Stimulus Law and Wifimed Holdings Encourage Medicaid Providers To Adopt Electronic Health Records

PRLog (Press Release) – Mar 03, 2009 – WiFiMed Holdings Company, Inc. (“WiFiMed Holdings”) (OTCBB: WIFM), a leading provider through subsidiaries of electronic health record (“EHR”) and interoperability solutions, applauds Congress and the Obama Administration for recognizing the value of electronic health records to improving healthcare and strengthening the economy, and for ensuring that Medicaid providers will help lead the nation in this important investment.  

Healthcare, the largest industry in the U.S., accounts for about $2.2 trillion in annual spending (including about $650 billion in direct federal payments under Medicare and Medicaid).  By 2015, healthcare expenditures may reach $4 trillion, in large part because of the aging of the baby boomer generation.  To slow this avalanche of costs, many experts—joined in earnest now by the federal government—believe that adoption of EHRs (with associated technologies) will yield substantial benefits, including a healthier population, fewer lost work days, and lower costs of managing chronic conditions.  According to a 2005 study by the Rand Corporation, net annual savings to the country could be as much as $147 billion after full EHR adoption by providers and hospitals.  CEO Gregory D. Vacca announced: “We are pleased that lawmakers in Washington understand the value of EHRs, and we stand ready to help physicians provide themselves, their patients and taxpayers with outstanding value for their EHR investment dollars.”

The stimulus law, formally the American Economic Recovery and Reinvestment Act (the “Act”), provides special incentives to certain Medicaid-reimbursed providers to implement “certified EHR technology.”  Under the Act, if at least 30% of a provider’s patients are receiving assistance through Medicaid (20% for pediatricians), such provider is eligible for subsidies of up to $25,000 per provider for the purchase and initial implementation for each provider, plus up to $10,000 per year thereafter, for a period not to exceed 5 years or a total of $75,000.  For providers who do not have a significant number of Medicaid-assisted patients, the subsidies are more modest but still quite substantial, topping out at $44,000 over five years.

WiFiMed Holdings, through its subsidiary EncounterPRO Healthcare Resources, Inc., believes that its software and services, including the EncounterPRO® EHR, are ideally suited to both Medicaid and non-Medicaid providers’ practices.  Among the over 300 practices that use EncounterPRO EHR are dozens of practices with substantial numbers of Medicaid-assisted patients, including a four-site practice of 15 providers with well over 30% Medicaid-assisted patients.  The EncounterPRO EHR is the winner of over 14 national awards, and is one of only two EHR companies (the other is General Electric) whose users have won on three occasions the coveted HIMSS Davies Award for Excellence in the use of Health Information Technology in an ambulatory practice.  HIMSS, the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society, is the premier professional association of healthcare IT professionals and businesses.

The EncounterPRO EHR is distinguished from its competitors by its use of workflow management and touch screens to ensure fast and easy charting, as well as the close coordination of care services within the practice.  The resulting efficiencies make its users happier and wealthier.  Indeed, the two pediatricians using EncounterPRO EHR who won the Davies Award reported increased profitability following EncounterPRO EHR implementation of 90% in one case (to $229,000), and 102% in the other case (to $304,316).  

It is no accident that EncounterPRO EHR users report the healthiest financial gains among EHR adopters, including other Davies Award winners.  Those financial gains are a consequence of the workflow management and the ease of using touchscreens to chart while seeing patients.  In “EHR Workflow Management Systems in Ambulatory Care” http://www.encounterpro.com/papers/EHRWorkflowHIMSS2005.pdf, one of the seminal studies on the issue, Charles Webster, MD, MSIE, MSIS, described a study of 20 self-selected practices using the EncounterPRO EHR.  Among those practices (all but one of which were pediatric, family practice, internal medicine or obstetrics), encounters per day increased (on average) 13.5%, charges per visit increased $17, billings increased 30%, denied claims decreased 61%, and revenue increased 24%.  Even patients benefitted substantially, with an average 13.5 minute decrease in time spent in the waiting rooms, and a 16 minute decrease in overall encounter length. The average time taken by providers to return phone calls decreased by 2.75 hours, and to refill prescriptions by four hours. Even quality review scores increased by 17%.  Competitive EHR systems without workflow management or touchscreens cannot approach such results.

EncounterPRO EHR ver. 5.0 is certified by the Commission for the Certification of Health Information Technology (CCHIT) for Ambulatory Care 2006.  The certification is valid for three years.  EncounterPRO Healthcare Resources is in the process of obtaining certification this year for the current version of EncounterPRO EHR.