Richmond County Medical Society HIT Expo
June 24, 2006. Lecture details

The Richmond County Medical Society and the American College of Physicians co-sponsored a Health Information Technology Expo on June 24, 2006 which included presentations and hands on demonstrations by over a dozen vendors.

Dr John Maese was the first speaker and introduced the remaining speakers. Dr Maese reviewed the many issues involved for physicians interested in adding an Electronic Health Record to their practice.

Dr Alan Silver, from IPRO, presented DOQ-T, a government sponsored program which in addition to providing tips on the evaluation of Electronic Health Records, provides free tools and consulting services. Dr Silver also discussed P4P, or Pay for Performance programs. These programs whether sponsored by the government or commercial health plans provide physicians and hospitals with the opportunity to earn additional payments if certain benchmarks are met.

Dr Abha Agrawal presented addtional details on CCHIT.org: its composition and function.

Dr Salvatore Volpe presented his practice’s experiences with Electronic Health Records and other HIT products. Patients are given the opportunity to complete a Pre-Visit questionnaire at home or work via the internet or a wireless device in the waiting room. This information is then reviewed with the patient in the exam room. Dr Volpe offers each patient a printed copy of each office visit which includes the reason for the visit, the physical exam, the diagnoses and plan of action. Copies of patient summaries may be faxed to the hospital for review by the hospital staff if a patient is admitted. Patients and their caregivers will be given access to their medical summaries via a Physician-Patient Portal. For non-urgent matters, Dr Volpe reviewed online Virtual office visits. Dr Volpe invited attendees and vendors to join an online HIT forum for the free discussion of topics which would then available to all for future reference.