Friday, September 16, 2011

EMR list


Here’s a few that I have websites for off the top of my head:
Amazing Charts – website
Care360 (Quest) – website
MxSecure – website
GE Centricity – website Get Price of EMR Vendor EMR Vendor Demo
MDCare – website
Mitochon Systems – website – Free EMR
Nuesoft – website
Practice Fusion – website – Free EMR
SoapWare – website Get Price of EMR Vendor EMR Vendor Demo
simplifyMD – website
Medtuity – website – EMR Only
FreeDOM – website Get Price of EMR Vendor EMR Vendor Demo – Free EMR
MirrorMed – website – Free and Open Source EHR and Practice Management System
OpenEMR – website – Free and Open Source EHR and Practice Management System
FreeMed – website – Free and Open Source EHR and Practice Management System
Life Record – website – Free EMR
A4 Health Systems – website
NextGen – website Get Price of EMR Vendor EMR Vendor Demo
eClinicalWorks – website Get Price of EMR Vendor EMR Vendor Demo
eMDs – website – EMR Demo
Greenway – website Get Price of EMR Vendor EMR Vendor Demo
WebMD – website
Praxis – website
Aprima (formerly iMedica) – website Get Price of EMR Vendor EMR Vendor Demo
Medinotes – website
Office Practicum – website – Pediatrics EMR
Practical Medical Record – website – New Pediatric EMR
Pulse – website Get Price of EMR Vendor EMR Vendor Demo
DescriptMED – website
Medamation – website – EMR Only
Practice Sudio Suite – website
Athena – website Get Price of EMR Vendor EMR Vendor Demo
Practice Partner – website – EMR Demo
OmniMD – website – Specialty EMR
gloEMR – website
Allscripts – website Get Price of EMR Vendor EMR Vendor Demo
SynaMed – website
practiceIT – website
Waiting Room Solutions – website Get Price of EMR Vendor EMR Vendor Demo
MED3000 InteGreat EHR – website
STI Computer Services – website
TECNEX POMS – website
Sequel Med – website Get Price of EMR Vendor EMR Vendor Demo
Abraxus Medical Solutions – website Get Price of EMR Vendor EMR Vendor Demo
1st Provider’s Choice – website Get Price of EMR Vendor EMR Vendor Demo
Sage – website Get Price of EMR Vendor EMR Vendor Demo
Many Many MANY more EMR and EHRs to come!

Tuesday, September 6, 2011

Doctor Maps Categorically

Category maps.
Acupuncture Category Map
Allergy And Immunology Category Map
Anatomic And Clinical Pathology Category Map
Anesthesiology Category Map
Cardiology Category Map
Chiropractic Medicine Category Map
Cytopathology Category Map
Dentist Category Map
Dermatology Category Map
Diabetes, Endocrinology And Metabolism Category Map
Endocrinology Category Map
Family Practice Category Map
Gastroenterology Category Map
General Surgery Category Map
Geriatric Psychiatry Category Map
Geriatrics Category Map
Gerontology Category Map
Hematology Category Map
Homeopathy Category Map
Immunopathology Category Map
Infectious Disease (Infectious Diseases) Category Map
Infertility And IVF Category Map
Internal Medicine Category Map
Medical Genetics Ph.D. Category Map
Midwife Category Map
Nephrology Category Map
Neurodevelopment Disabilities Category Map
Neurology Category Map
Neuroradiology Category Map
Neurosurgery Category Map
Obstetrics And Gynecology Category Map
Oncology Category Map
Ophthalmology Category Map
Optometrics Category Map
Orthodontics Category Map
Orthopedics Category Map
Other Category Map
Otolaryngology Category Map
Otology And Neurotology Category Map
Pain Management Category Map
Pathology Category Map
Pediatrics Category Map
Periodontal Category Map
Podiatry Category Map
Proctology Category Map
Psychiatry Category Map
Psychology Category Map
Pulmonary Category Map
Radiology Category Map
Rehabilitation, Occupational And Physical Therapy Category Map
Rheumatology Category Map
Sleep Disorders Category Map
Social Worker Category Map
Surgical Assistant Category Map
Thoracic Surgeon Category Map
Transplant Hepatology Category Map
Urgent Care Category Map
Urology Category Map

Saturday, September 3, 2011

Picking up doctors online


For most people, picking a doctor is hardly a scientific process. They ask friends or family members to pass along names of doctors they like and trust, or rely on another doctor's referral.
Increasingly, health plans and independent groups are making physician information available online to help consumers make these choices more methodically. But experts caution that most doctor-rating systems are still rudimentary, and a four-star rating or other high-performance designation may not reliably reflect a doctor's abilities. While ratings can provide helpful information, consumers still need to dig a little to find the best doctors for their needs.

