Quote Of The Year

Timeless Quotes - Sadly The Late Paul Shetler - "Its not Your Health Record it's a Government Record Of Your Health Information"

or

H. L. Mencken - "For every complex problem there is an answer that is clear, simple, and wrong."

Friday, April 29, 2011

Now Here Is One Of the Huge Sleeper Issues in Health IT!

The following report appeared a few days ago

Health IT work group considers EHR usability testing

By Joseph Conn

Posted: April 22, 2011 - 12:00 pm ET

At a meeting in Washington on Thursday, a work group of the federally chartered Health Information Technology Policy Committee tackled the question of whether and how it's possible to test the usability of electronic health-record systems—and opinions on the viability of such testing ranged from outright skepticism to absolute confidence.

The committee's adoption and certification work group heard testimony from an array of EHR experts, including providers, developers, testers and market watchers.

Dr. Christine Sinsky, an internist at Medical Associates Clinic in Dubuque, Iowa, said she has worked with an EHR system as both a clinician and a technical adviser since 2003. She described a litany of usability problems she has experienced personally or that have been reported to her. These included "death by PDF" when 50 scanned documents were stuffed into a patient's electronic record and needing 10 minutes for one EHR system to place an order for a mammogram.

Work-group member Carl Dvorak, executive vice president of Epic Systems Corp., Verona, Wis., was one of several vendors to testify. Dvorak said he hoped that regional extension centers, established by the federal government under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, would provide feedback on usability issues. Although vendors don't fear usability measurement, he asserted, "I definitely think they are afraid of measurement by someone with a bias."

Most important in the construction of any mechanism designed to measure EHR systems' usability would be keeping "the voice of the physician front and center," he said.

More here:

http://www.modernhealthcare.com/article/20110422/NEWS/304229989/

As background information the US Agency for Healthcare Research has done some very useful and succinct research.

This can be downloaded from here:

http://healthit.ahrq.gov/portal/server.pt/gateway/PTARGS_0_3882_911984_0_0_18/EHRVendorPractices&Perspectives.pdf

There is more coverage here on the same area:

NIST, ONC plan measures, testing to improve health IT usability

April 25, 2011 | Mary Mosquera

GAITHERSBURG, MD – Healthcare providers may soon have guides that describe the usability of electronic health records – designed to make the steps to adopt and use health IT clear and transparent and, in the process, improve patient safety.

Among the efforts, the National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST) is developing a set of procedures that are objective and repeatable for evaluating, testing and validating the usability of electronic health records and other health IT systems, said Lana Lowry, NIST health IT usability project lead.

NIST plans to present the specifications at a workshop June 7, she said at an informational hearing sponsored by a panel of the advisory Health IT Policy Committee.

With meaningful use, providers will expect more functionality and robust performance from their EHRs. But providers and health IT researchers say there is uneven usefulness, ease of usability and user satisfaction among EHRs

As a result, the ONC will develop guidelines to measure an EHR's usability in coordination with public and private organizations and NIST, said National Coordinator Farzad Mostashari, MD.

“All too often we hear from providers that they look forward to the day when the technology works for them instead of them working for the technology,” he said at the meeting April 21.

Usability has implications for patient safety, adoption, and effective health IT implementation and for hospital and physician productivity.

More here:

http://govhealthit.com/news/nist-onc-plan-measures-testing-improve-health-it-usability

A quick Google search for EHR and usability will also find lots more!

This is a hot topic that we have to progressively improve on how we perform over time. I have to say I am not sure it would be easy to test for usability but, rather like pornography, I am pretty sure I can recognise it when I see it!

In the report one fascinating point is made. They point out vendors see usability and key to their competitive advantage and so really don’t share their views and techniques.

That it is seen as key is a good thing - that people are keeping secrets is sad but understandable!

The PCEHR as presently planned has not even considered the issue so far as I can tell. Most of what they seem to be proposing is ‘anti’ rather than ‘pro’ usability as far as I anyone knows.

