Industry Insight

HIM Company Adds Medical Scribe Services

American owned and operated HIM company, eData Services US recently added Virtual Medical Scribes to its portfolio of health information products and services.

Virtual Scribes are registered nurses trained in medical record documentation, including ICD-10. They provide real-time transcription, documentation, and virtual assistant services to physicians and other health care practitioners.

By utilizing highly secure voice and data systems, and through intensive staff training, eData ensures that patient data handling fully complies with HIPAA and all other state and federal laws. eData can enter information into any EHR/EMR.

This new service offered by eData, Virtual Medical Scribes takes the secretarial and data entry work away from the physicians, thus improving medical documentation and increasing physician productivity and earnings while allowing the physician to focus on patients.

“eData Virtual Medical Scribes are an extension of your office,” says eData CEO Fred Kumetz. “We train and deploy virtual scribes to assist physicians in providing better quality treatment for their patients. Our advanced systems, communications, and encryption technologies allow providers to utilize Virtual Medical Scribes within the health care industry and achieve gains in all aspects of patient charts, EMR usage, and billing, with confidence that they meet or exceed all compliance and regulatory requirements.”

— Source: eData Services

Massachusetts Pilot Program Focuses on Video Visits

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts is partnering with American Well on its new telemedicine program, WellConnection. The pilot program enables select patients to engage with their health care providers through online video, instead of going to the doctor’s office.

Health care providers in the two-year pilot will assess and treat patients with select health conditions using video visits. For example, some may use it for check-ins to monitor recovery from concussions, while others may use video visits for wellness coaching, to follow up with patients on certain medications, or to check in after a procedure or hospitalization to monitor recovery and help prevent rehospitalizations.

WellConnection benefits include easy access to patients’ own clinicians via laptop, smartphone, or tablet; more efficient care and increased convenience for patients; avoidance of unnecessary trips to the emergency department; convenient in-home medication management and adherence guidance; improved postsurgical outcomes; and better integration of behavioral health and primary care.

The WellConnection pilot launches with two physician groups from Blue Cross’ Alternative Quality Contract (AQC), Emerson Physician Hospital Organization (Emerson PHO), and Lowell General Physician Hospital Organization (LGPHO), as well as dedicated Blue Cross nurse care managers. The AQC is an innovative payment model that promotes quality and rewards physicians and hospitals for positive health outcomes. A recent study published in the New England Journal of Medicine found that the AQC has improved the quality of patient care and lowered costs in the four years since it was first implemented.

Mill City Medical Group of Lowell and the office of Damian Folch, MD, of Chelmsford are the participating practices for LGPHO. Emerson PHO is identifying its participating practices.

“The value of telemedicine will be fully realized when physician, patient, and health plan goals are aligned—which is why we are offering this program with select physicians in our AQC,” says Gregory LeGrow, director of network innovation at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts. “These health care providers are already making great strides in this area to improve patient care outcomes.”

— Source: American Well

Terra Nova Appoints New COO

Terra Nova Transcription recently announced that Steve Sanchez of Miami has been appointed chief operating officer (COO), a new leadership position for the company. Sanchez will be responsible for the direct day-to-day operations of the organization, ensuring operational excellence across the organization.

Sanchez joins Terra Nova as the COO to streamline day-to-day processes and strengthen customer relationships as the company strategically aligns itself for forecasted growth over the next two years. “Terra Nova’s dedicated focus on customer service, providing superior documentation improvement solutions, is evident by the loyalty and confidence of our customers,” Sanchez says. “I am incredibly energized to help lead the company through this next phase of significant growth in the area of my expertise—operational excellence.”

Maria French, president and CEO of Terra Nova says, “Steve’s countless achievements in operations and management are precisely aligned with Terra Nova’s business objectives and growth strategy. Our new business innovations coupled with increasing industry demands led us to our decision to add the new leadership role to support our team. His appointment shows our commitment to quality and operational excellence to our customers as we plan for changes in the industry as well as rapid growth within our organization. We are fortunate to have found an individual with exemplary professional skills and leadership qualities plus business acumen that makes him keenly aware of the opportunities present. I’m confident he will meet the challenges we will face in the coming years as we anticipate such rapid growth.”