SAVE THE DATES: CMS Education Series for Providers on the Medicare and Medicaid Electro EHR Incentive Programs

Posted on July 28, 2010 by Mike Squires

SAVE THE DATES: CMS Education Series for Providers on the Medicare and Medicaid Electronic Health Record (EHR) Incentive Programs
Emailed from ONC on July 28, 2010.

Medicare Learning Network

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) invites you to join us for a series of national provider calls addressing the specifics of the Medicare and Medicaid EHR incentive programs for hospitals and individual practitioners. Learn the specifics on what you need to participate in the these incentive programs –

who is eligible,
how much are the incentives and how are they calculated,
what you need to do to get started,
when the program begins and other major milestones regarding participation and payment,
how to report on Meaningful Use measures
where to find helpful resources and more.

Hear from the experts who wrote the rules! Ask your questions!

EHR Incentive Programs for Eligible Professionals:
A session just for individual practitioners on the specifics about the Medicare & Medicaid EHR incentive program
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
2:00-3:30 pm EST

EHR Incentive Programs for Hospitals:
A session just for hospitals on the specifics about the Medicare & Medicaid EHR incentive program
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
2:00-3:30 pm EST

EHR Questions and Answers for Hospitals and Individual Practitioners:
Have questions? Join this session to have an opportunity to ask a question and hear answers by our panel of experts on the Medicare and Medicaid EHR incentive programs.
Thursday, August 12, 2010
2:00-3:30 pm EST

Save the dates! Information on how to register for these calls is forthcoming.

Materials will be made available prior to each training at the following web address: http://www.cms.gov/EHRIncentivePrograms/05_Spotlight_and_Upcoming_Events.asp

Cannot attend? A transcript and MP3 file of the call will be available approximately 3 weeks after the call at http://www.cms.gov/EHRIncentivePrograms/05_Spotlight_and_Upcoming_Events.asp on the CMS website.

Be sure to visit CMS’ web section on the Medicare & Medicaid EHR Incentive Programs at: http://www.cms.gov/EHRIncentivePrograms to get the latest information. Visit often!

Visit the Medicare Learning Network ~ it’s free!

Patient Centered Medical Home Website Launched w/ Health IT White Paper

Posted on July 27, 2010 by Mike Squires

AHRQ White Papers on Health IT, Patient Involvement, and Beahvioral Health
In Patient Centered Medical Home Environment
Excerpts from Health IT White Paper
On July 22, 2010, AHRQ announced “the launch of a new Website [ http://www.pcmh.ahrq.gov ] devoted to providing objective information to policymakers and researchers on the medical home. The site provides users with searchable access to a rich database of publications and other resources on the medical home and exclusive access to the following AHRQ-funded white papers focused on critical medical home issues:”

Three New AHRQ Commissioned Research White Papers Featured

Health IT Paper:
“Necessary, but not sufficient: The HITECH Act’s Potential to Build Medical Homes” The recent Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) legislation for adoption of health information technology (IT) in public insurance programs could be harnessed to help practices operationalize and implement the technology and supports key principles of the patient-centered medical home (PCMH) to improve health care quality and efficiency. While HITECH, as well as aspects of recently enacted health reform legislation, support many facets of the PCMH model, these provisions are not likely to be sufficient to drive wholesale primary care transformation. Three policy recommendations—developing PCMH-specific certification criteria for electronic health records; including PCMH functionalities in the meaningful-use concept; and extending the role of HITECH’s Regional Extension Centers to provide technical assistance to primary care providers on medical home principles—would increase the ability of health IT to support transformation by primary care practices to the PCMH model.
(PDF – 236KB) Excerpts below.
Patient Involvement Paper:
“Engaging Patients and Families in the Medical Home” The PCMH model provides multiple opportunities to engage patients and families within the health care system, in care for the individual patient, in practice improvement, and in policy design and implementation. This paper presents researchers and policymakers with a framework for conceptualizing these opportunities and provides insight into the evidence base for these activities, describes existing efforts, suggests key lessons for future efforts, and discusses implications for policy and research.
(PDF – 571KB)
Behavioral Health Paper:
“Integrating Mental Health and Substance Use Treatment in the Patient-Centered Medical Home” Given that primary care serves as a main venue for providing mental health treatment, it is important to consider whether the adoption of the PCMH model is conducive to delivery of such treatment. This paper identifies the conceptual similarities and differences between the PCMH and current strategies used to deliver mental health treatment in primary care. Even though adoption of the PCMH has the potential to enhance delivery of mental health treatment in primary care, several programmatic and policy actions are needed to integrate high-quality mental health treatment within a PCMH(PDF – 175KB)

Health IT Paper:
“Necessary, but not sufficient: The HITECH Act’s Potential to Build Medical Homes”
Full PDF Version
Report was produced for AHRQ by Mathematica Policy Research, Washington, DC, and written by Lorenzo Moreno, Ph.D.; Deborah Peikes, Ph.D.; and Amy Krilla, M.S.W. and published July 2010. Excerpts from the report
Introduction
The patient-centered medical home (PCMH) is a promising model of care that aims to strengthen the primary care foundation of the health care system by reorganizing the way primary care practices provide care. Rapidly emerging interest in the PCMH model reflects a growing recognition that the U.S. health care system has become highly fragmented, with advances in medical technology and increased specialization leading to an erosion of primary care and care coordination. In addition, recent evidence shows that areas with fewer primary care providers are plagued by higher health care costs and, perversely, lower-quality care.Furthermore, low payment for primary care, together with the heavy demands on its workforce, are leading fewer medical school residents to select primary care. Policymakers and others hope that reorganizing primary care into medical homes and increasing payments will help rebalance the system and reconfigure it in ways that improve patient and provider satisfaction, control costs, and improve quality. Stakeholders, including Federal and State agencies, insurers, providers, employers, and patient advocacy organizations, are striving to refashion the landscape of primary care in this country through medical home demonstrations and pilots.

