May 8, 2012 David Raths
Consumer queries about the accuracy and completeness of patient records are only expected to grow. Some health systems are working on ways to include patient feedback, but no standard approach has yet emerged.
April 26, 2012 David Raths
About a year ago, researchers at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical School launched an intriguing research project to study what would happen if patients had regular access to their primary care physicians’ notes about their visits. On April 25, the investigators discussed some of their findings during a National eHealth Collaborative webinar.
April 18, 2012 David Raths
A March 2012 paper published in the Journal of Patient Safety and an upcoming conference raise the question: Would it make sense to create the equivalent of the National Transportation Safety Board for healthcare?
March 29, 2012 David Raths
While most health information exchanges have yet to achieve reaching financial sustainability, HIEs in Rhode Island and Indiana are beginning to demonstrate the considerable value of statewide data exchange.
March 19, 2012 David Raths
The patient engagement measure that requires that 10 percent of patients actually have to look at their data, download it, or transmit it to others isn't sitting well with providers.
February 24, 2012 David Raths
Even though organizations have known that patient portals were going to be required, this ups the ante quite a bit. I think providers are gong to be unhappy with the requirement that makes them responsible for making sure that 10 percent of patients view or download health information.
February 7, 2012 David Raths
One of the key things regulators lacked when working on Stage 2 of meaningful use was solid feedback on how providers were doing implementing Stage 1. The Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT has taken some steps to address that lack of input. On Feb. 7, ONC staffer Dawn Heisey-Grove made a presentation to the Meaningful Use Work Group on an effort to identify and analyze barriers to successfully achieving meaningful use.
February 6, 2012 By David Raths
In January, Minnesota Attorney General Lori Swanson filed a lawsuit against consulting firm Accretive Health Inc., which last summer lost an unencrypted laptop that contained medical data on 23,500 Minnesotans. The state wants Accretive to disclose to Minnesota patients the data that it has about them, where and how such data is stored, including but not limited to whether it has been sent overseas, and how such data is utilized.
January 30, 2012 David Raths
One of the great potential benefits of the meaningful use EHR incentive program is improved public health syndromic surveillance. As EHRs and health information exchanges mature, they promise to speed the dissemination and analysis of clinical data. Epidemiologists who used to have to wait for paper-based reports will soon have almost real-time access to data to monitor or identify infectious disease outbreaks.
January 19, 2012 By David Raths
The segments of the National Cardiovascular Data Registry are taking on increasing value both as research tools and as aides to hospitals and individual practices in reporting to regulatory agencies and in getting feedback on quality improvement efforts.
