business
Tech company joins AMA's physician portal
■ An electronic medical record and practice management tool is now part of the online platform.
By Pamela Lewis Dolan — Posted Aug. 18, 2010
The American Medical Association announced an agreement with NextGen Healthcare Information Systems to offer physicians access to NextGen's ambulatory electronic medical record and practice management systems on its online physician platform.
The Amagine platform is a one-sign-in portal in which physicians can purchase and access the technical tools needed to run their practices. NextGen will offer both EMR and practice management systems on the physician portal. Ingenix was the first to offer a combined EMR and practice management system, called CareTracker. (See correction)
"NextGen Healthcare is a leader in maintaining the latest certifications available, and we are confident in the company's commitment to helping physicians demonstrate meaningful use," said AMA Secretary Steven Stack, MD, in a prepared statement.
The portal, which is being tested in Michigan in collaboration with the Michigan State Medical Society, is expected to launch nationally by the beginning of 2011. Six "model" practices are testing the technology to help the AMA determine what additional support physicians need to meet meaningful use requirements and qualify for Medicare or Medicaid incentive payments. The computer company Dell donated equipment for those model practice sites.
Other technology partners that will be offering systems on the AMA's platform are Allscripts and DrFirst, both e-prescribing systems, and Microsoft Corp., which is granting access to its personal health record platform, HealthVault.
Isabel, a decision-support tool, also will be made available. Voltage Security will provide secure e-mail communication. The technology platform on which the portal runs was developed by Covisint, a subsidiary of Detroit-based Compuware Corp.