More From This Series:Insuring Your Health

The systems provided by some health plans to rate doctors are typically based on two factors: cost and quality. Data that measure the quality of care -- whether a diabetic gets regular blood-sugar tests or foot exams, for example -- are not as easy to translate to the level of individual doctors but cost is, so cost tends to be the bigger factor.
"Often insurers will do a two-step process," says Ha Tu, a senior health researcher at the Center for Studying Health System Change, a nonpartisan research and policy organization based in Washington. First, they "make sure doctors meet a quality threshold, but not a very high one. Then they'll weed them out further based on cost."
Complicating the situation for consumers is the fact that every insurer measures these variables differently, and there are no agreed-upon standards for which combination of attributes makes a top-notch doctor. In fact, a physician who receives a top rating from one insurer may receive a middling or even low score from another, says Elizabeth McGlynn, associate director at Rand Health, a division of Rand, a think tank based in Santa Monica, Calif.
It's no surprise then that doctors are resistant to many insurer efforts to rate physicians. In a recent letter to 47 health plans, the American Medical Association and 46 state medical societies asked the plans to improve the accuracy, reliability and transparency of physician ratings. To support this call for change, the letter pointed to research by Rand that examined physician cost profiles and found that health-plan ratings were inaccurate up to two-thirds of the time.
Although rating systems may have problems, experts agree their use is only going to rise. As insurers and employers try to hold down health-care costs, steering patients toward doctors and other providers who provide the best care for the money is an important priority. Increasingly, employers are trying to provide employees with financial incentives to use doctors in so-called high-performance networks, says Karen Frost, health and welfare outsourcing practice leader for benefits consultant Hewitt Associates.
While insurers and physicians battle it out, consumers are left feeling confused. As Chris Worthington of Rock Hill, N.Y., learned, sometimes a high-performance rating may not even have much to do with patient care. When the 45-year-old middle school teacher was trying to research doctors on her health plan's Web site, she learned that a four-star rating was based on whether a doctor used electronic medical records.
"I think they have the information there that's most important to the insurance company, not the consumer," she says.
Some of the measures that matter most to consumers aren't included in many rating systems, experts say. They include doctors' interpersonal skills and other concerns such as: Do the doctors spend enough time with patients and answer their questions? Do they stay on schedule or do patients have long waits?
"These are some of the best predictors of patient satisfaction, and even outcomes," says McGlynn, noting that no matter how clinically competent a doctor is, a patient's health won't improve if he doesn't understand how to take the prescribed medication.
Consumers sometimes turn to independent sites to get a glimpse of what a particular doctor might be like. The sites -- such as HealthGrades, RateMDs.com and Angie's List -- differ in some respects: They may or may not permit anonymous comments, for example, or charge a fee. But they all provide a forum for people to learn what other consumers have to say about specific physicians.
Since moving to Indianapolis, Dan Tuten has used Angie's List to help find four doctors. The 69-year-old retired software engineer says it takes a while to learn how to extract useful information. "These are just regular folks commenting, and you tend to see a lot of 'A' ratings," he says. But Tuten says he wouldn't trust an insurance company rating. "My impression is they steer you to a doctor because they're the least expensive," he says.
In trying to research doctors, Tuten and Worthington are in the minority of consumers. Most people don't do any research, suggesting that health-plan rating sites may face a difficult task getting consumers to use them. In a 2008 survey by researchers at the Center for Studying Health System Change, half of the respondents said they relied on friends or relatives to choose a primary-care physician. Nearly 40 percent turned to a doctor or other health-care provider. Only a little over a third used information from their health plan.
"Picking a physician is a very personal choice, and often you rely on people you know," says study lead author Tu. "It's not necessarily true that the
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Study Points to Biases in Online Physician Ratings


