Written by: John Lynn
The following is an interview with Mitochon about their newly launched EMO (Electronic medical Office) and a discussion of some of the various trends happening in healthcare IT like: ACOs, Meaningful Use, and HIEs.
Q: Tell us about your recently launched EMO (Electronic Medical Office) product.
A: Our Electronic Medical Office product is a complete end-to-end solution for the modern day medical practice. Allowing the practice to accomplish all their daily task in one solution. One application, one vendor, one solution….. EMO.
Q: When did you start thinking about a suite of applications beyond just EHR?
A: We have seen for years the issues the practice has had to endure when dealing with multiple vendors, products and interfaces. The finger pointing and passing the buck when many different vendors are involved. Its the old right hand left hand issue. Just over two years ago as a team we knew we had to step forward and develop an end-to-end solution and give the practice the continuity and consistency of dealing with one vendor and one solution to take care of all the practice needs from the Patient accessing their medical records and financial data from their own PC to the tracking of insurance claims and collections.
Q: Will EMO (Electronic Medical Office) be free like your past Free EHR offering?
A: Yes EMO will be a FREE offering. In addition to our FREE EMO we are offering a plus package, with EMO+ you get all the features of EMO and back office Revenue Cycle Management. With EMO plus the practice pays only 2.85% of their monthly collections and we handle all the billing and collections from a back office perspective.
Q: In this world of EHR consolidation, EHR’s closing down, etc, why should a doctor feel comfortable choosing Mitochon?
A: We started Mitochon with the belief that Health IT services are too expensive and too complex! We wanted to take away the cost barrier that many independent physicians couldn’t previously overcome, enabling them to provide better patient care while qualifying for Meaningful Use incentives. Our advertising business model is proven, sustainable and successful and is a similar model that works for TV, radio, newspaper and the web. We’re here to stay!
The Mitochon application is used in other markets on a paid basis. We are saddened by the fact that companies still pay to use systems that were closed down such as Kareo and Epocrates recent announcement, they are late and trying to resurrect a system that was closed down. We understand other free vendors have over spent on promotion and the day of reckoning is coming closer, we gain 30% of our new users from other free systems that offer poor support, when the investors get sick of running a business with scant regard to profits they will go the way of MySpace, remember them?
Q: Do you think that most of the doctors using your EHR will becoming “meaningful users”?
A: The question should really be if the physicians believe the meaningful useage criteria, as defined, really add to their patient care or do they see it more of a hassle or prying eyes of payers. The vast majority of our users have achieved Meaningful Use. We are a conservative company owned by physicians, we build a real base of users, no hype. We believe we likely have the highest percentage of users achieve MU versus any other EHR.
Q: The claims clearinghouse is a new Mitochon feature. Tell us more about that part of the product.
A: EMO would not be an end-to-end solution if we did not include medical claims clearing. There are no gimmicks or gotchya’s with our clearinghouse. The sending of medical claims as well as status updates of those claims is FREE as well! We are redefining the end the end solution
Q: What other applications aren’t part of EMO (Electronic Medical Office) that you’ll look at incorporating in the future?
A: We have appointment reminders, Statement printing, fully integrated credit card processing that is linked to a users account. We have the in built HIE that allows Physician to Physician referral as well as the soon to be launched Patient Health Record. As the market demands we will continue to add features and functionality. In office dispensing solutions can bring Physicians significant revenue, up to $7,000 per month profit depending on sub-speciality. We are also working to bring an integrated sample closet so physicians can add further value to their patient interaction. Also remember we also have free mobile access to our EHR.
Q: How do you think what you’re doing fits in with other trends like ACOs (Accountable Care Organizations)?
A: In an ACO the goal is population management, better outcomes with lower cost. As such you have to manage the 30% of chronically ill patients who are utilizing 60-70% of the health care dollars. To do so, every provider needs to be engaged, integrated and connected. So our free solution has a role to complement the other solutions so that an ACO can gather information from all their providers. The risk is very high for an ACO that has a leaky infrastructure because the management of risk will be exposed and the cost curve will not be bending, hence no savings will be generated. Our EMO solution is created for instant collaboration and coordination because of the built in HIE function. In our network physicians who care for the same patients instantly are connected and can share medication list, problem list, labs, radiology and progress notes without the additional cost of integrating. We have contracts with 3 ACO’s.
Q: What’s your take on mobile adoption by doctors, particularly when it comes to products like EHR?
A: Mobile phones are ubiquitous in the medical community. We see Physicians and Nurse Practitioners adopting our mobile solution. It is unlikely they will undertake a full clinical interaction on an iPhone but they do use our native iPad App. The key here is it is a tool for the Doc on the run. The office based PC will always be the tool of choice in the foreseeable future, many have just purchased them recently!
Q: What’s something that doctors aren’t paying enough attention to right now?
A: Connectivity. They have just paid for a stand alone EHR, now they need to coordinate care with other providers/hospitals/labs etc. These other entities are cherry picking and paying certain providers who have enough volume or contribution to the hospital or system. It is a cost that may be just as expensive as the EHR in the long term for the physician. This is a crucial part of the solution and why we have an inbuilt HIE functionality allowing physicians to immediately refer patients across our system. This is particularly attractive to the ACO market.
Also, the meaningful use subsidy will end in a few years, if a provider is using an expensive system, how will that affect the ability for the provider to sell their practice to a new physician who is already in debt from med school. We have many fat cat EHR vendors just milking the Physician who they see as an equal opportunity victim. How many EHR’s are showing 60% revenue growth since 2009? This will come to a end soon and the physician will be leveraged again unless they are using a system with an alternate revenue model. Thats where our Mitochon Patent comes in, introducing contextual clinical content into the workflow and subsidize the Physician’s cost.
Full Disclosure: Mitochon is an advertiser on EMR and HIPAA.
