HIGH EXPECTATIONS The Creston boy’s soccer team has high hopes for the 2015 season, but the veteran players will have to step up for the Panthers. See the season preview in SPORTS, page 9A. >>
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THURSDAY, APRIL 2, 2015
ELECTRONIC HEALTH RECORDS
CNA photo by BAILEY POOLMAN
Randy Ringsdorf, First National Bank assistant vice president, speaks to a crowd of home buyers, realtors and appraisers during the bank’s annual home buyer’s seminar Tuesday at Southwestern Community College. Ringsdorf was one of several speakers during the seminar, including First National Bank Vice President Paul Lorenz, Ascend Valuation Services Appraiser Brandon Richards and Michele Draper, insurance agent with American Family Insurance — Katie Turner.
Annual home buying seminar under wraps
CNA photo by KYLE WILSON
Linda Thomsen, optometrist at Family Vision Center in Creston, talks with 2-year-old patient Marlee Spencer of Creston during an exam Tuesday afternoon. Thomsen said the offices in Red Oak, Mount Ayr, Corning and Creston all switched to electronic health records (EHRs) in July.
Have area doctors transitioned to EHRs?
By KYLE WILSON
WHAT’S AN EHR?
CNA managing editor kwilson@crestonnews.com
S
ome health care providers are and some aren’t. The Affordable Care Act — which became law in March 2010 — has prompted many health care organizations across the United States to make the switch from traditional paper records to electronic health records (EHRs). The benefits of EHRs are many, but problems with this technology have also been documented. What about here? Have health care providers in the area transitioned to electronic health records? Jane Brown, physical therapist in Creston, has no plans of making the switch to an EHR system at her business on Highway 34. She’s been completing and filing written medical reports Brown on patients for 40 years now. “I’m pretty old school,” Brown said. “I do complete electronic medical records when I visit my patients in Mount Ayr and Clearfield nursing homes. They are time consuming and anything that takes time away from my patients sticks in my
An electronic health record (EHR) is a digital version of a patient’s paper chart. EHRs are real-time, patient-centered records that make information available instantly and securely to authorized users. While an EHR does contain the medical and treatment histories of patients, an EHR system is built to go beyond standard clinical data collected in a provider’s office and can be inclusive of a broader view of a patient’s care. EHRs can contain a patient’s medical history, diagnoses, medications, treatment plans, immunization dates, allergies, radiology images and laboratory and test results. Source: Health.gov
craw. I’d rather have my hands on them — helping them get better — than on my computer.” A study from the University of California-Davis finds a 25 to 33 percent dropoff in physician productivity — and ultimately revenue — in the initial implementation of an EHR system. Doctors specifically report loss in productivity the first several weeks with EHRs and in some cases longer. Brown added she is still hoping that “someone shows some guts” and the Affordable Care Act “all goes away soon.” She said she is and will continue to be penalized
90.5 percent, up from 89.7 percent in 2013. The overall dropout rate in 2014 was 2.7 percent, slightly down from 2.8 the previous year. Nine of Iowa’s 10 largest school districts saw their four-year graduation rates climb, with Cedar Rapids Community School District
reporting the largest gain of 4.1 percent. Only Sioux City Community School District saw its graduation rate drop. Statewide graduation rates increased for all but two subgroups of students, with English-language learners seeing the most significant change, a 7.4 percent increase.
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First National Bank hosted a home buyer’s seminar Tuesday at Southwestern Community College, where attendees learned the basics of buying a home. “Buying a home. It is a big step, and you should learn as much about the process as you can,” said Jenna Greene, personal banker. “The more you know, the less stress Greene you’re going to feel and the more control, the more power you’ll have.” Greene began the seminar with an introduction, and explained buying a home instead of renting can be cheaper per month, and the interest accrued through the purchase of a home can be tax deductible. The third home buying seminar, which was attended by a wide range of people, included definitions of basic terminology, such as mortgage and escrow, as well as the process of purchasing a home. “Where do you start? Well, if you’ve got a house picked out, then you’ll want
by the government — receiving less Medicare reimbursement — until she adopts EHRs. “It’s not enough of a reduction yet to make me change,” Brown said. Linda Thomsen, optometrist and co-owner of Family Vision Center in Creston, said their offices in Red Oak, Mount Ayr, Corning and Creston all switched to EHRs in July. Thompson said the result has been an increased workload as EHRs com- Thomsen pliant with the Affordable Care Act require more documentation before, during and after a patient visit. “I’m staying late to do documentation from 5:30 to 7 most nights,” Thompson said. “Sometimes it’s 7:30. Some optometrists are choosing to hire scribes to do the documentation, but that’s expensive. And from a monetary standpoint, I can’t see less patients each day just so that I have time for documentation. So, I stay later.” Thomsen sees about 20 to 25 patients per day. She carries a laptop with her all day — typing patient
Iowa high school graduation rate climbs again in 2014 DES MOINES (AP) — New figures released by the Iowa Department of Education show that the state’s high school graduation rate rose for the class of 2014, making it the fourth straight year the rate has edged up. The data released Wednesday show Iowa’s four-year graduation rate increased to
By BAILEY POOLMAN
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Please see RECORDS, Page 2
to see your lender and go over your application and your circumstance,” said Paul Lorenz, mortgage lender and vice president at First National Bank. “We’re going to look at a couple things: how much house can you afford, and what your credit score is.” The home buying process begins with loan prequalification. Currently, First National Bank employees are in the process of completing an online prequalification program called RediQual. RediQual makes the process easier by allowing people looking to buy a home to put their information in online, and if they are approved for prequalification, they will get a notification to talk with a lender. If they don’t, they will also be notified to talk with a lender and finish the process. RediQual is expected to roll out in the next couple weeks. “This is kind of obvious, but it’s worth mentioning. Budgeting essentially means you’ve got to be paying attention to your spending habits and using credit wisely,” Lorenz said. “To put together a budget, you need to obviously understand how your money is being spent. It’s nice to increase your savings as you’re doing budgeting.” Please see SEMINAR, Page 12
Democrats offer education funding deal; GOP rejects DES MOINES (AP) — Democratic lawmakers are seeking a compromise deal on education funding, but Republicans say their proposal is still too expensive. Democrats on Wednesday proposed that schools get about $150 million in new funding for the upcoming school year. That number — which includes dollars dedicated to teacher leadership training
— is a middle point between the original proposals from House Republicans and Senate Democrats. Sen. Herman Quirmbach, a Democrat from Ames, called the offer an effort to split the difference. But House Speaker Kraig Paulsen, of Hiawatha, said he was not interested in going beyond the original House plan, saying the state could not afford to spend more.
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