Edition Forty-Six (6/8/10)

CMS Awards Contract to Track EHR Incentive Payments
Government Health IT, 6/4/10
CMS picked Companion Data Services (CDS) to provide data processing and hosting operations for a system to track incentive payments to heath care providers who adopt EHRs. CDS will host the National Level Repository (NLR) system on a Linux platform, which combines significant mainframe processing power with application design flexibility.

Fed Panel Proposes EHR as Education Tool
Government Health IT, 6/4/10
A federal advisory committee on genetics says the nation has a serious deficiency in the number of health care professionals and consumers who are educated in genetics. One piece of the solution may be “just-in-time education” embedded in the EHR, according to a draft by the Secretary’s Advisory Committee on Genetics, Health, and Society.

HHS Awards $84M for Community EHR Systems
Federal Computer Week, 6/3/10
HHS will give grants totaling $83.9 million to community health centers in 27 states to implement EHR systems. The funding came from a $2 billion HIT funding pool controlled by the Health Resources and Services Administration, the agency which supports the community health centers through its Health Center Controlled Networks program.

Mapping Hospital Readiness for Meaningful Use
Healthcare Technology Online, 6/3/10
With hospitals expected to meet the first phase of deadlines for ARRA in 2011, HIMSS Analytics has added new questions to its annual survey on Meaningful Use. The questions include those developed by the Health Story Project on the inclusion of structured document standards, which must be in place so narrative data converts to a structured format and can be imported in to the EMR.

Manatt Says HITECH Needs Changes
InformationWeek, 6/3/10
HITECH could dramatically improve health care in the U.S., but such an outcome will only take place if some current trends in its implementation are altered, according to a recent report commissioned by the California Health Care Foundation, The Colorado Health Foundation, and the United Hospital Fund.

Health I.T. Work Group Debates Privacy, Consent
Modern Healthcare, subscription required 6/2/10
A key government advisory panel on privacy continues to wrestle with how much—if any—control patients should have over the use and movement of their EHRs. Patient consent is a part of this framework, however patient consent should not be the linchpin of health care information privacy, because then you've asked the patient to bear the burden.

Big Growth Projected for HIS Market
Healthcare IT News, 6/2/10
The worldwide market for HIT systems is positioned for significant growth in the coming years, according to a new study. The global HCIS market is forecast to exceed $18 billion by 2016, after growing at a compound annual rate of 13 percent from its $7.8 billion valuation in 2009.

EHRs Should Be Certified for Usability, Says AHRQ
Government Health IT, 6/1/10
Usability should become part of the certification test for EHRs to ensure systems are designed so clinicians not only find them appealing to use, but operate them safely and effectively, according to a report about assessing and improving the usability of EHR systems.

Feds Map Progress on Road to Health I.T.
Federal News Radio, 5/28/10
HHS is soon expected to provide the latest guidelines to the health care community, and to federal agencies, regarding the effort to put in place a uniform system of EHRs nationwide. Meanwhile, some of the federal officials who are engaged in the health I.T. push paused to offer insights into their work during a luncheon for the Association for Federal Information Resource Management.

FTC Delays Red Flags Rule
Health Data Management, 5/28/10
The FTC announced it will delay enforcement of the Red Flags Rule from June 1 to Dec. 31, 2010. The commission cited congressional consideration of legislation which would affect the scope of entities covered by the rule to require businesses to take specific steps to minimize identity theft.

EHRs Lack Standards, Best Practices
InformationWeek, 5/28/10
A report raises growing concerns that EHR products are being developed without specific best practices and design standards related to EHR product use in a health care setting. The Electronic Health Record Usability Vendor Practices and Perspectives report's objective was to examine vendors' processes and practices with regard to: the existence and use of standards and "best practices" in designing, developing, and deploying products; testing and evaluating usability throughout the product life cycle; and supporting post-deployment monitoring to ensure patient safety and effective use. 

Health I.T. Panel Gets an Earful on Plan
Modern Healthcare, subscription required 5/28/10
The federally chartered Health I.T. Policy Committee heard from its Strategic Plan Workgroup, which delivered advice to ONC for an annual update to make several tweaks to the Federal Health I.T. Strategic Plan. ONC head David Blumenthal said a final vote on the recommendations could come at the policy committee's next meeting, scheduled for June 25.

