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Edition
Seven (3/17/09)
  
House Again Considers
Electronic Records Bill
Federal Computer Week, 3/17/09
The House is again set to consider legislation that would
expand the National Archives and Records Administration's
power to dictate how agencies and the White House
preserve electronic records. A similar measure cleared
the House in the last session, but was not acted on by
the Senate. The bill would amend the Federal Records Act
and the Presidential Records Act. Under the proposed
legislation, NARA would require agencies to capture,
manage, and preserve records in an electronic format and
that agency would develop regulations for how agencies
maintain electronic records.
Getting the Facts Right
Hospitals & Health Networks, 3/17/09
Thanks to advanced information technology, community
hospitals, local physicians, tertiary medical specialists,
researchers, pharmacists, and the array of ancillary
technologists and support staff who together provide
patient care are no longer condemned to practice as if
they were castaways dispersed over an archipelago of
remote islands, communicating sporadically by shouts into
the wind and paper messages stuffed into bottles.
There’s a phrase for the new paradigm of closely
coordinated, enriched, technologically mediated medicine:
clinical integration. A few systems, including MEDITECH
customer Avera Health (Sioux Falls, SD) are well on the
way to making that phrase operative.
State Starts Health Records Bank Pilots
Health Data Management, 3/17/09
The Washington State Health Care Authority has launched
three pilot projects to test the feasibility of health
records banks. The pilots will take place in Bellingham
with St. Joseph Hospital Foundation and The Critical
Junctures Institute; in Cashmere with Community Choice
Healthcare Network; and in Spokane with Inland Northwest
Health Services. The sponsoring organizations will serve
as trusted entities controlling a health records bank,
which is seen as an alternative type of health
information exchange.
Stimulus Dollars Go to Medicaid, Health Clinics
HealthLeaders, 3/16/09
The establishment of the Office of Recovery Act
Coordination last week means the $137 billion stimulus
money is a step closer to health care professions, but
don't get excited yet. Except for stimulus money to help
care for the needy, health care funding is on hold while
officials develop a process to dole out funds. Creating
The Office of Recovery Act Coordination, which will
oversee how the portion of Department of Health and Human
Services money is spent, is the first step in the process.
Information Technology Holds Promise for
Advancing Health Care
Los Angeles Times, 3/15/09
A stethoscope with three tiny koalas dangling from his
neck and eyeglasses perched on his nose, Dennis Saver
looks every bit the family doctor as he steps into the
examining room of his small practice on Florida's
Treasure Coast. When Saver begins to examine his patient,
however, the 56-year-old physician does something that
four out of five doctors in America do not: He pulls out
a computer. Saver's laptop, and the system behind it, put
him on the cutting edge of what President Obama and many
experts say is a critical step to improving the nation's
health care system while also reining in costs.
Stimulus Package Aims To Spur Adoption Of E-Health
Records
InformationWeek, 3/14/09
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act makes $2
billion available immediately to help health care
providers implement e-health records and to fund research
into the use of health systems. The federal economic
stimulus bill signed into law last month contains several
financial incentives that could get laggard doctors and
hospitals to adopt I.T. tools that can cut costs and save
lives.
NIH Grants Can Go for I.T. Projects
Health
Data Management,
3/13/09
The National Institutes of Health is accepting applications for $1.5 billion in economic
stimulus grant funds available through the American
Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Some of the funds can be
used for information technology purposes. For instance, $1
billion is available for construction grants to build new
research facilities or improve existing ones. The $1.5
billion grant round starts the doling out of $8 billion
appropriated in the stimulus law for NIH, which is the
nation's medical research agency and includes 27
institutes and centers.
EMR Story Stirs Strong Reactions from AMDIS Docs
Modern Healthcare, subscription needed 3/13/09
On March 5, Dr. Scott Haig published an article in TIME
magazine, “Electronic medical records: Will they
really cut costs?” The president of the Association
of Medical Directors of Information Systems, an
organization of more than 2,000 clinicians with formal
responsibility for health care information technology
leadership, engaged several of his AMDIS colleagues in a
discussion of what Dr. Haig, and perhaps others, are
missing in the dialectic regarding what will likely be
one of the most important transformations of U.S. health
care in our lifetime.