Physicians have long argued that doctor rating websites provide biased information that does not accurately reflect the quality of care patients receive.
In a statement, the American Medical Association said, "Patient satisfaction is important to physicians, and patients should have access to credible information so they can be confident in their choice of physician, but public web forums have many shortcomings." It added, "Some allow postings to be published anonymously, and there is no guarantee that the opinions about a physician even come from that physician's patient. People may express dissatisfaction on these forums because they wanted a medication that wasn't medically necessary, or because they didn't receive a prescription or service that was delayed or denied by their insurance company."
Physicians might be partially right about biases in online ratings, but not in the way many of those doctors assumed.
A new study by researchers at the University of Maryland's Robert H. Smith School of Business and the University of Minnesota's School of Public Health examined the informativeness of online ratings about primary care physicians. Researchers found that low-quality physicians actually are less likely to be reviewed online. In fact, the majority of online physician ratings are very positive.
Guodong "Gordon" Gao -- an assistant professor at the University of Maryland and one of the study's authors -- noted that out of about 300,000 physicians ratings studied, half were given the highest score possible -- a five out of five.
So are physicians' concerns about patients relying on online ratings to make health care decisions -- much the same way they turn to such sites to make decisions about where to eat or book a hotel -- off base? Maybe, but maybe not.
Study Details
For the study -- titled, "The Information Value of Online Physician Ratings" -- researchers relied on several data sets, including:
  • An offline patient survey conducted by consumer advocacy group Consumers' Checkbook;
  • Online physician ratings collected from RateMDs.com;
  • Information from the 2007 Economic Census on population and median income in the areas the physicians practice in; and
  • State medical board websites for physician information, such as board certification, physician experience and specialty.
The study focused on general practitioners, or family care physicians. The final data set included 1,513 physicians who had been evaluated through offline surveys and 696 doctors who had been rated online. Researchers then compared physician scores on the offline survey with the online physician ratings.
Study Findings
The study found a correlation between a high offline survey rating and the probability of a physician being rated online. If a physician received a low score in the online survey, there was a low probability of him or her being rated online.
Gao said, "I think it comes from human nature. We are pretty reluctant to talk about negative things."
However, the study did find that the probability of being reviewed online increases dramatically for physicians rated in the extreme low end of the quality spectrum in the offline survey. In addition, patients who rate doctors online are more likely to exaggerate their opinions, according to the study.
Researchers say these findings show that the "sound of silence" effect is seen across the quality spectrum of physicians, while the "bad mouthing" effect is visible among very low-end quality doctors.
The findings also showed a strong correlation between the online ratings and patients' offline opinions, but the association was strongest for physicians with the lowest quality ratings. Therefore, online ratings identifying low-quality physicians tend to be the most informative.
Gao explained that if "a physician is exceptionally good and another physician is relatively good, both physicians will [have] a decent chance to get a 5 out of 5." He added, "The online ratings cannot really separate the very best from good."
On the other hand, physicians with negative ratings are not as clustered together. "There's a lot of variation in those ratings. So it's actually easy for us to tell which physician is worse than the other if they are both in the low end," Gao said.
Online Doctor Ratings Useful, But Proceed With Caution
AMA said, "Online opinions of physicians should be taken with a grain of salt and certainly not be the sole resource when looking for physician information. More reliable options are available like checking with your state medical board or asking trusted family and friends about their physicians. Patients can also ask their current physician for a referral." It added, "Choosing a physician is more complicated than choosing a good restaurant, and patients owe it to themselves to use the best available resources when researching a physician."
Although the study found potential biases in online physician ratings, Gao maintains that such information is still useful. He said that "patients really need this information," adding, "This is in high demand, so these websites provide a way for us to help each other sharing our wisdom of the crowd. I think it is a very good thing."
He noted that the study did find "a pretty strong correlation between the online ratings and quality. At the low end, it's much higher than at the high end, but overall the quality correlation is still there. So it has value."
Gao said the onus is on patients to use online ratings with caution. He said that patients need to "realize that these ratings are posted by people who are motivated to rate, which means that the ratings tend to be extremes -- either very negative or very positive."
He added that it is important to keep in mind that physician rating websites still are at an early stage. He noted that the average number of online ratings for each physician is three. Because the sample sizes are so small, the variation in the information can be high. Gao said, "Don't rely on one or two ratings to judge a physician."
Lastly, patients should consult information beyond online ratings when making a decision about a health care provider, Gao said. "Go and talk to the people surrounding you and look at other information, such as physician awards or whether a physician has a malpractice history."
He said that patients should "make judgments on comprehensive information, not just one or two ratings online."
How To Improve Online Rating Sites
There also are ways to improve the physician rating websites, themselves, according to Gao.
He said that "if the number of ratings [for a physician] is low, like one or two, you probably shouldn't put it on the website because then that physician's reputation is determined by one or two patients, [whose ratings] can be highly volatile."
Another physician rating website best practice is to give doctors the opportunity to respond to patients' reviews. Patients "want to hear both parties' arguments" he said, adding that allowing physicians to respond provides "a more complete picture."
In addition to patient ratings, websites should offer other data, such as objective quality measures from the federal government, according to Gao. He said that while such information is not as easy to understand, "there needs to be a way to integrate those different sources of information and make it easily digestible to people like us."
Future Research
Gao and his colleagues are conducting ongoing research to see if their findings about general practitioner ratings can be extended to other specialties.
He said he also plans to study whether online physician ratings "reflect true clinical quality."
Gao noted that the study used an offline patient survey to measure quality but that it also is important to examine whether clinical quality can be reflected in physician ratings.
He said, "There's a lot of debate here. A lot of physicians say that patients are not in a position to judge a physician's quality." Gao said he hopes future research can determine "to what extent patients can judge a physician's quality."


