Article: How Do Clinical Labs Fit Into the EMR Loop?

Link: http://www.clpmag.com/issues/articles/2009-02_02.asp

As a member of the the Lowndes County-Valdosta Chamber’s Federal Legislative Committee, championing the Electronic Health Records initiative, I met with Congressman Jack Kingston at Smith Northview Hospital Monday February 8, 2008. Smith Northview Hospital had a grand opening for their new Telemedicine initiative. I had the honor of meeting with Congressman Kingston for 30 minutes before the ribbon cutting for new Smith Northview Telemedicine department.

I spoke to Congressman Kingston about the need for federal funding for the implementation of Health Information Technology, specifically electronic medical records, which will lower healthcare costs while creating new jobs in the Healthcare Technology field in Valdosta-Lowndes County

During the discussion with Congressman Kingston, I explained Azalea Health Innovations’ position on this issue. The federal government need to provide funding to help physicians purchase electronic health records and incentives designed to get physicians to use the technology. I also explained to the congressman that Azalea Health Innovations have developed a web-based system (LabHub) that provides laboratory test results to physicians securely over the web in real time. LabHub is currently in the implementation phase for Smith Northview Hospital.

Congressman Kingston was very interested to hear about our company and the products and services that we provide. He also saw the value of LabHub as laboratory test results count for 70% of the clinical diagnoses decisions. The Congressman promised to do his best to support and promote innovative solutions like our own.

Baha Zeidan, CEO
Azalea Health Innovation, Inc.
bzeidan@azaleahealth.com
229-444-6169

Azalea Health Innovations Friends Newsletter – February 2009

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IN THIS ISSUE

* Welcome
* Stimulus and Recovery bill effects on the healthcare: $790 Billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Bill
* ABC’s Of Purchasing An Electronic Medical Record – Continued
* Medical Billing Tip: Are you collecting all you can?
* AHI Upcoming Events

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Welcome

Hello to all of our Azalea Health Innovations friends. We hope you enjoy this month’s Newsletter.

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Stimulus and Recovery bill effects on the healthcare: $790 Billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Bill

On February 19th, 2009, President Obama, signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Bill. This bill was created as a result of the rocketing rise in healthcare costs and is meant to be the next step in modernizing healthcare. $19 billion of the $790 billion is allocated for health information technology. Of the $19 billion, 17 is set aside for physician incentives from medicare/medicaid. For physician offices that adopt electronic medical records first, they will benefit most from the incentives. The funding is front loaded and a majority of funding will come in the first 2 years and decrease signicantly there after. Physicians are cautioned that just purchasing and implementing an EHR is not enough. The program must be fully functioning. Now is the time to begin the process of implementation. Incentives are currently available and physician practices are being rewarded for full implementation and usage of EHR. Waiting until it is mandated will only increase implementation time and training periods as vendors will be backed up.

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ABC’s Of Purchasing An Electronic Medical Record – Continued

This segment is a continuation of last month’s ABC’s of purchasing an electronic medical record. The time is now to start the process of purchasing an EMR. Azalea Health hopes that these tips will be useful in your search and implementation.

4. Don’t Delay-Putting off your search for an EMR will only make your implementation process that much longer. It is very tempting to put off the purchase, but if everyone waits until the last minute, can you imagine the wait for training? You don’t want to have to settle for a lower quality EMR, just because the good companies are back logged. There are current incentives to implement now. Let Azalea Health assist you in your research and take advantage of the incentive opportunities available to you.

5. Education- Learn as much as you can about EMR’s. Research can be done easily on the internet. Just be careful, some sites that rate EMR’s are rating their own and there is bias. Setting up an appointment with a good EMR company can be a very good learning experience as well.

6. Financing-Short on cash to pay for your EMR? There are a number of leasing companies available to finance EMR’s. Many offer start-up offers, with very low monthly payments. Finance to purchase now and then when you get your incentive payments, you can pay them off! Azalea Health has partnered with many financing companies to give you the options you need. Contact us today to learn more. Next month we will continue through the alphabet with more good advice on purchasing an EMR. But, if you have further questions and would like to see our NON-TEMPLATE EMR (Praxis), please contact us today for a FREE DEMO. info@azaleahealth.com or call us 1-877-777-7686

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Medical Billing Tip: Are you collecting all you can?

When is the last time you evaluated your practice’s fee schedule rates? Did you know you have access to the Medicare fee schedule reimbursement amounts online? Many practices like to base their fees on the Medicare fee schedule. For example, a practice may want to set their practice fees at 2 times Medicare rates. The reason this is done is often commercial insurance payers will base their reimbursement rates on the Medicare fee schedule. For example, Insurance company X will pay 150% of the Medicare allowable so have to make sure your fees are high enough to where you collect the full reimbursement. Insurance company X will not pay more than your fee so if reimbursement for a particular CPT code is $100.00 and your fee was only $80 on the claim, then $80 is all you will receive in reimbursement. Georgia Medicare fee schedule info can be found online at the following link: https://www.cahabagba.com/part_b/claims/fee_schedules/2009_fee_schedules.htm For states other than Georgia, check the CMS website for your local Medicare carrier’s web information. Do you have fee schedule information on all of your most common insurance payers? Take a look at the insurance payer that has the highest reimbursement rates. Make sure your practice fees are high enough to collect the full reimbursement from your best payer. By doing that you are guaranteeing your practices is collecting its full reimbursement.

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AHI Upcoming Events

AHI will be attending the American College of Cardiology Conference March 28-31 in Orlando, FL. http://acc09.acc.org/Pages/default.aspx AHI will be attending CLMA ThinkLab Conference May 2-3 in Tampa, FL Come visit us at booth #315! http://www.clma.org/ThinkLab/index.html AHI will be presenting Azalea LabHub to the VHA Georgia Lab Leaders’ Council in Atlanta. May 15 http://www.vha.com/vhageorgia

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Thank you!

Azalea Health Innovations, Inc.
100 North Patterson Street
Valdosta, GA 31601

Toll Free: 877-777-7686
Local: 229-269-4620
Toll Free Fax: 866-683-8679
Web: http://www.AzaleaHealth.com
Email: info@azaleahealth.com

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AHI will be in attendance at the CLMA ThinkLab Conference May 2-4 in Tampa, FL.  Please stop by and introduce yourself at booth 315.  We look forward to seeing you!

CLMA ThinkLab Conference Website