MedWorm provides a medical RSS filtering service. Over 6000 RSS medical sources are combined and output via different filters. This feed contains the latest medical blog items that have been tagged with 'arra'. Sat, 03 Sep 2011 02:05:57 +0100 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5181973&cid=t_226630_113_f&fid=38236&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.healthcareitnews.com%2Fblog%2Fcoming-soon-dr-android The architects of the HITECH Act are hoping that a lot of things are going to change within the next five years. But according to some healthcare sector prognosticators, EHRs and related IT developments are only the tip of the iceberg. read more (Source: Healthcare IT News Blog) Healthcare IT News Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5181973 Thu, 01 Sep 2011 13:46:49 +0100 5181973 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5181975&cid=t_226630_113_f&fid=38236&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.healthcareitnews.com%2Fblog%2Fehr-incentives-likely-improve-quality Healthcare is one of the last industries in the United States to universally incorporate technological advancements. While most sectors have made significant investments in information technology to improve efficiency and consumer relationships, America’s health care system is still largely paper-driven. As a result the healthcare system is plagued by inefficiency and poor quality. Delivery is slower, more prone to errors, and harder to measure and coordinate than it should be. Investments in health information technology can help improve this situation. read more (Source: Healthcare IT News Blog) Healthcare IT News Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5181975 Thu, 01 Sep 2011 12:19:45 +0100 5181975 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5181977&cid=t_226630_113_f&fid=38236&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.healthcareitnews.com%2Fblog%2Fehr-shortcuts-can-backfire It’s no secret that many HIT advocates are frustrated at the pace of the HIT transition. To be sure, the healthcare sector notoriously lags behind most other major sectors of the economy when it comes to implementing new technology. But sometimes it helps to step back and remember what, from the providers perspective, is actually involved. read more (Source: Healthcare IT News Blog) Healthcare IT News Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5181977 Wed, 31 Aug 2011 13:23:22 +0100 5181977 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5181978&cid=t_226630_113_f&fid=38236&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.healthcareitnews.com%2Fblog%2Fpolicymaking-and-bully-pulpit “Knock the heck out of it,” ONC Coordinator Farzad Mostashari, MD, exhorted attendees at an Allscripts conference, yesterday. The “it” he was talking about, according to reports, can be any specific health problem that healthcare researchers and innovators think can be tackled using new health IT. read more (Source: Healthcare IT News Blog) Healthcare IT News Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5181978 Tue, 30 Aug 2011 15:27:08 +0100 5181978 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5174703&cid=t_226630_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FEmrAndHipaa%2F%7E3%2Fg_faMvFVu7k%2F Lynn Scheps is Vice President, Government Affairs at EHR vendor SRSsoft. In this role, Lynn has been a Voice of Physicians and SRSsoft users in Washington during the formulation of the meaningful use criteria. Lynn is currently working to assist SRSsoft users interested in showing meaningful use and receiving the EHR incentive money. Check out Lynn’s previous Meaningful Use Monday posts. A great deal of work, discussion, and debate by the HIT Policy Committee and its Workgroup members went into developing the recommendations for meaningful use Stage 2 (discussed in the last two Meaningful Use Monday posts). Meetings were frequent and lengthy, but I tried to listen in on most of them to gain some insights into the thinking behind the decisions being made and the future direction of me... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5174703 Mon, 29 Aug 2011 17:35:33 +0100 5174703 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5181981&cid=t_226630_113_f&fid=38236&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.healthcareitnews.com%2Fblog%2Fall-mu-data-%25E2%2580%259Cmeaningful%25E2%2580%259D We interrupt these dog days of summer for a bit of a doctors’ food fight. At issue is what this doctor refers to as the “meaningless data” required under the Meaningful Use regulations. Not bashful about thowing the first piece of pie, she begins by announcing that “Race is a medically meaningless concept.” read more (Source: Healthcare IT News Blog) Healthcare IT News Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5181981 Mon, 29 Aug 2011 15:58:29 +0100 5181981 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5174711&cid=t_226630_113_f&fid=38236&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.healthcareitnews.com%2Fblog%2Fall-mu-data-%25E2%2580%259Cmeaningful%25E2%2580%259D We interrupt these dog days of summer for a bit of a doctors’ food fight. At issue is what this doctor refers to as the “meaningless data” required under the Meaningful Use regulations. Not bashful about thowing the first piece of pie, she begins by announcing that “Race is a medically meaningless concept.” read more (Source: Healthcare IT News Blog) Healthcare IT News Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5174711 Mon, 29 Aug 2011 15:58:29 +0100 5174711 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5174713&cid=t_226630_113_f&fid=38236&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.healthcareitnews.com%2Fblog%2Fend-beginning-and-launch-i2o When Dr. Farzad Mostashari, the national coordinator for health information technology, addresses more than 4,700 healthcare professionals at the Allscripts Client Experience in Nashville on Monday morning, Aug. 29, he’s likely to discuss one of the most exciting developments in healthcare today – and perhaps surprisingly, it won’t be the meaningful use of electronic health records.  read more (Source: Healthcare IT News Blog) Healthcare IT News Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5174713 Sun, 28 Aug 2011 16:48:46 +0100 5174713 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5159311&cid=t_226630_113_f&fid=38236&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.healthcareitnews.com%2Fblog%2Fsearch-role-phrs It’s a chicken-or-egg question: Will doctors adopting EHRs lead to a rise in the use of Personal Health Records (PHRs), or will increasing consumer demand for personal health information force reluctant doctors to go digital? We’ve been inclined to believe that, over time, consumer demand will be the key to the HIT transition, but some experts seem to think it’s the other way around. read more (Source: Healthcare IT News Blog) Healthcare IT News Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5159311 Fri, 26 Aug 2011 14:01:04 +0100 5159311 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5159316&cid=t_226630_113_f&fid=38236&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.healthcareitnews.com%2Fblog%2Fcio-survey-shows-impact-hit-policies More often than not, general surveys are probably of little use to policymakers. But one community HIT policymakers might want to check in with occasionally via available surveys are CIOs who are tasked with managing the daily ins and outs of the HIT transition. read more (Source: Healthcare IT News Blog) Healthcare IT News Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5159316 Wed, 24 Aug 2011 13:34:40 +0100 5159316 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5159318&cid=t_226630_113_f&fid=38236&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.healthcareitnews.com%2Fblog%2Fincrease-patient-confidence-leave-it-tigers Lately, we’ve been pondering how policymakers should approach educating patients about the HIT transition. One idea may be to give them, at least occasionally, a more in-depth look at some of the discussions taking place around issues such as health information security. read more (Source: Healthcare IT News Blog) Healthcare IT News Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5159318 Tue, 23 Aug 2011 14:28:08 +0100 5159318 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5159280&cid=t_226630_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FEmrAndHipaa%2F%7E3%2FTRWtDdOJM_4%2F Lynn Scheps is Vice President, Government Affairs at EHR vendor SRSsoft. In this role, Lynn has been a Voice of Physicians and SRSsoft users in Washington during the formulation of the meaningful use criteria. Lynn is currently working to assist SRSsoft users interested in showing meaningful use and receiving the EHR incentive money. Check out Lynn’s previous Meaningful Use Monday posts. In addition to the Meaningful Use Stage 2 recommendations discussed in last week’s Meaningful Use Monday, the HIT Policy Committee proposed a new framework for the reporting of clinical quality measures that was designed by its specifically-tasked Quality Measure Workgroup. The recommended concept is depicted in the graphic below—the intention is to broaden the scope of reporting to address a wid... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5159280 Mon, 22 Aug 2011 15:19:08 +0100 5159280 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5159282&cid=t_226630_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FEmrAndHipaa%2F%7E3%2FU4K02LkFYNc%2F LinuxMedNews just posted the announcement that OpenEMR is now a certified EHR. Here’s the quote from their announcement: It’s official! OpenEMR has passed all ONC certification tests as a fully qualified emr that can be used to attest for incentive moneys. The official posting: http://onc-chpl.force.com/ehrcert/EHRProductDetail?id=a0X30000003mNwTEAU&retURL= appeared on the website 2011/08/19. Congratulations to all involved! OpenEMR 4.1 should be ready for download in a few weeks. This is a really big announcement for the open source ambulatory EHR community. A number of other open source EHR are certified, but they’re mostly for the hospital EHR space. So, it’s a great thing for OpenEMR to provide an open source EHR to the ambulatory space. Plus, I have to adm... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5159282 Sun, 21 Aug 2011 05:32:11 +0100 5159282 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5139948&cid=t_226630_113_f&fid=38236&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.healthcareitnews.com%2Fblog%2Flegal-conference-highlights-ehr-complexities Anyone who doubts the complexity of the HIT transition should talk to a lawyer. That’s our take, at least, based on the news coming out of this week’s AHIMA's 2011 Legal EHR Summit in Chicago. read more (Source: Healthcare IT News Blog) Healthcare IT News Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5139948 Fri, 19 Aug 2011 00:10:20 +0100 5139948 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5139950&cid=t_226630_113_f&fid=38236&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.healthcareitnews.com%2Fblog%2Fhit-outreach-should-be-%25E2%2580%259Cnews-you-can-use%25E2%2580%259D It’s pretty much a given in HIT policy circles that the public needs to know more about the potential benefits of health IT. read more (Source: Healthcare IT News Blog) Healthcare IT News Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5139950 Thu, 18 Aug 2011 16:38:03 +0100 5139950 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5139953&cid=t_226630_113_f&fid=38236&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.healthcareitnews.com%2Fblog%2Fmu-spurring-adoption-cpoe-or-it You say "po-tay-to," I say "po-tah-to." It often seems that the old song could be applied to any number of policy discussions, and it appears applicable once again to the latest news concerning the use of CPOE among hospitals. More to the point, what seems to be open to interpretation is whether “meaningful use” is successfully leading more providers to incorporate CPOE into their practices. read more (Source: Healthcare IT News Blog) Healthcare IT News Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5139953 Tue, 16 Aug 2011 14:18:34 +0100 5139953 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5130856&cid=t_226630_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FEmrAndHipaa%2F%7E3%2F7izZd7JZcgo%2F Lynn Scheps is Vice President, Government Affairs at EHR vendor SRSsoft. In this role, Lynn has been a Voice of Physicians and SRSsoft users in Washington during the formulation of the meaningful use criteria. Lynn is currently working to assist SRSsoft users interested in showing meaningful use and receiving the EHR incentive money. Check out Lynn’s previous Meaningful Use Monday posts. A few weeks ago, the HIT Policy Committee forwarded its Stage 2 meaningful use recommendations to CMS. CMS is expected to issue a Proposed Rule in early 2012 and the Final Rule in mid-2012.  