July 12, 2012 David Raths
blog
States seek to avoid "over-architected" HIE approach that tries to do too much for too many with not enough money and time.
July 11, 2012 John DeGaspari
blog
I recently started to read a book on healthcare reform—appropriately titled “Health Care Will Not Reform Itself”—written by George C. Halvorson, chairman and CEO of Oakland, Calif.-based Kaiser Permanente. The book was handed out to attendees of Halvorson’s presentation at last month’s ANI conference put on by the Healthcare Financial Management Association in Las Vegas. Although it was published in 2009, the book is as relevant today as it was then, especially in light of the Supreme Court’s decision to uphold the Accountable Care Act.
July 10, 2012 Jeff Smith, Assistant Director of Advocacy at CHIME Share
article
During a meeting this Tuesday, the Meaningful Use Workgroup of the federal Health IT Policy Committee convened to discuss how Stage 3 Meaningful Use might look, and an area of prime concern to the workgroup is care coordination. Also, during the week following the Supreme Court's historic decision to uphold the Affordable Care Act, leaders in Washington drew a line in the sand with Republicans urging state-level resistance and the Obama administration ramping up implementation plans.
June 27, 2012 David Raths
blog
provider organizations, to understand not only the basis for their general support of the meaningful use effort but also the areas Many healthcare providers state their support for the concepts, but add that their EHR vendors won’t be able to implement them in the timeline suggested.
June 26, 2012
blog
We are continuously piling new requirements on existing systems, often in conceptual isolation. It has occurred to everyone working in our industry that Medication Reconciliation overlaps CPOE, which overlaps maintaining up-to-date problem lists, which in turn overlap exchanging interoperable documents to facilitate safe hand-offs. These things are explicitly essential to reduce unnecessary readmissions, provide care in coordinated medical facilities and pharmacies, and promote self-care. What worries us all...
June 26, 2012 Joe Marion
blog
In February the CMS published the proposed rules for Stage 2 of the ARRA/Meaningful Use act. The proposed rules include the possible inclusion of imaging, specifically image sharing as a criterion. The comments period closed in May, and now it will now be up to the government to see if imaging survives as part of Stage 2. I have heard some rumblings that advocate the removal of imaging, as “the technology is not mature enough.” I, for one, cannot support this viewpoint.
June 20, 2012 John DeGaspari
blog
With the expected decision on healthcare reform by the Supreme Court, what will happen to patient safety and quality reforms taking place under the Affordable Care Act? In a recent article in Scientific American, several healthcare experts said that patients will suffer if the law is struck down. Yet a recent article in the New York Times also points out that initiatives that hospitals have already put in place will have a lasting impact, and the economic pressure to provide better care to more people is irreversible.
June 6, 2012 Gabriel Perna
blog
At a recent panel at the MIT CIO Symposium in Cambridge, Mass, various leading CIOs in the industry looked at technology’s role in the ongoing healthcare transformation. Everything was covered from how the government mandates have pushed providers farther along than they every would have been to how Facebook could be applied to healthcare.
June 3, 2012 Joe Marion
blog
Cardiology is much more complicated compared to radiology, as there are many more data types involved. In radiology, since images are the primary form of data, the Digital Imaging and Communications (DICOM) standard has been immensely successful in creating an interoperable environment. Unfortunately, in the case of cardiology, besides images, physicians interact with wave forms, pressure measurements and documentation as part of a procedure.
May 25, 2012
news
Researchers at The George Washington University's Hirsh Health Law and Policy Program have launched a website designed to serve as a practical online resource regarding federal and state laws governing access, use, release, and publication of health information. The site, Health Information and the Law (HealthInfoLaw.org), will aim to address the current legal and regulatory framework for health information, as well as changes in the legal and policy landscape that have an impact on health information law and its implementation.
May 8, 2012 David Raths
blog
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.
May 7, 2012
news
The Chicago-based Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) has submitted its comments to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) in response to the proposed rule of Stage 2 of Meaningful Use. Among the organization’s numerous comments is a request that the government incorporate a 90- to 180-day reporting period for Year 1 of Stage 2 in 2014.
.jpg)
