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I'm cross-posting this message which may be of
interest to some on this list who are not on the
VOE-Forum list.
----- Original Message -----
From: Gary Pritts
Sent: Monday, August 01, 2005 2:15 PM
Subject: [VistA Office EHR-Forum] Introduction -- VistA-Office EHR
evaluation for association members I wanted to introduce myself to this new community. I provide certain member services for the Ohio Osteopathic Association, a professional association with about 1000 physicians in Ohio. Because of the high level of member interest in EMR, we have a number of initiatives currently underway with EMR. For example, we are collaborating with the CMS Quality Improvement Organization (Ohio KePRO in our case) who is providing EMR selection and implementation assistance to our members; we have conducted educational presentations; we have an e-prescribing pilot project in conjunction with Ohio University College of Medicine and Ohio Northern University pharmacy school. Separate from but affiliated with the association, the Ohio University College of Medicine, is forming a RHIO to provide EMR services in a 3 county area in rural southeast Ohio. We have a "Business Partner" program, which involves partnerships with various businesses who provide products and services to physician practices (e.g. Malpractice insurance, billing software, financial planning, etc.) and are researching the electronic medical record software industry in order to negotiate one or two relationships with vendors who can provide an EMR solution. We are actively exploring the potential of recommending VistA-Office EHR as one of these solutions. In order to do this, we have already concluded that we would need to identify a company who could provide implementation support services to our members who choose to use this product. 47% of our members are solo doc practices, and about 25% are 2-4 physician group practices. Fewer than 10% are in groups of more than 8, I don't have an exact count. At least 33% of our members are in primary care. Based on these demographics, a large percentage of our membership matches the target market for VistA-Office EHR. We are eager to evaluate the product when it is released, and my current thoughts are to find one or two brave member physicians willing to implement it. I am currently trying define the goals, objectives and other requirements for these pilots, including the time and financial commitment these volunteers would need to make, hardware/networking requirements, a source for technical support, budget. Any input on any of these subjects would be appreciated! Gary Pritts |
Title: Introduction -- VistA-Office EHR evaluation for association members