The first recommendation—intensely debated, but overwhelmingly supported in the end—is to delay the start of Stage 2 until 2014, recognizing the unrealistic time pressure that vendors and providers would fac... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5130856 Mon, 15 Aug 2011 16:43:35 +0100 5130856 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5125829&cid=t_226630_113_f&fid=38236&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.healthcareitnews.com%2Fblog%2Fthere-law-diminishing-returns-policymaking How far should government go to make good things happen? It being a Friday in August, and confident that readers are just aching for a question of political philosophy to ponder until they can get back to the office on Monday, we thought we’d offer the above, which, truth be told, is what we keep coming back to after reviewing some recent news and observations. read more (Source: Healthcare IT News Blog) Healthcare IT News Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5125829 Fri, 12 Aug 2011 14:09:48 +0100 5125829 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5118759&cid=t_226630_113_f&fid=38236&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.healthcareitnews.com%2Fblog%2Fthere%25E2%2580%2599s-difference-between-education-and-promotion ONC is currently preparing to expand its efforts at educating the public about the advantages of EHRs, but as they develop their outreach program policymakers need to ensure that the information they’re delivering is actually useful. read more (Source: Healthcare IT News Blog) Healthcare IT News Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5118759 Thu, 11 Aug 2011 15:13:10 +0100 5118759 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5118761&cid=t_226630_113_f&fid=38236&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.healthcareitnews.com%2Fblog%2Fhealthcare-different I'm often asked why healthcare has been slow to automate its processes compared to other industries such as the airlines, shipping/logistics, or the financial services industry. Many clinicians say that healthcare is different. I'm going to be a bit controversial in this post and agree that healthcare has unique challenges that make it more difficult to automate than other industries. Here's an inventory of the issues: read more (Source: Healthcare IT News Blog) Healthcare IT News Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5118761 Wed, 10 Aug 2011 15:00:16 +0100 5118761 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5118762&cid=t_226630_113_f&fid=38236&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.healthcareitnews.com%2Fblog%2Fstudies-point-complexity-hit-transition Like it or not, spending the public’s money on the HIT transition is a Catch-22. On the one hand, billions of dollars are being spent on a promise. On the other hand, there’s no way of knowing for sure whether the promise will come true until those billions are spent. read more (Source: Healthcare IT News Blog) Healthcare IT News Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5118762 Wed, 10 Aug 2011 14:19:03 +0100 5118762 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5107665&cid=t_226630_113_f&fid=38236&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.healthcareitnews.com%2Fblog%2Fuk-offers-us-chance-learn-failure So far, it seems reasonable to believe that HITECH is working, but where could things go wrong? read more (Source: Healthcare IT News Blog) Healthcare IT News Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5107665 Tue, 09 Aug 2011 11:43:50 +0100 5107665 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5118748&cid=t_226630_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FEmrAndHipaa%2F%7E3%2FjLM8hRYzQbY%2F Lynn Scheps is Vice President, Government Affairs at EHR vendor SRSsoft. In this role, Lynn has been a Voice of Physicians and SRSsoft users in Washington during the formulation of the meaningful use criteria. Lynn is currently working to assist SRSsoft users interested in showing meaningful use and receiving the EHR incentive money. Check out Lynn’s previous Meaningful Use Monday posts. At last week’s HIT Policy Committee meeting, Robert Tagalicod, (the new director of the Office of E-Health Standards & Services), presented an analysis of the attestation experience to-date [See John's previous Meaningful Use Details post for the slides and report]. The results lend themselves to some interesting observations—admittedly preliminary findings, but revealing nonetheless:  The ... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5118748 Mon, 08 Aug 2011 18:58:10 +0100 5118748 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5107647&cid=t_226630_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.emrandhipaa.com%2Femr-and-hipaa%2F2011%2F08%2F05%2Fpreliminary-meaningful-use-details-out%2F Brian Ahier has a great post up that had the presentation and report (embedded below) that CMS provided to the HIT Policy Committee. It has a lot of great information worth talking about. I’m going to embed the presentation and report below and pull out some of the key points in a post later. Let me know what catches your eye. The CMS Meaningful Use Presentation The CMS Meaningful Use Report Related posts:Meaningful Use Mondays – More 90 Day Reporting Period Details As a follow-up to last week’s Meaningful Use Monday, the... Meaningful Use Measures: Electronic Copy of Health Information – Meaningful Use Monday Meaningful Use Core Measure: More than 50% of all patients... Helpful Meaningful Use Resources – Meaningful Use Monday I spend a lot of my day answering questio... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5107647 Fri, 05 Aug 2011 21:38:20 +0100 5107647 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5107648&cid=t_226630_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.emrandhipaa.com%2Fneil%2F2011%2F08%2F04%2Frandom-thoughts-emr-projects-decentralized-problems-persist-despite-solutions%2F Once in a while, I run out of Big Ideas to share and resort to a rundown of short items. This is one of those times. Often, though, that approach turns out to be more interesting than a well-thought-out commentary. (Thus, the popularity of Twitter, right?) Speaking of Big Ideas, I’m thinking that the age of the massive EMR project may be coming to an end. You may have seen my piece in InformationWeek today about the reported end of the national EMR in England. London’s The Independent reported earlier this week that the Cameron government will announce next month that it will scrap the national strategy in favor of allowing local hospitals and trusts to make independent EMR purchasing and implementation decisions. This news comes on the heels of a decision by the government of ... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5107648 Thu, 04 Aug 2011 22:22:35 +0100 5107648 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5096464&cid=t_226630_113_f&fid=38236&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.healthcareitnews.com%2Fblog%2Fhitech-should-stay-focused-providers What exactly was the purpose of the HITECH Act? The question may seem a bit odd, at best, to most HIT stakeholders, but it still seems worth asking, on occasion, especially when a story emerges that reminds us that HITECH was in fact part of a giant economic stimulus bill. Take, for example, this new report from the IT trade association CompTIA. read more (Source: Healthcare IT News Blog) Healthcare IT News Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5096464 Thu, 04 Aug 2011 15:12:32 +0100 5096464 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5096109&cid=t_226630_87_f&fid=34765&url=http%3A%2F%2Fhcrenewal.blogspot.com%2F2011%2F08%2Fdebt-ceiling-deal-could-endanger-health.html A story about the recent political deal to raise the Debt Ceiling entitled "Deal could endanger health care law" appeared in the Politico (hat tip Drudge Report):Deal could endanger health care lawBy JENNIFER HABERKORN | 8/3/11 11:28 PM EDT Politico.comThe debt ceiling agreement could jeopardize millions of dollars, and perhaps billions, in initiatives from President Barack Obama’s health care reform law if the super committee can’t come up with required spending cuts.Many of the pots of money in the law — one of the Democrats’ most prized pieces of legislation — could get trimmed by the debt deal’s sequestration, or triggered cuts. The funds for prevention programs and community health centers, grants to help states set up insurance exchanges and co-ops, and money to help sta... Health Care Renewal blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5096109 Thu, 04 Aug 2011 15:11:00 +0100 5096109 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5096466&cid=t_226630_113_f&fid=38236&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.healthcareitnews.com%2Fblog%2Fngo-pitches-common-sense-solution-patient-access-debate We recently highlighted the debate between policymakers and healthcare providers over how best to provide patients with reports detailing who has accessed their health records. read more (Source: Healthcare IT News Blog) Healthcare IT News Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5096466 Wed, 03 Aug 2011 13:24:04 +0100 5096466 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5096473&cid=t_226630_113_f&fid=38236&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.healthcareitnews.com%2Fblog%2Flook-hit-future-follow-money Given the ongoing debates over the federal budget, advocates for a strong government role in the HIT transition may feel somewhat disheartened. read more (Source: Healthcare IT News Blog) Healthcare IT News Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5096473 Tue, 02 Aug 2011 13:28:22 +0100 5096473 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5086326&cid=t_226630_113_f&fid=38236&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.healthcareitnews.com%2Fblog%2Flook-jumping-clouds It seem an increasing number of healthcare providers are spending more and more time gazing at, and venturing into, the clouds. read more (Source: Healthcare IT News Blog) Healthcare IT News Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5086326 Mon, 01 Aug 2011 17:56:32 +0100 5086326 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5107651&cid=t_226630_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.emrandhipaa.com%2Flynn%2F2011%2F08%2F01%2Fpublic-health-measures-meet-exclude-or-defer-%25e2%2580%2593-meaningful-use-monday%2F Lynn Scheps is Vice President, Government Affairs at EHR vendor SRSsoft. In this role, Lynn has been a Voice of Physicians and SRSsoft users in Washington during the formulation of the meaningful use criteria. Lynn is currently working to assist SRSsoft users interested in showing meaningful use and receiving the EHR incentive money. Check out Lynn’s previous Meaningful Use Monday posts. Last week’s Meaningful Use Monday identified the two meaningful use public health measures—electronic reporting of immunizations and electronic reporting of syndromic surveillance data—at least one of which EPs must include among their 5 menu measures. So, what do you do if you can’t meet one or both of the public health measures?  The requirement: EPs must accomplish at least one of these m... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5107651 Mon, 01 Aug 2011 17:15:34 +0100 5107651 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5077824&cid=t_226630_113_f&fid=38236&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.healthcareitnews.com%2Fblog%2Feducated-providers-will-be-publics-best-teachers A recent survey from Xerox Corp. shows the general public is still very much in the dark when it comes to EHRs. But while one obvious and necessary response to the findings would be to ramp up public education efforts, policymakers should remember that providers, who are the main point of contact between patients and their records, still need to be educated, too. read more (Source: Healthcare IT News Blog) Healthcare IT News Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5077824 Fri, 29 Jul 2011 13:10:41 +0100 5077824 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5077825&cid=t_226630_113_f&fid=38236&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.healthcareitnews.com%2Fblog%2Fnations-deficit-twitter-update-1 View "The nation's deficit: a Twitter update" on Storify (Source: Healthcare IT News Blog) Healthcare IT News Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5077825 Thu, 28 Jul 2011 20:00:04 +0100 5077825 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5077826&cid=t_226630_113_f&fid=38236&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.healthcareitnews.com%2Fblog%2Fpolicymakers-separating-perception-reality-may-be-job-1 When it comes to sustaining proactive initiatives like the programs coming out of the HITECH Act, one of the bigger challenges for policymakers is figuring out how to manage the divide between perception and reality. Here, for example, is a list of problems one doctor has observed as the role of HIT has increased in his daily practice. read more (Source: Healthcare IT News Blog) Healthcare IT News Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5077826 Thu, 28 Jul 2011 18:48:19 +0100 5077826 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5077816&cid=t_226630_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.emrandhipaa.com%2Femr-and-hipaa%2F2011%2F07%2F27%2Femr-and-meaningful-use-books%2F I must admit that I’m not much of a book guy. Especially since there’s so much free information available on the internet about just about any subject you could want. However, I’ve been quite intrigued by the number of healthcare IT related books that I’ve seen coming out of late. Here’s a quick roundup of some of the ones I’ve seen. Getting to Meaningful Use and Beyond: A Guide for IT Staff in Health Care by Fred Trotter and David Uhlman – I’ve been a big fan of Fred Trotter for a while. So, I’m glad he’s working on this book. Turns out the book isn’t even published, but in Fred Trotter open source style fashion, the book is available for free online right now. Of course, they’re hoping you’ll provide feedback. ... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5077816 Wed, 27 Jul 2011 18:46:01 +0100 5077816 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5069581&cid=t_226630_113_f&fid=38236&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.healthcareitnews.com%2Fblog%2Fproviders-and-policymakers-face-over-patient-access More often than not, regulatory debates between policymakers and industry stakeholders feel like an extended game of “Chicken.” While, usually, the stakes are pretty high, with both sides having valid and defensible positions, the actual resolution to the debate seems to hinge primarily on who’s going to yield first. read more (Source: Healthcare IT News Blog) Healthcare IT News Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5069581 Wed, 27 Jul 2011 13:51:19 +0100 5069581 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5069582&cid=t_226630_113_f&fid=38236&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.healthcareitnews.com%2Fblog%2Fuse-phrs-remains-weak While the HITECH incentives are intended to move the country toward comprehensive use of EHRs, many HIT proponents have been banking on patient demand for access to their records as the real key to pushing providers forward. The problem, however, is that if the use of Personal Health Records (PHRs) is taken as a good indication of growing patient interest, that demand is still barely registering. read more (Source: Healthcare IT News Blog) Healthcare IT News Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5069582 Tue, 26 Jul 2011 14:14:04 +0100 5069582 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5069569&cid=t_226630_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FEmrAndHipaa%2F%7E3%2Fb5hGRxrAh3o%2F Lynn Scheps is Vice President, Government Affairs at EHR vendor SRSsoft. In this role, Lynn has been a Voice of Physicians and SRSsoft users in Washington during the formulation of the meaningful use criteria. Lynn is currently working to assist SRSsoft users interested in showing meaningful use and receiving the EHR incentive money. Check out Lynn’s previous Meaningful Use Monday posts. When selecting the 5 meaningful use menu measures on which to report—from the list of 10 possibilities—the only constraint is that the EP must include at least one of the two measures from the “public health” category: Perform a test of the EHR’s capacity to submit electronic data to immunization registries Perform a test of the EHR’s capacity to report electronic syndromic surveillance ... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5069569 Mon, 25 Jul 2011 15:46:09 +0100 5069569 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5050816&cid=t_226630_113_f&fid=38236&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.healthcareitnews.com%2Fblog%2Ffunding-issues-are-here-stay Got money worries? Join the club! We’re not trying to be (too) flip, but that essentially sums up our take on a recent presentation by David W. Roberts, MPA, vice president of government relations for HIMSS, at the 20th Annual Physician-Computer Connection Symposium sponsored by the Association of Medical Directors of Information Systems. read more (Source: Healthcare IT News Blog) Healthcare IT News Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5050816 Fri, 22 Jul 2011 14:06:04 +0100 5050816 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5062324&cid=t_226630_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.emrandhipaa.com%2Femr-and-hipaa%2F2011%2F07%2F22%2Ftop-5-ehr-contract-pitfalls-identified-guest-post%2F The decisions don’t end after deciding on an EHR system for your medical practice. An EHR contract is an important and legally binding document, and it’s absolutely essential to consider every line of fine print before accepting the terms. O’Toole Law Group founder William O’Toole strongly believes that contract terms should be one of the top criteria in the EHR selection process. Consulting with a lawyer before you sign is the best way to avoid difficult and expensive problems in the future. The following five issues arise frequently in EMR/EHR contracts, which are being rushed to execution by many practices that are aiming to qualify for federal funding under ARRA/HITECH. This is by no means an exhaustive list, but it aims to shed light on a few of the most frequent contract issu... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5062324 Fri, 22 Jul 2011 13:21:58 +0100 5062324 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5062325&cid=t_226630_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.emrandhipaa.com%2Fneil%2F2011%2F07%2F21%2Fwhat-will-happen-to-google-health-data-after-2012%2F Let’s face it, I haven’t actually been nice to Google of late when it comes to healthcare (or maybe I have, just once). While I believe the criticisms are justified, I can see why some people might think I’m beating a dead horse, namely Google Health. But there are some unresolved questions in the area of privacy that Google really should answer. Google’s ill-fated attempt at a PHR isn’t completely dead. The company won’t “retire” the online service until January, and will allow users to download their data through Jan. 1, 2013. Naturally, others have stepped up to try to fill the (tiny) void left by Google Health’s demise. To nobody’s surprise, Microsoft is helping the remarkably small number of Google Health users transition the... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5062325 Thu, 21 Jul 2011 20:45:59 +0100 5062325 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5050818&cid=t_226630_113_f&fid=38236&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.healthcareitnews.com%2Fblog%2Finspectors-find-holes-hitech-payment-programs It’s easy to defend the HITECH Act based on the potential benefits of new health IT. But a new report from the federal Office of Inspector General (OIG) may soon make it difficult to defend the way the HITECH incentive payments are being managed. read more (Source: Healthcare IT News Blog) Healthcare IT News Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5050818 Thu, 21 Jul 2011 14:05:25 +0100 5050818 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5050822&cid=t_226630_113_f&fid=38236&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.healthcareitnews.com%2Fblog%2Fsmall-providers-lag-behind-ehr-use There’s been no shortage of reports on the fact that smaller providers are making the HIT leap much more slowly than larger ones. But a new study from Health Affairs notes that small providers who have moved to EHRs still aren’t making as full use of them as larger providers. read more (Source: Healthcare IT News Blog) Healthcare IT News Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5050822 Wed, 20 Jul 2011 13:37:07 +0100 5050822 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5062327&cid=t_226630_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.emrandhipaa.com%2Femr-and-hipaa%2F2011%2F07%2F19%2Fipo-window-open-for-ehr-vendors%2F I’m pretty sure that many readers of this site haven’t found my new EMR related website called EMR and EHR Thoughts and so you might have missed the post I did about Greenway Medical filing to go public. This is obviously big news for Greenway, but I also think it’s a sign of things to come. I believe that Greenway is likely the first of many EHR companies that we’ll see go public over the next year or so. I’m sure that many of you haven’t followed the trends of tech company IPO’s and I’m far from an expert on this. However, the IPO window which was generally closed for tech companies now seems to be open after a number of successful public offerings from tech companies. I’m not sure why it took me so long to realize this, but I believe... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5062327 Tue, 19 Jul 2011 14:31:27 +0100 5062327 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5050823&cid=t_226630_113_f&fid=38236&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.healthcareitnews.com%2Fblog%2Fit-or-not-cost-matters We are a nation awash in price tags. Except, it often seems, when we want to know what a piece of legislation is going to cost. That’s the conclusion we reluctantly reach after trying, just out of curiosity, to find out the potential cost of a recently introduced HIT bill. read more (Source: Healthcare IT News Blog) Healthcare IT News Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5050823 Tue, 19 Jul 2011 13:55:40 +0100 5050823 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5062328&cid=t_226630_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.emrandhipaa.com%2Flynn%2F2011%2F07%2F18%2Fmeaningful-use-measures-timely-electronic-access-to-health-information-%25e2%2580%2593-meaningful-use-monday%2F Meaningful Use Menu Measure: At least 10% of all unique patients seen by the eligible professional (EP) are provided timely (available to the patient within 4 business days) electronic access to their health information. This is a third meaningful use measure related to providing patients with access to their health information. Meaningful Use Mondays has already addressed the two core measures—clinical summary and electronic copy of health information—“timely access” is a menu measure.  The requirements are as follows: The measure includes a provision for EPs to claim an exclusion, but I don’t believe that many will qualify for this exclusion. They would have to attest that they “neither order nor create lab tests or information that would be contained in the problem list, m... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5062328 Mon, 18 Jul 2011 15:31:41 +0100 5062328 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5028562&cid=t_226630_113_f&fid=38236&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.healthcareitnews.com%2Fblog%2F%25E2%2580%259Cpaper-free%25E2%2580%259D-still-distant-goal OK, let’s be honest: How many of us still print out emails, at least every once in a while? The question comes to mind in response to the findings of “a recent survey from information management company Iron Mountain that asked 200 health information professionals how they’re scanning paper patient records and planning to use them moving forward.” The upshot? read more (Source: Healthcare IT News Blog) Healthcare IT News Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5028562 Fri, 15 Jul 2011 12:56:38 +0100 5028562 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5028563&cid=t_226630_113_f&fid=38236&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.healthcareitnews.com%2Fblog%2Fit-true-acos-arent-going-away If you aren’t in an accountable care organization or planning to join one, chances are you are just plain sick of hearing about them. Some people have called ACOs the HMOs of today, indicating they are likely to be just another newfangled idea for containing healthcare costs that will die along the wayside. read more (Source: Healthcare IT News Blog) Healthcare IT News Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5028563 Fri, 15 Jul 2011 04:19:50 +0100 5028563 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5028565&cid=t_226630_113_f&fid=38236&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.healthcareitnews.com%2Fblog%2Fhitechwatch-has-moved Wait! Don’t hit that “Back” button! Regular readers of HITECHWatch may have one of those “eye rubbing” moments that occur when a familiar site suddenly looks different, but rest assured, you're in the right place. We launched this blog two years ago as "Priming the Pump," which was a conscious nod to the fact that the new federal emphasis on EHRs had come in the form of funding coming out of the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. read more (Source: Healthcare IT News Blog) Healthcare