Adoption of the PCMH model calls for fundamental changes in the way many primary care ractices operate, including adoption of health information technology (IT) both for internal rocesses and for connecting the practice with its patients and with other providers. Health IT has been promoted as a “disruptive innovation” that offers tremendous promise for transforming health care delivery systems, including primary care. The Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) allocated $19.2 billion to promote the adoption of use of health IT by eligible providers who serve patients covered by Medicare and Medicaid. In addition, the use of technology is rewarded, and in some cases required, for primary care practices to qualify to be medical homes for both public and private initiatives.30-32 As substantial investments are being made to advance both the medical home model and IT adoption, understanding how best to promote adoption of health IT in a way that fosters improved primary care delivery is important. The first half of this paper discusses the potential role the HITECH Act in general, and health IT in particular, can play in improving primary care through support of the PCMH model. It does not assess whether the PCMH or health IT can improve quality and reduce costs. The first half describes (1) the medical home model; (2) examines how health IT can support specific features of the medical home model for providers and potentially improve patient care; and (3) highlights the barriers and facilitators to health IT adoption and improved delivery of care by primary care practices as revealed in the literature. The second half of the paper describes how the HITECH programs, as well as other related legislation, may address these barriers and ways they may need to be supplemented to better support practices as they seek to provide improved primary care.

How Health IT Might Support Primary Care Practices Acting as Medical Homes
Although providers could implement the PCMH model without health IT, this technology can be a strong facilitator to the establishment of this model of care, as demonstrated by growing evidence of the impacts of health IT on quality of care.33 However, it remains unclear how health IT will contribute in practice to enabling operation as a medical home.

Available evidence on the ability of health IT to support the medical home is mixed. Some evidence suggests that it improves the cost-effectiveness, efficiency, quality, and safety of medical care delivery, although there is not yet strong, broad evidence of success.35-37 Critics of health IT, however, argue that “if you computerize an inefficient system, you will simply make it inefficient, faster,” and have warned proponents of this technology to resist “magical thinking”—that is, the belief that health IT alone will positively transform primary care delivery systems.

To avoid these pitfalls, experts have argued that, rather than identify health IT as a solution to the problem of transforming practices into medical homes, a more realistic and fruitful approach is to identify the specific health IT capabilities that could help practices become successful medical homes.

Among the different IT applications for health care, policy experts envision electronic health record (EHR) systems as the cornerstone of health care transformation. These systems vary widely on the functionalities they offer, as well as across care settings and the provider’s specialties. An EHR system typically consists of the following four sets of functionalities (and subfunctionalities):

• Electronic Clinical Documentation: patient demographics, provider notes, nursing assessments, problem lists, medication lists, discharge summaries, and advanced directives

• Results to View: laboratory reports, radiology reports, radiology images, and consultant reports

• Computerized Provider Order Entry (CPOE): laboratory tests, radiology tests, medications, consultation requests, and nursing orders

• Decision Support: clinical guidelines, clinical reminders, drug-allergy alerts, drug-drug interactions alerts, drug-laboratory interactions alert, and drug dosing support

As the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services defines it, a basic EHR system includes only electronic clinical documentation (except advance directives); viewing of laboratory and radiology reports, and of test results; and medication CPOE. In contrast, a comprehensive EHR system includes all the functionalities and subfunctionalities listed above. These definitions are likely to change soon as recent health IT rules on the use of EHRs, certification, and standards are finalized. Likewise, as the functional model for EHRs evolves from an integrated, standalone system to modular functionalities for PCs, Web-based systems, and smart phones, the typology above could become irrelevant.

The appropriate use of two other technologies could also help transform health care. First, personal health records (PHRs), which are owned by the patient, typically document electronically (1) health and demographic information, including medical and behavioral health contacts and health insurance information; (2) drug information; (3) family health history; (4) a patient diary or journal; and (5) documents and images. PHRs are the patient counterpart to EHRs, although EHRs are far more common right now and are receiving the bulk of attention from Federal and State government, as well as the private sector. If adopted more broadly, PHRs have the potential to help primary care providers empower patients, and enhance the continuity of care provided, important determinants of health care transformation.

Second, telemedicine systems typically include the following functionalities: (1) remote clinical monitoring; (2) videoconferencing; (3) Web-based educational materials; (4) chat rooms; and (5) patient-provider communications in an integrated and secure environment. The use of this technology for patient care is growing rapidly as a viable option to improve access to care for patients who live in remote areas or are institutionalized, as well as to deliver confidential services, such as mental health care. Telemedicine also is gaining traction in Federal and State government, and in the private sector. This technology can make appropriate health care more accessible. Presumably, the content of care provided through telemedicine, as well as more traditional means, would be documented in the EHR, enhancing its value.

Experts in the development of the PCMH model have identified five capabilities that health IT in general, and EHRs in particular, would need to have to support the PCMH model: (1) collect, store, manage, and exchange relevant personal health information; (2) allow communication among providers, patients, and the patients’ care teams for care delivery and care management; (3) collect, store, measure, and report on the processes and outcomes of individual and population performance and quality of care; (4) support providers’ decisionmaking on tests and treatments; and (5) inform patients about their health and medical conditions, and facilitate their self-management with input from providers. Table 1 shows a crosswalk of the five medical home principles, the technological capabilities, the general functionalities required of the technology, and an illustrative list of the applications capable of supporting the PCMH model.

Table 1: Medical Home Principles

Source: Mathematica’s adaptation from the Patient-Centered Primary Care Collaborative, 2009, pp. 7-14.
Key: CDS = clinical decision support; EHR = electronic health record; PHR = personal health record.

In sum, comprehensive EHRs, and to a lesser extent basic EHRs, can support the medical home in important ways. Likewise, PHRs can support all five medical home principles, though given the Federal Government’s overwhelming focus on EHRs, this technology is unlikely to reach widespread dissemination and acceptance soon. Other, less-sophisticated technologies, such as patient population registries, can also address some of the medical home principles at relatively low cost. Thus, the question is how practices are currently implementing health IT, and particularly EHRs, so policymakers can better understand what support practices need to ensure that it contributes to the PCMH.