Read more: http://www.ihealthbeat.org/features/2011/study-points-to-biases-in-online-physician-ratings.aspx#ixzz1WtgdDcUE

Saturday, August 27, 2011

Medical and healthcare online portals

Recently, Health 2.0 reported that 34 percent of Americans turn to social media for health research. Their information, based upon an iCrossing report, shows that consumers choose Wikipedia, online forums and message boards as their most favored resources for information. Additionally, while these users are looking for answers, they also seek support and interaction.

Interaction is what makes social media a bit different than Web 2.0. While Web 2.0 provides the tools for interaction between a user and a Web site, it may not provide the interaction required for a true “social” experience between the user and other users or site participants. For instance, teens and some adults who have disabilities and diseases such as cancer already use social-networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace.comto connect with peers.

Social media is not “top down” information with little to no interaction. While government groups struggle to impart information such as the latest news about tainted peanut butter products through blogs, Twitter and other Web 2.0 tools, others know that this isn’t enough. When you impart information, you also must respond. It is the era of the consumer, and the consumer is in control.

While some government groups still struggle with social interaction, many grassroots groups and visionaries ‘get it.’ The following 25 sites — among many dozens of other consumer-oriented social media sites — provide venues for patients, advocates, medical personnel, and others to interact on a level playing field. These tools allow news to flow freely, collaboration to become second-nature and support to become as pandemic as the diseases that threaten today’s populations.

The following sites are listed alphabetically under each category. This methodology shows that we do not favor one site over another.

News and Information

Instead of top-down news and information, these sites provide information based upon user-generated input. You can read the latest news about any medical condition or offer and receive support and advice at these sites.

  1. Doctors finder Medi4 A complete Medical doctor information portal .Rate and review doctors online
  2. OrganizedWisdomOrganizedWisdom: This site launched in 2006, and has become a keystone social media site for health information. Organized Wisdom provides hand-crafted search result pages called WisdomCards for the most popular health search terms and phrases. Users can become guides and make money while helping others find information on this site and to create WisdomCards. OrganizedWisdom was named to PC Magazines “Top Web sites of 2008″ for bringing innovation to online health care.
  3. PeoplesMDPeoplesMD: PeoplesMD is the first niche social bookmarking site exclusively for the health and wellness category. Share your online health research and help others when you bookmark your favorite articles, blogs and Web sites and store them here in “Stacks.” These bookmarks are turned into visual collections for your own use and to help others find information.
  4. TruseraTrusera: Seattle startup Trusera built a strong community while in testing mode in 2008, and founder Keith Schorsch says his site is more focused on practical advice than the competition. Schorsch, a former Amazon executive, says he was spurred to start the company after his struggle with Lyme disease. At Trusera, you can pose questions to people who’ve been there and get practical answers and insights from others just like you.

Fitness Tools

Plenty of sites offer tools for fitness, but the true test of a social media fitness site is interaction among users and experts. The following sites can provide this support, along with the tools you need to meet your fitness goals.

  1. FitLinkFitLink: Keep a workout journal, map running or cycling routes, plan activities, research exercises, calculate your body mass index, and read fitness articles. But, you don’t need to do it alone. You also can find activity partners, training groups, personal trainers, health clubs, fitness centers and even local events based upon your goals and interests.
  2. Gimme20GIMME20: Gimme20.com is an online fitness tool that provides users with community, workout routines, and the ability to track workouts and share workout routines with others in the community. You can report fitness results from the gym with their mobile phones, too.
  3. GymClikGymClik: This site is new, but looks promising. Join for free and get in on the ground floor to develop or join groups in tune with your goals. Additionally, you can add your favorite recipes, find a local trainer, share videos and images and more.
  4. GymineeGyminee: You’ll discover detailed workout tracking, a way to monitor your diet, the ability to meet others with similar goals, online accountability and motivation through friends, groups and communities at Gyminee. This interaction may be what you need to reach your goals.
  5. introPLAYintroPLAY: Join as a player and find other athletes who train together as part of the introPLAY community. This site may seem intimidating, but it’s for both casual and committed athletes who want tools to track sports activities, health information and more from a truly interactive community.
  6. iStatsiStats: After you complete a workout such as a run, gym, soccer game or training simply enter the details of the workout (reps, weight, time etc.). Select from Imperial or Metric. Create your own exercise if you can’t find it. Review your workouts and invite friends to create exercise teams so you can work out together, share tips and compare results.
  7. limeadeLimeade: This tool allows you to assess 28 dimensions of your life scientifically correlated with well-being, recommends personalized goals, and helps you achieve those goals with step-by-step tracking, programs and support from experts and friends.
  8. peertrainerPeerTrainer: This site will help you become accountable for yourself, supported by others in small online groups and teams. Take advantage of their Calorie Wiki, health, fitness and diet content and more. Join supportive communities and groups and share your wisdom as well.
  9. traineoTraineo: Get in on the ground floor with a site that is geared to make fitness simple. Use their tools to log your activity and diet and take advantage of community-building to snag some support for your goals. Choose among groups that challenge obstacles such as diabetes or that are built upon family support. If nothing seems to fit you, you can create your own group.