IT News Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5028565 Thu, 14 Jul 2011 13:04:30 +0100 5028565 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5028566&cid=t_226630_113_f&fid=38236&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.healthcareitnews.com%2Fblog%2Fsocial-media-next-hit-frontier The words “digital divide” typically refer to the technological gap between those who have up-to-date IT and those who don’t. But it seems safe to say that a new digital divide is beginning to emerge and is likely to widen quickly. The cause of the gap is the explosion of social media opportunities for healthcare providers. read more (Source: Healthcare IT News Blog) Healthcare IT News Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5028566 Wed, 13 Jul 2011 13:36:54 +0100 5028566 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5028569&cid=t_226630_113_f&fid=38236&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.healthcareitnews.com%2Fblog%2Fhies-growing-perhaps-not-expected Sometimes, when we have trouble falling asleep at night, we lie in bed and wonder what the National Health Information Network may ultimately look like. OK, that’s stretching the truth a bit, but that question of the myriad ways providers are going to connect in the future is in fact brought to mind by the recently released KLAS survey of Health Information Exchanges (HIEs) across the country. read more (Source: Healthcare IT News Blog) Healthcare IT News Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5028569 Tue, 12 Jul 2011 13:09:10 +0100 5028569 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5028543&cid=t_226630_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FEmrAndHipaa%2F%7E3%2FHhgUwFu7e1U%2F Meaningful Use Core Measure: More than 50% of all patients who request an electronic copy of their health information are provided it within 3 business days. Exclusion: Any EP who receives no requests for this information in electronic format.  This measure is distinguished from  the clinical summary measure, (discussed in the previous Meaningful Use Monday post), in two major ways: 1)      “Electronic copy of health information” covers all health information that the provider has regarding the patient, whereas the “clinical summary” is a snapshot of a particular visit. 2)      This measure is driven by requests made by patients or their agents—electronic access must be provided in response to at least 50% of the specific requests received by a provider. By contrast, ... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5028543 Mon, 11 Jul 2011 14:18:26 +0100 5028543 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5028574&cid=t_226630_113_f&fid=38236&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.healthcareitnews.com%2Fblog%2Fhospital-association-predicts-regulatory-perfect-storm-ahead The American Hospital Association (AHA) recently took advantage of the Obama Administration’s regulatory review process to urge HHS to simplify, among other things, the myriad regulations surrounding the implementation and use of new HIT. read more (Source: Healthcare IT News Blog) Healthcare IT News Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5028574 Fri, 08 Jul 2011 12:22:07 +0100 5028574 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5028575&cid=t_226630_113_f&fid=38236&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.healthcareitnews.com%2Fblog%2Fdoctors-struggling-cross-hit-frontier Scratch beneath the surface of any policymaker, and you’re likely to find a person who fancies him- or herself a problem solver. For those HIT policymakers who eagerly step up to that description, we present this article, which takes a long and in-depth look at the issues facing doctors trying to work their way across the HIT frontier. read more (Source: Healthcare IT News Blog) Healthcare IT News Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5028575 Thu, 07 Jul 2011 14:12:24 +0100 5028575 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5028576&cid=t_226630_113_f&fid=38236&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.healthcareitnews.com%2Fblog%2Freport-points-role-consumer-demand-hit-marketplace What happens to an emerging market when a big-name player bails out? According to one recent report, apparently not much. The emerging market revolves around Personal Health Records (PHR), and the big-name player is Google, which recently announced that it’s folding up Google Health, the online PHR service it launched in 2008. read more (Source: Healthcare IT News Blog) Healthcare IT News Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5028576 Tue, 05 Jul 2011 12:38:21 +0100 5028576 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4997647&cid=t_226630_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FEmrAndHipaa%2F%7E3%2F5UZx6zS7roM%2F Ever since the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act became law in February 2009, giving birth to the phrase “meaningful use,” I’ve wondered when private insurers would follow the federal government’s lead and start offering financial carrots and sticks for using and not using EHRs. After all, one of the purposes of the Medicare and Medicaid incentive program was to address the fact that payers tend to reap the greatest financial gains from hospitals and physicians adopting EHRs, even though most if not all of the cost of acquiring the technology falls on the provider. Federal officials have made it clear all along that “meaningful use” is just that, the meaningful use of the technology. The government was not simply going to write checks so providers c... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4997647 Thu, 30 Jun 2011 18:02:52 +0100 4997647 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4997648&cid=t_226630_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FEmrAndHipaa%2F%7E3%2Fq_tng8IQnxo%2F HITECH Answers has just released the 3rd edition of Jim Tate’s The Incentive Roadmap® The Meaningful Use of Certified Technology: Stage 1 A Manual for Medical Practices. Version 3.0 of the manual that has been helping practices, consultants and vendors across the country understand the step-by-step process of achieving meaningful use is now available. Written by Jim Tate, a nationally recognized expert on the CMS EHR Incentive Program, certified technology and Meaningful Use objectives,The Incentive Roadmap® looks at what steps are needed to get ready for meaningful use and is downloaded immediately upon purchase. I consider Jim Tate one of the foremost experts on meaningful use and certified EHR. So, I was excited when he decided to publish a resource on the details of the EHR in... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4997648 Wed, 29 Jun 2011 16:59:38 +0100 4997648 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4975993&cid=t_226630_113_f&fid=38236&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.healthcareitnews.com%2Fblog%2Fgoogle-health-too-early-market Few are surprised by this NY Times headline – Google to End Health Records Service After It Fails to Attract Users. Rumors and expectations of this announcement have been in the market for several months now. Reality has struck. Google Health evaporates. read more (Source: Healthcare IT News Blog) Healthcare IT News Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4975993 Tue, 28 Jun 2011 13:29:15 +0100 4975993 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4975984&cid=t_226630_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FEmrAndHipaa%2F%7E3%2FjneuVa-B1fM%2F Meaningful Use Core Measure: Provide clinical summaries to patients for more than 50% of all office visits within 3 business days. Exclusion: Any EP who has no office visits during the reporting period. The clinical summary provides clinical information associated with a specific recent visit. (It does not encompass the entire patient chart.) This measure may appear daunting upon first reading of the requirements, but the guidance below should make it achievable.  The clinical summary can be delivered by one of two means: electronic media, (e.g., patient portal, secure e-mail, CD or USB fob), or a printed copy. According to advice received from CMS, the easiest way for a physician to meet this measure is to employ a patient portal as the default option. Following each office visit, the EP... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4975984 Mon, 27 Jun 2011 16:21:40 +0100 4975984 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4960144&cid=t_226630_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FEmrAndHipaa%2F%7E3%2FFICtFi3luZE%2F For those of you that are relatively new to EMR and HIPAA, you might not appreciate this post as much as long time readers of EMR and HIPAA. A few years back, I admit that I was pretty harsh on CCHIT and their EHR certification. I remember one guy stopping me at a conference and after realizing who I was asked, “so what’s your issue with CCHIT?” I was happy to answer that I thought they misled the industry (doctors in particular) by saying that the CCHIT certification provided an assurance that the EHR was a good EHR. They never came outright and said this, but that’s what EMR sales people would communicate during the sales process. In fact, EHR certification was incorrectly seen by many doctors and practice managers as the stamp of approval on an EHR being of highe... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4960144 Wed, 22 Jun 2011 22:33:18 +0100 4960144 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4968647&cid=t_226630_113_f&fid=38236&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.healthcareitnews.com%2Fblog%2Fwhat%25E2%2580%2599s-driving-your-ehr-adoption The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services recently announced it has paid out more than $75 million for the meaningful use of electronic health records under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA).  Is this really spurring adoption? read more (Source: Healthcare IT News Blog) Healthcare IT News Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4968647 Wed, 22 Jun 2011 19:04:07 +0100 4968647 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4960179&cid=t_226630_113_f&fid=38236&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.healthcareitnews.com%2Fblog%2Fwhat%25E2%2580%2599s-driving-your-ehr-adoption The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services recently announced it has paid out more than $75 million for the meaningful use of electronic health records under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA).  Is this really spurring adoption? read more (Source: Healthcare IT News Blog) Healthcare IT News Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4960179 Wed, 22 Jun 2011 19:04:07 +0100 4960179 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4960180&cid=t_226630_113_f&fid=38236&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.healthcareitnews.com%2Fblog%2Fwho-owns-patient-data If nature has made any one thing less susceptible than all others of exclusive property, it is the action of the thinking power called an idea, which an individual may exclusively possess as long as he keeps it to himself; but the moment it is divulged, it forces itself into the possession of every one, and the receiver cannot dispossess himself of it. Its peculiar character, too, is that no one possesses the less, because every other possesses the whole of it. read more (Source: Healthcare IT News Blog) Healthcare IT News Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4960180 Wed, 22 Jun 2011 12:34:57 +0100 4960180 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4953043&cid=t_226630_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FEmrAndHipaa%2F%7E3%2FFmpmcaEqcC4%2F Smoking is a major and costly health problem. Because it is such a high priority for CMS, smoking is addressed in the Stage 1 meaningful use requirements by three distinct measures, which has caused a fair amount of confusion. I will try to clarify. The first is a core meaningful use measure. Therefore, every eligible professional (EP) must satisfy this requirement, unless they can attest to meeting the exclusion. Core Meaningful Use Measure: Record Smoking Status More than 50% of all unique patients 13 years old or older seen by the EP have smoking status recorded as structured data. Exclusion: Any EP who sees no patients 13 years or older. Description: Smoking status must be recorded as one of the following 6 categories: current every day smoker; current some day smoker; former smoker;... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4953043 Mon, 20 Jun 2011 14:34:33 +0100 4953043 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4953045&cid=t_226630_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FEmrAndHipaa%2F%7E3%2FKaZsqQHRAoU%2F This is the second in a series of EMR and EHR interviews that will be done on EMR and HIPAA and EMR and EHR. The full EMR interview with Dr. Muir can be found on the new EHR and EMR interviews website. The following is a summary of that interview written by Kathy Bongiovi. If you’re a doctor, nurse, practice manager, EHR consultant, CEO or executive of an EHR vendor, etc with EMR experience that’s interested in being interviewed, let us know on our Contact Us page. Dr. Peter Muir of Springfield Center for Family Medicine was interviewed recently concerning his acquisition of the maximum Medicare Incentive for showing Meaningful Use of a Certified EHR. The Ohio based primary care practice has been using NextGen Ambulatory since 2003 and NextGen Management since 2006. Dr. Muir st... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4953045 Fri, 17 Jun 2011 21:43:07 +0100 4953045 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4953049&cid=t_226630_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FEmrAndHipaa%2F%7E3%2F1TWLSkQ0aF0%2F CMS published a list (pdf) of the first providers who received incentive payments under the Medicare portion of the EHR program. What distinguishes these incentive recipients from those announced in early January—(See “Meaningful Use? Not Yet”)—is that these providers actually had to attest to earning these incentives by demonstrating meaningful use. The earlier recipients received their payments through the Medicaid program, which for the first year’s incentive only requires adoption, implementation, or upgrade of a certified EHR, not meaningful use. There are 320 providers on this first Medicare list. Here’s how the list breaks down: Approximately 40 are hospitals/health care centers. As anticipated, the vast majority of the physicians are primary-care providers—over two-t... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4953049 Mon, 13 Jun 2011 15:23:04 +0100 4953049 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4911620&cid=t_226630_113_f&fid=38236&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.healthcareitnews.com%2Fblog%2Flost-translation-clinical-decision-making-and-need-lab-data-standards The HITECH initiative and the promise of effectively coordinated care are fundamentally based on the adoption of standards as an integral part of the larger adoption of healthcare information technology. Numerous types of standards are being promoted, including messaging standards, secure communication standards and data standards. But perhaps, some of the most important standards are those that are not being enforced. No sticky read more (Source: Healthcare IT News Blog) Healthcare IT News Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4911620 Tue, 07 Jun 2011 18:35:04 +0100 4911620 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4921556&cid=t_226630_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.emrandhipaa.com%2Flynn%2F2011%2F06%2F06%2Frelief-may-be-in-sight-for-some-penalty-threatened-eprescribers-%25e2%2580%2593-meaningful-use-monday%2F Some physicians—most notably, surgeons and pain-management specialists—have expressed concern that they will be unfairly subject to the 2012 ePrescribing penalties, based on the fact that their opportunities to ePrescribe are limited by the nature of their practices. The Proposed ePrescribing Rule published in the Federal Register on June 1 offers a potential remedy for these providers.  The rule, which amends the (MIPPA) 2011 ePrescribing rule, affords providers several new arguments they can use to request a “hardship exemption” from the 2012 penalties. (These are in addition to the already existing reasons, i.e., rural areas that lack high speed internet access and/or rural areas that lack pharmacies that accept ePrescriptions.) The new justifications include:       1)  ... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4921556 Mon, 06 Jun 2011 17:35:42 +0100 4921556 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4902523&cid=t_226630_113_f&fid=38236&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.healthcareitnews.com%2Fblog%2Fits-about-information-not-technology On Thursday (June 2), I joined other speakers at the IBM Healthcare Leadership Exchange, Transforming Healthcare, held at the Chicago IBM Transformation Center. My keynote presentation focused on “Healthcare in the US,” which seemed to balance the morning with the opening keynote by Susan J Hyatt, BSc (PT), MBA, CEO HyattDIO, Inc., Ontario, Canada, who discussed “Global Lessons on Delivering Strategic Healthcare Wins.” No sticky read more (Source: Healthcare IT News Blog) Healthcare IT News Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4902523 Fri, 03 Jun 2011 13:17:00 +0100 4902523 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4902526&cid=t_226630_113_f&fid=38236&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.healthcareitnews.com%2Fblog%2Fhitech-revises-hipaa-regulations HIPAA regulations long on the books require that covered entities (i.e. health care providers, payors and clearinghouses) provide patients with accounting of disclosures of their protected health information (PHI) for any purpose other than treatment, payment or health care operations (TPO). The HITECH Act upped the ante, requiring accounting of disclosures of PHI for TPO as well. Regs implementing this requirement were to be keyed off of the meaningful use regs, and they have now arrived. No sticky read more (Source: Healthcare IT News Blog) Healthcare IT News Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4902526 Thu, 02 Jun 2011 12:39:45 +0100 4902526 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4872202&cid=t_226630_113_f&fid=34625&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FNeilVerselsHealthcareItBlog%2F%7E3%2F-d6FIbRqpZM%2F Late last week, the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology opened six exams to test the competency of health IT professionals who have completed short-term training programs. I’m not quite sure how I feel about this. Is it a good thing for the federal government to offer these voluntary exams? After all, ONC is funding the development of HIT training curriculum for community colleges and providing lots of scholarship money. Shouldn’t the government expect to get a return on its investment? Or should the feds stay out of the testing process? Related posts:Gates Foundation to fund global informatics training Self-certification? Scoop: AMIA’s 10×10 going global (Source: Neil Versel's Healthcare IT Blog) Neil Versel's Healthcare IT Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4872202 Thu, 26 May 2011 04:39:14 +0100 4872202 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4862667&cid=t_226630_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FEmrAndHipaa%2F%7E3%2FYQ5fIAlOYqg%2F The fact that the CMS FAQ website contains 7 questions on clinical quality measure (CQM) reporting is an indication of the confusion surrounding this core meaningful use measure. Many specialists are concerned that very few, or none, of the CQMs are relevant to their practices. According to FAQ #10144, “In the event that none of the 44 clinical quality measures applies to an EP’s patient population, the EP is still required to report [but with] a zero for the denominators.” It would be logical, therefore, for physicians to conclude that they should report a zero denominator for quality measures related to problems or conditions they do not treat. For the purpose of meaningful use, however, it is not the physician who determines whether a particular quality measure applies—it is... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4862667 Mon, 23 May 2011 17:15:51 +0100 4862667 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4852975&cid=t_226630_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.emrandhipaa.com%2Femr-and-hipaa%2F2011%2F05%2F20%2Feffect-of-emr-stimulus-money-flowing%2F Yesterday on EMR News, we posted about the first case I’ve seen where someone has collected EHR stimulus money after attesting to meaningful use. It’s the day many have been waiting for. The first checks arrive for those showing meaningful use of a certified EHR (Medicaid had sent some EHR Stimulus checks previously). Yes, the government really is going to pay out the money. Yes, people really are getting paid. In fact, it seems that they’ve pretty much stuck to their schedule for meaningful use stage 1 and paying out the first EHR stimulus checks. Props to the people at CMS and ONC for being able to stick to that schedule (even if meaningful use stage 2 might be delayed). I do have to say that an electronic bank transfer isn’t nearly as exciting as a check in the m... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4852975 Fri, 20 May 2011 22:15:54 +0100 4852975 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4841655&cid=t_226630_113_f&fid=34626&url=http%3A%2F%2Fcandidcio.com%2F2011%2F05%2F17%2Fmeaningful-use-rant-quality-measures%2F I am writing this post, with the intent on writing a series of rants about the Meaningful Use objectives that must be met in order to secure the EHR Incentives made available by the economic stimulus bill. Let’s start with the Meaningful Use Quality Measures. I believe this is a huge missed opportunity. We will accomplish them using the same tired back-end abstracting approach that we have always used. I believe the quality measures will fail to be a tool for caregivers to monitor safety and quality; nor will they create a means by which payors, government or consumers can compare quality. All of the report specifications are written using SNOMED codes and we do not use that medical nomenclature today. In fact, virtually nobody uses SNOMED. Why not write the quality measures using me... Candid CIO blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4841655 Tue, 17 May 2011 23:32:44 +0100 4841655 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4841672&cid=t_226630_113_f&fid=38236&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.healthcareitnews.com%2Fblog%2Fmusings-phrs-consumer-engagement The recent post on Google Health going into the deep freeze has solicited a number of emails, including some from the press. In one of those emails a reporter had spoken to several industry thought leaders to garner their opinions which follow: Consumers will not sign on to most Personal Health Platforms (PHPs) or services due to the issue of trust. - Leading researcher and developer of an open PHP. No sticky read more (Source: Healthcare IT News Blog) Healthcare IT News Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4841672 Tue, 17 May 2011 13:12:06 +0100 4841672 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4841660&cid=t_226630_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.emrandhipaa.com%2Flynn%2F2011%2F05%2F16%2Fhelpful-meaningful-use-resources-%25e2%2580%2593-meaningful-use-monday%2F I spend a lot of my day answering questions about the EHR incentives from SRS clients and also from users of other EHRs. The questions range from extremely basic ones posed by people who are dazed and intimidated by the scope of the program to nuanced questions from those already knee-deep in meaningful use. Since I began writing Meaningful Use Monday, the resources on the subject have grown in number and specificity. Here are a few that physicians and administrators have found helpful recently: Participate in a CMS Provider Call. There is one scheduled for this Thursday (5/19) at 2:30 PM Eastern Time. After the presentation, you will have an opportunity to ask questions and have them answered directly by CMS staffers. To register, click here. The Attestation Users Guide not only provides... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4841660 Mon, 16 May 2011 17:06:04 +0100 4841660 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4820950&cid=t_226630_113_f&fid=34625&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FNeilVerselsHealthcareItBlog%2F%7E3%2F-gmzgCD_78g%2F I’ve just finished my latest post for EMR and HIPAA, based on a session I moderated this week at the the Institute for Health Technology Transformation health IT summit in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Here’s a taste: The panelists did great job of articulating some of these conundrums and strategies to overcome them, but none better than Kevin Maher, director of clinical innovations for Horizon Healthcare Innovations, a new affiliate of Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey tasked with testing new care models, and Victor Freeman, M.D., quality director in the Health Resources and Services Administration‘s Office of Health IT and Quality. The patient-centered medical home is a great idea for managing care, promoting prevention and, ultimately reducing costs. “We view the ba... Neil Versel's Healthcare IT Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4820950 Thu, 12 May 2011 21:59:53 +0100 4820950 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4820952&cid=t_226630_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FEmrAndHipaa%2F%7E3%2FD3BF4RAkszU%2F Healthcare and health IT are plagued by conundrums. Providers long have been the ones asked to make hefty investments in EMRs and other IT systems to help remove costs from the healthcare system, but payers and plan sponsors tend to enjoy most of the financial benefits. Clinicians wish their organizations would share data with others, but those in the executive suite have been reluctant to cooperate with competitors for fear of losing revenue. And, let’s face it, medical errors can be profitable if a routine procedure turns into an expensive inpatient admission. Portions of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act are intended to address these problems by providing financial incentives for “meaningful use” of EMRs (incl... