Heart safe news: Our weekly update on what’s happening in the world of heart safety and noninvasive cardiology

Electronic Health Records: Tips from a Massachusetts practice

The medical director of informatics at the Fallon Clinic in Worchester, Massachusetts, spoke at last week’s Health IT Stimulus Summit in Boston. Here are a few of the his tips he offered for achieving a successful installation of an electronic health records system:

• Have a communication strategy about the selection and installation of the EHR system, and keep the topic on everyone’s radar.
• Invest to good EHR software; the savings you can achieve by going with “cheap” software turns out to be minimal.
• Adding movable arms to the EHR monitors in exam rooms is a wise investment; it helps physicians use the computer to involve and educate patients.
• Make sure that your EHR training classes offer continuing medical education credits.
• Check before go-live to make sure that staff know how to select diagnosis and procedure codes.

Phyllis Schuck, CIO at Pinehurst Surgical in Pinehurst, North Carolina, offered advice based on her clinic’s work with a new EHR. According to Schuck, thorough training of nurses was the key factor in increasing productivity of a practice.

You can read more the Fallon Clinic’s experience in this EHR article on the Health Data Management website. The Pinehurst practice’s tips are described here.

Healthcare reform: Changes in store for HIPAA

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) has provisions that will change the way health organizations handle privacy issues. Attorney Steven J. Fox, who writes Health IT Law Blog, briefed attendees at the Health Data Management’s Health IT Stimulus Summit in Boston last week. Fox said the new federal requirements, which go into effect Sept. 23, will mean “completely new education and training” for healthcare organizations.

ARRA strengthens privacy and security rules, and extends HIPAA enforcement authority to state governments. Fox noted that organizations cannot qualify for federal incentive payments unless the organization is HIPAA compliant.

You can read more about Fox’s presentation in this article on the Health Data Management website.

Oregon gets ready to implement AED legislation

In 2010, Oregon will require owners of large commercial buildings to have automated external defibrillators (AEDs) available.

State Senator Mark Hass, who wrote Senate bill 556, became an AED advocate based on his own experience. He’d used a defibrillator to save a colleague, and he was aware of the 2001 case of a young Beaverton, Oregon, boy who died of sudden cardiac arrest at a swimming pool.

“There were two lifeguards and two doctors at the pool, one of them a cardiac surgeon, who said that what they needed was a defibrillator, not four medically trained people,” Hass told The Bend Bulletin.

A spokesperson for the Fred Meyer stores said that the company would have installed AEDs earlier but that they had been concerned about potential liability for having the devices available. The new law includes a provision that removes liability for individuals who use AEDs and organizations that make AEDs available for public use.

You can read the complete Oregon AED law story at the Bulletin.com website.

In Louisiana parish, high schools AED training program

The St. Tammany News reports that St. Tammany Parish School Board has equipped area high schools with AEDs and is now embarked on an AED training program to familiarize school employees with their use.

As a result of grass roots advocacy by athletic department staff and school leaders, Cardiac Science Powerheart AED G3s are now available at all eight high schools in the parish. In recent months, more than 250 staff have received training from fire district trainers as part of a pilot program.

Related Products

• Powerheart AED G3 Plus
• Powerheart AED G3 Fully Automatic and Semi-automatic
• Powerheart AED G3 Pro
• Powerheart AED G3 Trainer
• AED Program Management

Last 5 posts

• Cardiac Science AEDs in Spain [VIDEO] - April 4th, 2011
• Cardiac Science wins first major public access defibrillation program in Europe - March 30th, 2011
• Georgia Park saves 5 lives with AEDs - March 24th, 2011
• Sad stories, avoidable deaths? - March 23rd, 2011
• Texas school's AED saves 6-year-old's life - March 22nd, 2011

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