Ambulatory Care

New York REC Boasts 1,000 Meaningful Use Providers

June 29, 2012    
news
The New York eHealth Collaborative (NYeC) Regional Extension Center (REC) has become the first regional extension center (REC) in the nation to certify over 1,000 providers for the federally defined meaningful use, the organization stated recently.

D.C. Report: One in Five Hospitals Receive Meaningful Use Payments through May

June 27, 2012     Jeff Smith, Assistant Director of Advocacy at CHIME
article
May was a good month for the Medicare & Medicaid EHR Incentive Payment programs. As of June 1, more than 110,000 eligible professionals and 2,400 hospitals had received a total of $5.7 billion in meaningful use incentive payments, according to a monthly report released Tuesday from the Department of Health and Human Services.

NwHIN Trust Framework Involves Establishing Another Accreditation Regime

May 24, 2012     David Raths
article
On May 15 the Office of the National Coordinator published a Request for Information (RFI) on governance of the nationwide health information network (NwHIN). At their May 24 meeting, Health IT Standards Committee members debated some of the fine points involved in setting up another accreditation and validation system to make trusted exchange of health data easier. If ONC’s basic framework is adopted, CIOs may have to add at least two new acronyms to their vocabulary: CTE (Conditions for Trusted Exchange) and NVE (NwHIN-Validated Entity).

More Stage 2 Comments, Patient Engagement Initiative Praised

May 8, 2012    
news
Along with the College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (CHIME), the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS), the American Hospital Association (AHA), and the American Medical Association (AMA), the Certification Commission for Health Information Technology (CCHIT) and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) have submitted its comments on the proposed rule of Stage 2 of Meaningful Use to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS).

D.C. Report: Senators Demand More Tangible Anti-Fraud Results from CMS

May 8, 2012     Jeff Smith, Assistant Director of Advocacy at CHIME
article
Despite a fairly constant flurry of news clippings regarding federal efforts to combat fraud in Medicare and Medicaid, prominent Senators want more “tangible results” from CMS to improve program integrity...Comments filed with both the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT (ONC) identified concerns related to the proposed Stage 2 EHR reporting period as well as CMS’ varying approach to clinical quality measures (CQMs).

AMA: Stage 2 Proposal Too ‘Cumbersome’

May 8, 2012    
news
The Chicago-based American Medical Association (AMA) officially submitted its comments this week on the proposed rule for Stage 2 of the Medicare/Medicaid meaningful use electronic health record (EHR) program. Overall, the association said it was supportive of widespread adoption and meaningful use of EHRs by physicians, but thought the Stage 2 proposal was too cumbersome and would make successful physician participation extremely difficult.

Helping Hand: Spurring Doctors Towards Automation

May 1, 2012     Mark Hagland
blog
Tucked away inside President Obama’s proposed fiscal 2013 year budget are some hopeful statistics around electronic health record adoption, particularly recent figures around office-based physicians' EHR adoption, and the assist that doctors are getting from the federal government's regional extension centers (RECs). Are we reaching an important turning point on the long journey towards the new healthcare?

Should Patients Read Doctors’ Notes?

April 26, 2012     David Raths
blog
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.

D.C. Report: Correction to MU Stage 2 Proposed Rule, Medical Device Identifier System Promoted

April 24, 2012     Jeff Smith, Assistant Director of Advocacy at CHIME
article
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has published corrections to its Meaningful Use Stage 2 proposed rule in the Federal Register. Several of the changes are clerical corrections and do not substantively change the proposed measures and objectives. During a hearing this week, the first Congress has held since before Easter, the Senate Health, Education, Labor & Pensions Committee, introduced the Food and Drug Administration Safety and Innovation Act.

Study: Providers Say Meaningful Use Readiness Looks Shaky

April 24, 2012    
news
A recent poll from KPMG, an audit, tax and advisory services firm, suggests many business administrators at hospitals and health systems are expressing doubt on whether or not they can meet the new Stage 2 meaningful use requirements of EHR compliance standards. Less than half of those surveyed (48 percent) in the KPMG poll last month said they were confident in their organization’s level of readiness to meet Stage 1 meaningful use requirements.

Getting to the Bottom of Patient Engagement

April 18, 2012     Gabriel Perna
blog
One of healthcare’s greatest mysteries these days is patient engagement. It’s a term that’s been thrown around by providers, government agencies, insurers, and pretty much any stakeholder involved in the improvement of the industry. Yet, even though Meaningful Use Stage 2 is loaded with patient engagement initiatives, some, like David Chase, CEO of Avado.com, a start-up out of Bellvue, Wash.

What Have You Done For Your Clinicians Lately?

April 9, 2012    
blog
.....only clinician involvement can orchestrates the process by which clinicians are “integrated” in the process of delivery of quality-centered care. An obstructionist clinician team can derail an otherwise successful HIT adoption project and/or your EHR application implementation.
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