David.

Minister Roxon Is Not Really Being Honest About the PBS Costs. Talk About Not Being Able to Walk and Chew Gum!

Minister Roxon was interviewed on AM today.

The full transcript is here:

http://www.abc.net.au/am/content/2011/s3203248.htm

I almost choked on the Wheaties when I heard this.

Health Minister defends PBS changes

NICOLA ROXON: In a period where we are very carefully watching the expenditure of every dollar in health as well as in every other portfolio, I have made a decision that taking to Cabinet all listings that have a financial consequence would be the best way to deal with the range of matters.

And then later this:

SAMANTHA DONOVAN: Nicola Roxon is appealing to people waiting for drugs to be subsidised to understand the Government's position.

NICOLA ROXON: All I can ask patients to consider is that there are a range of other health needs that both they and other members of the community need in addition to access to medicines and our government is responsible for providing those as well and we need to be able to balance which is the most important priority at any particular time.

There is another report of the same conversation here:

Roxon says PBS listing never automatic

April 29, 2011 - 8:14AM

AAP

Health Minister Nicola Roxon says expensive drugs have never been automatically listed for subsidy and they can't be now when the government is carefully watching every dollar it spends.

She says federal Labor has to balance competing priorities in health and every other department.

The government in February deferred the listing of seven medicines, including treatments for schizophrenia, chronic pain, lung disease and blood clots, for government subsidy through the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS).

That was contrary to a recommendation of the expert Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee (PBAC).

Groups including Medicines Australia, the Consumers Health Forum and the Australian Medical Association will meet Ms Roxon on Friday in Melbourne to press for the government to reverse its position.

The PBAC this week recommended a further seven new drugs for PBS listing.

But the health minister says cabinet will consider any recommendation with a financial consequence.

More here:

http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-national/roxon-says-pbs-listing-never-automatic-20110429-1dzef.html

The PBAC is a committee made up of a very diligent collection of very smart health practitioners and economists who have processes and procedures that have served us well for 50 years or so. Only drugs that will actually help patients and are reasonably cost effective get recommened.

Now we get politicians involved for extra expenditure of a few million here and there on some drugs which can make a real difference for some patients while we have rampant, ill-considered waste and stupidity with the current e-Health plans and even more stupidity suggesting the sky will fall in if we maintain our public services properly and take just one more year to get the budget back into surplus.

I really wonder just what is going on here. If we are rich enough to do this mad cap e-health program we are plenty rich enough to provide the best medicines for those that need them. It does not make a heap of sense to me.

David.


Thursday, April 28, 2011

Maybe There Are Some Lessons Here for Australia. Very Interesting Point of View!

The following interesting blog post appeared a few days ago.

Through the Lens of Disruptive Innovation: Why Direct is a Hit and PCAST is an Outcast

Posted by Vince Kuraitis on

Regular readers know that I find Professor Clay Christensen’s theory of disruptive innovation to be a useful lens to explain industry evolution. Let’s look at two recent health IT initiatives and see why one is working and the other is stalled.

Characterizing the Direct Project — why it’s working:

  1. A low-end industry disruption. The Direct Project takes transactions that are routine but inefficient — fax, telephone, mail exchanges between health care providers — and specifies standardized, Internet based technologies to conduct them electronically.
  2. Incremental change — a few specified transactions.
  3. Bottom up — ONC hired a capable project manager (Arien Malec) who choreographed a small team of volunteers working under short deadlines.
  4. Implementing “better, faster, cheaper” technology on the fly (i.e., Internet transactions replace fax, phone).
  5. Under the radar — invoking little response from incumbents. Direct was seen as focusing on transactions that were peripheral to the core EHR.