Conclusions
Discussion
HITECH has the potential to contribute to “cohesive, broad-based policy changes . . . that could lead to improved absolute and relative performance,” including the transformation practices need to act as PCMHs.90 While HITECH programs and other Federal legislation are necessary, they are not sufficient factors for providers considering the adoption of the PCMH model. As noted by a panel of experts consulted for this project, HITECH’s funding is not enough to support adoption and meaningful use of EHRs, let alone the broader transformation in care delivery needed to build PCMH. Other funding sources will be needed. Thus, although meaningful use of EHRs and other HITECH programs may contribute greatly to the adoption of a PCMH model, it seems clear that other factors beyond meaningful use are needed to attain this model of care, such as reform of systems for health delivery and health provider payment. In particular, reform of the latter would align the incentives of the PCMH model to increase accountability for total costs across the continuum of care, most notably between primary care providers and specialists, a feature conspicuously absent in the meaningful-use policy priorities. As one expert noted at the technical expert panel meeting January 15, 2010, “Absent provider payment reform, HITECH will not, by itself, stimulate the widespread formation of medical homes.” An assessment of the effectiveness of HITECH will not be possible before the second half of this decade. Because the legislation is just being implemented, evidence about the likely success of implementation of the HITECH’s programs and, in particular, of the meaningful-use concept and its role in promoting the PCMH model, is limited to a few studies, such as CMS’s Medicare Care Management Performance (MCMP) Demonstration and Electronic Health Records Demonstration (EHRD).91,92 These two demonstrations are testing the impact of financial incentives on the adoption and use of EHRs and on quality of care. Although they were not set up to test the meaningful-use concept or the medical home model, they will measure the actual use of EHRs with a survey of office systems. Furthermore, the interventions both target small to medium-sized practices serving Medicare beneficiaries with certain chronic conditions, similar to the settings targeted by HITECH. For these reasons, findings from these demonstrations offer the best opportunity for obtaining an early glimpse of the implementation of the meaningful-use concept in Medicare and of the barriers and facilitators to attaining meaningful use of the technology in medical homes. However, only findings from MCMP will be available by 2011, the first year of implementation of the meaningful-use concept; findings from EHRD are expected in 2015.

Although this paper focuses on the intended consequences of HITECH programs on the adoption of health IT and medical homes by primary care practices, unintended consequences also matter. For example, linking provider reimbursement to meaningful use of EHRs, with the consequent increases in financial and staff costs, may unwittingly slow PCMH adoption if practices focus exclusively on EHR adoption and not on other components of improved primary care. Likewise, the EHR Incentive Program could crowd out some private investment by practices who would have used their own resources to adopt EHRs. In addition, the resources (in both money and time) needed to implement EHRs might supplant resources that could otherwise have been directed at quality improvement. Finally, emphasizing health IT as the solution to physician practice problems stemming from poor organization or suboptimal care processes may result merely in greater investment in ineffective changes. Table 4 highlights these and other unintended consequences. Given the broad nature of the systemic changes proposed by HITECH and other legislation, it may take 5 to 10 years to figure out the full unintended effects of health IT on transforming practices into medical homes.

For the complete PDF of the report, click here.

See a later e-Healthcare Marketing post on an AHRQ White Paper, Practice-Based Population Health: Information Technology to Support Transformation to Proactive Primary Care.

Rite Aid Agrees to Pay $1 Million to Settle HIPAA Privacy Case

Posted on July 27, 2010 by Mike Squires

Rite Aid Agrees to Pay $1 Million to Settle HIPAA Privacy Case
Company agrees to substantial corrective action to safeguard consumer information

July 27, 2010 Press Release from HHS:
Rite Aid Corporation and its 40 affiliated entities (RAC) have agreed to pay $1 million to settle potential violations of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) Privacy Rule, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced today. In a coordinated action, RAC also signed a consent order with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to settle potential violations of the FTC Act.

Rite Aid, one of the nation’s largest drug store chains, has also agreed to take corrective action to improve policies and procedures to safeguard the privacy of its customers when disposing of identifying information on pill bottle labels and other health information. The settlements apply to all of Rite Aid’s nearly 4,800 retail pharmacies and follow an extensive joint investigation by the HHS Office for Civil Rights (OCR) and the FTC.

The OCR, which enforces the HIPAA Privacy and Security Rules, opened its investigation of RAC after television media videotaped incidents in which pharmacies were shown to have disposed of prescriptions and labeled pill bottles containing individuals’ identifiable information in industrial trash containers that were accessible to the public. These incidents were reported as occurring in a variety of cities across the United States. Rite Aid pharmacy stores in several of the cities were highlighted in media reports.

Disposing of individuals’ health information in an industrial trash container accessible to unauthorized persons is not compliant with several requirements of the HIPAA Privacy Rule and exposes the individuals’ information to the risk of identity theft and other crimes. This is the second joint investigation and settlement conducted by OCR and FTC. OCR and FTC settled a similar case involving another national drug store chain in February 2009.

“It is critical that companies, large and small, build a culture of compliance to protect consumers’ right to privacy and safeguard health information. OCR is committed to strong enforcement of HIPAA,” said Georgina Verdugo, director of OCR. “We hope that this agreement will spur other health organizations to examine and improve their policies and procedures for protecting patient information during the disposal process.”

The HIPAA Privacy Rule requires health plans, health care clearinghouses and most health care providers (covered entities), including most pharmacies, to safeguard the privacy of patient information, including such information during its disposal.

Among other issues, the reviews by OCR and the FTC indicate that:

Rite Aid failed to implement adequate policies and procedures to appropriately safeguard patient information during the disposal process;
Rite Aid failed to adequately train employees on how to dispose of such information properly; and
Rite Aid did not maintain a sanctions policy for members of its workforce who failed to properly dispose of patient information.

Under the HHS resolution agreement, RAC agreed to pay a $1 million resolution amount to HHS and must implement a strong corrective action program that includes:

Revising and distributing its policies and procedures regarding disposal of protected health information and sanctioning workers who do not follow them;
Training workforce members on these new requirements;
Conducting internal monitoring; and
Engaging a qualified, independent third-party assessor to conduct compliance reviews and render reports to HHS.

Rite Aid has also agreed to external, independent assessments of its pharmacy stores’ compliance with the FTC consent order. The HHS corrective action plan will be in place for three years; the FTC order will be in place for 20 years.

The HHS Resolution Agreement and Corrective Action Plan can be found on the OCR website at http://www.hhs.gov/ocr/privacy/hipaa/enforcement/examples/index.html.

OCR has FAQs that address the HIPAA Privacy Rule requirements for disposal of protected health information. They can be found on the OCR website at http://www.hhs.gov/ocr/privacy/index.html.

Information about the FTC Consent Order agreement is available at http://www.ftc.gov.

NJ Health IT Commission Publishes Interim Report: July 2010

Posted on July 27, 2010 by Mike Squires

New Jersey HIT Commission and the Office for e-HIT Development Joint Interim Report
July 2010
The Interim July 2010 report for New Jersey HIT Commission and the Office for e-HIT Development was accessed on the New Jersey Health IT Commission Web Page on July 27, 2010. The report’s preface, executive summary, introduction and report scope, and accomplishments sections are excerpted below.
For the full report in PDF format click here

: NJ Health IT Commission

or
go the the NJ HIT Commission Web site.

