Edition Eighty-One (12/28/11)
Federal Health I.T.
Market Set to Grow to $6.5B by 2016
Healthcare IT News, 12/20/11
Federal spending on healthcare I.T. will reach $6.5
billion by 2016, according to a new survey.
Senators Look for
Metrics on Fraud Analytics Program
Modern Healthcare, subscription required, 12/20/11
A bipartisan group of senators is pushing the CMS to
begin measurement of a program designed to cut billions
of dollars in annual waste and fraud from Medicare.
Massachusetts
Representative Asks IOM to Develop CDS Standards for Less
Alarm Fatigue
CMIO, 12/19/11
In a letter to Kathleen Sebelius, Rep. Edward Markey (D-MA)
formally requested the Institute of Medicine reduce alarm
fatigue and create best practice guidelines for vendors
developing computerized decision support systems.
Patients Want to Read,
Share Their Medical Records
Reuters, 12/19/11
Patients want easy access to any notes their doctor has
recorded about them, and they want the right to let
others view their medical information, according to a
pair of U.S. studies.
Digital Data on
Patients Raises Risk of Breaches
New York Times, 12/18/11
The rise in EHR use raises concerns that medical data
breaches also might increase. The legal responsibility
for such breaches is a concern for health care providers
and entities that work with patient data.
Gingrich Moves Away
from EHRs
The Hill, 12/15/11
Newt Gingrich appears to be moving away from his past
support for electronic health records now that he's the
GOP presidential front-runner.
AHRQ, RAND Partner to
Create Comprehensive EHR Guide
CMIO, 12/15/11
The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality posted a
free, online guide developed under contract by RAND to
assist healthcare organizations with EHR implementation
and use.
CMS Plans to Delay
Start of Data Collection in Transparency Push
Modern Healthcare, subscription required, 12/14/11
The CMS said in a proposed rule it recommends delaying
data collection in a reform law provision intended to
expose financial relationships between drug and device
manufacturers, GPOs, and providers.
Opinion: Why HAI
Health I.T. Should Fall Under Meaningful Use
Government Health IT, 12/13/11
By reversing an epidemic of preventable deaths throughout
our nation’s hospitals, Washington could wipe $33
billion in annual spending from the debt almost overnight—and
this is probably a low estimate.
Meaningful
Suggestions
HealthLeaders, 12/12/11
The first wave of providers has attested to Stage 1
Meaningful Use and many already have deposited big
incentive checks from Uncle Sam, but the next wave may
find the process more challenging.
CMS Touts Early
Success
HealthLeaders, 12/12/11
Providers may have faced challenges in their preparation
for attesting to Stage 1 Meaningful Use, but CMS is
upbeat about results from the Medicare and Medicaid EHR
Incentive Programs in 2011.
9 Ways Health I.T.–Beyond
EHRs–Helps Patients
Government Health IT, 12/12/11
Adoption of EHRs are a critical first step to realizing
the transformational power of health I.T.—but
getting out of paper enables even greater HIT
capabilities.
MGMA Calls for HIPAA
5010 Contingency Plan
Health Data Management, 12/20/11
The Medical Group Management Association is calling for a
contingency plan of at least six months for the
transition to the HIPAA 5010 transaction sets, which has
a compliance date of January 1, 2012.
HHS Names Pioneer
ACOs
Modern Healthcare, subscription required, 12/19/11
HHS announced the 32 organizations the agency selected
from among 80 applicants to participate in the Pioneer
accountable care organization model.
Older Doctors a Lot
More Tech-Savvy Than Many Think
American Medical News, 12/19/11
The most experienced (read: oldest) physician in the
office is often assumed to be the least tech-savvy. In
reality, the opposite may be true.
E-prescribing
Improves Medication Pick-Up Rates
Wall Street Journal Health
Blog, 12/16/11
New research shows that 76.5 percent of patients pick up
their prescriptions at the pharmacy when the doctor e-prescribes,
seven percentage points higher than when the old pen-and-pad
method is used.
As Doctors Use More
Devices, Potential for Distraction Grows
New York Times, 12/14/11
Although hospitals and physician offices are investing
billions of dollars annually in computers, smartphones,
and other devices, experts warn such tools increasingly
are distracting physicians and compromising patient care.
Cloud Computing Must
Mature for Providers to Adopt
CMIO, 12/12/11
Although 58 percent of surveyed health care providers are
considering using cloud-based tools, many have concerns
with web-based data storage, according to a report.
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