ONC Awards Second Round of Beacon Awards
ExecutiveGov, 5/27/10
ONC announced a new round of two additional Beacon awards totaling $30.3 million. The agency lists eligible applicants as state governments, county governments, city or township governments, special district governments, higher-learning institutions, Native American tribal organizations and governments, and nonprofits.

What the Senate Red Flags Bill Says
Health Data Management, 5/27/10
Legislation introduced in the Senate would exempt a "health care practice" with 20 or fewer employees, as well as accounting and legal practices of the same size, from the FTC's Red Flags Rule. The rule requires businesses to take specific steps to minimize identity theft.

Health Data Exchange Build Starts this Summer
Government Health IT, 5/26/10
By early July, ONC will announce the winners of 11 contracts for developing an HIE framework based on a model originated by federal homeland security agencies for sharing sensitive information over the Internet. The National Information Exchange Model, or NIEM, is a technical approach to information sharing which federal agencies developed during the last decade, prompted by the need to share homeland security information quickly and securely.

EHNAC: Move Certification Beyond EHRs
Health Data Management, 5/25/10
HHS should consider creating I.T. certification programs beyond those being adopted for complete EHR systems and EHR modules, according to the Electronic Health Network Accreditation Commission. EHNAC, which certifies transactions processors for meeting specific performance criteria, makes the case for certification of other I.T. services in a comment letter.

Ready or Not, Tech-Savvy e-Patients are Coming
HealthLeaders, 5/25/10
The patient of the future—also known as the e-Patient—is technologically savvy, information hungry, and has a sense of entitlement about the level of service and the types of services they want. They'll demand up-to-date, easy-to-understand, and easy-to-access information about the cost of care and billing, on-line appointment scheduling, and the ability to e-mail their physicians.

Health I.T. Evangelists Find Help in the Cloud
Federal Computer Week, 5/24/10
HHS is deploying a cloud-based customer-relationship management system to help its regional centers do a more effective job of promoting the use of EHR systems. ONC created the 60 RECs to assist physicians in smaller practices and in rural areas in purchasing and meaningfully using EHR systems under the stimulus.

FDA Oversight May Extend throughout Health I.T.
Amednews, 5/24/10
The technology you adopt for your practice, including EMR systems and smartphones, could become subject to FDA scrutiny. Experts are trying to discern what this level of examination might look like, and what specific technology would be affected. The FDA might get involved because some kinds of HIT could be considered medical devices—which the FDA regulates.

Working on I.T.
Modern Healthcare, subscription required 5/24/10
ARRA has a host of tight deadlines for its myriad HIT subsidy and I.T. network development initiatives. Boosting employment nationwide was a major goal of the stimulus law, and there is little doubt tens of thousands of new jobs will be needed if the federal effort to push provider adoption of EHRs is to be successful. 

$6.8M Grant Goes to Boost Medical Records
Columbia Daily Tribune, 5/28/10
Switching from paper records to an EHR system in rural Missouri clinics and hospitals should be easier in the coming years thanks to a new center opening on the University of Missouri campus. MU has been awarded $6.8 million in federal funding to create the Missouri Health Information Technology Assistance Center.

California Eyes Health I.T., Health Reform Overlaps
iHealthBeat, 5/27/10
For years, health I.T. advocates and health care reformers have been saying the two efforts are intertwined and must be pursued in tandem. David Lansky, co-chair of Cal eConnect, the new private organization formed to oversee California's transformation to digital health care, said there are several areas of potential overlap, but one stands out as the most promising.

Coordinating Telehealth: Virtual Medicine Expands Across Wyoming
Wyoming News, 5/27/10
Virtual medicine is changing the way physicians treat patients in Wyoming. 24 of Wyoming's 26 hospitals are now outfitted with videoconferencing equipment, the goal being to expand the coordinated network into physicians' offices and community health centers, as well as connect every medical specialty with the electronic system.

