Welcome to EMR and EHR

Many people that read this blog have never heard of Medical Informatics Engineering (MIE) until they saw this blog post. Honestly, before HIMSS this year I hadn’t really ever heard of them either. However, at HIMSS I was introduced to their story and was really intrigued. Yesterday they announced a new CEO, Bruce Lisanti to lead the company. Here’s a section of the press release:

“With the pending changes in the US healthcare system and with meaningful use criteria now finalized under the HITECH Act’s electronic health records (EHR) incentive program, there is an unprecedented opportunity for growth and expansion in the healthcare IT industry,” said Mr. Lisanti. “Electronic health records can enable physicians, hospitals, labs and patients to work together more easily. When combined with fully functional personal health records (PHR), electronic communication and access to information can substantially reduce the overall costs of the healthcare system. As one of the only fully integrated, web-based EHR systems available today, MIE has an enormous opportunity to become a leader in this space.”

“MIE has already demonstrated an impressive ability to promote the broad adoption of this technology on a regional scale,” Lisanti continued. “The MIE Health Information Exchange is currently utilized by over 90 percent of the physicians in Northeast Indiana with 55 percent of these doctors using the WebChart EHR system from MIE. Our goal is to take this model nationally, positioning MIE as a leader in healthcare IT.”

What I find most interesting about stories like this is that they’re happening every single day. With over 300 EMR vendors out there, there are hundreds of MIE like EMR vendors that don’t see all the headlines, they don’t have big fancy conferences, but they’re just grabbing their portion of the EMR market.

I guess that’s why I mostly just laugh when I see someone try to calculate the EMR vendor market share. The company with the largest EMR market share is called “Other” and includes the 100′s of EMR vendors that most people don’t know about.

It just absolutely amazes me how many companies are coming out with brand new EMR software and trying to compete with all the various EMR vendors out there. Obviously, that’s a very good thing for me, but it seems like every day a new EMR vendor whom I’ve never heard of is launching a new EMR software.

What’s amazing is that each company is taking their own little angle on the market. It kind of goes back to my assertion that there isn’t 1 EMR market, but 50 EMR markets. Plus, with only 15% adoption (or choose your favorite adoption number) we’re just at the beginning of the competition.

Just to illustrate my point, here’s a press release I just got in my email talking about a worksite health center EMR (see below). It’s really interesting the creative ways that EHR vendors are trying to market their software. Plus, there’s a whole group of EMR vendors who have create a software and don’t have any clue how to market their product.

Fort Wayne, Ind. – May 11, 2010 – Concentra, a leading provider of employer health care services, announced today that it will utilize Medical Informatics Engineering (MIE) to bring electronic health records (EHR) and employee health portal services to Concentra clients through its worksite health centers. As more companies seek ways to control rising health care costs and improve the health and wellness of their employees, workplace health care centers with advanced health information systems are becoming an increasingly popular choice.

Concentra has expanded its workplace service offerings to include primary care services, wellness programs and personal coaching, and MIE’s WebChart Enterprise Health EHR system, providing a comprehensive health care solution directly to employees. To date, the advanced information technology system has been implemented at five Concentra worksite locations, with more slated for implementation throughout 2010. WebChart offers a flexible suite of health information products that Concentra uses to support its innovative service delivery model, allowing for each implementation to accommodate the specific needs of each client.

“MIE stood out from other EHR vendors due to their extensive experience in and first-hand knowledge of the occupational and primary health care IT space,” said Concentra Senior Vice President of Medical Operations Bill Lewis, M.D. “MIE’s Web-based, Software as a Service (SaaS) EHR model allows for integration with other employer and employee health systems, and is easily customized to meet the needs of our clients, in a wide range of industries and backgrounds.”

Through MIE’s WebChart Enterprise EHR, Concentra clients can give their employees access to send health information to the worksite health center prior to a visit. Employees can also schedule visits online, review lab results online, answer health-related questionnaires, and report work-related injuries and illnesses. Medical information documented in the EHR during a clinical encounter can then be synced to the employee’s portal page, or shared with a personal health record (PHR) solution like Google Health, Microsoft HealthVault, or NoMoreClipboard.com.

“MIE’s versatile EHR module provides a user-friendly interface for a diverse group of employer stakeholders, including employees, supervisors, and health care providers, leading to improved productivity and communication between all parties,” added Lewis.

“Medical Informatics Engineering is honored to work with an organization like Concentra that is dedicated to improving the health of America’s employees and reducing the cost of health care for employers,” said Peter Norder, Executive Vice President of MIE. “Concentra’s impressive focus on streamlining the delivery of health care and measuring the benefits of improved patient care, through more than 250 workplace health clinics in the U.S., lines up exceptionally well with MIE’s mission to put employers and employees at the center of their own health care.”

By implementing advanced information systems, caring for employees, and delivering outcomes-based clinical practices, Concentra has become the leading provider of worksite employee health services for employers in dozens of different industries. With more than 250 worksite medical clinics and 300 national medical centers, Concentra serves more than 100,000 employers across the nation and treats more than 25,000 patients each day.

For more information, please visit www.concentra.com and/or www.mieweb.com.