Doc Use of I.T. Up; Money Still Key Issue: ACPE
Survey
Modern Healthcare, subscription needed 3/13/09
Compared with a similar survey five years ago,
information technology use has almost doubled among
members of the American College of Physician Executives,
but money remains the primary reason why some have not
implemented an I.T. system. About 1,000 of the Tampa, Fla.-based
organization’s 10,000 members participated in the
survey that was posted on-line in November and December
of last year, and 64.5% said that they have an electronic
health record system in place—compared with 33.1%
five years ago.
D.C. Tech Official is Accused of Bribery
The Washington Post, 3/13/09
A D.C. government official and a business executive were
arrested on bribery charges involving city technology
contracts that included "ghost" workers and
kickbacks, federal authorities said. Raiding offices in
the hunt for documents, FBI agents carted away boxes and
envelopes throughout the day from the Office of the Chief
Technology Officer, the center of the alleged fraud.
Until recently, the technology office was headed by Vivek
Kundra, who has taken a job as President Obama's CIO. A
White House official confirmed last night that Kundra has
taken a leave of absence.
Tough Economy
Could Help Bring More I.T. to OR
Modern Healthcare, subscription needed 3/12/09
Hospital operating rooms could see an uptick in adoption
of health information technology under the twin prods of
a faltering economy and I.T. funding courtesy of the
economic stimulus package. The American Recovery and
Reinvestment Act of 2009 will provide an estimated $19.2
billion to boost health I.T. adoption, including
reimbursement for purchasing hospital I.T. systems. But
for hospitals, as well as most health care providers, the
bulk of the federal I.T. money will come after the
systems are installed.
Study Pegs Poor Communications Costs
Health Data Management, 3/11/09
Poor communications in U.S. hospitals costs $12 billion
annually, and use of information technologies could be a
big part of the solution, according to a new study. They
found the solution to inefficiencies rests largely in I.T.
investments to streamline communication among clinicians,
staff, and others. A typical 500-bed hospital that
improves communication could save $4 million a year,
researchers estimate.
Federal I.T. Group Nominations Open; NeHC Vies
for Role
Modern Healthcare, subscription needed 3/11/09
HHS is seeking nominations for its appointments to the
Health Information Technology Policy Committee to be
created under the I.T. provisions of the American
Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The HIT Policy Committee
will serve as an expanded version of the American Health
Information Community, or AHIC, a federally run health
care I.T. policy advisory body created by former HHS
Secretary Mike Leavitt in 2005. At Leavitt’s
insistence, AHIC was replaced just before time ran out on
the Bush administration last year by a private-sector
organization, the National eHealth Collaborative.
CCHIT, HITSP Have a Future Under Stimulus Package,
Leaders Say
Healthcare IT News, 3/11/09
The chairmen of the Certification Commission for
Healthcare Information Technology and Healthcare
Information Technology Standards Panel have weighed in on
the future of their organizations under the new stimulus
package. At a Wednesday Web seminar hosted by the
Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society,
CCHIT Chairman Mark Leavitt and HITSP Chairman John
Halamka said their organizations still have value to the
Obama administration.
John Glaser Comments on HIT Advancement Strategy
SmartBrief, 3/10/09
Normally you define the overall strategy and then you
determine the I.T. agenda needed to advance that strategy.
Reversing that sequence, the U.S. has outlined a national
health care I.T. strategy first and is now embarking on
the discussion of health care reform. One might worry
about that but one shouldn't. President Obama is right
when he refers to health care I.T. as "low-hanging
fruit."
Post-Stimulus, Docs Still will Pay Substantial
Sums to Implement EHRs
Government Health IT, 3/10/09
A new analysis by a Washington health care consultancy
suggests that despite the incentives for adopting e-health
records in the stimulus legislation, some doctors may be
better off financially sticking with pen and paper. The
stimulus law calls for giving Medicare providers up to $44,000
apiece for adopting EHRs and reducing their payments by
up to 5 percent if they fail to use them by 2015.
Plugging in a Nation
Hospitals & Health Networks, 3/10/09
Billions in federal funds will soon be available for
health care I.T. How will your hospital spend its share?
Clinicians and information technology specialists at
Trinity Health devoted about a year to laying the
groundwork before the not-for-profit hospital system
started using its first electronic medical record in 2003.
Trinity’s experience highlights the importance and
complexities of planning, a subject that preoccupies
hospital leaders, academics, and others these days as
they await the infusion of billions of health technology
dollars tied to the new administration’s economic
stimulus package. Is this windfall, they ask, a golden
opportunity or a potential disaster?