Medical Groups Praise CMS' Proposed Change
Modern Healthcare, subscription required 6/3/10
Hospitals and their advocacy groups are voicing support for a proposed change to CMS' telemedicine credentialing rule. The change aims to prevent hospitals from having to independently credential and privilege each physician providing telemedicine services to their facilities in order to remain eligible for reimbursement. CMS has proposed allowing hospitals to accept the credentialing and privileging decisions of the distant-site facilities providing the telemedicine services.

Pharmacy Groups Want More e-Script Guidance
Modern Healthcare, subscription required 6/3/10
Pharmacy organizations say they support the DEA's efforts to create a system allowing for the e-Prescribing of controlled substances, though they would like more clarity on several items and the right for nurses to act as “the agent of the prescriber” in long-term-care facilities.

HHS to Make Health Data Available
Health Data Management, 6/2/10
HHS has launched an initiative to make federally generated community health data widely available to the public in easily accessible and useful formats. By year-end, HHS will implement a new Health Indicators Warehouse providing on-line access to HHS data on national, state, regional, and county health performance. Data will include such indicators as rates of smoking, obesity, diabetes, access to healthy food, and utilization of health care services.

Home Monitoring Gives Heart Failure Patients Boost
Healthcare IT News, 6/2/10
Heart failure patients who used an interactive telehealth system with motivational support tools at home spent less time in the hospital and reported their quality of life had significantly improved over 12 months evaluation period, according to a new study. This is the first time a telehealth system combining remote patient monitoring with motivational educational support tools has been researched, and the results demonstrate significant additional value and effectiveness for managing the health of chronically ill heart failure patients.

Telus Launches National Program for e-Health Records
CTV.ca, 6/1/10
Telus is launching the first national program which would allow doctors and patients to share medical records in a Web-based world. Telus says the secure system allows patients to post their own medical history, as well as simple test results, such as those recorded from blood pressure tests which can be done at home. Doctors can then access the information from their offices.

Federal Stimulus, Health Care Reform Add Incentives to Adopt I.T.
Ocala Business Journal, 5/27/10
While technology trends are tough to predict, Taylor Dickerson, I.T. director for Ocala Health System, thinks health care reform will spur health care I.T. It's pushing us in the direction of developing our EHRs so we can communicate with the physicians and share information.

European Commission Puts Health on Digital Agenda
e-Health Europe, 5/26/10
The European Commission has set out its Digital Agenda, which includes measures to use technology to address rising health care costs and help member states to cope with their aging populations. The action plan says the smart use of technology and the exploitation of information will help to address these and other challenges facing society, including climate change.

CMS Proposes Less Burdensome Telemedicine Credentialing Rules
Healthcare IT News, 5/25/10
CMS proposed changes to ease the burdens of credentialing and privileging for hospitals which provide telemedicine, which would revise the conditions of participation for both hospitals and critical access hospitals. It would allow hospitals to rely on information provided from another location to base credentialing and privileging decisions regarding physicians and practitioners who will use telemedicine at their facility.

50,000 New Health I.T. Workers Might be Needed
Modern Healthcare, subscription required 5/25/10
Along with the push to ramp up the use of health I.T. in hospitals and doctors' offices comes the need for a highly skilled labor force to get the job done. In the past, HIM workers dealt with managing paper records, but their jobs have changed with the times. Today, many AHIMA members are doing the work of I.T. specialists at their hospitals and physician offices while others can be retrained for these new positions.

Study: Telehealth Helps Control Hypertension
Health Data Management, 5/24/10
A study of the use of home-based blood pressure monitors with results transmitted via the Web to patients' PHRs and clinicians showed significant progress in improving blood pressure control. After six months, patients using the home monitoring tools were 50% more likely to have their blood pressure controlled to healthy levels, compared with patients receiving usual hypertension care.

Has the Time Come to Embrace Telehealth as a System Solution?
iHealthbeat, 5/24/10
A growing number of health care providers say telemedicine is the key to health reform, arguing the technology can enhance record keeping, reduce waiting times, cut unnecessary hospitalizations, and reduce costs. There also are those who view telemedicine as an expensive, intrusive technology, ostensibly a gimmick promoting exotic health care reform.

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