Policy

Editors Picks

Got Transparency? Mainstream Media Coverage Is Moving to the Healthcare Operational Level

Mark Hagland
I was fascinated last month by a New York Times article I read about an initiative tying physician pay in New York City’s public hospitals to the outcomes measures those hospitals will be paid against under healthcare reform.

Top Stories

ACO Leaders Explain: Healthcare First, Then Savings

February 15, 2013     Gabriel Perna
blog
In an NCQA webinar, managing partner and CEO of Crystal Run Healthcare, Hal Teitelbaum, M.D., talked about the mentality his organization has in being an ACO. It’s clear being an ACO, and getting accreditation from the NCQA, is not something that can be done with negligence.

Podcast: Improving Hand Hygiene through RFID

February 14, 2013     Gabriel Perna
article
In this Healthcare Informatics podcast, Associate Editor Gabriel Perna interviews Gerald Creel, the director of emergency department at Shannon Medical Center, a 400-bed hospital in San Angelo, Texas. Shannon won third place in HCI’s recent IT Innovators Award program for implementing an automated radio-frequency identification (RFID)-based system that dealt with the issue of hand-hygiene. As a result of this initiative, Shannon lowered hospital acquired infections by 62 percent.

EXCLUSIVE: Russ Branzell, CHIME’s Incoming CEO, Speaks First to Healthcare Informatics

February 14, 2013     Mark Hagland
article
One day after the Ann Arbor, Mich.-based CHIME named Russell P. Branzell its incoming chief executive officer, Branzell spoke with HCI Editor-in-Chief Mark Hagland regarding his acceptance of the CHIME CEO position, and his aspirations for CHIME as an organization going forward.

Slower Healthcare Inflation Seen Easing the Federal Budget Deficit

February 14, 2013     Mark Hagland
news
A Congressional Budget Office report finds that the growth in healthcare cost inflation in the Medicare and Medicaid programs has slowed in the short term, with healthcare reform-driven reimbursement changes a possible factor in the trend

Illinois Gets Approved for Health Insurance Marketplace

February 13, 2013     Rajiv Leventhal
news
During a visit with Illinois Governor Pat Quinn to the Erie Health Center in Chicago on Feb.13, Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced that Illinois has been conditionally approved to operate a State Partnership Marketplace (Exchange), which will be ready for open enrollment in October 2013. This partnership will allow Illinois to make key decisions and tailor the marketplace to local needs and market conditions.

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WEDI Extends Free Membership to All Government Agencies

February 13, 2013     Rajiv Leventhal
news
The Reston, Va.-based Workgroup for Electronic Data Interchange (WEDI), a non-profit organization formed by the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS), has announced that it will extend free membership for all federal and state government agencies and their corresponding departments.

ACOs Join to Form National Association

February 13, 2013     Rajiv Leventhal
news
Of the 258 accountable care organizations (ACOs) recognized by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), 60 of them, from more than 15 states, have joined together to form the National Association of ACOs (NAACOS), a non-profit organization that allows ACOs to work together to increase quality of care, lower costs and improve the health of their communities.

President Obama Gives a Shout-Out to Value-Based Purchasing in his State of the Union Address

February 13, 2013     Mark Hagland
news
In his first State of the Union address of his second term, President Barack Obama on Feb. 12 directly addressed some of the challenges and opportunities facing the federal Medicare program in the coming years, citing value-based purchasing in particular as an important change to the U.S. healthcare system, as well as proposing changes in pharmaceutical policy and in Medicare rules for wealthy seniors.

HIMSS Urges CMS to Maintain ICD-10 Adoption Date

February 11, 2013     Rajiv Leventhal
news
The Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) has submitted a letter to Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and Acting Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Administrator Marilyn Tavenner to reiterate strong support for maintaining the October 1, 2014 revised date for nationwide adoption of ICD-10.

President Obama Re-Nominates Marilyn Tavenner To Be Permanent CMS Administrator

February 8, 2013     Mark Hagland
article
As President Barack Obama re-nominates Marilyn Tavenner, R.N., acting administrator of the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, to be permanent CMS administrator, industry reaction is uniformly positive; but Republicans on Capitol Hill may or may not help the nomination to move forward to hearings and confirmation

CMS, AHRQ Announce EHR Format for Children

February 7, 2013     Gabriel Perna
news
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) and Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) are proposing changes to the format ofchildren’s electronic health records (EHRs), the two agencies jointly announced.

Mounting Evidence in Favor of Patient Activation

February 7, 2013     Gabriel Perna
blog
When it comes to patients’ skills and knowledge on their care, more equals less, according to the recently published findings of one research team. The study found the most tuned in patients cost 8-to-21 percent less than the costs of patients with the lowest level of activation. It’s just one more piece of evidence that supports this growing movement.
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