Panel OKs Bill on Doctor Reimbursements
Indystar.com, 3/9/09
New doctors who choose enter lower-paying primary-care
positions may get a small gift from state lawmakers. A
bill that proposes up to $5,000 a year in loan
reimbursement passed through a House committee today.
Primary-care physicians include those in family practice,
internal medicine, pediatricians, obstetricians and
gynecologists.
Across Nation’s Capital, Vacant Offices
Abound
The
Kansas City Star,
3/7/09
Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius may feel a bit lonesome at
the top, at least at first, if she ends up moving into
the nation’s Health and Human Services Department.
There are 19 subcabinet jobs at HHS that require
presidential appointment and Senate confirmation —
assistant secretaries, administrators, commissioners and
directors, all key players at the $730 billion agency.
Fifteen of those jobs are open.
Massachusetts Faces Costs
of Big Health Care Plan
The New York Times, 3/15/09
Three years ago, Massachusetts enacted perhaps the
boldest state health care experiment in American history,
bringing near-universal coverage to the commonwealth with
Paul Revere speed. To make it happen, Democratic
lawmakers and Gov. Mitt Romney, a Republican, made an
expedient choice, deferring until another day any serious
effort to control the state’s runaway health costs.
The day of reckoning has arrived. With Washington
watching, the state’s leaders are again blazing new
trails.
The Move to Digital Medical Records Begins in Tampa
TIME, 3/14/09
Tampa Bay is staging a revolution. The city is about to
announce that on Monday its mayor, representatives in
Congress, and health care professionals will launch a new
effort to make health records completely paper-free. That
means digitizing every prescription and patient history
written not only in the 10-county area surrounding Tampa
and St. Petersberg, Fla., but also, eventually, in the
rest of the country. Over the next two years, Tampa's
leaders plan to train every one of the 8,000 physicians
in the area in electronic prescribing, with the goal of
having at least 60% of all eligible prescriptions by
Tampa Bay doctors written on a computer instead of a
prescription pad.
Massachusetts Group Hangs Consulting Shingle
Health Data Management, 3/11/09
The Massachusetts eHealth Collaborative, an industry
stakeholder coalition promoting digital data and health
information exchanges in the state, recently launched a
for-profit consulting service. The MAeHC
Professional Services Corp. will specialize in strategic planning,
project management, and project execution services for
EHR deployments, HIE initiatives, and quality-driven data
warehouses.
New Mexico Senate Passes
Patient Consent, ‘Opt Out’ Bill
Modern Healthcare, subscription needed 3/9/09
Patient consent may be required before links to their
electronic health records can be placed on a record
locator service if a bill which passed the New Mexico
state Senate advances in the House, according to the New
Mexico Health Department. The bill, the Electronic
Medical Records Act, is an initiative of Gov. Bill
Richardson sponsored by Democratic state Sen. Peter Wirth.
The legislation would enable patients to opt out of any
locator service.
Comparison Shopping for
Medicine
The Washington Post, 3/17/09
To help doctors and patients decide, President Obama has
dedicated $1.1 billion in the economic stimulus package
for federal agencies to oversee studies on the merits of
competing medical treatments. The approach, known as
comparative effectiveness research, is aimed at finding
the best treatments at the best prices. Proponents say
reducing ineffective or unproven care is one way to rein
in health costs, which consume nearly 18 percent of the
gross domestic product, straining family budgets, company
profits and the federal government.
New Debate on
How to Decide Best Health Treatments
AP/Yahoo News, 3/13/09
People's lives and plenty of money are at stake when it
comes to determining which medical treatments work best,
so some prominent health industry and patient advocacy
groups are trying to reframe the debate over how such
decisions are made in order to ensure their interests are
protected. Spurred by $1.1 billion in the recent economic
stimulus bill for "comparative effectiveness
research," their coalition unveiled a new campaign
with a prominent Democrat and disability rights advocate,
former California Rep. Tony Coelho, as its spokesman.
No Verdict on
Pay-for-Performance U.S. Health Plans
Reuters, 3/10/09
Dangling a financial carrot in front of doctors as a way
to improve health quality has changed the way some
doctors practice medicine, but has yet to significantly
improve quality and may be interfering with doctor-patient
relationships. Pay-for-performance plans, in which
doctors, hospitals and other providers receive more money
if they meet certain goals, are seen as a way of boosting
health quality. Despite the rapid adoption of these
programs, there is little research about how well they
work or what types of strategies work best.
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