Edition Forty-Seven (6/22/10)

Temporary EHR Certification Rule Out
Health Data Management, 6/18/10
ONC has released a final rule establishing a temporary EHR certification program, with the final rule for a permanent certification program expected this fall. The final rule for the temporary certification program does not deem CCHIT as a temporary certifying body, and does not grant "grandfather" status to existing EHRs as being considered "Certified EHR Technology" under the temporary program, even if the products are CCHIT-certified.

EMRs to Aid Clinical Trial Recruitment
Modern Healthcare, subscription required, 6/16/10
A consortium of academic medical centers, drugmakers, and other health care organizations has created a joint initiative aimed at improving the clinical-trial-recruitment process through the use of EHRs. Members of the collaborative, called Partnership to Advance Clinical electronic Research, will work to design clinical-trial-recruitment data sets which could be incorporated into EHR software.

Extension Centers Offer Guidance on Health I.T.
Modern Healthcare, subscription required 6/16/10
When Congress passed ARRA, it called on HHS to create from scratch a nationwide network of RECs to promote the adoption and use of HIT. HHS won't have to reinvent the wheel in rolling out the program: The Smith-Lever Act of 1914 established the U.S. system of cooperative agriculture extension services anchored in the nation's land-grant colleges and universities.

Report: Meaningful Use and Reform Tied Together
Health Data Management, 6/16/10
A strong argument can be made that the success of long-term health care reform and the promotion and Meaningful Use of HIT are linked, according to a new report. Adoption and Meaningful Use of EHRs can improve health insurers' disease and case management programs by augmenting their traditional and limited use of claims data with clinical data, however, implementing I.T. and achieving Meaningful Use will strain the resources of provider organizations and could threaten the stability of health plans' provider networks.

Q&A: Dr. David Blumenthal on Getting Doctors on Board with EHRs
InformationWeek, 6/15/10
InformationWeek editor at large Marianne Kolbasuk McGee spoke to the nation's health I.T. coordinator, Dr. David Blumenthal, about what's at stake as health care providers, especially smaller ones, start deploying and using EHRs. 

Blumenthal: We're Not Pushing too Hard
Health Data Management, 6/15/10
David Blumenthal, M.D. recently said federal officials have heard the concerns of the proposed Meaningful Use rule loud and clear. But in a blog entry on ONC's Health I.T. Buzz page, Blumenthal's tone does not sound hopeful to those who advocate streamlined Meaningful Use criteria.

Comment Sought on HIE Accreditation
Health Data Management, 6/14/10
The Electronic Health Network Accreditation Commission is seeking public comment on a second phase of its work to develop a HIE accreditation program. In February, EHNAC accepted comments on the first phase of its emerging HIE program, focusing on privacy and security, technical performance, business practices, and organizational resources.

Survey: Consumer Support for EHRs Low
Health Data Management, 6/14/10
A survey of nearly 2,200 adults across the nation shows only 40 percent believe EHRs will improve the efficiency of health care, with most respondents also saying patients will be the group which benefits the least from EHRs.

ARRA Projects Move Ahead for Health I.T., Broadband
California Health Line, 6/14/10
Federal government agencies and departments are moving forward with implementing various provisions of ARRA. This update summarizes significant developments over the past few months in areas including HIT, broadband expansion, construction, and research projects.

EHR Rules May Be Counterproductive: AMA Board
Modern Healthcare, subscription required, 6/14/10 
Although AMA members last year asked the AMA's board to push for regulation of PHRs and a basic common interface for EHRs, the board reported back—for right now—it might be best to stay out of the way. These and other I.T. subjects were debated in a reference committee meeting during the second day of the AMA's annual House of Delegates meeting.

Move Toward 'Shared Care': Post-Acute Group
Modern Healthcare, subscription required 6/11/10
The Long Term and Post Acute Care HIT Collaborative released the 2010-2012 Long Term and Post Acute Care HIT Road Map, the third set of guidelines to be published by the group. The road map also outlined priorities for the coming years. Two of them involve more-measurable applications, and the third takes a more philosophical approach: urging post-acute providers to promote a person-centered vision of health and wellness across the total spectrum of health care and not just within a setting.

