D.C. Report: Mostashari says, 'Now is Not the Right Time' for NwHIN Governance

IOM: U.S. Healthcare System Squanders $750 Billion a Year; Science & Tech Key to Fixing Throughout the years, the Institute of Medicine has produced many studies that helped transform the healthcare system.  Over a decade ago, To Err is Human and Crossing the Quality Chasm drew attention to preventable harm and poor performance in healthcare.  Now, they are making headway into healthcare inefficiencies, ballooning costs due to the complexity of the system and poor quality of care with the report, Best Care at Lower Cost: The Path to Continuously Learning Health Care in America.  Without action, the healthcare system will continue to fall short.

The 382-page report details advances in science and the potential for technology to decrease inefficiencies in the healthcare system and improve patient care.  It highlighted the importance of leveraging health IT to meet the goals of the report.  The report says, using “Mobile health technology and electronic health records can help capture and share health data; and Health IT vendors can create tools to help patients communicate with their health care providers and manage their own health care.” Some of the recommendations from the report parallel the goals of Meaningful Use including: improving digital infrastructure, increasing care continuity, involving patients and families in healthcare decisions, and increasing the use of data available.  They also recommend changing the payment structure in healthcare - "Structure payment to reward continuous learning and improvement in the provision of best care at lower cost."

CDC Urges Use of EHRs to Defeat ‘Public Enemy No. 2’ CDC Director Tom Frieden is on a crusade against “Public Enemy No. 2” – high blood pressure – and he says that electronic health records have a huge role to play in helping providers tackle the issue.  High blood pressure is tied to nearly 1,000 deaths every day and nearly $131 billion in health care costs annually, Frieden said this week, calling hypertension the “single most important thing the healthcare system can do” to save lives.  Frieden advised healthcare systems to use electronic records to identify and more closely monitor patients with high blood pressure, as the National Quality Forum recommends.

CHIME Unveils New ‘Meaningful Use Stage 2 Resources’ Earlier this week, CHIME created a new resource section of its Advocacy site to provide members with a series of resources, including in-house analysis and important documents released by ONC and CMS in the early days since final rules were released.  Please visit: http://cio-chime.org/advocacy/resources/MeaningfulUseStage2.asp to see such documents as, “CHIME MU Stage 2 and Stage 2 Crosswalk,” and “An Overview of Patient Engagement Measures in MU S2” as well as analysis provided by Health Policy Alternatives, a consulting group in DC that CHIME works with.