Dr. Kaufman joined DrFirst as the Chief Medical Officer in late 1999. After developing a strong interest in medical informatics while on the faculty at Bowman Gray School of Medicine (Wake Forest University) in the late 1980s, he continued working within this area even after entering private practice in 1989. Dr. Kaufman founded PiNK software in 1996 to produce electronic medical records software. He has lectured nationally on computers in medicine, electronic medical records, the Internet and medical practice, and high-tech medicine. He is a board certified gastroenterologist and continues to practice medicine approximately 15 hours per week for a gastroenterology practice in Bethesda, Maryland. Dr. Kaufman participates in multiple national organizations promoting standards in healthcare, including the Physicians EHR Coalition (Secretary/Executive Board), CCHIT (Stand-alone eRx Workgroup), HIMSS (eRx Workgroup), NCPDP (Workgroup 11), and the AMA (Delegate from the American Gastroenterological Association). He received a B.S. from Massachusetts Institute of Technology and an M.D. from George Washington School of Medicine.
I’ve been trying out an iPad for the past 2 weeks. It’s a WiFi-only model (no AT&T data service), and I’m very facile with a computer—and almost always have one with me—so the iPad would have to be very good to impress me. I’ve also tried e-prescribing on the iPhone (well, Generation I, so pretty slow) and Android phones, and found both very slow even with WiFi; good only for occasional use like nights and weekends in my opinion. But the iPad is a very different story. It’s snappy with good connection speed and a very snappy processor. Apple has also changed handling of pop-up menus which are much smoother to use than the old bottom-of-the-screen iPhone solution. I could use this device for all my e-prescribing without any concern.
Remember, though, that this is really more of a smart phone than a computer, based on the iPhone operating system. So I decided to see how it would work using it for other things as well. I’ve use it for ePocrates, email (using the on-screen keyboard in landscape mode), internet surfing, a few games (whoa…stay away from that – can you say addictive!), videos (note: Flash doesn’t work, but YouTube serves up videos that do work), music, and even LogMeIn to control my computer. For things where there’s a native app like email, web surfing and music (it is, after all, an iPod of sorts), it’s great. Controlling my computer worked, but without a mouse it was a little clumsy. I also used it to take notes in meetings using a couple of different free note apps, and that worked very well. Photo-editing, not so much.
So here’s the bottom line. It’s a snazzy device with a good form factor; and, due to the processor speed and native apps, it works really well for routine chores including e-prescribing. It’s not a full computer, but the on-screen keyboard works well (there are wireless keyboards available but I haven’t tried those, nor do I need one). I wouldn’t use it for EMR, photo/video editing, or spreadsheet work, but I have found myself more and more often carrying the iPad with me instead of my notebook computer.
President Obama recently appointed Don Berwick to head CMS (Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services). Dr. Berwick has been a primary mover for quality in healthcare for over 25 years! As President and CEO of the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI), he championed the “100K Lives Campaign” saying “Some is not a number, soon is not a time” in his effort to save lives by improving quality in health care. We at DrFirst strongly believe that improved quality in health care will save lives, and that the use of healthcare IT such as e-prescribing and secure communication among healthcare providers are two important ways to achieve that goal. In a future blog, I’ll describe some of the specific efforts we’re taking at DrFirst to improve the quality of care our users are able to achieve through the use of our products.
Today marks a major milestone in healthcare IT history. The DEA has officially lifted the restrictions against the use of electronic prescribing for controlled substances (schedule II – schedule V), which have been the single greatest barrier to e-prescribing adoption over the last 10 years. DrFirst is proud to announce that on Thursday, June 3rd, it will herald this new era in e-prescribing with a public demonstration of the nation’s first end-to-end electronic controlled substance prescribing system at the 2010 AHRQ Annual Health IT Grantee and Contractor meeting in Washington, DC. This system has been operational in Berkshire County, MA since September 14, 2009.
Now that EPCS is legal, per the DEA IFR, the HIT industry must catch up on implementation of compliant systems. Dr. Thomas Sullivan, past president of the Massachusetts Medical Society, will be presenting the nation’s first functional EPCS system by DrFirst at the 9:15-10:30am AHRQ Annual Meeting session entitled “Session 1.6 Demonstration of Electronic Prescribing.” Following the demonstration at AHRQ, DrFirst will publically release information on the foundation technology behind its working system. This will include a brief video of the demonstration and a discussion of the technology located at: http://www.youtube.com/drfirst
Your chance to voice your opinion on the previously announced meaningful use requirements and the interim final rule on the Standards & Certification Criteria is quickly coming to an end on March 15th.
This 60 day comment period that began in mid-January is the public’s last opportunity to offer their invaluable suggestions before the proposed rules are finalized for 2011. We can all agree that these rules will inevitably change over the years as the needs of the industry and the capabilities of technology change, but this first set of guidelines is the foundation for the years to come. It is important for the public to comment on these guidelines because the public will be directly affected but their outcome. The health IT industry needs to step up and voice our opinions to ensure that our needs and concerns are heard and acted upon.
Perhaps you’ve heard of “Fill Status.” In 2006, it was tested as part of the AHRQ-funded e-prescribing study to be considered one of the “Initial E-Prescribing Standards.” This particular functionality allows a pharmacy system to send a message to an e-[rescribing or EHR system that the prescription was dispensed to the patient.
Fill status is an official standard, but even if you e-prescribe regularly; you’ve probably never seen it.
There are a couple of reasons it isn’t in common use yet.
The most obvious reason is that although several e-prescribing and EHR systems are capable of receiving and displaying these messages, almost no pharmacy systems are sending these messages yet.
A recent British study published in the Oxford Journal states, “the average rate of Adverse Drug Reaction (ADR) related hospital admissions is 16.6% in the elderly compared to 4.1% in younger patients, with 88% being preventable.”
This study raises a few obvious questions:
Why are the elderly 4 times more likely to experience an adverse drug reaction?
Why are such a high percentage of these potentially lethal reactions preventable?
Bookmark this blog as your source for the latest news and events about e-prescribing, Federal initiatives and IT for the health care community, as well as an open discussion forum for medication and prescription management. Blog.DrFirst.com extends communication to physician practices, IPAs, hospitals, health systems, payers, pharmacies and many others.
I’ve been trying out an iPad for the past 2 weeks. It’s a WiFi-only model (no AT&T data service), and I’m very facile with a computer—and almost always have one with me—so the iPad would have to be very good to impress me. I’ve also tried e-prescribing on the iPhone (well, Generation I, so pretty slow) and Android phones, and found both very slow even with WiFi; good only for occasional use like nights and weekends in my opinion. But the iPad is a very different story. It’s snappy with good connection speed and a very snappy processor. Apple has also changed handling of pop-up menus which are much smoother to use than the old bottom-of-the-screen iPhone solution. I could use this device for all my e-prescribing without any concern.
President Obama recently appointed 
tions against the use of electronic prescribing for controlled substances (schedule II – schedule V), which have been the single greatest barrier to e-prescribing adoption over the last 10 years. DrFirst is proud to announce that on Thursday, June 3rd, it will herald this new era in e-prescribing with a public demonstration of the nation’s first end-to-end electronic controlled substance prescribing system at the 2010 AHRQ Annual Health IT Grantee and Contractor meeting in Washington, DC. This system has been operational in Berkshire County, MA since September 14, 2009.