Can Patient Records Stay Private En Route?
Government Health IT, 6/11/10
The team created to resolve privacy and security issues associated with sharing patients' health records wasted no time before tackling a difficult issue at the team's first public meeting, such as whether health information services providers (HISPs), such as regional networks, should be allowed to look at the records the HISPs are transferring from one health care provider to another. 

Study Looks at State of Clinical Analytics
Health Data Management, 6/10/10
Users of clinical data analytics have limited expectations that the technology can improve patient care and lower costs, according to a study from HIMSS. Obstacles for improved use of clinical analytics include data existing in multiple codes and formats and on paper, missing critical data elements, and beliefs benefits fall short of the cost of analysis.

Survey Highlights Need for Docs to Talk to Patients About Moving to an EHR 
Business Wire, 6/9/10
A new survey finds about half of Americans support the switch to EHRs, but respondents ranked patients as having the least to gain from EHR adoption. About 16% of respondents said their health care provider had approached them to discuss a transition to EHRs.

Data-Driven: HHS Aims for Info Accessibility
Modern Healthcare, subscription required 6/8/10
HHS' new Community Health Data Initiative Web page aggregates not just popular and high-profile data catalogs—the CDC and Prevention's Healthy People 2010 database and the CMS/Hospital Quality Alliance Hospital Compare database among them—but also more-obscure info sets, such as Medicare data on disease prevalence and health care use, which were never before available publicly.

Doctors and Hospitals Say Goals on Computerized Records are Unrealistic
The New York Times, 6/7/10
In meetings at the White House, doctors and hospital executives have conveyed the same message: the President's all-or-nothing approach could discourage efforts to adopt EHRs because some of the proposed standards are impossibly high and the risk of failure is great. At least 27 Senators and 245 House members echoed those concerns in letters to the administration. 

Data-Driven: HHS Taps into Treasure Trove of Info
Modern Healthcare, subscription required 6/7/10
HHS officials outlined a plan to leverage federal-level boosterism and a more customer-friendly reorganization of the vast trove of government-controlled data to catalyze the creation of a new network of public and private software developers and health care data users. Enabled by easier access to health care information and armed with better tools to analyze it, these new health care data users will be able to raise awareness of community health performance, increase pressure on decision makers to improve performance, and help facilitate and inform action to improve performance. 

App Aids in Building Comparative Sites
Health Data Management, 6/7/10
The AHRQ has introduced free software to aid states, hospitals, and other organizations in complying, analyzing, and posting data on the quality and cost of hospital care. The software is called MONAHRQ, or My Own Network Powered by AHRQ. It enables creation of a customized Web site populated with data which can be used for internal quality improvement purposes or to report quality data to the public.

HHS Advisors Consider Mapping Disparities via HIT
Government Health IT, 6/7/10
An HHS advisory group considered including measures showing providers were able to reduce race, ethnic, and other disparities in the health of their patients, in the pending Meaningful Use requirements. A Health I.T. Policy Committee panel explored this and other approaches to eliminating differences in health care access and outcomes through the use of HIT.

Health Information Exchange Enhances Decision Making
InformationWeek, 6/16/10
A study by the Medical College of Wisconsin finds ED doctors who have electronic access to patient data via an HIE spend less time gathering information and make better-informed clinical decisions in treating patients. The study surveyed 185 Emergency Room doctors in three sites involved with the initial launch of the Wisconsin Health Information Exchange. 

State Alliance: Proposed HITECH Regulations Coming in Two Weeks
HealthLeaders, 6/15/10
The Office for Civil Rights will release proposed rules later this month on most of the HIPAA privacy and security-related provisions in HITECH, according to the North Carolina Health Care Information and Communications Alliance (NCHICA).

West Virginia Has New HIT Center for Health Care Providers
DOTmed News, 6/15/10
West Virginia has used a new grant from ARRA to create the West Virginia Regional Health Information Technology Extension Center (WVRHITEC). The WVRHITEC will help health care providers in the state implement EHRs through expert assistance and technical services making participating providers eligible for $44,000 or $63,750 in future federal incentive payments. 

Colorado Guiding Electronic Network for Medical Records
The Denver Post, 6/15/10 
Colorado is racing a five-year deadline to build a network of EHRs linking doctors' offices and hospitals across the state—a massive challenge given about 70 percent of physicians still use the print-fax-phone method to share data. By 2015, Colorado's HIT experts plan to have a system which will allow a doctor to electronically zip a patient's medical history to a hospital, nursing home, or home health nurse.

