Edition Sixty-Four (2/23/11)

ONC Deputy Touts Vendor Transparency
Health Data Management, 2/20/11
National HIT Deputy Coordinator Farzad Mostashari, M.D., issued a call for more EHR vendor transparency in such areas as their market share and contract provisions, saying these are important factors providers need to know when selecting an EHR. Most doctors who have adopted EHRs, he noted, are not happy with their contracts and many small physician practices lack the support to negotiate a better contract.

GAO: CMS Should Reconcile e-Prescribing, EHR Incentive Reporting
Government Health IT, 2/18/11
CMS should reduce the duplicate requirements in its two programs which pay incentives to health care providers who use HIT. It should also reconcile areas in the two programs which are similar but inconsistent to relieve some of the reporting burden for participating physicians, according to the Government Accountability Office.

CIOs Call for Delaying Move to Stage 2 Meaningful Use
Healthcare IT News, 2/18/11
CHIME is urging the government to allow hospitals and physician practices more time to assess Stage 1 progress and to better prepare for Stage 2 Meaningful Use objectives. Meaningful Use measures and objectives for Stage 2 should reflect the capabilities and experiences of hospitals and physicians to handle the scope of Stage 1 before any measures for the second stage are codified, CHIME contends.

Blumenthal: Health I.T. About to Swing into Full Gear
Executive Gov, 2/16/11
In a new blog post, David Blumenthal writes about two recent reports which show adoption of EHRs is increasing and health care providers plan to achieve Meaningful Use of EHRs to qualify for incentive payments.

Accountable Care Organizations and Health Information Exchange
H&HN, 2/15/11
ACOs will require well-integrated networks for exchanging patient data and performance metrics. The goal of an ACO is to improve the integration of care among providers. This integration could encompass a wide variety of provider types, such as physicians, nurse practitioners, hospitals, and non-acute providers. Ultimately, this integration should result in care which is safer, more efficient, and of better service and higher quality.

NQF Converting to Electronic Quality Measures
Modern Healthcare, subscription required 2/15/11
The National Quality Forum has released 113 NQF-endorsed measures of health care performance in an electronic "eMeasure" format. HHS requested the conversion of the measures to an electronic format from a paper-based format to ensure they comply with the I.T. provisions of ARRA.

Doctors' Digital Divide Could Widen Health Care Disparities
American Medical News, 2/14/11
As the federal government strengthens its push for HIT adoption among physicians, there is growing concern the effort may increase health care disparities in minority communities by adding a digital divide to the mix. Efforts are under way by the government, private, and nonprofit sectors to help advance health I.T. adoption and funding in minority communities, which advocates say have been slower to take advantage of federal programs to bolster adoption of EHR systems.

Obama's 2012 Budget Proposal Would Increase Funds for ONC
Modern Healthcare, subscription required 2/14/11
In his budget for fiscal 2012, Obama has proposed $79.9 billion in discretionary spending for HHS, which represents a slight increase from the $79.8 billion discretionary budget authority approved in 2010. The administrative budget for ONC would increase to $57 million from $42 million.

EHRs Can Help Researchers Track Newborns Treated for Disorders
Government Health IT, 2/11/11
The child health center of the National Institutes of Health said it is critical to make information on testing and treatment of certain disorders in newborns available in electronic medical records.

HHS Sends EHR Disclosure Rule for Review
HealthLeaders, 2/10/11
HHS pushed forward a HITECH-required proposed rule on accounting of disclosures of EHRs. The rule will lay the foundation for what health care providers will be accountable for when patients request disclosures on their electronic medical records. The Office of Management and Budget reviews all rules before they are made final.

Disease Prevention Gets $750M in Fed Funds
HealthLeaders, 2/10/11
Hospitals, clinics, and chronic disease programs, as well as disease researchers and the public health infrastructure will receive $750 million in federal funds for disease prevention this year. The $750 million is said to be an effort to build on a separate $500 million allocated last year. This year, community prevention will receive $298 million, clinical prevention $182 million, public health infrastructure $137 million, and research and tracking $133 million.

CMS Listserv Covers EHR Incentives
Health Data Management, 2/10/11
The CMS created a listserv to quickly disseminate information about the EHR Meaningful Use incentive payment programs to subscribers’ e-mail inboxes. CMS will keep subscribers informed of upcoming deadlines and answers to frequently asked questions.

Report Summarizes Initial Stage 2 Criteria
Health Data Management, 2/10/11
A new report summarizes initial Stage 2 Meaningful Use recommendations from the HIT Policy Committee’s Meaningful Use workgroup. The workgroup in January published a request for comments on the initial recommendations with responses due by Feb. 25. While the initial recommendations may change, the underlying capabilities which will be needed to implement them will remain.

