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Edition
Twenty-Five (8/05/09)
  
Guidelines on EHR Meaningful
Use Moving Forward
AMNews, 8/3/09
David Blumenthal has approved recommended definitions for
what constitutes "meaningful use" of electronic
health records, about a month after asking a key working
group to revise its initial recommendations. Meaningful
users have been defined generally as physicians who have
demonstrated to the government they are using electronic
prescribing and their systems are connected to other
entities in a way which provides for the exchange of
health data to improve care quality.
More Questions Than Answers for Meaningful Use
Health Data
Management,
8/1/09
The health care industry can expect this summer to see
more drafts of the direction a meaningful use definition
is moving toward, as federal officials work to get a
formal proposed definition published by year-end. An
organization shooting for getting the incentives in 2011
obviously will have to meet initial meaningful use
requirements which go in effect at that time. But there
likely will be more stringent requirements in 2013 and
2015.
Federal Advisory Groups Set Meetings
Health Data
Management,
7/31/09
The HIT Policy Committee and HIT Standards Committee,
created under the economic stimulus law to advise HHS, will meet Aug. 14 to discuss the
definition of meaningful use of EHR systems. It also will
hear presentations from the certification/adoption and
information exchange workgroups, and get an update from
the standards committee. The standards committee itself
will meet on Aug. 20 to discuss reports and
recommendations from its clinical quality, clinical
operations, and privacy and security workgroups.
Doc: House Bill Supports Stimulus' Aims
Health Data
Management,
7/30/09
Legislation pending in the U.S. House which would provide
loan guarantees to help physicians purchase EHR systems
"would be a superb adjunct to the provisions
contained in the ARRA," a family practitioner
testified before Congress. Sterling Ransone, M.D., of
Deltaville, Va., was representing the American Academy of
Family Physicians when he spoke before the House Small
Business subcommittee on finance and tax. The bill would guarantee up to 90% of loans of up
to $350,000 for individuals and $2 million for group
practices.
HHS Releases $200 Million for Health Care Training
HealthLeaders, 7/29/09
HHS has made available $200 million targeted for grants,
loans, loan repayment, and scholarships to expand the
training of health care workers. The new money—part
of the $500 million allotted to HHS' Health Resources and
Services Administration in the $787 billion stimulus
packages—is expected to train approximately 8,000
students and credentialed health professionals by the end
of fiscal year 2010.
Obama's Talk with Retirees Highlights Digital Health
Records
Healthcare IT
News, 7/29/09
Obama told participants in an AARP tele-town hall EHRs
will help put an end to the inefficiencies they have
experienced in health care. He spoke about ending billion-dollar
subsidies to insurance companies for Medicare Advantage,
using nurse practitioners for home health care follow-up
visits after hospitalizations, proving incentives for
physicians to work as a team, creating a health care
exchange for affordable coverage, including a public
option, and paying for improvements with greater
efficiencies.
I.T. Tools Save Billions in Administrative Costs:
Report
Modern
Healthcare,
subscription needed 7/29/09
The health care industry can save billions of dollars a
year, according to report, Bringing Better Value:
Recommendations to Address the Costs and Causes of
Administrative Complexity in the Nation's Healthcare
System. The report calls for the CMS to develop a
link for the communication of provider-credentialing
information between the Medicare Provider Enrollment,
Chain and Ownership System and the Universal Provider
Datasource, a computerized credentialing tool developed
by the Council for Affordable Quality Healthcare, or CAQH.
If Reform Stalls, How Will Health I.T. Efforts Be
Affected?
iHealthBeat, 7/28/09
With a new administration in the White House, it's been
full-speed ahead for several months on health care reform
and health I.T. There is considerable talk in recent days
about health reform losing steam in Congress. What will
it mean for ARRA funds designated for health I.T.
expansion? No matter what happens with health reform
efforts this year, the country's health system needs to
move into the digital age.
The State of Health Information Exchanges
HealthLeaders, 7/28/09
The number of operational community-based HIEs sharing
data electronically among hospitals, physicians, health
plans, and patients increased by
nearly 40% since
last year, according to the Washington DC-based nonprofit
eHealth Initiative's sixth annual survey. There are roughly 193 active
programs involved in health information exchanges, 57 of
which reported being operational in 2009, the survey
found.
AHIMA Goes for Global Reach
Healthcare IT
News, 7/28/09
AHIMA recently opened a global services office in
Brussels, Belgium. AHIMA officials say they see
multinational outreach as the proper response to
globalization trends and implications in health care,
including digitization, e-health, cross-border care,
medical travel, and telemedicine. The office offers
firsthand access to information and decision-making
processes across Europe and is at the same time a central
point of development for future activities worldwide.
HITSP Approves Interoperability Specs
Health Data
Management,
7/27/09
The HITSP has approved four interoperability
specifications to
support information exchange requirements under the
American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The new
specifications—and all work now being done by
HITSP—are designed to support ARRA's stated or
expected requirements for qualified electronic health
records and meaningful use of EHRs. Federal officials can
consider use of these specifications as they develop
rules to implement ARRA's health I.T. provisions.
Official: Panel Wants Privacy Protection for
Electronic Medical Records
Federal
Computer Week,
7/24/09
A federal advisory panel on patient privacy wants
encryption, strong access controls, and audits to
protecting patients' medical records under the program
advanced by the economic stimulus law, according to the
co-chair of the group. On July 21, the Policy and
Security Workgroup presented a framework of 37 technical
standards to be implemented in 2011, 2013, and 2015, to
the standards committee.
