March 2020

By the Numbers
For The Record
Vol. 32 No. 2 P. 34

36
Only this percentage of health care managers said they shred confidential paper documents after reviewing them; the others said they recycle, keep, or throw away the documents, according to a Ponemon Institute/Shred-It survey. One-half said their organizations do not have a process for disposing of paper documents containing sensitive or confidential information after they are no longer needed. About two-thirds said they are not confident that their organization is able to govern the use, protection, and disposal of paper documents.

24
The study “Prevalence of Screening for Food Insecurity, Housing Instability, Utility Needs, Transportation Needs, and Interpersonal Violence by US Physician Practices and Hospitals,” published in JAMA Network Open, found that only this percentage of hospitals and 16% of physician practices reported screening for all five key social needs associated with health outcomes.

89
In August 2018, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services announced a goal of making doctors’ offices a fax-free zone by 2020. However, as of November 2019, this percentage of health care organizations uses a fax machine, according to a poll by the Medical Group Management Association. Respondents’ reasons for using fax machines include for record sharing, referrals, communicating labs/tests/results, payer communication, and pharmacy communication.

45
This percentage of respondents to the fourth annual UnitedHealthcare Consumer Sentiment Survey said they are interested in their physician using artificial intelligence to help with diagnosis. Among those, 46% were motivated by the potential for a more accurate diagnosis, 31% cited the potential to reduce human error, and 15% hoped for faster treatment decisions. Uninterested respondents cited a preference for the expertise of a trained health care professional (47%) and a lack of trust in the technology (24%).

7 in 10
This number of managers at health care organizations have seen or picked up documents containing confidential or sensitive information left in the printer, and 63% are concerned their employees or contractors have printed and left behind a document that could lead to a data breach, according to a survey by the Ponemon Institute and Shred-It.

$22.58
Top Class Actions reports that a settlement for $35.4 million will resolve claims that Wisconsin HealthPort illegally charged for medical record requests. According to the lawsuit, the company charged this fee for medical records requests, and the plaintiffs contend they were overcharged for access to their records.

39
According to the fourth annual UnitedHealthcare Consumer Sentiment Survey, this percentage of respondents said they would be likely to use a telemedicine service in the future.

$93.6 Million
According to a December 2019 Office of Inspector General audit report, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services made this estimated amount in incorrect Medicare EHR incentive payments to acute-care hospitals, or less than 1% of the $10.8 billion in total incentive payments for the audit period.