Preface
The Health Information Technology Commission, in collaboration with the Office for e-HIT Development, is statutorily obligated to submit an Interim Report to the Governor and the Legislature. The material in this report reflects the continued work in the priority areas of the New Jersey Health Information Technology Commission as determined by the Commission members with input from the Office for Electronic Health Information Technology (e-HIT) Development and the rapidly-changing national landscape of health IT.

Executive Summary
The Health Information Technology Commission was formed by the “New Jersey Health Information Technology Act,” signed into law by Governor Corzine in January, 2008. (A4044/S2728; PL 2007, Chapter 330). Under the law, the Commission and the Office for e-HIT Development in the Department of Banking and Insurance are responsible for collaborating to “develop, implement, and oversee the operation of a Statewide Health Information Technology Plan.”

The Commission is composed of key leaders from the private and public sectors representing the variety of services that compose the New Jersey Healthcare environment. The Commission held its first full meeting in December 2008.

In July, 2009 the Commission realigned its effort in order to respond to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA), which contains funding under Part 3010 for the establishment of interoperable systems for Health Information Exchange (HIE). Working with leaders throughout the state, New Jersey submitted a proposal to create four regional health exchanges, for which we received approval in March 2010, resulting in a notice of grant award for $11.4 million.

Also in July, 2009 the Commission voted to form three Committees to develop and track recommendations regarding the important areas of emphasis for the state: Implementation, Policy, and Technology. Each of these committees has completed its first phase and made preliminary recommendations to the full Commission. Efforts to further delineate and refine the recommendations are currently under way. The Commission has also synthesized a variety of reports from both the private and public sectors to better define the healthcare landscape and needs of the residents of New Jersey.

The Health Information Technology Commission, in collaboration with the Office for e-HIT Development, is statutorily obligated to submit this Interim Report to the Governor and the Legislature “concerning its activities and the status of, and actions taken regarding development, implementation, and oversight of the statewide health information technology plan.” The material in
this report reflects the continued work in the priority areas of the New Jersey Health Information Technology Commission as determined by the Commission members with material contribution from the Office for e-HIT Development and the rapidly-changing national landscape of health IT.

Over the past year and a half, the NJHITC has collected, reviewed and integrated a variety of reports and plans in existence throughout the state including the Rutgers HIT Landscape Report commissioned by the Office for e-HIT Development assessing the current state of electronic healthcare information systems, and the Regional Health Exchange Feasibility Study and Model for
creating a state wide HIE commissioned by the New Jersey Hospital Association. The NJHITC addressed the issues pertinent to emergency preparedness through a review of Hippocrates, New Jersey’s state of the art, real-time, electronically integrated emergency preparedness response system program. The NJHITC and Office for e-HIT Development also reviewed the New Jersey Department of Health and Senior Services’ plan to rollout technology to Federally Qualified Health Centers, the meaningful use criteria defined by ARRA HITECH regulations, and plans to create an interstate immunization registry with New York and Pennsylvania.

These projects serve as a background for the overall statewide plan. In addition the Commission and the Office for e-HIT Development worked with the Camden Coalition to explore process improvements in health quality and cost savings in underserved urban communities through robust health data collection. The subcommittee on Policy ran a public forum and synthesized a manual of privacy policy needs and recommendations, as well as completed a preliminary analysis of Selected
New Jersey Confidentiality and Patient Approval Regulations attached to this Report as Appendix D.

The Implementation subcommittee assembled sound recommendations for the implementation of technology in physician offices and outlined best practices for implementing health information technology. The Technology subcommittee formed recommendations for standards and infrastructure which are the groundwork for moving the plan forward.

All of this effort afforded the Commission the opportunity to contribute to the ARRA grant funding effort, and facilitate attainment of the grant award by the State of New Jersey.

As we move forward, the Commission subcommittees will further develop recommendations and advance the statewide HIT plan along with the guidelines offered by our federal partners. To encourage continued progress, the Commission will maintain focus on the following foundations for success:
          Foster the quality of care
          Protect the privacy of individual health information
          Ensure the accuracy of health data
          Encourage innovation
          Incorporate all healthcare related entities

Introduction and Report Scope
The acquisition and deployment of Health Information Technology (HIT) and Health Information Exchange (HIE) throughout the healthcare system(s) in New Jersey offer a momentous opportunity to make substantial progress in improving the health of our citizens. The direct benefits include: improved patient safety and healthcare quality, enhanced public health, healthcare cost reduction, improved access to care, and greater consumer engagement and empowerment. It is vitally important
that the State of New Jersey have a strategic vision for both the implementation of information technology and a system of connectivity that will provide for the free exchange of information among providers throughout the state. Health IT is a pillar of our healthcare system—and will be increasingly central to health-care reform.

This Interim Report provides a landscape summary of health IT, a description of long-term goals, initiatives undertaken to date regarding the state plan and its implementation — including the state’s successful ARRA grant application — and recommendations to help achieve those goals. Working with other state agencies, on Oct. 16, 2009 the Commission submitted to the federal Department of Health and Human Services a State Plan in conjunction with a grant opportunity through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act for the creation of a statewide Health Information Exchange (HIE). The HIE is one component for a state-based model of digital healthcare. The detailed State Plan is available at the Commission’s web site: http://www.nj.gov/health/bc/hitc.shtml.

Our ARRA grant submission was approved for the “Strategic” aspects of our State Health IT Plan ad as a result, the State received a notice of grant award in the total amount of $11.4 million. The tate has received $1 million of the total award for planning activities, but as with 48 other states, the ederal agency is requiring that the State Plan be in full compliance with all requirements before the
remaining “Implementation” funds are released. This will require that certain points in the State Plan be modified or clarified, as described below.

This interim report represents a review of a process that will continue to evolve over time. Thus, it is both a “look back” and a projection of “future activity.” The transformation of the healthcare system in New Jersey from a paper based health care environment to a digital health care environment is complex and will require collaboration across multiple parties with potential conflicting interests. It is our belief however that working together with public and private parties the State can sustain the
effort to accomplish the transformation and provide access to reliable health care information that improves the quality and efficiency of care.

