?
There are less expensive alternatives out there too that one can subscribe too as well such as Office Ally EHR for only $29.95 a month as one example and there are companies like Practice Fusion that offer a free EHR and it is all web based.. It’s all about creating value and figuring out where is the value beyond the algorithms for profit. I get confused sometimes here as HHS seemed to think their software was a bit of a “cat’s meow” recently with one of their presentation.
"Reach for the Top" Program Combines Prototype from Ingenix (A Wholly Owned Subsidiary of United Healthcare) for Public/Private Community Health Data on HHS.Gov Site
It is just very confusing on how HHS wants insurers to play fair on side with claims and yet on the other side touts insurer subsidiary software and how this play fair with other vendors? I’m confused here with these efforts, are you? After all today when it comes to profits those all go together with the parent company and all the subsidiaries, that’s spelled out on investor reports all the time.
This brings me back around to this topic of Health Literacy and you can read more here as we have no role models with leadership and it scares me at times as to which side of the ship we all land on and do we know which ship we are sailing on? It just makes me think this health literacy subject goes beyond just plain old US citizens, you think? We just want transparency and want to know where the “real” value is and in the meantime the battle over who has the best “algorithms” continues. BD
HHS National Plan to Improve Health Literacy – Not Going To Happen Until We Focus on Using Technology (The Tool for Literacy) Which Includes Role Models at HHS And Other Places in Government
EDEN PRAIRIE, Minn.--(EON: Enhanced Online News)--Ingenix, a leading health information technology and services company, today announced it is making a specially-designed version of its Ingenix CareTracker practice management and electronic health record (EHR) system available to Federally Qualified Health Centers. Ingenix CareTracker, which provides all of the capabilities physicians need to demonstrate “Meaningful Use,” will offer these community health centers a cost-effective, Web-based, practice management and EHR option that will help them improve operational efficiency and patient care, and qualify for incentives offered by the federal government for demonstrating Meaningful Use of health IT.
To augment these incentives, Ingenix provides a package of interest-free financing and Meaningful Use guarantees that eliminate the up-front costs of implementing an EHR system.
Because Ingenix CareTracker EHR costs less than $5,000 per year per physician, federal stimulus funding may cover most or all of the subscription costs for the service through the end of the ARRA reimbursement period, depending on the composition of a physician’s patient mix.
- Eligibility verification that shows health plan participation and helps users determine patient eligibility for sliding-fee scales for individuals whose out-of-pocket costs are based on their ability to pay;
- Sliding-fee scale calculators that eliminate errors when determining co-pays, and allow administrators to inform patients of their out-of-pocket obligations at check-in;
- Uniform Data System data collection and reporting modules that allow Community Health Centers to ensure compliance with legislative mandates and submit timely, accurate reports to Congress, the Office of Management and Budget and other agencies that monitor federal spending and programs; and
- Support for printing assessments, medical instructions and after-care notes in Chinese, English, Russian, Spanish and Vietnamese languages.
Confusion and an overwhelming number of competitors? Sounds like just another day in the health IT sector!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the Practice Fusion mention, Barbara. Your blog is always one of my favorites.
Emily Peters
Practice Fusion EMR
Thanks for the kind words Emily, I'm glad the Quack provides some hopefully helpful information.
ReplyDeleteBeing I wrote an EMR years back I somewhat have a different perspective at times with understanding the bridge needed between the MDs who are the users and the application itself, and this seems to get buried a lot today. The amount spent on an electronic medical records system does not always mean a better system too, I clearly see that today.