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.
November 7, 2012 David Raths
blog
Health Story is supporting a project team within HL7 that is working to create a standard for “Patient Authored Documents” using the HL7 CDA standard.
September 14, 2012 Jennifer Prestigiacomo
article
Much progress has been made to develop data and transport standards for Stages 1 and 2 of meaningful use, and as the NeHC webinar held September 13 pointed out, there is still much work left to be done to harmonize standards in healthcare. As part of the activities for National Health IT week, NeHC hosted a webinar devoted to the discussing the current Standards and Interoperability (S&I) Framework pilots and how its activities apply to current work being done in the industry with transitions of care, health information exchange, and population health.
September 4, 2012
news
The Ann Arbor, Mich.-based Health Level Seven International (HL7), a developer of interoperability standards for healthcare IT, is making most of its intellectual property (IP), including standards, freely available under licensing terms. The new policy is expected to take effect in the first quarter of 2013.
August 24, 2012 David Raths
blog
CMS followed Health IT Policy Committee in stressing the importance of making health information readily available to patients after a visit.
July 16, 2012
news
The American Medical Association (AMA) is working with 60 various organizations in supporting an effort that will aim to help physicians’ better use health insurer-provided data reports as tools to enhance the quality and value of patient care. As part of the effort, the AMA created the "Guidelines for Reporting Physician Data" with input from public and private health insurers, state and specialty medical societies, health standard organizations, and employer and consumer coalitions.
July 9, 2012
news
The Chicago-based Certification Commission announced today that Boston-based Massachusetts General Hospital and Brigham and Women's Hospital, affiliates and founding members of Partners HealthCare System, are the latest providers to certify their installed EHR technology under CCHIT’s EHR Alternative Certification for Healthcare Providers, or EACH, an Office of the National Coordinator authorized testing and certification program (ONC-ATCB) for 2011/2012. EACH meets the needs of hospitals and other providers that have uncertified legacy software, customized commercial products, or have developed their own EHR systems tailored to their individual needs.
May 20, 2012
blog
I was trained to think of coding as a downstream process to care that is of little clinical significance. But, as I learned during the course of the week; I was dead wrong. Rather than simply polishing the chart, those downstream processes are intended to strengthen it. And, with the rapid evolution of MU and value care, the focus on clinical documentation integrity is moving upstream, directly to the provider.
I also found that getting the diagnosis correct, whether for coding, clinical care, quality improvement, or value-based payment is straight-forward but not at all simple.
March 8, 2012 By John DeGaspari
article
Connectivity and integration are inherent challenges for hospitals using disparate biomedical devices across a complex care setting. Virtua, a four-hospital health system based in Marlton, N.J., has taken a serious look at the issue following a review of its patient-care IT portfolio of applications. Although Virtua had embarked on installing an EMR system well ahead of meaningful use as part of the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act, recording the data from bedside devices was still a manual affair, according to CIO Al Campanella.
January 19, 2012 By David Raths
blog
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.
May 18, 2011 Jennifer Prestigiacomo
blog
At the “Health IT in an Era of Accountable Care: Update from the Beacon Communities” meeting, hosted by the Engelberg Center for Health Care Reform at Brookings (Washington, D.C.) in collaboration with The Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT (ONC) payment reform was one of the topics at the forefront of the conversation. With WellPoint Inc. announcing its mandatory value-based purchasing program, the time has never been more prescient for continuing the conversation about getting payers involved in quality-based medicine and payments.
May 12, 2011 Jennifer Prestigiacomo
blog
Surescripts released its annual 2010 progress report on ePrescribing, which reported across the board increases in prescriptions being routed electronically, electronic responses to requests for prescription benefit information, and prescription histories being delivered to prescribers. One of the reports most salient findings was the 72 percent rise in prescriptions being routed electronically from 191 million in 2009 to 326 million in 2010.