Working with the Office for e-HIT Development, and the Division of Medical Assistance and Health Services, the New Jersey Health Information Technology Commission (NJHITC) is addressing a broad scope of critical components and workflows in building the blueprint of a statewide health information technology network. These two entities continue to plan a strategy to deploy electronic
health records in physician offices, federally qualified health centers, long term care facilities, hospitals, home health agencies, and other health care delivery settings and connect them electronically to laboratories, pharmacies, state registries, and payers. The Commission also recognizes the valuable role technology will play to enable the optimal use of health care data for clinical research, to improve public health outcomes, and to improve the process and outcomes of patient care in New Jersey. This report focuses on the opportunities and challenges to clinical data exchange at the community and state level and to the adoption of HIT. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act’s HITECH provision and subsequent funding programs prompted the NJHITC and Office for e-HIT Development to focus their attention on developing a plan for health information exchange so that the State of New Jersey could procure the maximum funding for such activities allowed by federal legislation. The Health Information Exchange is the cornerstone of an overall statewide plan but is not the only aspect of the plan that the NJHITC and the Office for e-HIT Development are working on. It is the intent of the two entities to issue interim reports on an ‘as needed’ basis to inform the
Governor and the Legislature of the State of New Jersey of the ongoing progress to achieve the vision of a statewide HIE and other aspects of the health IT plan.

Accomplishments
The following table provides a list of recent Health Information Technology (HIT) accomplishments by the State of New Jersey. These accomplishments contribute to the state’s overall HIT program vision, a foundation upon which the state’s health information program will be built and transformed to enable the exchange of Electronic Health Records (EHRs) and improve health outcomes statewide.

The HIT accomplishments table is divided into six focus sections that represent key foundational areas necessary to build a successful statewide HIT program. They are as follows:

• Organization and Governance – This area addresses recent organizational changes and project governance now in place to lead and govern HIT for the state.

• Transformation Planning – This section provides further details on the plans and funding that has been secured to initiate HIT planning activities and supplement HIE technology infrastructure needs.

• Technology and Business Transformation – This area includes several major in-process initiatives to support federal directives to address HIPAA compliance and other major improvements.

• Health Information Exchanges – This area lists all active New Jersey HIEs that have been established, each addressing their specific geography and local patient and physician needs.

• Implementation and Transformation Support – This section includes accomplishments to support HIT implementation and sustain program efforts going forward.

• National Involvement – This section includes communication and coordination of activities with other states, participation in national events to share and exchange HIT related best practices and lessons learned.

Health Informatation Technology
ACCOMPLISHMENTS (Excerpted from table)

FOCUS: Organization & Governance
Initiative: HIT Commission
Accomplishment: The HIT Commission established four subcommittees to focus on core areas of HIT implementation and provide recommendations as the state moves forward with its HIT strategy.
          • Policy (including Privacy issues)
          • Implementation
          • Technical Infrastructure

Initiative: HIT Medicaid Strategy & Health Care Reform Focus
Accomplishment: The State has recognized the importance of Medicaid in the overall State HIT program as well as the need to embrace healthcare reform in the state’s HIT vision and strategy planning. A new Executive Director role has been created within the Department of Human Services to focus specifically on the Medicaid State HIT Plan (SMHP) and analyze recent healthcare reform impact on the overall HIT program. The Executive Director will work in close coordination with the State’s HIT Leader.

Initiative: HIT Leadership
Accomplishment: The State has recently created an HIT office and Leader position as part of the Governor’s office. This role will have the responsibility of directing and coordinating all HIT activities across the state. A statewide governance structure will be established and this new office will work in conjunction with the Office for e-HIT within the Department of Banking and Insurance
and the HIT Commission.

Initiative: Electronic Data Sharing Agreements
Accomplishment: Nationally recognized and accepted standard electronic data share agreements were developed and put in place between states. This was endorsed by the National Coordinator for Health IT, CDC and the
American Immunization Registry Exchange.

Initiative: Accreditation Requirements to Protect Citizen Health Information
Accomplishment: DOBI and Office for e-HIT now requires the accreditation of national healthcare clearinghouses, third party billers and third party administrators handling any New Jersey protected health information as to HIPAA and State privacy and security laws, regulations and business practices. This will ensure that the protected health information of our citizens is safe
and secure.

FOCUS: Transformation Planning
Initiative: NJ State HIT Plan
Accomplishment: The state submitted a statewide planning and implementation plan to the Office of the National Coordinator in response to funds available through the American Recovery and Reconciliation Act. The plan effectively established a foundation that leverages 4 Regional Health Information Exchanges, covering the entire state that would implement electronic health records with a ‘bottom-up’ approach. The plan also uses Medicaid as a key partner and leverages CMS funding to build the
infrastructure for statewide HIE.

Initiative: State Medicaid HIT Plan
Accomplishment: The State Medicaid HIT Plan (SMHP) establishes the road map for how the Medicaid agency will promote the use of HIT and electronic health records (EHRs) among Medicaid providers. The first phase of this project is nearing completion, with the delivery of a current landscape assessment, and will be followed by the development of a vision and a set of strategies to drive
the road map. The landscape assessment is a current view of New Jersey’s HIT maturity and will also be leveraged to develop a statewide HIT vision and plan.

Initiative: Funding Received – Planning
Accomplishment: The state received $4.92M from Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to support the State Medicaid HIT Planning (SMHP) effort.

Initiative: Funding Received – HIEs
Accomplishment: The state received $11.4M from the Office of National Coordinator (ONC) for HIT to support four approved regional HIEs.

Initiative: Funding Received – Regional Extension Center (REC)
Accomplishment: NJIT received more than $23M from ONC to support REC planning and initial implementation support including awareness, training and education. The newly formed REC is called NJ-HITEC, New Jersey Health Information
Technology Extension Center.

FOCUS: Technology & Business Transformation
Initiative: Technology & Master Patient Index
Accomplishment: This project (started in March 2010) will enable the New Jersey Division of New JerseyMedical Assistance & Health Services (DMAHS) to reliably and accurately maintain a single unique beneficiary identity within the Medicaid enterprise, while also linking Medicaid beneficiary records across various information systems. This will promote the critical interoperable exchange of Medicaid, Immunization and Blood Lead Screening databases among New Jersey’s departments of Health and Senior Services and Children and Families, Managed Care Organizations, FQHC Providers, Hospitals and the Department of Human Services.

Initiative:Immunization Registry Data Exchange
Accomplishment: Electronic exchanges of immunization registry data between States led by the Office for e-HIT between NJ and many other states. This has become the model for a national public health registry data exchange that is being established by the various Health Information Exchanges (HIEs) around the country. (Italics in text refer to corrections.)FOCUS: Health Information Exchanges
Initiative:
     Camden Coalition*
     Health-e-ciTi*
     Northern & Central HIE*
     South Jersey HIE*
     Clara Maass
     Central Jersey HIE
     MOHIE
     Trenton HIE
     Virtua HIE
     (*Current ONC funded HIE’s)
Accomplishment: Implementing the HIE infrastructure enables the exchange of health information among the health care organizations and encourages improved efficiency and quality of care. Several HIE’s within New Jersey are in various stages of implementation. Significant accomplishments have been made over the last year including four of the HIEs receiving funding from ONC (indicated by the *). A Roadmap for Statewide Implementation was submitted to the Office of the National Coordinator in May 2010.

