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| House Bill Funds EMR Adoption
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The U.S. House of Representatives has approved legislation that would provide $40 million over the next five years to assist physicians in adopting electronic medical records technology.
The bill, HR 4157, creates a committee to dictate national standards for data storage and technology interoperability, applies current privacy laws to electronic data and requires Health and Human Services officials to join federal and state privacy laws. It also offers a loophole to the Anti-kickback Statute by letting hospitals and group practices supply doctors with computer hardware and software.
The day before the bill's July 27 passage by a 270 to 148 vote, a provision opening the door to hospital price transparency was removed from the legislation at the behest of hospital industry lobbyists. HR 4157 now awaits reconciliation and compromise with a similar bill in the Senate, which would provide $150 million in funding.
Both bills respond to President George W. Bush's call for all U.S. medical records to be electronic by the year 2014. A survey issued last week by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Center for Health Statistics reported that about 24 percent of American physicians used complete or partial EMR systems in 2005, up 31 percent from the 18 percent who reported doing so in 2001. Physicians in larger group practices are more likely to use EMRs than practices of two or fewer doctors, the study says; urban physicians are more likely to than their rural counterparts; and EMR use is more common among facilities in the Midwest and West than in the Northeast.
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| Screen Peds for Passive Smoke Exposure
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It might be a good idea to add the question, "Does anyone in the home smoke?" to your pediatric pre-op forms. Children exposed to passive smoke show a markedly increased risk for airway complications during outpatient procedures, according to a study in July's Otolaryngology — Head and Neck Surgery.
Researchers prospectively examined a patient population of 405 children who underwent surgical procedures with mask anesthesia. Nearly 42 percent of the children had been exposed to passive smoke. Among this group, the incidence of airway complications during anesthesia or post-anesthetic recovery was higher for all outcome measures except recovery room breath holding. Further, intraoperative laryngospasm and airway obstruction were 4.9 and 2.8 times more likely with passive smoke exposure, respectively.
The double-blind outcomes of adverse airway events were recorded both intraoperatively and in the recovery room for patients with and without passive smoke exposure, and researchers accounted for variables to determine whether smoke exposure was responsible for the results.
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| Bariatric Surgery's Costly Complications
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Nearly 40 percent of patients who undergo bariatric surgery develop complications within six months, say federal researchers. According to a study published in August's Medical Care, readmissions and post-op emergency room visits for these complications can add tens of thousands of dollars to a patient's treatment costs.
Researchers examined 12 complications specifically related to bariatric surgery in the insurance claims of 2,522 procedures that took place between February 2001 and July 2002. A total of 10.8 percent of patients without 30-day complications developed a complication between 30 days and 180 days, the study shows.
The average health expenditures for bariatric surgery and the next 6 months of care was $29,921, according to the study's sample. The total risk-adjusted payments were $65,031 for patients readmitted due to complications and $27,125 for patients without readmissions, researchers found.
"Bariatric surgery is a growing procedure and I don't think it will slow down, but insurers might start looking at the readmission rate of physicians and choose providers more carefully," says William E. Encinosa, PhD, a senior economist with the Agency for Health Care Research and Quality and the study's lead author.
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| News and Notes
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Nearly 40 percent of patients who undergo bariatric surgery develop complications within six months, say federal researchers. According to a study published in August's Medical Care, readmissions and post-op emergency room visits for these complications can add tens of thousands of dollars to a patient's treatment costs.
Researchers examined 12 complications specifically related to bariatric surgery in the insurance claims of 2,522 procedures that took place between February 2001 and July 2002. A total of 10.8 percent of patients without 30-day complications developed a complication between 30 days and 180 days, the study shows.
The average health expenditures for bariatric surgery and the next 6 months of care was $29,921, according to the study's sample. The total risk-adjusted payments were $65,031 for patients readmitted due to complications and $27,125 for patients without readmissions, researchers found.
"Bariatric surgery is a growing procedure and I don't think it will slow down, but insurers might start looking at the readmission rate of physicians and choose providers more carefully," says William E. Encinosa, PhD, a senior economist with the Agency for Health Care Research and Quality and the study's lead author.
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