Health IT Business News – Wednesday, May 8, 2013

Health IT Business NewsToday’s Business News

The market for EHRs reached 20.7 Billion in 2012, a 15% increase from the 17.9 billion in 2011, according to a new white paper released last month by Kalorama Information.  The report lists hospital IT upgrades and the lure of government incentives as driving factors for the increase.

CynergisTek, a consulting firm specializing in enterprise security solutions for healthcare organizations, announced today that the company achieved the highest annual revenue to date with 24% growth in 2012. The company is projecting growth to continue in 2013, citing new regulatory demands, including CMS Meaningful Use audits and the Office of Civil Right (OCR) HIPAA Audit Program,  for creating an increased need for comprehensive privacy and security solutions.

An article recently published in InPractice outlines seven steps for radiologists to consider when planning for a successful meaningful use (MU) technology implementation. The article titled “7 Steps for Implementing Meaningful Use”, written by DR Systems co-founder Murray A. Reicher, M.D., addresses the important benefits provided by certified EHR technology (CEHRT) including standardized communication, transparency of medical records, and the ability to provide better patient care. Dr. Reicher wrote the article to encourage radiologists to adopt MU and implement a CEHRT. The article clears up several misconceptions about MU and shares thoughts on how the field of radiology is affected by the quick evolution and adoption of MU standards.

SA Ignite,  a provider of software solutions that streamlines, automates and tracks the achievement of Meaningful Use, and the Medical College of Wisconsin announced their strategic partnership following successful completion of Meaningful Use attestations to Medicare and Medicaid for payment year 2012. For 2013, SA Ignite will work with nearly 600 of the Medical College of Wisconsin physicians who use Epic as its EHR system.

NextGen Healthcare Information Systems announced today it has entered into an agreement with Physical Rehabilitation Network (PRN) to deploy NextGen products and services across the PRN network. Additionally, PRN has agreed to a five-year contract with NextGen to streamline and improve its revenue cycle processes. PRN is a large, West Coast-based, private equity-backed network of physical therapy clinics comprised of more than 375 physical therapists, 700 staff and over 100+ locations across California, Colorado, Nevada, Texas, and Washington.

QPID™ Inc., provider of health record acceleration and intelligence solutions, today announced that it has added two senior managers with Gary Zakon, VP of Engineering and Caroline Smyth, VP of Sales. The hires come on the heels of a recently closed $4 million investment round for the company from Matrix Partners, Cardinal Partners, Partners Innovation Fund, and Massachusetts General Physician Organization (MGPO).