HIPAA Privacy Disclosures Rule May Soon be Published
Health Data Management, 2/10/11
HHS sent to the Office of Management and Budget for review a proposed rule to modify disclosures of information under the HIPAA Privacy rule. The rule would implement the accounting for disclosures provisions of Section 13405 of the HITECH Act. HITECH expands the privacy rule's disclosure requirements by including disclosures during the previous three years for treatment, payment, and health care operations if a covered entity uses an EHR system. 

AMA Seeks Input on Federal Regulations
Health Data Management, 2/9/11
The American Medical Association is asking members to complete a Web survey on federal government regulations most burdensome to their practices. The survey follows an Executive Order from President Obama that all government agencies conduct a retrospective analysis of existing rules which may be outmoded, ineffective, insufficient, or excessively burdensome.

Most Americans Favor Electronic Medical Records
Reuters, 2/8/11
Despite privacy concerns, more than three quarters of Americans favor the use of electronic medical records, according to a new study.

Security and the Benefits of Going Electronic
Becker's Hospital Review, 2/8/11
Providers and health care consumers both feel EHRs will produce better health care outcomes, but there’s still some disagreement about the security of such tools. The practice of medicine is changing with technology, which calls for an adjustment of its perceptions in the space. EHRs alone don’t mean doctors are better doctors, but they do help doctors provide better care. However, the patients of those physicians worry about security of EHRs.

ONC Announces $12 Million in New Extension Center Grants
Modern Healthcare, subscription required 2/8/11
Regional extension centers working to promote the adoption and Meaningful Use of HIT will receive an additional $12 million to help them address the special needs of critical access hospitals and rural hospitals. The grants were awarded to 48 of the 62 RECs and range from $18,000 to $1,068,000. The grants bring the total federal funds awarded to RECs, specifically for critical access and rural hospitals, to $32 million.

ONC Seeks an I.T. Certification Overseer
Health Data Management, 2/8/11
ONC announced they will select one organization, called the ONC-Approved Accreditor (ONC-AA), which will accredit entities wishing to become a health I.T. certification body. The final rule details ONC's competitive process for selecting the ANC-AA. The chosen organization will serve a three-year term and can be reselected following another competitive selection process.

Blumenthal Slams EHR Critics
InformationWeek, 2/7/11
David Blumenthal took a swipe at a recent study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine which showed the use of EHRs did not significantly improve the quality of patient care, even when they were used with clinical decision support systems, which help health professionals make clinical decisions to better manage care for patients. 

ONC to Track Nationwide EHR, Info Exchange Use
Modern Healthcare, subscription required 2/7/11
ONC awarded two contracts totaling more than $3.9 million to monitor the nationwide use of health information exchanges and adoption of EHR systems. Surescripts was awarded a contract valued at more than $1.4 million to collect, report, and analyze ongoing evidence of nationwide electronic exchange of clinical information, such as e-Prescribing, and submit reports at least quarterly. SK&A Information Services received an ONC contract for $2.5 million to conduct ongoing surveys to assess providers' adoption and use of EHR systems.

Louisiana Receives Federal Approval of HIE Plan
Donaldsonville Chief, 11/15/11
Louisiana’s effort to significantly enhance the use of EHRs took a major step forward with final approval of the Louisiana Health Care Quality Forum’s Strategic and Operational Plan to develop a statewide health information network. The approval by ONC allows the state to access remaining grant funds to build the network, known as the Louisiana Health Information Exchange (LaHIE).

Feds Ramp Up Insurance Exchange Grants
Health Data Management, 2/16/11
HHS awarded seven grants totaling $241 million to assist "early innovator" states in building the I.T. infrastructure necessary to operate state-level HIEs mandated under the health reform law. The exchanges, which must be operational by 2014, are designed to help individuals and small employers compare, select, and purchase health insurance.

Medicare Readies ACO Rule
Health Data Management, 2/15/11
CMS has submitted to the Office of Management and Budget a final rule to implement the Medicare Shared Savings Program, a form of ACOs authorized under the health reform law. Under the program, participating providers will share in savings generated from an ACO by meeting certain quality improvement and cost reduction benchmarks.

FDA Loosens Rules on Certain Medical Device Data Systems
Government Health IT, 2/14/11
The FDA has loosened regulations on “medical device data systems,” making them exempt from pre-market review by the agency, but carefully limiting the definition of what the systems are. Medical data systems (MDDS) are “off-the-shelf or custom hardware or software products used alone or in combination which display unaltered medical device data, or transfer, store, or convert medical device data for future use, in accordance with a preset specification."

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