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4820952 Thu, 12 May 2011 21:45:30 +0100 4820952 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4803273&cid=t_226630_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FEmrAndHipaa%2F%7E3%2FVGd_tZ72_Pg%2F To follow up on The “All 3” Vital Signs Dilemma and the posted comments, I want to provide some clarification regarding the vital signs measure and correct some common misconceptions about the requirements:  Meaningful Use Core Measure: Record Vital Signs For more than 50% of all unique patients age 2 and over seen by the EP, height, weight, and blood pressure are recorded as structured data.  The Exclusion: A physician who does not currently track height, weight, and blood pressure does not have to start taking vital signs solely for the purpose of meeting meaningful use. The point I made in last week’s post was that the exclusion may be difficult for some providers to take advantage of due to the “all 3” requirement—but it is available for those who attest that “all 3 vi... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4803273 Mon, 09 May 2011 16:18:48 +0100 4803273 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4794929&cid=t_226630_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FEmrAndHipaa%2F%7E3%2Frl9A2MkdeFU%2F My last meaningful use interview went over so well, that I decided that I should do some more. When I saw the news that a GE Centricity customer met meaningful use, I decided that would be a good opportunity for my next meaningful use interview. I’m certainly interested in doing more interviews from a variety of EMR vendors, specialties, and regions. I’d be happy to interview someone who’s deciding to wait or to forgo meaningful use completely. If you are a doctor or practice manager interested in being interviewed, just drop me a note on the EMR and HIPAA contact us page. Now some background on Barbara Watkins and HVCA. Heart & Vascular Center of Arizona (HVCA) Administrator Barbara Watkins, R.N., helped lead the practice’s six cardiologists through the process of... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4794929 Wed, 04 May 2011 17:40:45 +0100 4794929 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4789379&cid=t_226630_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.emrandhipaa.com%2Flynn%2F2011%2F05%2F02%2Fmeaningful-use-measures-the-%25e2%2580%259call-3%25e2%2580%259d-vital-signs-dilemma-meaningful-use-monday%2F How does a physician meet this measure if only one or two, but not all three, of the vital signs are a routine part of their practice? This is an issue on which I have sought clarification since before my first Meaningful Use Monday post.  The question has now been asked frequently enough to warrant a formal answer on the CMS FAQ site—and the answer is problematic. Meaningful Use Core Measure: Record Vital Signs For more than 50% of all unique patients age 2 and over seen by the EP, height, weight, and blood pressure are recorded as structured data. Exclusion: Any EP who either sees no patients 2 years or older or who believes that all 3 vital signs of height, weight, and blood pressure of their patients have no relevance to their scope of practice. You’d think this measure would be... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4789379 Mon, 02 May 2011 18:08:44 +0100 4789379 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4789382&cid=t_226630_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.emrandhipaa.com%2Fneil%2F2011%2F04%2F28%2Fchicago-hospitals-embark-on-long-hie-journey%2F I live in Chicago, a highly competitive healthcare market with some world-class medical schools (Northwestern, University of Chicago, Loyola, Rush) and a pretty decent record of EMR adoption. At least four major institutions/health systems run similar Epic EMRs: University of Chicago Medical Center, Northwestern Memorial Hospital, Rush University Medical Center and, in the northern suburbs, NorthShore University HealthSystem (formerly Evanston-Northwestern Healthcare). Three NorthShore hospitals–Evanston Hospital, Glenbrook Hospital and Highland Park Hospital–were among the first in the country to reach Stage 7 on the HIMSS Analytics EMR Adoption Model.(NorthShore’s Skokie Hospital since has reached Stage 7). Several others, notably Rush, Advocate Lutheran General Hospita... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4789382 Thu, 28 Apr 2011 21:01:25 +0100 4789382 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4789383&cid=t_226630_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.emrandhipaa.com%2Femr-and-hipaa%2F2011%2F04%2F27%2Fmeaningful-use-medicaid-overview%2F A regular reader of EMR and HIPAA, Wes Kemp, sent me an interesting set of slides/PDF file that gives a meaningful use overview from a Medicaid perspective. I always transgress Medicaid when it comes to meaningful use and the EHR incentive money. Plus, I thought he had an interesting way of displaying the meaningful use overview. Since I hate PDF’s, I did it as an embedded document below. For best viewing, click on the Full Screen button, or you can always download it as well. var docstoc_docid="78110108";var docstoc_title="Meaningful Use Medicaid Overview";var docstoc_urltitle="Meaningful Use Medicaid Overview"; Related posts:Meaningful Use Mondays – Participation Under Medicare vs. Medicaid Physicians who are eligible for both programs will likely find... Meaningful Use Mon... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4789383 Wed, 27 Apr 2011 16:50:54 +0100 4789383 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4789384&cid=t_226630_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.emrandhipaa.com%2Femr-and-hipaa%2F2011%2F04%2F26%2Ftell-me-something-i-dont-know-with-jonathan-bush-from-athenahealth%2F When I got the request at HIMSS 11 to be able to sit down and talk with Jonathan Bush, CEO of AthenaHealth, I knew that I had to take it. Him and I had a very interesting conversation and he’s a fascinating individual since you never know what he might say next. On that note, I decided that I better get Jonathan Bush on video at HIMSS. In fact, I think it might have been the only video I did at HIMSS. Although, once I saw how easy it was to upload this video from my phone, I might have to do more EMR related videos on the future. Although, I’ll probably need to hold it the other way. Now to the video. The basic idea of “Tell Me Something I Don’t Know” comes from the Sunday show that Chris Matthew’s does. In the segment, the people try and tell you someth... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4789384 Tue, 26 Apr 2011 19:03:25 +0100 4789384 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4753798&cid=t_226630_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FEmrAndHipaa%2F%7E3%2F0KFMueXj3ss%2F CPOE (Computerized Provider Order Entry), is the direct entering of orders into a computer (or mobile device), so that the order is documented in a digital, structured, and computable format. Meaningful Use Core Measure: CPOE More than 30% of unique patients with at least one medication in their medication list seen by the EP have at least one medication order entered using CPOE. Exclusion: providers who write fewer than 100 prescriptions during the reporting period. CPOE is one of the measures that elicited quite an animated response from the provider community. When initially proposed, this measure required 80% of all orders to be directly entered by the provider. To overcome objections to the scope of the requirement and the burden it would impose, CMS ultimately limited the measure to ... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4753798 Mon, 25 Apr 2011 15:41:02 +0100 4753798 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4747725&cid=t_226630_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.emrandhipaa.com%2Femr-and-hipaa%2F2011%2F04%2F19%2Finterview-with-meaningful-use-physician-23%2F Yesterday morning, River Falls Medical Clinic (RFMC) of River Falls, Wisconsin, attested for Meaningful Use at 7:30 a.m. CT. The clinic was one of the very first – in fact, #23 to attest to meaningful use under the Medicare program. The following is an email interview I did with Dr. Tashjian about RFMC’s experience in the meaningful use attestation process. Christopher H. Tashjian, MD is the president of River Falls, Ellsworth & Spring Valley Medical Clinics in Wisconsin. The three clinics provide primary care services as well as specialty consults. How long have you been using EMR? Which EMR do you use? River Falls Medical Clinic, RFMC, implemented Cerner’s Ambulatory EHR in March of 2010 after several years of working with Cerner’s PWPM solution. Did you have to upgrade ... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4747725 Tue, 19 Apr 2011 22:44:16 +0100 4747725 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4747726&cid=t_226630_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.emrandhipaa.com%2Femr-and-hipaa%2F2011%2F04%2F18%2Fmeaningful-use-measures-eprescribing-meaningful-use-monday%2F I hope that by now, readers have heeded the advice I gave in a previous post, “No Matter What Else You Do in 2011, You’ve Got to ePrescribe” and are covering their bases regarding ePrescribing under MIPPA. Even though providers can’t collect a meaningful use incentive (as a Medicare participant) during the same year that they earn an ePrescribing incentive, having the ePrescribing workflow in place for MIPPA purposes will prepare them well for meaningful use. Meaningful Use Core Measure: ePrescribing More than 40% of all permissible prescriptions written by the EP are transmitted electronically using certified EHR technology. This is a core, i.e., required, measure that can only be excluded by an EP who writes fewer than 100 prescriptions during the reporting period and attests t... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4747726 Mon, 18 Apr 2011 15:21:48 +0100 4747726 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4719959&cid=t_226630_113_f&fid=38236&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.healthcareitnews.com%2Fblog%2Fmostasharis-onc-wont-be-easy-run-blumenthals Farzad Mostashari, the newly-appointed and fourth leader of the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) is going to face some stiff challenges his predescessor David Blumenthal did not have to face. No sticky read more (Source: Healthcare IT News Blog) Healthcare IT News Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4719959 Fri, 15 Apr 2011 12:53:06 +0100 4719959 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4747728&cid=t_226630_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.emrandhipaa.com%2Femr-and-hipaa%2F2011%2F04%2F14%2Fehr-qa-is-emr-or-ehr-a-requirement%2F Brenda asked: As a private OT clinic that does not contract with medicare/ medicaid, are we required to use electronic medical records? We do submit claims to private insurance companies electronically. Answer: The short answer is no. In fact, NO ONE is REQUIRED to use EMR whether they take Medicare or Medicaid. However, if you take Medicare or Medicaid, then you have to be a “meaningful use” of a “certified EHR” in order to: 1. Get the EHR Incentive money and 2. Avoid the government penalties for not being a meaningful user of an EHR. Some might argue that the work to show meaningful use is not worth the effort compared to the incentive money you receive. Plus, the penalties for not using an EHR are not that big of an issue (see this post on the EMR penalties ) Alt... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4747728 Thu, 14 Apr 2011 16:45:28 +0100 4747728 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4704750&cid=t_226630_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FEmrAndHipaa%2F%7E3%2Fo9FhCCA_3sM%2F I am starting the discussion of the individual meaningful use measures with “reporting on clinical quality measures (CQM)” for two reasons: It is one of the three pillars of meaningful use identified in the legislation, and it is a measure that appears to be causing a great deal of confusion. Just one of the 15 core measures required of meaningful users, it sounds a lot like PQRI (now PQRS); and many of the measures are, in fact, taken from that program. However, unlike PQRS, meaningful use requires reporting only—it does not set required thresholds, at least not in Stage 1—and reporting is not limited to Medicare patients. Interestingly, physicians can earn both PQRS and EHR Incentives in the same reporting period (in contrast to ePrescribing and EHR incentives.) While EPs canno... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4704750 Mon, 11 Apr 2011 16:36:52 +0100 4704750 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4684481&cid=t_226630_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FEmrAndHipaa%2F%7E3%2FqLSXubohIbg%2F Guest Poster: John Brewer is the founder of HIPAAaudit.com.  He and his team help physicians run HIPAA Compliant practices in the simplest, most pain free way. So far we’ve covered Information System Activity Review & Sanction Policy. The next item to tackle for the HIPAA side of Meaningful Use is the Risk Analysis.  This may also be referred to by some as the Risk Assessment also. The Risk Analysis is simply a look at the way your practice operates as it pertains to PHI and your computer network. Your risk analysis shouldn’t be a handful of questions.  It should be a set of targeted questions – partly to see that your practice is doing things correctly and partly to invoke conversation to ensure you fix other areas of how your practice does business. The risk analysis we ... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4684481 Wed, 06 Apr 2011 17:35:53 +0100 4684481 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4676901&cid=t_226630_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FEmrAndHipaa%2F%7E3%2FFMimjQqrNlc%2F In response to strong lobbying activity and numerous comments from physicians, the Final Rule on Meaningful Use (Stage 1) included a provision for physicians to exclude certain measures that are outside the scope of their practice. This was primarily an accommodation made to enable specialists to participate in the EHR incentives program without substantially changing their practices—although some primary care physicians may find exclusions applicable to them as well. For a physician to exclude a measure: The measure must be explicitly identified as “excludable” in the Final Rule—not all measures contain such a provision. (6 core and 7 menu measures are potentially excludable, but for some there will be very few providers who would meet the criteria.) The physician must me... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4676901 Mon, 04 Apr 2011 15:10:29 +0100 4676901 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4658433&cid=t_226630_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FEmrAndHipaa%2F%7E3%2FS1b-P48WvTY%2F Chris asked the following question: Do modular certified EMR’s qualify for meaningful use and also qualify for full incentive payouts? Answer: Modular certified EHR software can qualify for meaningful use and the EHR incentive payouts. Although, they can’t do it on their own. Although, if you combine the modular certified EHR with other modular or full certified EHR software, then you can qualify. Clear as mud huh? The good thing is that you can go to the ONC CHPL website and select the certified EHR software which you use and it will tell you if combined it meets the criteria. So, for example, maybe you have a modularly certified EHR that is certified for everything but ePrescribing. You could then also purchase a certified ePrescribing software and together they would be considered a... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4658433 Wed, 30 Mar 2011 21:24:25 +0100 4658433 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4653412&cid=t_226630_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FEmrAndHipaa%2F%7E3%2FVbzk39hKwpg%2F Ever since I saw my first meaningful use dashboard in an EMR, I’ve been interested to see the various ways that EMR companies are implementing and tracking meaningful use in their EMR. So, I was really interested to check out this SOAPware EHR video which walks their users through their various meaningful use features. I should mention that this is their training video and not meant as a marketing piece which is exactly why I like it. It’s 11 minutes long, but if you watch even the first couple minutes you’ll get a good idea for how they’ve attacked the meaningful use requirements for their users. I really like their meaningful use dashboard and the access to the data. My only fear with their dashboard is that they might be providing too much data and not enough of... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4653412 Tue, 29 Mar 2011 16:46:45 +0100 4653412 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4653413&cid=t_226630_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FEmrAndHipaa%2F%7E3%2Fy_6pmqwP78o%2F John requested that the next series of Meaningful Use Monday posts explore the ins and outs of the individual meaningful use measures. To begin this process, today’s post reviews the basic requirements and the type of information that providers will report. Next Monday’s post will address the options available to some providers to exclude certain measures. Following that, I will address the measures, one by one, week by week (…although I can’t promise that I won’t digress as subjects of timely interest arise!) By now, most people interested in meaningful use know that there are 25 measures and that they are divided into two sets—Core and Menu. Providers must meet all 15 of the core measures and any 5 of the 10 menu set measures, as long as one public health measure is included.... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4653413 Mon, 28 Mar 2011 17:10:12 +0100 4653413 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4636523&cid=t_226630_113_f&fid=34625&url=http%3A%2F%2Fhealthit.hhs.gov%2Fportal%2Fserver.pt%2Fdocument%2F954074%2Ffederal_hit_strategic_plan_public_comment_period The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology today opened a four-week comment period on proposed revisions to the Federal Health IT Strategic Plan (pdf). Last updated in 2008, the plan spells out ONC’s strategy for meeting national health IT goals for the five-year period beginning in 2011. The HITECH Act requires this revision. According to a blog post by national coordinator Dr. David Blumenthal: Some components of the Plan may already be familiar, including the Medicare and Medicaid Electronic Health Record Incentive Programs and the grant programs created by the HITECH Act, which are creating an infrastructure to support meaningful use. However, the Plan also charts new ground for the federal health IT agenda: In Goal I, the health information exchang... Neil Versel's Healthcare IT Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4636523 Fri, 25 Mar 2011 20:29:28 +0100 4636523 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4622327&cid=t_226630_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.emrandhipaa.com%2Flynn%2F2011%2F03%2F21%2Fcms-registration-portal-efficiencies-coming-meaningful-use-monday%2F Registration and attestation are detailed processes which will demand a significant amount of physicians’ time. During a CMS/ONC session at HIMSS, an audience member asked whether each of her organization’s 800 physicians had to personally go onto the CMS portal and register individually. In response to the answer “yes”, she suggested that CMS should at least allow physicians to assign a “proxy” to an administrative staff member to complete the registration process on their behalf. I am happy to report that such a process is in the planning stages for both registration and attestation, (at least for participants in the Medicare program), according to a recently posted FAQ on the CMS website—but physicians will have to wait until at least May to take advantage of it. Physician... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4622327 Mon, 21 Mar 2011 15:14:11 +0100 4622327 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4605903&cid=t_226630_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FEmrAndHipaa%2F%7E3%2Fc4yur-JENV4%2F Guest Poster: John Brewer is the founder of HIPAAaudit.com.  He and his team help physicians run HIPAA Compliant practices in the simplest, most pain free way. As previously mentioned, the Sanction Policy is an integral part of Meaningful Use. What exactly is a Sanction Policy? Quite simply, it is clarification to your staff…all staff…yes, this includes the physicians, that there are ramifications for breaking company computer policies, specifically HIPAA violations. First, your practice must have policies.  Without knowing the rules, nobody will know if they are breaking them or not. The computer policies of a practice are the foundation on which your office will operate.  The computer policies are different than human resource company policies…actually, they are different, ... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4605903 Wed, 16 Mar 2011 15:55:33 +0100 4605903 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4600631&cid=t_226630_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.emrandhipaa.com%2Flynn%2F2011%2F03%2F14%2Fmeaningful-use-monday-how-will-you-actually-get-your-meaningful-use-money%2F There is a great deal of skepticism about when EHR incentives will be paid and how providers will actually get their money. This is not surprising, given the negative early experiences with the PQRI program and the fact that ePrescribing providers are having to wait until September or October to receive their bonuses for the prior year for the MIPPA incentive program. The good news is that CMS is promising to distribute the first EHR incentives in May, following successful attestations of meaningful use for the initial 90-day reporting period. So how will this happen? A common misconception is that the first year incentives are automatically $18,000. According to the legislation, the incentives are earned at a rate of 75% of Medicare Part B FFS Allowable Charges up to the maximum, (i.e., $... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4600631 Mon, 14 Mar 2011 15:06:31 +0100 4600631 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4600633&cid=t_226630_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.emrandhipaa.com%2Femr-and-hipaa%2F2011%2F03%2F11%2Fmisleading-meaningful-use-marketing%2F In one of my recent discussions with a reader of EMR and HIPAA, they said they loved this site because I don’t have any agenda. Then, they quickly clarified, your only agenda is to have transparency in the process. Your agenda is to bring to light all the information related to a certain topic so that doctors can make an informed decision. I think this reader hit it right on the head. I really don’t have an agenda. I’m generally pro-EHR, but I understand doctors misgivings on why they’re concerned about doing it. Although, I am completely fanatical about having transparency and good information (both good and bad) about the EMR and EHR process. That’s why I get all worked up when EMR advertising or EMR sales people provide misleading information. In fact, I ha... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4600633 Fri, 11 Mar 2011 17:42:35 +0100 4600633 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4570609&cid=t_226630_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FEmrAndHipaa%2F%7E3%2FFmI61RondR4%2F John’s Note: One of the requests I got in the recent survey I did was to cover more details of HIPAA. So, I’m glad to have John Brewer (yes, another John) providing some guest posts on the subject. Do they go together like peanut butter and jelly?  Cookies and milk? Nothing quite as good as these…but they do go together…now. HIPAA has been around for some time.  Many argue that HIPAA has no “teeth”.  Sure it has big fines…but when’s the last time you heard of a physician getting fined for a HIPAA violation? In steps Meaningful Use. Buried in the details of the Stage 1 Core Objectives is a single block that refers to the seemingly innocuous statement of “Conduct a risk analysis per 45CFR164.308(a)(1)”. A risk analysis seem simple enough…right? Dig a lit... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4570609 Wed, 09 Mar 2011 20:03:09 +0100 4570609 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4560388&cid=t_226630_113_f&fid=34625&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FNeilVerselsHealthcareItBlog%2F%7E3%2FYrKGAWy5afw%2F The policy journal Health Affairs has just put out a media advisory noting that the March issue, which comes out tomorrow, will have at least three articles devoted to health IT. From the advisory (verbatim): Studies on EHR: Neil Fleming and colleagues shed light on the financial and nonfinancial resources a small practice needs to implement an EHR system. Using data from  a physician network in north Texas, the authors estimate that the average cost to implement EHRs is $46,659 per physician. Use of EHRs will be accelerated because more than four in five office-based doctors are eligible for federal “meaningful use” incentives, says Brian Bruen of George Washington University and colleagues. Their analysis also highlights gaps in eligibility that must be addressed to further incre... Neil Versel's Healthcare IT Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4560388 Mon, 07 Mar 2011 18:49:09 +0100 4560388 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4566180&cid=t_226630_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.emrandhipaa.com%2Flynn%2F2011%2F03%2F07%2Fmeaningful-use-not-yet%2F At the recent HIMSS annual conference, many statistics were released touting the early success of the EHR incentives/meaningful use program: 21,000 providers have registered, with many more having indicated their intention to do so. 62 Regional Extension Centers have enrolled 47,000 primary care physicians. 