Edition Twenty-Three (7/07/09)

Six Tips to Comply with HIPAA
HealthLeaders, 7/6/09
Step into the office of Brandon Ho, HIPAA compliance specialist for the Army in Honolulu, and you won't see a compliance officer scrambling through mountains of paperwork regarding new HIPAA laws. President Barack Obama signed into law the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 that includes new HIPAA laws, and Ho is certainly aware of them.

Lawsuit Filed Against Stimulus Act
Health Data Management, 7/6/09
A registered nurse in Durham, N.H., has filed a civil suit against three officials of the Obama Administration alleging the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act's health information technology provisions unconstitutionally violate the HIPAA privacy rule, Privacy Act, and Federal Common Law. Heghmann in the suit alleges the law violates the privacy rule because the law requires HHS to issue guidance on what constitutes "minimum necessary" disclosure of information under HIPAA. Further, the law also requires HHS to issue guidance on how best to implement the requirements for de-identification of protected health information under HIPAA.

HIMSS Says Poor Usability Cuts EMR Adoption
Fierce Health I.T., 7/5/09
You'd think the following point was obvious, but sadly, it isn't on the radar of many health care leaders. A new paper from HIMSS has named usability shortcomings as one of the key factors—if not the top reason—holding back EMR adoption. If EMRs aren't usable, clinical productivity and user satisfaction drop, while clinical error rates and user fatigue tend to climb, HIMSS researchers said.

Industry Pushes Back on EHR "Meaningful Use" Definition
BNET Healthcare, 7/2/09
When the government’s Health I.T. Policy Committee met a couple of weeks ago, some committee members suggested that a workgroup’s preliminary definition of “meaningful use” of electronic health records had gone too far. Now the official comments are in, and it’s clear that most of the health care industry agrees that the requirements in the workgroup’s first draft are overly aggressive.

Stimulus Broadband Funds Available
Health Data Management, 7/2/09
The Obama Administration has announced the availability of $4 billion in grants and loans to accelerate access to broadband technologies in rural and other underserved areas. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act appropriated $7.2 billion for broadband initiatives. The $4 billion being released is the first of three funding rounds from the Departments of Commerce and Agriculture.

'Meaningful Use' Reviews Show Qualification Concern
Modern Healthcare, subscription needed 7/2/09
Many reviewers of a draft set of recommendations on the so-called “meaningful use” standards for the government's electronic health record subsidy program say that providers are being asked to do too much too soon to qualify for billions of dollars in federal health information technology payments.

Physician Resistance Remains a Stumbling Block to EHRs
HealthLeaders, 7/2/09
What can make or break an EHR implementation? Two words: physician buy-in, says Mike Davis, executive vice president of HIMSS Analytics in Chicago. Hospitals either have it, or they don't. And if they don't, they need to find a way to achieve it if they want to take advantage of the $17.2 billion in incentives associated with the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, he adds.

Diabetes Care Studies Find Mixed Results on HIT Use
Modern Healthcare, subscription needed 7/2/09
Two published reports of separate studies have yielded mixed results on the clinical and financial benefits of using home health information and communication technologies in the care of diabetes. Both reports were published in the July issue of Diabetes Care, a publication of the American Diabetes Association.

Groups Seek Changes in Meaningful Use Definition
Government Health IT, 7/2/09
Major health care organizations met a deadline last week to comment on a draft of a policy on “meaningful use” of health I.T. unveiled by the Office of the National Coordinator for Health I.T. The policy is the cornerstone of the administration’s plan for using some $30 billion in economic stimulus funding to create a means for nationwide electronic health information sharing.

HIT Spending Delay for Mental Health Services: Study
Modern Healthcare, subscription needed 7/2/09
Spending on health information technology for mental health and human services lags behind other health care services, and there should be funding opportunities open for I.T. spending on these, according to results of a joint survey released by the National Council for Community Behavioral Healthcare. Health I.T. can improve mental health services for patients, but there is no funding allocated for that in the I.T. act established through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.

Electronic Health Records: A Checkup
CNNMoney, 7/2/09
Getting an electronic health record system in place by 2014? Tough. Getting hospitals to pay millions now for systems that comply with unknown standards and implement them by October 2010? Yikes! That's President Obama's plan to get a centralized, digital medical record system up and running nationwide in five years. It's an ambitious plan, but one the administration is passionate about.

Q&A: Obama's Health I.T. Czar On Strategy, Incentives
InformationWeek, 7/2/09
Dr. David Blumenthal—a long-time Boston physician, official at Partners Healthcare System, and Harvard professor, was named national health I.T. coordinator to lead President Obama's health I.T. strategy in March. Topping Blumenthal's list of duties is making recommendations to the U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services about the fine details of the federal government's $20 billion-plus stimulus program aimed at incentivizing U.S. doctors and hospitals to use "qualified" electronic health systems in "meaningful" ways.

HIT Policy, Standards Committees to Meet
Health Data Management, 7/1/09
The HIT Policy Committee will again consider the definition of "meaningful use" of electronic health records during a public meeting July 16 at the Park Hyatt Washington Hotel in the District of Columbia. The committee is an advisory body to the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology.

Medicare Unveils Physician Payment Rule
Health Data Management, 7/1/09
Medicare is proposing simplified reporting requirements for the Electronic Prescribing Incentive Program and the Physician Quality Reporting Initiative in a proposed rule setting the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule for calendar year 2010.