The rest of the blog including the reasons why the PCAST proposals are failing are here:

http://e-caremanagement.com/through-the-lens-of-disruptive-innovation-why-direct-is-a-hit-and-pcast-is-an-outcast/

The post refers to two articles:

The first is here:

Direct Project Rapidly Advancing Health IT Interoperability

More than 60 healthcare and health IT organizations are supporting the federal government's push for authenticated, encrypted health information to be shared with trusted recipients over the Internet.

By Nicole Lewis, InformationWeek

March 30, 2011

URL: http://www.informationweek.com/news/healthcare/interoperability/229400609

If the Direct Project's objectives continue to be advanced at a fast clip, widespread adoption of universal addressing and access to secure direct messaging of health information could soon be provided to healthcare stakeholders that serve up to 160 million Americans.

Those are the latest figures from officials at the Direct Project, a program that began one year ago to specify a secure, scalable, standards-based way for healthcare participants to send authenticated, encrypted health information directly to known, trusted recipients over the Internet.

To keep healthcare stakeholders abreast of the latest development, the Direct Project announced March 22 that over 60 healthcare and health IT organizations, including many state-based and private-sector health information exchanges (HIEs), leading IT vendors, and several leading integrated delivery systems, have planned support for the Direct Project.

One of the vendors supporting the Direct Project is Allscripts Healthcare Solutions, a health IT provider. As part of the Direct Project, Allscripts has partnered with Albany, N.Y.-based Albany Medical Center to transform disconnected paper processes into connected, electronic transactions that improve physician collaboration and make healthcare interoperability a reality. As a result of the project, the hospital's discharge summaries will soon be routed to the patient's primary care provider via an automated exchange over the Internet. The primary care provider will also be able to refer patients to specialists and receive results back upon completion of those consultations.

The second is here
http://www.ihealthbeat.org/articles/2011/4/18/onc-work-group-says-pcast-suggestions-not-feasible-now.aspx

Monday, April 18, 2011

ONC Work Group Says PCAST Suggestions Not Feasible Now

Recommendations made by the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology to create a "universal exchange language" by 2013 are not feasible, according to a work group composed of members from the Health IT Policy and Standards committees, Health Data Management reports (Goedert, Health Data Management, 4/15).

PCAST Report Recommendations

Released in December 2010, the PCAST report recommended the development and use of a universal exchange language to promote health data exchange and increase the privacy and security of information. The language would separate data into units that have a "metadata tag" with directions for how to use the data. The report said a common language framework would assist in the adoption of electronic health record systems.

The report also recommended that CMS and the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT establish a national infrastructure for patient data (iHealthBeat, 4/4).

Read more: http://www.ihealthbeat.org/articles/2011/4/18/onc-work-group-says-pcast-suggestions-not-feasible-now.aspx#ixzz1KPgYt6qe

You can read about the theory here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disruptive_innovation

As I see it success follows doing things in simple, smart and incremental ways taking on one problem at a time. This seems to work.

Going complex, large scale and requiring major re-tooling often goes badly.

I leave it to the reader to apply these ideas to e-Health in Australia.

David.

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Sometimes You Just Have To Weep. This is One of Those Times.

The following appeared at 6minutes.com.au today.

Pseudonym identifier a bit Mickey Mouse

Patients may now apply for an individual healthcare identifiers (IHI) as ‘Michael Mouse’ – or any other pseudonym – but they won’t be eligible for Medicare or PBS rebates.

Medicare Australia has released forms that allow anyone who has concerns about their privacy or safety to apply for an IHI in a fictitious name, so as to conceal their identity.

The IHI service is intended as a gateway to e-health schemes such as the Personally-Controlled E-Health Record (PCEHR) due to start operating in July next year.

People who wish to have an IHI but remain anonymous can select a fictitious first name and surname, and must also give a false date of birth, so long as it is within six months of their real date of birth.

More here:

http://www.6minutes.com.au/news/pseudonym-identifier-a-bit-mickey-mouse

The forms can be downloaded from the page found here:

http://www.medicareaustralia.gov.au/public/health-identifier/

The article and the form then have some really amazing revelations!

