February 11, 2013 Jeff Smith, Assistant Director of Advocacy at CHIME
article
Direction The federal Health IT Policy Committee met for their monthly meeting this past week in Washington and Meaningful Use Stage 3 was back on the agenda. In under a month, ONC staff culled through more than 500 comments submitted to the Policy Committee that underscored concerns regarding the timing of Stage 3, the growing list of competing priorities for providers and a feeling that more interoperability limitations needed to be addressed.
February 11, 2013 Joe Bormel
blog
Recently, I participated in medical grand rounds at several hospitals. The primary topics of all these grand rounds were focused on delivering better care. One of these sessions was presented on the topic of coaching, something I have blogged about in the past to help advance the acceptance and use of HIT. Case in point, a physician I spoke with contended that the net of HIT applications was negative for both patient and provider satisfaction. I contend this is why some non-IT related behaviors, like coaching, are now receiving new and overdue attention. But are we doing enough?
February 8, 2013 David Raths
article
After hearing public comment on Feb. 6 that its proposals for Stage 3 may overwhelm vendors and providers still grappling with Stages 1 and 2, the Health IT Policy Committee’s Meaningful Use Work Group went back to the drawing board Feb. 8 to consider alternative approaches.
February 4, 2013 David Raths
blog
The growth in the rate of prescriptions written electronically is a huge success story. But at the Jan. 29 joint hearing of the federal HIT Policy Committee and HIT Standards Committee, attendees were reminded that sending structured lab data is a bigger challenge, in part due to the highly fragmented nature of the laboratory market.
January 22, 2013 Jeff Smith, Assistant Director of Advocacy at CHIME
article
The Federal Health IT Policy Committee has been working for months on developing measures and objectives for Stage 3 Meaningful Use and in November they shared those thoughts with the wider health IT community of stakeholders for input. Recently, CHIME submitted a response to the HIT Policy Committee, urging caution about the assumed pace and practicality of those Stage 3 measures.
January 16, 2013 Gabriel Perna
news
The American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) is calling on the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC), to delay implementation of meaningful use Stage 3 until 2017, the association said in a comment letter to ONC National Coordinator Farzad Mostashari, M.D.
January 15, 2013 Jeff Smith, Assistant Director of Advocacy at CHIME
article
According to officials at CMS, December was the single largest monthly payout of EHR incentives in the program’s history. Roughly $1.2 billion went to eligible hospitals and eligible physicians in December, bringing the total estimated payout to $10.3 billion. The bulk of the payments went to EHs, who received $1 billion in Medicare and Medicaid incentive payments. EPs received $175 million in Medicare payments and $80 million in Medicaid payments.
January 14, 2013 Mark Hagland
news
On Jan. 14, the Ann Arbor, Mich.-based College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (CHIME) submitted formal comments to the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC), in response to the release of the Health IT Policy Committee’s proposal for Stage 3 of meaningful use.
January 14, 2013 Mark Hagland
news
On Jan. 14, the Chicago-based American Medical Association (AMA) submitted formal comments to the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC), in response to the release of the Health IT Policy Committee’s proposal for Stage 3 of meaningful use under the HITECH Act.
January 9, 2013 Mark Hagland
article
Speranza Avram, the CEO of CalHIPSO, the largest of the 62 federally designated regional extension centers, has spent three years helping physicians in small groups to achieve meaningful use. Going forward, being able to continue to help providers beyond the end of this year will mean developing new models of sustainability.
January 8, 2013 David Raths
article
At the Jan. 8 Health IT Policy Committee meeting, Farzad Mostashari, M.D., national coordinator for health IT, and Paul Tang, M.D., vice chair of the committee, outlined some priorities for the year ahead, including a glimpse of what Stage 4 of meaningful use might address.
January 5, 2013 David Raths
blog
Stage 2 of meaningful use raises the bar in terms of how and when hospitals and physician groups must make patient data available.