First Lady Announces $851M in Grants for Community Health Centers
Healthcare IT News, 6/30/09
First Lady Michelle Obama announced the release of $851 million in grants to Community Health Centers. The Recovery Act Capital Improvement Program (CIP) grants will support the construction, repair, and renovation of more than 1,500 health center sites nationwide. More than 650 centers will use the funds to purchase new equipment or health information technology systems, and nearly 400 health centers will adopt and expand the use of electronic health records.

HHS Report Recommends Boosting Research Data Networks
Government Health IT, 6/29/09
Stimulus funds should go to improving means of sharing and analysis of patient center research data. A major portion of the $400 million allocated as part of the stimulus legislation to the Office of the Secretary at the Department of Health and Human Services for patient-centered research should go towards building a more effective data infrastructure for sharing and analyzing information, according to a federal report published.

Health I.T. Coordinator to Harmonize Record Standards, Network
Federal Computer Week, 6/29/09
The National Coordinator for Health Information Technology said he intends to “harmonize” certified electronic health records standards within the National Health Information Network (NHIN). “We are working on continuing the momentum of the NHIN and Connect," the NHIN software, Dr. David Blumenthal, who is based at the Health and Human Services Department, said at a Connect users conference.

HIMSS: Clarity Needed on Meaningful Use
Health Data Management, 6/29/09
The initial draft definition for meaningful use of electronic health records, which a work group of the HIT Policy Committee unveiled in mid-June, does not clearly distinguish between hospitals and physician practices, according to the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society. In its comment letter, HIMSS calls for delaying CPOE requirements from 2011 to 2013.



Minnesota 18-County EHR Moves Forward
Examiner.com, 7/2/09
The Community Health Information Collaborative, a Duluth-based nonprofit that serves an 18-county region in Northeastern and central Minnesota, has formed a partnership to offer a new service to area health providers allowing them to locate critical patient medical records quickly and efficiently.

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts Rewards Docs for Efficient Quality of Care
HealthLeaders, 7/2/09
Many primary care physicians practicing under contract with Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts received a total of $27 million as a reward for meeting certain cost and quality goals in an annual incentive program that was among the first of its kind in the country when it began in 2000, the health plan said. For all eight years of the award payouts, physicians have received a total of $164 million under the project, which is called the Primary Care Physician Incentive Program. The latest round covered achievements in 2007.

Electronic Prescriptions Catching on in Tennessee, Sending Via Internet Reduces Errors, Costs Supporters Say
Knoxville News Sentinel, 7/1/09
Dr. Kenneth Reese refills prescriptions electronically using a program called Surescripts that links from a doctor’s computer to pharmacies. When Dr. Kenneth Reese needs to prescribe medication to a patient he heads to his computer. From his office at Baptist Professional Medical Building, the 48-year-old general internal medicine physician transmits prescriptions via a secured Internet network directly to pharmacies.

New York City Health Department Helps Doctors Adopt Electronic Health Records
Government Technology, 6/30/09
Most agree that electronic health records can cut health care costs and reduce errors. However, only a few providers have adopted EHRs because deployment costs are often prohibitive. The New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH) is taking the bull by the horns and helping physicians deploy and use EHR systems.

New York Medical Group to Ditch Paper Records by 2010
Business First of Buffalo, 6/29/09
Buffalo (N.Y.) Medical Group, which handles 415,000 outpatients per year, is in the process of updating its data systems and patient records to a paperless electronic format. CEO Daniel Scully said the electronic records will replace a warehouse full of 5,000 boxes of patient records. Scully said he expects the transition to be complete by the end of 2010.

Area’s Health Insurers Back Electronic Medical Records
Buffalo News, 6/29/09
Western New York’s three health insurers have asked the region’s electronic clinical information exchange to lead an effort at driving more adoption of electronic medical records by area physicians. Western New York Health Plans, comprised of HealthNow New York, Independent Health Association, and Univera Healthcare, hired HEALTHeLINK to implement a program seeking to get 500 more doctors to start using electronic medical records over the next three years.

Study: NYC’s Health Tech Sector Holds Promise
Crain's New York Business, 6/29/09
Bolstered by a wealth of health care professionals, technology experts, and patients, New York City is well-positioned to become the nation’s capital when it comes to health care information technology, according to a report by the Center for an Urban Future. As part of President Barack Obama’s overhaul of the health care system, hospitals and health care providers are expected to convert all paper-based patient records into electronic documents by 2015. When compared with other regions, the Big Apple—home to 65 hospitals, 1,300 outpatient clinics and more than 30,000 doctors—stacks up well.



Health Delivery Tops IOM's Comparative Effectiveness Research Priorities
HealthLeaders, 6/30/09
The Institute of Medicine released 100 health topics that should receive priority attention and funding under the new national research initiative to identify health care services and procedures that work best. IOM also specified what needs to be done to update comparative effectiveness research initiatives in the future.

Report: How to Spend $400 Million
Health Data Management, 6/30/09
A congressionally created council has released a report with recommendations for how the Department of Health and Human Services should spend $400 million in discretionary spending for comparative effectiveness research. Some of the funds will be used to adopt information technologies that can speed dissemination of best practices information.

A New Era for Health Reform
H&HN Magazine, 6/29/09
The president of Health Research & Educational Trust (HRET) interviews former U.S. Surgeon General David Satcher about health care reform, health care disparities, public health interventions, and leadership. David Satcher, M.D., Ph.D., is the recipient of the 2009 TRUST Award from the Health Research & Educational Trust (HRET). Dr. Satcher is the director of the Center of Excellence on Health Disparities and the Satcher Health Leadership Institute at Morehouse School of Medicine in Atlanta, where he holds the Poussaint-Satcher-Cosby Chair in Mental Health. He served as the 16th surgeon general of the United States under Bill Clinton.

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