In the section Important things you should know about Pseudonym IHIs

1.You can only hold one Pseudonym IHI at a time.

2.You can choose to merge the Pseudonym IHI with the IHI in your real name at any time.

3. If you seek treatment using your Pseudonym IHI, you will not be able to claim benefits from Programs administered by Medicare Australia, such as Medicare and the PBS.

----- End Quote

So what this means is you can have a protected identity but no PBS or Medical Benefits for you or you can be identified and claim benefits.

This I do not believe was the intent of the Government. As I understood it the Pseudonym IHI was to allow you to be a ‘full citizen’ and be able to have a PCEHR and claim benefits - but just not to disclose your real name when accessing care. As it is reported and I read, to describe what they seem to have come up with as ‘Mickey Mouse’ really flatters the nit wits who have implemented all this.

What I suspect is an un-intended consequence of what has been done is that various records held by Medicare (PBS, Immunisation and Claims) will not be able to be linked to the ‘fake’ IHI and so will not be accessible while you are in anonymous mode.

It also seems that real IHI linked records will be held separate until you give up the Pseudonym IHI and then who knows what sort of information mess will flow. It is not clear if you can have a ‘live’ Pseudonym IHI as well as a verified IHI simultaneously. It is also not clear what IHI you would use to access the IHI and PCEHR portal (when the latter exists).

The bottom line is that the geniuses at Medicare and NEHTA need to go back to the drawing board and come up with a way to have anonymous care and a continuing link to a verified IHI and payments managed behind the scenes. That is what was intended for those who need to protect their identity and that is what should be delivered.

David.

Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Weekly Australian Health IT Links – 26 April, 2011.

Here are a few I have come across this week.

Note: Each link is followed by a title and a paragraph or two. For the full article click on the link above title of the article. Note also that full access to some links may require site registration or subscription payment.

General Comment:

I hope everyone had a good Easter / Anzac Day break and observed and enjoyed the days in the way that felt right for them.

It seems the NSW Health Department under its new Minister is trying to work out just how to proceed with Health IT and how to deliver the IT systems and services for that State’s Public Health System that are still in various stages of evolution and completeness.

Victoria also seems to be making a bit of a meal of working out just what is to happen to the HealthSMART program.

As Cerner has a stake in both these programs it is probably worth pointing out that Cerner in the US seems to be going from strength to strength with the share price now well north of $US110. Given the share price was around $20 a decade ago that has been a pretty good investment! Such excellent share price appreciation certainly suggests that first Cerner is servicing its home market to the satisfaction of most (but certainly not all) customers and second that NSW and Victoria need to be careful in how they approach getting the local issues resolved - lest Cerner decide there are good reasons to concentrate on other markets and downscale what they provide here. The short term upheaval that might cause could be considerable!

No matter what happens it would be really helpful if some researchers could discover just what are the factors that lead to differences in vendor and customer satisfaction in both differing jurisdictions and with differing software. I think this is a seriously under researched and understood area.

-----

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/australian-it/hospital-it-systems-failing-patients-says-expert/story-e6frgakx-1226041186638

Hospital IT systems failing patients, says expert

CONCERN at the use of Cerner's FirstNet software in NSW hospital emergency departments has been escalated by Sydney University e-health expert Jon Patrick.

"All the evidence shows this clinical information system wastes staff time and increases risks to patient safety," he says in an updated report on FirstNet.

"I can't spot any point in the workflow where there's not some fault in the system, or disruption to the way ED doctors work.

"The relevant question now is whether the FirstNet system is safe enough for use."

-----

http://www.healthintersections.com.au/?p=58

Can we enforce Healthcare Interoperability standards by law?

Posted on by Grahame| Leave a comment

Professor Jon Patrick says:

“It’s not enough to say we’re providing standards, we’ve got to have laws that say you cannot place software in a health environment unless it meets standards,” he said. “Then we have to test the software against the standards.”

As a consultant who works with both standards and health software development, I’m naturally very much in agreement with Prof Patrick.

