Healthcare IT ignores the small pediatric office

This is interesting...

"Without changes in the way we promote health IT, small physician practices will be left behind the technical curve, and as a result, patients will fail to benefit from the quality of care electronic health records provide."

-- Rep. Charles Gonzalez (D-Texas), House Small Business, Healthcare and Trade Subcommittee chairman, in the April 2, 2007, issue of Modern Healthcare magazine. Gonzales plans to introduce legislation to help small practices adopt health IT.

Wow, someone is paying attention to the small pediatric office, independent, private. Remember the Cerner's and McKesson's and IBM's of the world do not sell the EMR to you because you frankly aren't worth their time from a dollars and cents point of view. Take a look at what the Personal pediatrics affiliate program can do for your practice, we have multiple implementation options to consider. From part time practice for the pediatrician mom reentering the workforce to an additional revenue stream for a busy office, we don't want to show you how to " streamline your practice" read farm more patients in and out like cattle. We want to show you how to have the practice you always dreamed of, without being at the mercy of the health insurance plans, with salary double of national average. Watch how we are revolutionizing pediatrics at www.personalpediatrics.com

Personal Pediatrics Affiliates Practice EWvidence Based Medicine

I find this quote interesting...This is reflective of the commoditized healthcare system of in network pediatrics practice. When one's revenue stream is entirely based upon reimbursement you negotiate with the likes of BCBS and United, one must remain obsessed with "one's numbers"What this means is that you are essentially tryingtosee as many patients as youpossibly can cram into the day...

"We might all be brilliant doctors, and we all have the best of intentions with every patient we see, but if we don't know our actual numbers, we can't know how well we're really doing. Most of us will find we're not in the top 10 percent; 90 percent of us aren't, but 90 percent of us want to be. If you give us the information, and you give us a way to work on improving, we will improve. That can't be done with a paper record."

-- Susan Andrews, M.D., of Family Practice Partners, a four-physician family medicine practice in Murfreesboro, Tenn., in the March 2007 American Medical Group Assn.'s Group Practice Journal.

Consider the Personal Pediatrics Affiliate program to eliminate office overhead, practice retainer based medicine and see patients in a manner that is convenient for them and their families. Utilize our web based portal and practice platform with it's out of insurance network precedent and forget all about minimizing " days in AR" Come back to practicing the evidence based medicine that you dream of. www.personalpediatrics.com

Natalie Hodge MD FAAP Founder and CEO personal Pediatrics

High Tech medical practice system may Replace Ailing Medicaid

The Personal Pediatrics House call software and system and portal may play a critical role in easing gaps in insurance coverage for those just above and just under the poverty line...

Health insurance premiums rose faster than adjustments were made to the federal poverty level between 1998 and 2004, according to a report by the Kaiser Family Foundation. In that period, the federal poverty limit increased only about 20%, but premiums for family coverage rose 100% and single coverage increased by 86%. As a result, people who are just above the poverty limit are hit increasingly hard. Because eligibility of health care subsidies depends on personal or family income's relation to the federal policy level, the arrangement does not provide for consistent protection against rising health care costs, the group says.


Natalie Hodge MD CEO and Founder Personal Pediatrics, Inc.

Doctor's innocent record transfer a hippa violation

Take a look... Innocent enough... an insurance company requests a file on a patient... This happens every day to doc's who accept assignment for insurance companies... ( For those of you that don't know that term it means docs who allow insurers to decide which of their services will be covered based on what the insurer decides ) Bottom line... Why not have secure access to your medical record and a doctor that you contract with directly for his or HER services?? Why not box out insurers from having ANY access to your medical record. In the future as genetic testing progresses, you do NOT want BCBS Aetna and UHC to know whether you're testing positive for diseases. As a physician why not utilize a system that emables your CLIENTS to have access to their own record and then they may do with it what they please. Incidentally, stop paying all this staff to DO something that is AUTOMATED via the web now??? Why not implement a service out of your office that PRINTS MONEY for you while providing a service families are DYING for??

Natalie Hodge MD
Founder and CEO Personal Pediatrics


A lawsuit involving HIPAA got the green light in December when the North Carolina Court of Appeals ruled that a patient could continue with her case. The patient alleges that a clinic "violated the rules and regulations established by HIPAA," but since she doesn't claim an actual HIPAA violation, she can keep fighting. The case had been dismissed by a lower state court, which ruled that the lawsuit was improper because HIPAA does not grant an individual a private cause of action. The plaintiff, Heather Acosta, was an employee of Psychiatric Associates of Eastern Carolina and was also the patient there, according to the opinion. She filed a suit in May 2005, against the clinic's owner, David Faber, M.D., alleging negligent infliction of emotional distress. The suit also alleges invasion of privacy and infliction of emotional distress against other defendants, including the clinic's office manager. At one point, Faber allegedly let the office manager use his medical record access number, and she "retrieve[d] plaintiff's confidential psychiatric and other medical and healthcare records," which she then gave "to third parties without plaintiff's authorization or consent," the opinion says. The plaintiff states that when Dr. Faber provided his medical access code, "Dr. Faber violated the rules and regulations established by HIPAA," the opinion continues. "This allegation does not state a cause of action under HIPAA. Rather, plaintiff cites to HIPAA as evidence of the appropriate standard of care, a necessary element of negligence," the court states. An attorney for Faber says that if his client's password was indeed used, it was done so without Faber's knowledge. "I don't see how he could be held liable for any kind of emotional distress claim," says attorney Nicholas Ellis, who is with Poyner & Spruill, LLP. Two defendants in the case have settled. The case against Faber and another defendant will proceed. Read the opinion for Acosta v. Byrum at www.aoc.state.nc.us/www/public/html/opinions.htm.

HSA's further liberalized as of Jan 1st 2007

One provision of the new health savings account law is likely to have a particularly dramatic effect on the speed in which the HSA market evolves, according to industry observers. As of Jan. 1, the maximum allowable HSA contribution is no longer tied to the health plan deductible. Under a set of new rules, signed into law on Dec. 20, high-deductible health plan (HDHP) enrollees can contribute up to the full statutory maximum to their HSAs each year. Previously, the maximum contribution was "the lesser of" the statutory maximum or the deductible....

Families may utilize their new HSA credit card to make easy automated payments to their Personal pediatricsHouse Call affiliate Pediatrician

Natalie Hodge MD Personal pediatrics House call affiliate st louis