Initiative: Mid-Atlantic States – HIE
Accomnplishment: NJ e-HIT has established, at the request of ONC, a preliminary mid-Atlantic states health information exchange involving NJ, NY, PA, DE, MD, DC and VA.

FOCUS: Implementation & Transformation Support
Initiative: Sharing Medication History
Accomplishment: NJ Medicaid began sharing medication history data with the Health-e-ciTi HIE in March 2010.

Initiative: Regional Extension Center (REC)
Accomplishment: NJ-HITEC will support HIT implementation throughout the state including HIT related awareness, training and education. William O’Byrne, former State Coordinator, Office for Electronic Health Information Technology Development, has since retired from the state and has become the REC Executive Director.

Initiative: Stakeholder Analysis
Accomplishment: Excluding patients, there are more than 100,000 entities in New Jersey who are potentially involved, influence, or are impacted by HIT. It is critical to understand the stakeholder involvement and impact throughout the planning and implementation of the HIT program. The goal of the stakeholder analysis is to provide a strategic view of the human and
institutional landscape, and the relationships between the different stakeholders and the issues they care about most.

FOCUS: National Involvement
Initiative: Multi-State Collaborative
Accomplisment: New Jersey has been an active participant in multi-state calls sponsored by CMS to share and exchange HIT best practices, lessons learned, etc. New Jersey is also planning its own multi-state collaboration event with participation from 2-3 nearby CMS regions to further exchange and share information.

Initiative: MMIS 2010 National Conference
Accomplishment: State of New Jersey is participating and presenting on several topics related to HIT, HIE and SMHP at the 2010 MMIS National Conference in Portland, Oregon, mid August.

ADDITIONAL SECTIONS OF REPORT
AVAILABLE IN FULL PDF
Challenges and Opportunities
Status
Core Recommendations
Sub Committee Recommendations
Principles of HIE Governance
Principles of Sustainability
Principles of Privacy and Security
Conclusions
Appendices
A – Glossary of Terms
B – Guiding Principles for a Health Information Exchange
C – Use Case Matrix Scores
D – Analysis of Selected New Jersey Confidentiality and Patient
Approval Regulations

CMS/ONC Release First Training Session Slides on EHR Incentive Programs, Meaningful Use, Certification

Posted on July 25, 2010 by Mike Squires

Final Rules Overview by CMS and ONC: Two Slide Sets
Training #1: CMS EHR Incentive Programs and Meaningful Use
Training #2: ONC Temp Certification Process and Certification Standards Final Rule
New Fact Sheets
On July 22, 2010, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) sponsored its first educational event with the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT on the EHR incentive program and the requirements for meaningful use.

The session offered its audience to “Learn about the Medicare and Medicaid EHR incentive programs, certification standards, temporary certification process and the requirements for meaningful use in this public conference call. Also hear about local resources regarding EHR adoption.”

Mary Stevens of CMIO, reported on the Webinar in an article published July 25, 2010, which quoted David Blumenthal, National Coordinator for Health IT, saying ““We’re beginning a revolution the way information is collected, managed, used and purposed for patients in the U.S. healthcare system.”

Training Slide Sets
July 22, 2010 Training CMS EHR Incentive Programs and Meaningful Use Final Rule Slides [PDF, 298KB]

July 22, 2010 Training ONC Temp Certification Process and Certification Standards Final Rule Slides [PDF, 126KB]

An audio recording for this educational session will be available in August 2010 according to CMS. Additional educational events are planned for August 2010 as well.

Fact Sheets AND FAQs Released by CMS on July 16, 2010.
Fact Sheet: Medicare EHR Incentive Program Final Rule Overview (July 16, 2010)

Fact Sheet: Medicaid EHR Incentive Program Final Rule Overview (July 16, 2010)

Fact Sheet: Meaningful Use Final Rule Overview (July 16, 2010)

Health IT Frequently Asked Questions

Related CMS Links Previously posted on e-Healthcare Marketing.com
Press Release: CMS and ONC Final Rules to Support Meaningful Use of Electronic Health Records (July 13, 2010)

Fact Sheet: Electronic Health Records At-a-Glance (July 13, 2010)

Fact Sheet: Final Regulations Define Meaningful Use Standards for EHR Incentive Programs (July 13, 2010)

eHealth Initiative: 2010 Survey on Health Information Exchange

Posted on July 23, 2010 by Mike Squires

eHealth Initiative’s National Survey on Health Information Exchange (HIE) Shows Progress on Cost Savings and Patient Access; Government Mandates and Sustainability Cited as Concerns
–Tues, July 27 Webinar on Survey (see end of this post)
eHealth Initiative Press Release produced in full:
WASHINGTON, DC – July 22, 2010 – Today, the eHealth Initiative (eHI) released a new report entitled The State of Health Information Exchange in 2010: Connecting the Nation to Achieve Meaningful Use. The report identifies significant growth in the industry, as well as rising concerns related to new government policies, and an increased focus on patients. The report was shared with several hundred state and industry leaders during the National Forum on Health Information Exchange in Washington, DC.

The eHealth Initiative has been tracking the progress of health information exchange initiatives for seven years. This year, eHI identified 234 active health information exchange initiatives across the country and 199 organizations responded to the annual survey.

Several key findings emerged from the survey results:
Despite recent funding, significant challenges exist to supporting provider attainment of meaningful use.
The survey revealed that despite expanding capabilities, the ability of HIEs to support
providers as they become Stage 1 meaningful user will be challenged by the current number of operational exchanges and current capacity of health information exchange initiatives.

“From the results, it is clear that health information exchange initiatives are focused on supplying the services that will help providers reach their targets,” Commented Micky Tripathi, PhD, President and CEO of Massachusetts eHealth Collaborative. “While we’re on the right track with the service offerings, we still haven’t achieved the necessary critical mass of participation.”

More research is needed to determine the key characteristics of sustainable systems.
The report confirms that sustainability remains one the key challenges before the initiatives. The State Designated Entities (SDEs) are new entrants in the field, and it is not clear what will be their impact on the initiatives.

