Accelerated Medical Practice Blog

CMS administrator Marilyn Tavenner hinted at a delay in ICD-10 implementation when speaking to an AMA meeting on Tuesday, February 14, 2012. Rather vaguely, Tavenner said CMS would “reexamine the timing” of ICD-10 implementation. Two days later Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius removed all doubt when she stated that HHS “announces intent to delay ICD-10 compliance date.”  Undetermined Delay to ICD-10Unfortunately, no one in the industry knows how long this delay may last.  Tom Sullivan,...

One of the most famous examples of the law of unintended consequences is Kudzu. Introduced to the United States in 1876, the plant was originally intended as erosion control. Currently spreading at a rate of 150,000 acres per year, the plant will overtake everything in its path when left unchecked. What are the unintended consequences created by your EMR implementation? Think back to charge entry employees. Usually, when keying charges into the PM system, the process is more complicated than simple data entry....

When you look at the typical project plan for an EMR implementation, the clinical components are typically the focal point: template selection and customization, physician training, clinical workflow, etc. Automating the charge capture and coding elements are usually placed at the bottom of the work list and may never be fully implemented. This gap in implementation planning often results in practices being forced to produce costly, manual workarounds as needed. This is a dangerous financial hazard...

When many EMRs were originally designed, charge capture and coding was not a major design objective. As an ancillary feature and benefit of EMRs—untested in the real world—that EMRs could replace the superbill began to appear in sales presentations. 

"Mind the gap" is a warning for passengers to take caution while crossing the gap between the train door and the railway platform. Introduced in 1969 on the London Underground, this warning also serves physician practices well as they pursue the important goal of implementing an electronic medical record (EMR). 

White Plume's code scrubbing capabilities came to the rescue for an orthopedic practice.

White Plume comments on "Top 10 EMR Installation Mistakes" by Healthcare Informatics.

We believe that at some point in time, the ideal EMR will in fact emerge. Until that point in time, we can provide an important link.

Speed is in the eye of the beholder, particularly when the “beholder” is a busy physician!

Physicians using EMR templates do so, only to have a back office staff retrace their steps. 

Some healthcare technology vendors over promise and under deliver. White Plume strives to under promise and over deliver.

White Plume Technologies fits very nicely in the middle of electronic health records (EHRs) or electronic medical records (EMRs) and practice management (PM) systems. 

Buying an EMR is a big challenge. Whether you choose an integrated EMR and PM System or a best of breed approach, White Plume can help bridge the gap. We’ve got customers that are choosing both and there’s no single answer that’s right for everybody. 

Our concept is: save time and save money within the practice. We'll do that until the utopian EMR arrives—serving every need of our client base.

When choosing an EMR system, you can choose between an integrated EMR and PM System or a best of breed approach. White Plume is flexible and will accelerate the billing process in either environment. 

The EMR today is not the ideal EMR of the future. A gap exists. White Plume is here to fill it.