Clinical Documentation, Decision Support

Although HIPAA allows patients to view and amend their medical records, most never have and don’t realize that they can. Doctors have concerns regarding this, but a recent year-long pilot showed that patients value access to their notes. Thus, the age-old question remains, should patients read their doctors' notes?

As Stage 2 of meaningful use continues to raise the bar in terms of how and when hospitals and physician groups must make patient data available, patient care organizations have been continuing to develop innovative methods to increase patients’ role in healthcare. To this end, the OpenNotes initiative is bringing patient engagement to a new level at Geisinger Health System .

According to a recent analysis by consulting firm Deloitte, 71 percent of all physicians believe that the promise of reduced costs resulting from increased use of health IT tools is inflated and that it will actually cost more, not less.

Before William Tatham turned his business skills to healthcare, he had already grown a successful financial customer relationship management (CRM) software company, Janna Systems, which he sold to Siebel Systems in 2000. Later, as he watched a family member navigate the healthcare system during a difficult battle with cancer, Tatham decided to try to apply some of the CRM principles he was familiar with to the healthcare setting. Thus, NexJ Systems Inc.was born.