“The State Designated Entities (SDEs) are poised to foster growth across the field of health information exchange,” said Dr. Marc Overhage, Director of Regenstrief Institute and CEO of Indiana Health Information Exchange. “Among other challenges, the SDEs are going to face the question how to keep the doors open once the federal funding ends. Failure to sustain the SDEs may hinder the overall advancement of health information exchange.”

New challenges are rapidly emerging related to federal policy and governance of the health information exchanges.
131 initiatives cited addressing government policy mandates as a major challenge.

More organizations are reporting cost savings through reductions in staff time and redundant testing through the use of health information exchange.
More initiatives reported health information exchange had reduced staff time spent on clerical administration and filing (33); reduced staff time spent on handling lab and radiology results (30); and decreased dollars spent on redundant tests (28).

Health information exchange initiatives have increased their focus on patients.
Initiatives are providing greater access to patients to not only view (44 in 2010 up from 3 in 2009), but to also update their health information (31 in 2010 up from 7 in 2009).

“There is definite progress here, but it doesn’t mean we can rest on our laurels,” noted Jennifer Covich Bordenick, CEO at eHealth Initiative. “More initiatives and providers need to document cost savings, and promote services that involve patients in their healthcare.”

The report and an interactive map of health information exchange activity are available on the eHI website at: www.ehealthinitiative.org

Printing and dissemination of the survey report was supported by: Axolotl, Microsoft, Navinet, Partners HealthCare and Thompson Reuters.

###

About eHealth Initiative
The eHealth Initiative (eHI) is an independent, non-profit, multi-stakeholder organization whose mission is to drive improvements in the quality, safety, and efficiency of healthcare through information and information technology (IT). eHI is the only organization that represents all of the stakeholders in the healthcare industry. eHI advocates for the use of HIT that is practical, sustainable and addresses stakeholder needs, particularly those of patients.

For more information, visit www.ehealthinitiative.org .
###

As the report notes “The survey data is self-reported and offers a non-scientific snapshot of the field.” The methodology section also explains that “not all respondents answered each question, so a selection bias may exist.”

Front Page of Report
Go to front page of report to Download PDFs of “Full Report” and “Key Charts and Graphs” from left navigation bar.

Key components of report

Key Findings

Close-up Look at the SDEs

Close-up Look at the Sustainable Initiatives

Interviews with Spotlight HIEs (content to come as of 7/23/10)

FAQs

Financing and Sustainability (available in PDF version)

Privacy and Confidentiality (available in PDF version )

Looking Forward (available in PDF version)

Methodology (available in PDF version)

HIE Survey Webinar — Tuesday, July 27, 2010
3:00pm to 4:00pm ET
eHealth Initiative will present results of Seventh Annual Survey on HIE.
Click here to register.

Health Information Exchange: From Princeton to Washington, DC Conferences

Posted on July 22, 2010 by Mike Squires

July 22, 2010: HIE Day in Two Cities
WASHINGTON, DC (July 22, 2010) — With more than 400 delegates to the National HIE Summit from 38 states meeting in the nation’s capital today and over 125 delegates to the New Jersey HIE Summit & Expo meeting in Princeton, NJ, you can see federalism at work in Health IT.

In the Washington, DC Conference produced by the national eHealth Initiative, and hosted at the Omni Shoreham Hotel, the the topics of the day are:
Getting Started: What to do first?
Sustainability: What works?
Getting to Meaningful Use
Inter-State Coordination
Understanding and Connecting to the NHIN
Engaging Consumers in Health Information Exchange
Measuring Your Progress: What Really Matters?
Beyond Implementation: Planning for Privacy

The Washington session ends with a networking reception.

The Princeton, NJ Conference produced by NJTC (New Jersey Technology Council), and hosted at the New Jersey Hospital Association Conference Center, will cover:
NJ Health IT Extension Center (NJ-HITEC)
Colleen Woods, newly appointed Statewide Health IT Coordinator for New Jersey, will make a presentation.
Components of a Successful HIE
                 Developing a Sustainable Business Model for HIE
                 Managing an Effective Procurement Process
                 Engaging and Supporting Physicians in the Adoption of Heath IT
                 Building Public Private Sector Partnerships for HIE
HIPAA HITECH – Audits, Breaches & Fines
Navigating the Winding Road
                 Know Your Obligations
                 Identify and Address Gaps
                 Security Rule Compliance
                 Test Your Program and Consider Lessons Learned now Your Obligations
HIE Privacy, Security and Compliance
                 Understanding Meaningful Use Requirements
                 Understanding and Applying the New Standards Requirements
                 Developing and Implementing Strong Privacy and Security Policies
                 Advancing Administrative Simplification Efforts
Technologies that Transform Patient Care

The Princeton session ends with an ice cream reception.

Personal Notes
In Princeton, Vikas Khosla, President and CEO of BluePrint Healthcare IT (and my boss), is participating in a panel discussion and focusing on ”Developing and Implementing Strong Privacy and Security Policies” and joining two of my colleagues Gregory Michaels, Director, Security and Compliance; and Pam Kaur, Client Services Team Lead, who will be attending and working BluePrint’s exhibit table.

In Washington, as VP, Strategic Development and Public Policy, for BluePrint (and as e-Healthcare Marketing blogger), I will be listening, learning, meeting, and greeting state HIE coordinators and Health IT folks from across the country. And we’ll compare notes when the day is done.

BluePrint also issued a press release July 21, 2010 announcing two products that support secure health information exchange by lowering barriers to HIE interoperability and promoting patient confidence: HIE Secure and EMR Secure.

While e-Healthcare Marketing independently collects and reports information on Health IT including EHRs, ONC, CMS, and public policy, a view of the blogger and his business colleagues seemed worth noting today. Thank you for reading.
–Mike Squires

NJ Health IT Coordinator Colleen Woods Appointed

Posted on July 20, 2010 by Mike Squires

Governor Christie Taps Colleen Woods as Statewide Health Information Technology Coordinator
Press Release from NJ Governor Christies’ office.
Trenton, NJ – (July 2, 2010) Governor Chris Christie today announced the appointment of Colleen M. Woods as New Jersey’s Statewide Health Information Technology (HIT) Coordinator. Ms. Woods will be responsible for working with all state departments and agencies, the healthcare provider community, and other key stakeholders, to implement and facilitate the HIT movement across the State and in accordance with nationally recognized Federal standards.

“New Jersey has been at the forefront of promoting the meaningful use of heath information technology and exchange to help improve health care outcomes for our citizens,” said Governor Christie. “I am pleased to have an individual with Colleen’s caliber of expertise to spearhead New Jersey’s health information technology efforts.”