Patient Activism, Peer Care

The following sites provide users with real-time social interaction. You can receive home care, find a peer group for support, become an activist in national health care reform and more. These sites truly are social, providing ‘meeting places’ for patients, medical professionals and visionaries.

  1. American WellAmerican Well: This is the nation’s first online house call program. This site provides a truly interactive setting, where patients find doctors who will treat you from a distance. American Well is committed to supporting health plans in meeting consumer and employer demand for affordable, efficient, and immediate access to quality care.
  2. Daily StrengthDaily Strength: Patients and caregivers dealing with hundreds of issues, including asthma, celiac disease and depression, can join a support community, start a wellness journal, share advice and recommend doctors, link to news stories and Web sites with disease information. You can send other members a virtual hug while you’re there.
  3. Group LoopGroup Loop: Group Loop bills itself as a safe place for teens with cancer and their parents to build online community for support, education and hope while dealing with a cancer diagnosis. Teens can talk with other teens, parents with parents so teens can learn how to cope with daily life and this disease.
  4. Health 2.0Health 2.0: This wiki is set up to serve “the community of visionaries, entrepreneurs, intrapreneurs, policy makers, and professionals who are working on fundamentally redefining the healthcare industry along the lines of ‘Web 2.0.’” Don’t let the labels turn you off — this site is open for discussion. Take the challenge.
  5. MamaherbMamaherb: At Mamaherb, people from all over the world can share their knowledge about herbs and other natural substances they’ve experienced as helpful, or even been tipped off about by their family members, friends, or even by their grandma. Join community to learn more about how you can use herbs safely.
  6. MDJunctionMDJunction: This site supports an active center for online support groups, a place where patients meet every day to discuss feelings, ask questions and share hopes with others.
  7. Patients Like MePatients Like Me: This site believes that when patients share real-world data, collaboration on a global scale becomes possible. New treatments become possible. Most importantly, change becomes possible. A truly interactive site, it appears that patients embrace the open sharing of personal health data because they believe that information can change the course of their diseases.
  8. Real Mental HealthReal Mental Health: This was the first social networking site that focused on mental health treatment and wellness. Join online communities filled with individuals, families, loved ones and friends who want to interact and support each other through difficult and happy times. Obtain knowledge about symptoms and treatments, too, in topics such as addictions, ADHD, Alzheimer’s and more.
  9. Real SelfReal Self: Sometimes it takes a little nip and tuck to feel better. At Real Self, you will find comprehensive information about everything from Botox to Lasik to Zoom teeth whitening. Founded by Tom Seery in 2006, this site provides experts, many who are leading authorities in aesthetics, cosmetic surgery and dermatology, to participate on RealSelf.com without a commercial relationship or exchange of fees. Ask a question, get an answer. Easy.
  10. Right HealthRightHealth: Join active forums, get the latest mash-ups of medical news and watch the latest health videos. This site is fairly straightforward, easy to use and dedicated to giving every topic its own homepage.
  11. Twit2fitTwit2Fit: If you want results and activism, choose Twitter to get going. Jason Falls experimented with Twitter to see how far he’d get in support for a fitness program, and his test blossomed into this Web site. “Twit2Fit members support and encourage those hoping to better themselves physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually.”
  12. VitalsVitals: Vitals represents a place where doctors are examined. Unlike other listings for medical professionals, this one allows users to chime in. You can check up on your doctor, find a new doctor and rate doctors that you know and have visited in the past. Your opinions could, literally, save a life.
  13. Emr Vendors Find emr and ehr reviews and information.