Digital Records are Set to Speed Disability Claims
Indianapolis Star, 6/14/10
Long waits for Social Security Disability are not unusual, but now the SSA's Indianapolis office will tap into technology to speed up the process. Indianapolis is one of 15 sites across the nation which will start requesting and receiving medical records electronically.

$20M in Funding Goes to 39 Massachusetts Hospitals and Community Health Centers
Healthcare IT News, 6/11/10
Investment in health care I.T. is one priority of the $20 million in funding awarded to 39 hospitals and community health centers in Massachusetts, which included 12 MEDITECH customers, awarded by the Patrick-Murray administration as part of infrastructure and capacity-building funding designed to enhance the hospitals' ability to serve populations in need more efficiently and effectively.

States Roll Out ONC-Approved I.T. Plans
Modern Healthcare, subscription required 6/10/10 
Maryland, New Mexico, and Utah have received the green light from ONC to move forward with a plan to implement a functioning HIE. The three states are working to streamline the transfer of electronic health data among hospitals, physicians, and patients through these exchanges.

Open Records Pilot Project Looks to Reinvigorate Patient-Physician Dialogue
HealthLeaders, 6/8/10
Hospitals and physicians in three states announced a 12-month pilot project which they hope will rekindle the movement and measure the impact of patient access to medical records. Funded through a $1.4 million grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Pioneer Portfolio, the OpenNotes Project will evaluate the impact on both patients and physicians of sharing, through on-line medical record portals, the comments and observations made by physicians after each patient encounter.

'Health Connect' Launched at Hilo Medical Center
Hawaii247, 6/7/10
After nearly a year of training and preparation, Hilo Medical Center became the first public hospital in Hawaii Health Systems Corporation to convert to an EMR system May 1. The new MEDITECH EMR system enables the hospital to connect electronically with internal and external physicians and other service providers to ensure the best possible care for hospital patients.

Cell Phone + PHR = Diabetes Management
Health Data Management, 6/16/10
Two hospitals in D.C. will test patient access via cell phones to personal health records software as a way to better manage high-risk diabetics in underserved areas. The George Washington University Hospital and Howard University Hospital will develop a program to use cell phones to enable patients to maintain electronic diaries of their weight, blood glucose levels, and blood pressure. Participating patients will be given a cell phone and a PHR populated with EHR data from the Howard University Diabetes Treatment Center.

PODCAST: One-on-One with Hallmark Health VP of IS Carol Dresser
HealthSystemCIO, 6/16/10
HealthsystemCIO.com recently caught up with Carol Dresser, VP of information services at Hallmark Health, about working to increase adoption of CPOE and perfect its bedside bar coded medication administration processes.

Monitoring the Home Health Monitors
H&HN, 6/15/10
Using home-based monitoring devices can enrich clinical and patient lifestyle information, enabling providers to merge Web 2.0 technologies with health care—a concept referred to as the "connected medical home." Until recently, however, a major challenge in achieving the connected medical home has been the lack of adequate home monitoring systems. 

AHIMA Summit Highlights Future of HIT
HealthLeaders, 6/14/10
During the AHIMA Long-Term and Post-Acute Care HIT Summit, industry leaders and representatives from a variety of organizations met to discuss the future of HIT in LTPAC settings.

Clinton to AHIP: Embrace Change, Even if It Hurts
Healthcare IT News, 6/11/10
Health care reform might seem tough, but it is necessary to repair a misaligned health care system, former president Bill Clinton told the nation's health insurance industry leaders. The message was delivered several times during America's Health Insurance Plans Institute 2010 in Las Vegas.

Medical Homes Don't Guarantee Patient Satisfaction
Modern Healthcare, subscription required 6/9/10
It is possible to transform an independent medical practice into a patient-centered medical home, but it requires tremendous effort and motivation, according to a report by researchers summarizing the lessons learned in a two-year, 36-practice medical home national demonstration project.

Joint Commission Pushes Back Telemedicine Requirements until March 2011
HealthLeaders, 6/7/10
The Joint Commission's plan to implement CMS telemedicine standards for hospitals has been pushed back until March 2011. CMS has proposed changes to telemedicine requirements—which will in turn affect the organization's own standards and in turn change the requirements The Joint Commission intends to implement.

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