HealthIT News of the Day

·         Contest Produces Consumer Friendly Health Records – Information Week

The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) has announced the winners of a contest to improve the graphic design of patient health records (PHRs). They were selected from a field of over 230 entries submitted during the past three months.
The best overall design came from a Chicago firm called gravitytank. Their Nightingale entry displayed medications and medical history in a way "that made it easier for a senior citizen to understand," said ONC's HealthIT Buzz Blog.

·         ONC offers HIE guidance – HealthcareITNews

WASHINGTON | January 29, 2013

The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) has published research that aims to help providers and other healthcare professionals better understand several high-impact services that can sustain health information exchange organizations.

·         ONC reports aim to boost understanding of HIE efforts – HealthIT.gov

January 29, 2013 | By Dan Bowman

Five recently released reports sponsored by the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT aim to increase understanding of health information exchange for policymakers and researchers involved in the implementation of related efforts, according to John Rancourt, a program analyst with ONC, posting on the Health IT Buzz blog.

 

·         HIE hurdles include lack of patient ID standards and technical knowledge – FierceEMR

Meeting of Health IT Policy and Standards Committees to focus on barriers, opportunities for information exchange

January 28, 2013 | By Dan Bowman

In testimony to be presented at a meeting of the Health IT Policy and HIT Standards Committees tomorrow in Washington, D.C., several providers and other health IT stakeholders discuss opportunities, as well as barriers, to the implementation of health information exchange. While several of the latter are identified, the general tone of the testimony is one of optimism for the future of HIEs.

·         Providers Enrolled with the Washington & Idaho Regional Extension Center Receive Over 25 Million Incentive Dollars – Seattle Post Intelligencer

         Qualis Health announces that more than $25 million has been paid to healthcare providers enrolled with the Washington & Idaho Regional Extension Center for Health Information Technology (WIREC). The money came through the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Electronic Health Record (EHR) Incentive Program.

·         Blog: My kind of cranky – Modern Healthcare
In the magazine this week are short profiles on four of the squeakiest wheels in healthcare information technology—three physicians and a researcher with a doctorate in sociology. They are Dr. Lawrence Weed, Dr. Scot Silverstein, Dr. Deborah Peel, and Ross Koppel, Ph.D.
Each are self-professed fans of health information technology, but each have bones to pick with current systems and practices.

·         ONC reports aim to boost understanding of HIE efforts – Fierce EMR

·         State launches 'exchange' plan for vaccines – Minneapolis Star Tribune

·         ONC reports aim to boost understanding of HIE efforts – HealthIT.gov

·         ONC Surveys Labs to Promote Electronic Information Exchange – Becker’s Hospital Review

Written by Anuja Vaidya  | January 29, 2013 Becker’s Hospital Review

The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology is surveying a random sample of clinical laboratories and hospital-based laboratories to better understand their capacity to exchange information electronically, according to an AHA News Now report.

·         Hospital plans to help patients see doctors from afar – Anniston (AL) Star

       by Patrick McCreless
pmccreless@annistonstar.com Anniston Star 01.27.13 - 10:30 pm

       Local urgent-care patients could soon receive quicker treatment through a new telemedicine technology at Regional Medical Center.

The Anniston-based hospital is in the planning stages of setting up a telemedicine network with UAB Hospital in Birmingham. With the equipment in place, UAB physicians can evaluate local patients in real time and determine if they should stay in Anniston or go to Birmingham – meaning possibly faster treatment for patients in critical need and more revenue for RMC. The plan is part of a growing trend in the use of similar technology to offer better health care to more underserved areas across the state, experts say.

·         For Medicare Innovations – Think Locally – Kaiser Health News

By Ankita Rao  January 29th, 2013, 3:31 PM

Reforming Medicare – from changing the way doctors are paid to streamlining patient care – could benefit from a grassroots approach, according to experts and physicians at a policy summit held by National Journal Live in Washington, D.C., Tuesday.
“We need to focus more on responding to and joining local initiatives,” said Len Nichols, director of George Mason University’s Center for Health Policy Research and Ethics. As an example, he pointed to an initiative in Rochester, N.Y., that brought local doctors and hospitals together to successfully reduce hospital readmissions.

·         Meaningful use guidelines for specialists: Square peg, round hole – Search HealthIT

        Meaningful use for specialists isn't as simple as it is for primary care practitioners. Read thistwo-part series to understand how medical professionals are tackling the challenge of complying with meaningful use guidelines.

       First, many specialists don't use electronic health records (EHRs) to begin with, but instead track patient data through proprietary systems as well as practice management and billing applications. Using an EHR doesn't just represent new software; it also means new, additional workflow to support meaningful use patient data reporting criteria.

·         EMR Vendors Want Meaningful Use Stage 3 Delay – EMR & HER

·         KLAS: Major Vendors' Oncology Information Systems Leave Providers Wanting More – Healthcare Informatics

·         6 ways AHRQ will explore EHRs and workflow redesign – Government Health IT

·         Health IT deals, kick-started by HITECH Act, bucked downward VC investment trend in 2012 – MedCityNews

·         ACO Readiness: 6 Chief Determinants – Becker’s Hospital Review

·         HHS Adopts A Broad Interpretation Of Entities That Qualify As Business Associates Under HIPAA In The Omnibus Final Rule – Mondaq.com

·         Program Encourages Ozarks Doctors to Trade Clipboards for Keyboards – OzarksFirst.com

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Vitera Healthcare Solutions Partners with DiagnosisOne – Equities.com

·         Jan. 29: EHR vendor selection news and health IT updates – EHR Intelligence