Many independent physicians are partnering with their local hospitals to be able to tap into the hospital's EHR system with minimal cost. What obligations the independent physician offices must fulfill depends upon the agreements made or partnerships formed. Many physician offices aren't ready to enter into such partnerships that perhaps may include exclusive physician referral rights. Read »

Earlier this week, Athens Regional Medical Center announced it will deploy a new EMR and practice management (PM) system to connect its hospital and affiliate physicians and patients. The news made me do a little bit of searching to find out how many healthcare organizations are implementing both systems in an integrated fashion. Read »

ARRA has been good to Allscripts, as evidenced by the results of its second quarter financials. The company expects to see even better numbers in the coming quarters as adoption and acceleration of health IT grows. Analysts agree that the incentives are driving adoption. Read »

One of the main purposes of a community site is sharing meaningful information about the community topic. It's instructive to include what works (best practices) and what doesn't work (lessons learned). Springfield Clinic in Illinois went live with its EHR in June 2006, and it demonstrates what's working with EHRs. Read »

Dell is latest big-name technology company to jump into the healthcare market, offering small physician practices a one-stop shop for electronic health records (EHRs). The personal computer manufacturer is not only offering the hardware and software but consulting and financing as well. Read »