Ms. Woods brings over 20 years of technology experience working for the State of New Jersey to the position. She most recently served as the Chief Information Officer for the New Jersey Department of Human Services and recently received the IT Hero award from the New Jersey Mental Health Association. She has a Masters degree from Rutgers University.

“It is an exciting time in the healthcare community, and I look forward to working with all of the stakeholders, both in the state and nationally, to improve the delivery and quality of healthcare,” Ms. Woods said.

Nationally, health information technology is playing a critical role in achieving improved healthcare by reducing duplicative or unnecessary testing; strengthening disease management efforts; improving overall care coordination and reducing costs.

Recently, New Jersey was awarded $5 million in federal funds to support the State’s Medicaid HIT Planning (SMHP) process that will implement an electronic health record (EHR) incentive program. In addition, the New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) was awarded a federal grant of over $23 million to become a state designated Regional Extension Center (REC) to further promote HIT related training, innovation lab, awareness and education of the use of EHR technology.

New Jersey also is receiving $11.4 million in federal funds over the next four years to fund electronic health records projects that will create four regional Health Information Exchanges (HIEs) that will share information among health care providers around the state.

The Statewide Health Information Technology Coordinator will report directly to the Governor’s Office.
# # #

Daily message from New Jersey Hospital Association on Friday, July 9, 2010.
Gov. Christie Appoints Woods to Lead Health Information Technology Initiative
Gov. Chris Christie recently appointed Colleen Woods to the position of Health Information Technology (HIT) Coordinator.

Woods will be responsible for working with all state departments and agencies, the healthcare provider community and all other industry stakeholders to implement and facilitate HIT adoption across the state and in accordance with nationally recognized federal standards.

Woods has over 20 years of HIT experience and previously served as chief information officer for the state Department of Human Services. Woods also has been a member of the NJ HIT Commission since its inception and served on the New Jersey State Medicaid HIT Project Steering Committee.

“For many years Colleen has provided a tremendous amount of technical leadership and served as a tireless advocate for the adoption of HIT. NJHA applauds Gov. Christie’s appointment, and we look forward to supporting her in this important work,” said Joe Carr, NJHA’s chief information officer.
# # #

Colleen Woods, newly appointed NJ State HIT Coordinatorm will share her vision of NJ’s plan to obtain the maximum stimulus dollars for HIT.

Woods added to NJTC HIE Summit & Expo Agenda
July 22 at NJHA, Princeton

ONC Blogs on ‘EHR Security: A Top Priority’

Posted on July 20, 2010 by Mike Squires

EHR Security: A Top Priority
Monday, July 19th, 2010 | Posted by: Dr. Deborah Lafky, MSIS Ph.D. CISSP on ONC’s Health IT Buzz Blog and republished in e-Healthcare Marketing
With the passage of the HITECH Act, Congress made health IT security a top priority. ONC is committed to making electronic health information as secure as technically and humanly feasible.

That’s why ONC on April 1, 2010, launched an 18-month, multi-million dollar effort to improve the state of security and cybersecurity across the health IT spectrum. Key initiatives include:

Increasing health IT security by systematically assessing risk and providing tools and guidance to minimize it, including product configuration manuals and checklists to help assure secure health IT installations;
Educating the health IT community about security awareness with training, video, literature, and other materials;
Equipping the health IT workforce with the knowledge they need to manage health IT securely; and
Creating support functions such as back-up, recovery, and incident response plans to help when security emergencies strike.

Our ultimate goal is to protect patient information and create confidence in health IT’s security. These initiatives, and others, will help us do just that.

ONC recognizes that breaches are a serious issue. Despite stronger laws regarding breach notification, we must be vigilant and ensure they are reported. What may be surprising are the statistics. For example, we know that in the past 5 years, 80 percent of reported lost records were the result of hard drives, laptops, and other storage devices that disappeared. Interestingly, less than 10 percent of health care information breaches resulted from hacking or Internet crime.

So what does this mean in terms of security? It shows that simply preventing the theft or loss of data storage devices would have a huge impact on the security of our electronic health records. Fortunately, this doesn’t require a major investment in equipment or training. Instead, it requires some clear, common sense policies, such as:

Securing all computers that contain patient data;
Protecting laptops with a combination of physical, technology, and policy-related methods;
Locking drive bays to prevent hard drives from being removed;
Placing servers in secure areas, strictly limiting access, and maintaining entry/exit logs; and
Establishing security policies that require the use of a high-grade encryption algorithm.

As we roll out these ONC initiatives, I hope some of the readers of this blog will share their own best practices: What security measures have you taken or observed? How do you ensure the security of EHRs in your daily work? Share with us what has worked for you – and what has not. We can all learn from experience.

Watch the ONC website for updates on our available security materials and to see our progress.
# # #
To comment directly to this post on ONC’s Health IT Buzz Blog, please click here.

Final Rules–Analysis Roundup Starting w/AHIMA, Halamka, HIMSS

Posted on July 20, 2010 by Mike Squires

Latest analysis and some catch-up from last week

Journal of AHIMA
Kevin Heubusch posted a chart on July 19, 2010 “Tracking Changes in the Menaingful Use Rule,” showing Stage 1 Objectives for Eligible Professionals, Eligible Hospitals and Critical Access Hospitals (CAH), Stage 1 Measures, and Changes from proposed rule.

John Halamka’s Life as a Healthcare CIO
John Halamka posted “A Meaningful Use and Standards Rule FAQ” on July 19, 2010, providing his personal interpretation of answers to five questions he’s received since the final rules have been announced.

HIMSS
Health Information Management Systems Society (HIMSS) provides several updates on its “Members Only” resource page, “Meaningful Use, Certification Criteria and Standards, and HHS Certification Process,’ between July 13 and July 19, 2010. The latest update, ”Medicare & Medicaid EHR Incentive Programs – What’s Different Between the NPRM and the Final Rule?” reviews the major differences in a five-page document.

iHealthBeat
Kate Ackerman, iHealthBeat Senior Editor, wrote “Long-Awaited Final Rule on ‘Meaningful Use’ Strikes Compromise” on July 15, 2010 with brief analysis and reactions from experts.

O’Reilly Radar
Brian Ahier posted “Analysis: A defining moment for ‘meaningful use’: How new rules will affect patients, providers, and electronic health records” on July 15, 2010.

Chilmark Research
John Moore provided his viewpoint in “Meaningful Use Perspectve & Resources,” posted on July 15, 2010.