Obama Sticks by Health Care I.T. in Prime Time Plea
For Reform
Healthcare IT
News, 7/23/09
Obama says the nation can use health care I.T. to dig
itself out of escalating health care costs. As Capitol
Hill debates the merits of proposed health care reforms,
the president has been lobbying for change, making almost
daily speeches to educate the American public on what his
reform plan would hold. Obama's speech and his answers to
questions about health care reform emphasized change must
come, and it will involve the use of health care I.T. to
eliminate duplicate testing, prevent medical errors, help
monitor chronic care, encourage preventive care, and help
doctors know what care is most effective.
Health I.T. Group Approves Standards and Quality
Measures
Government
Health IT,
7/22/09
A group charged with identifying health I.T. standards to
advance goals of the economic stimulus approved measures
health care providers must put in place in 2011, as well
as a roadmap for future work. The HIT Standards Committee
recommended quality measures and standards which are
ready and deployable to support the criteria for
meaningful use.
Surgeon General Pick to Boost Health Care Technology
Efforts
TMCnet, 7/22/09
Obama last week announced Dr. Regina Benjamin, a family
physician in Alabama, as his pick to be the nation’s
next surgeon general. The 52-year-old is the founder of a
rural health clinic which has been rebuilt three times.
Benjamin’s clinic made strides to update the
facility, taking steps to convert paper medical records
into an electronic form. Her experience will be key in
the use of health care I.T. and patient care in
underserved areas.
"Meaningful Use" Goals Still Out of Reach
HealthLeaders
Media, 7/21/09
The Health I.T. Policy Committee approved revised
recommendations for defining "meaningful use"
of EHRs. But the bar needs to push providers, while
ensuring a reasonable number of leading-edge
organizations can achieve it by 2011, according to John
Haughom, MD, senior VP of clinical quality and patient
safety at PeaceHealth, a Bellevue, WA. The three
objectives of the ‘meaningful use' recommendations
he says should be scaled back are CPOE, the electronic
problem list, and personal health records.
EHR Funds Within Sight But Out of Reach
H&HN
Magazine,
7/20/09
While the federal government, some state governments,
grant organizations, and even vendors are making plans to
help defray the costs of implementing EHRs, most
hospitals are seeing budgets pinched in the current
recession. Health I.T. efforts, which were receiving more
funding and which once were believed to be recession-proof,
now are facing scrutiny and calls for belt-tightening
from cash-strapped hospitals.
Maine Demonstrates
Statewide HIE
Health Data
Management,
7/31/09
Maine's statewide HIE has gone LIVE with a one-year
demonstration program which will involve 15 hospitals and
more than 2,000 clinicians. Hospitals initially are
supplying most of the data to be exchanged in the HIE,
called HealthInfoNet. Data available in a standards-based
Continuity of Care Record includes demographics;
conditions, diagnoses or problems; allergies;
prescription medications; laboratory results; and
dictated/transcribed documents including diagnostic
imaging reports.
Most States Monitoring Diseases Electronically: CDC
Modern
Healthcare,
subscription needed 7/30/09
In its weekly morbidity and mortality report, the CDC
released findings from a 2007 survey it conducted to assess the
progress states were making in developing electronic
surveillance systems. Most states are using a mix of
vendor information technology products, state-developed
systems, and the National Electronic Disease Surveillance
System supported by the CDC to monitor diseases.
A High-Tech Cure for
Health Costs
Wall Street
Journal,
8/4/09
Dozens of large and small companies are turning to
wireless technology to help achieve the Obama
administration's goal of a health care system which keeps
people healthier for less. A 2008 study predicted annual
savings from remote monitoring at $10.1 billion for U.S.
sufferers of congestive heart failure, $6.1 billion for
diabetes, and $4.9 billion for chronic obstructive
pulmonary disease. But claims about cost savings from new
technology often don't pan out.
HHS' Civil Rights Office to Enforce HIPAA Security
Provisions
Modern
Healthcare,
subscription needed 8/3/09
Authority for enforcing the security provisions of HIPAA
has been moved from the CMS, and consolidated with HIPAA
privacy enforcement, to the Civil Rights Office at HHS,
according to an announcement in the Federal Register. The
change was documented in a four-page posting by HHS
Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, dated July 27, to be
officially published in the Register.
ANSI Approves New Health Care RFID Standard
Modern
Healthcare,
subscription needed 8/2/09
The Health Industry Business Communications Council's new
set of standards for using radio-frequency identification
tags to label and track medical products has received
final approval from the American National Standards
Institute. The new standard, called ANSI/HIBC 4.0,
includes guidelines for tagging health care products in a
manner which will prevent radio frequency interference
with medical devices.
HIMSS Unveils Decision Support Wiki
Health Data
Management,
7/31/09
A task force of HIMSS has made available to the industry
a collaboration tool to assist in deploying clinical
decision support systems. The HIMSS Clinical Decision
Support task force initially created CDS Wiki as an internal tool for members,
including six delivery systems with 50 hospitals. Initial
efforts focused on synthesizing best practices for
addressing specific issues, such as prevention of venous
thromboembolism.
GAO: VA, DOD Said Slow on Sharing Health Data
Federal Computer
Week, 7/30/09
The VA and the DOD aren't ready to be fully interoperable
in their sharing of electronic medical data, according to
a new report from the GAO. The departments must expand
inpatient DOD medical records systems and demonstrate
initial document scanning. To speed those efforts,
Congress in the defense authorization bill for fiscal
2008 directed the two departments establish a joint
interagency program to serve as a single point of
accountability for achieving full interoperability of EHR
systems.
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