6 certification bodies (ATCBs) have certified 415 EHRs and modules. $20 million in incentives has already been paid to 25 providers (including hospitals) in 4 states. Does this mean that anyone has successfully demonstrated meaningful use? Not yet. The incentives were awarded by the first Medicaid programs for the “adoption, implementation, or upgrade” (A/I/U) of certified EHR technology—a Medicaid-only provision for first-year incentives. The first demonstrations of... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4566180 Mon, 07 Mar 2011 15:05:25 +0100 4566180 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4566181&cid=t_226630_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.emrandhipaa.com%2Femr-and-hipaa%2F2011%2F03%2F06%2Fstimulus-money-poll-and-phr-use-results%2F Last week I posted a poll asking how many readers of EMR and HIPAA used a PHR. Here’s the results of the PHR poll: Pretty interesting to see that about 77% of those voting have not started a PHR or started one, but didn’t add much to their PHR. I guess I’m not all that surprised since I fall into that category as well. The scary thing is that this is coming from people who are in the healthcare and healthcare IT industry. If we’re not using a PHR, then I’d imagine that the number of PHR users outside of the industry is even smaller. I’m still considering the compelling PHR use case since the results from this PHR poll says that one hasn’t shown its face yet. However, I must admit that the more I research and read about PHR and some of the possibil... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4566181 Mon, 07 Mar 2011 07:20:30 +0100 4566181 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4540617&cid=t_226630_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FEmrAndHipaa%2F%7E3%2FcP9YiHDQOlM%2F If you’ve been following this blog for a while, then you probably remember my many rants about the lack of value in EHR certification. In fact, Jim Tate asked me at HIMSS where my dislike of CCHIT came from. I think I told him that I probably got it from EMRUpdate. Certainly that’s where I learned a lot about EMR and EHR and certification in general. However, as I consider his question, my real distaste with CCHIT and quite frankly EHR certification is that it provides little to no value to doctors. Looking back at all the discussions I had last week with those attending HIMSS, I’m really happy to say that EHR certification was almost never a discussion. Pretty much everyone either was a certified EHR or was almost done with the EHR certification process (which is in line... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4540617 Thu, 03 Mar 2011 00:40:57 +0100 4540617 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4536162&cid=t_226630_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FEmrAndHipaa%2F%7E3%2FGcqZUnpYrM0%2F A lot of people like to throw around a lot of market share numbers for EMR and EHR adoption. One thing that’s clear in pretty much every number I’ve seen (and I’ve seen a lot) is that we still have a long way to go. Across all of these numbers there’s also a few other generally accepted principles: -Small practices have a much lower EMR adoption percentage as compared with large practices -Specialists have a higher EMR adoption percentage than general medicine doctors -No one knows how to truly define what EMR adoption is in a survey Taking in all my experience reading study after study and also my experience talking with hundreds and thousands of doctors, EMR vendors, consultants, etc about EMR adoption I’d put current EMR adoption somewhere around 25%. This ... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4536162 Wed, 02 Mar 2011 00:19:57 +0100 4536162 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4532282&cid=t_226630_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FEmrAndHipaa%2F%7E3%2FH5NRyC5wBA0%2F The last Meaningful Use Monday post detoured from the EHR incentives to ePrescribing under MIPPA—given its importance based on the impending schedule of penalties. Because I receive ePrescribing questions on a daily basis, I thought a quick recap of ePrescribing basics might be helpful: Incentives and penalties: Year Incentives* Penalties* 2011 1% – 2012 1% 1%** 2013 0.5% 1.5%** 2014 on – 2% *Percent of provider’s total Medicare Part B FFS Allowable Charges. (Incentives assume provider does not receive EHR incentive for that year.) **Based on 2011 ePrescribing activity Incentives are earned per provider, and each provider must individually meet the requirements. This means that some providers within a practice might qualify for an incentive, while o... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4532282 Mon, 28 Feb 2011 15:58:42 +0100 4532282 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4545031&cid=t_226630_113_f&fid=34625&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fv%2FNnYiPbIAzEQ%3Fhl%3Den%26amp%3Bfs%3D1 As has become custom at HIMSS, I sat down with Jonathan Bush, chairman, CEO and president of athenahealth, at the 2011 conference in Orlando, Fla., last week. But due to some technical difficulties in getting the room we thought we had reserved and in getting my audio recorder to work (OK, OK, I didn’t have fresh batteries on me), I busted out the HD video camera. (Wouldn’t you know, the battery was losing steam there, too, so I had to plug the camera in. I have since determined that the USB port wasn’t working, so I exchanged it this past weekend. But I seriously digress.) In this interview, we talk athena’s business, meaningful use, 5010/ICD-10, ACOs, cloud computing and health reform. We poke a little fun at the “boat show” that the vendor expo has be... Neil Versel's Healthcare IT Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4545031 Mon, 28 Feb 2011 14:00:18 +0100 4545031 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4522168&cid=t_226630_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FEmrAndHipaa%2F%7E3%2FyJSNiV9YCq8%2F It’s going to take a couple weeks to really process all that I saw and heard at HIMSS 2011. In fact, there’s no doubt that much of the content I publish over the next month or two will be things I learned from the people I learned from at HIMSS or influenced by what I saw and heard. However, after a good night’s sleep in my own bed I’m really happy with my experience at HIMSS. The energy and passion for healthcare IT that was found at HIMSS was really powerful and wonderful to be apart of. I think those people out there that are asking if we’re in a healthcare IT bubble right now are on the mark. There’s very little doubt in my mind that we’re in a healthcare IT bubble. It’s a feature of $36+ billion in EHR incentive money being given out by ... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4522168 Fri, 25 Feb 2011 19:17:05 +0100 4522168 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4512457&cid=t_226630_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FEmrAndHipaa%2F%7E3%2FYwwA8U1usOI%2F Today was a bit overwhelming for me. Nothing bad about HIMSS, but there’s some much interesting information and good connections that it’s hard to process all at once. So far, I have only had one or maybe two meetings that weren’t just absolutely enlightening and fantastic. The secret for me was to be very blunt about what I was interested in learning and talking about at HIMSS. Either way, I feel really lucky to be here learning. While it means that I have pretty junky posts during HIMSS, its a time for me to fill my tank with interesting insight. One of those things that I’ve started to see multiple times now is various EHR vendors meaningful use dashboards. I love this dashboard approach. It really simplifies the meaningful use process for doctors. It’s ama... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4512457 Wed, 23 Feb 2011 06:39:02 +0100 4512457 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4540612&cid=t_226630_113_f&fid=34625&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FNeilVerselsHealthcareItBlog%2F%7E3%2F5OLZ-GMuEHw%2F I just ran into Dr. Robert Kolodner at the HIMSS conference. As you know, Kolodner was the second national coordinator for health IT, serving from 2006 to 2009. While he doesn’t have any insight on who might be the next head of the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology—or if he does, he’s not sharing—he did put the decision into perspective. The first coordinator, Dr. David Brailer, was kind of the entrepreneur, starting up the office with little money and no statutory authority, just what President George W. Bush delegated to him in an executive order. Kolodner was the one who “made it real” in terms of hiring permanent staff and setting up programs to assure the long-term viability of the office. The current coordinator, Dr. Davi... Neil Versel's Healthcare IT Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4540612 Tue, 22 Feb 2011 14:53:09 +0100 4540612 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4501650&cid=t_226630_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FEmrAndHipaa%2F%7E3%2Fw1cFiobjOKQ%2F Discussion of tactics for dealing with detractors. Listen to them, understand their motivation. Some will be right #CDS #HIMSS11about 22 hours ago via TweetDeckpsweetman_livePauline Sweetman and #bbpBox_39357644800000001{background:#C0DEED url(http://a3.twimg.com/a/1298064126/images/themes/theme1/bg.png) no-repeat !important;padding:20px;}#bbpBox_39357644800000001 p.bbpTweet{background:#fff;padding:10px 12px 10px 12px !important;margin:0 !important;min-height:48px;color:#333333 !important;font-size:18px !important;line-height:22px;-moz-border-radius:5px;-webkit-border-radius:5px}#bbpBox_39357644800000001 p.bbpTweet a {color:#0084B4 !important}#bbpBox_39357644800000001 p.bbpTweet span.metadata{display:block;width:100%;clear:both;margin-top:8px !important;padding-top:12px !important;he... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4501650 Mon, 21 Feb 2011 04:17:50 +0100 4501650 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4501651&cid=t_226630_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FEmrAndHipaa%2F%7E3%2F66Ia9bwWS-8%2F In probably the biggest news of the day at HIMSS, we got the following tweet spreading quickly through the Twittersphere: #bbpBox_39359393585700864{background:#9AE4E8 url(http://a3.twimg.com/a/1297983335/images/themes/theme1/bg.png) no-repeat !important;padding:20px;}#bbpBox_39359393585700864 p.bbpTweet{background:#fff;padding:10px 12px 10px 12px !important;margin:0 !important;min-height:48px;color:#333333 !important;font-size:18px !important;line-height:22px;-moz-border-radius:5px;-webkit-border-radius:5px}#bbpBox_39359393585700864 p.bbpTweet a {color:#0084B4 !important}#bbpBox_39359393585700864 p.bbpTweet span.metadata{display:block;width:100%;clear:both;margin-top:8px !important;padding-top:12px !important;height:40px;border-top:1px solid #e6e6e6}#bbpBox_39359393585700864 p.bbpTweet sp... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4501651 Mon, 21 Feb 2011 03:29:06 +0100 4501651 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4495267&cid=t_226630_113_f&fid=34625&url=http%3A%2F%2Ftraffic.libsyn.com%2Fnversel%2FSteve_Lieber_-_HIMSS11.MP3 The 2011 HIMSS conference gets underway this weekend in Orlando, Fla. For the fifth year in a row, I interviewed HIMSS President and CEO H. Steven Lieber to preview the annual conference. Check Health Data Management’s HIMSS microsite now and MobiHealthNews next week for write-ups of parts of this interview, but this is the only place you can hear the whole thing. The audio is pretty clear, but you may hear faint music in the background. The recorder seems to have picked up some radio interference. That’s not entirely unexpected in a downtown Chicago office building, namely HIMSS headquarters at 230 E. Ohio St. Ah, well. Enjoy the podcast, and I’ll see you in Orlando. Podcast details: Interview with HIMSS CEO Steve Lieber. MP3, stereo, 128 kbps, 30.6 MB. Running time 33:26 0... Neil Versel's Healthcare IT Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4495267 Fri, 18 Feb 2011 19:50:17 +0100 4495267