-----

http://www.medicalobserver.com.au/news/erecord-push-will-fail-without-incentives

E-record push will fail without incentives

19th Apr 2011

Mark O’Brien

GPs have warned the Federal Government its personally controlled e-health record (PCEHR) scheme could be undermined – and patients left out-of-pocket – if it refuses to pay GPs for creating and maintaining the new records system.

According to the draft blueprint released by Health Minister Nicola Roxon last week, the $467 million scheme will allow all patients to opt in to a PCEHR from July 2012.

A shared health summary containing relevant details of the patient’s medical history, such as allergies and medications, is to form a key part of the PCEHR, and patients will be able to nominate a healthcare provider to create and maintain this summary.

-----

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/health-science/digitising-data-is-not-the-point-personal-e-health-records-must-do-more-than-share-data-between-computers/story-e6frg8y6-1226042444309

Digitising data is not the point: personal e-health records must do more than share data between computers

THERE'S one key question about the $500 million being spent on Nicola Roxon's personally controlled e-health record system: will it computerise the sector, sweep paper records into the bin, connect doctors to each other and give real-time access to critical medical information?

It might, eventually, but e-health experts aren't holding their breath.

The long-awaited draft concept of operations for the system reveals a simple viewing platform containing some personal health data. It's not a blueprint for a system that will take information out of manila folders and put it into dynamic formats, ready for sharing and use in new ways.

"We're spending half a billion dollars on something that holds a copy of documents held in existing medical provider computer systems," says AushealthIT blogger David More. "This approach does not facilitate clinical decision support or the sophisticated intelligence and analytics tools which deliver most of the benefits from e-health records."

-----

http://www.medicalobserver.com.au/news/gps-axe-medicare-locals-to-free-up-health-funding

GPs: Axe Medicare Locals to free up health funding

19th Apr 2011

Byron Kaye

JUST weeks out from what is predicted to be a tight Budget, GPs have pointed the way for the Gillard Government to reach its all-important surplus: freeze the rollout of super clinics and scrap Medicare Locals altogether.

Winding back incentive payments for pharmacists to dispense generic drugs also rated a high mention in MO’s latest national poll of 150 GPs.

Asked where health spending should be cut in the May Budget, 77% of GPs nominated the super clinics program – now $630.4 million deep in promised Commonwealth funding.

-----

http://www.itwire.com/it-policy-news/government-tech-policy/46698-shining-a-light-in-victorias-major-it-projects-under-review

SHINING A LIGHT IN: Victoria’s major IT projects under review

IT Policy - Government Tech Policy

Several of Victoria’s major government watchdogs and the new Coalition government itself have taken the first steps in bringing the state’s trouble-plagued technology projects to heel, putting one flagship project on ice and scheduling others for a series of reviews that will govern their future.

Under the previous Labor government, which had held power from 1999 through to late 2010, a number of technology projects in the state had gone off the rails.

Perhaps the most high-profile of these has been the project to replace Victoria’s public transport ticketing system. Known as myki, the project was kicked off in 2002 and saw massive contracts awarded – including a $494 million deal with the Kamco Consortium in 2005. However, it gradually ran off the rails, with bugs plaguing the rollout and issues of probity being revealed in the contract process.

-----

http://www.6minutes.com.au/news/ama-attacks-ahpra-complacency

AMA attacks AHPRA complacency

The transition to national registration by AHPRA has been “an absolute debacle” the AMA claims.

In a submission (see link) to a Senate inquiry into problems with national registration, the AMA says the serious disruption cannot be passed off as ‘teething troubles’ and the AMA is worried that AHPRA now considers most problems ‘fixed’ when they clearly are not.

The AMA says patient care has been put at risk because of the disruptions, and yet AHPRA still does not have business protocols in place for the unique requirements of medical registration .

-----

http://www.smh.com.au/national/patients-lose-out-in-regulation-fiasco-20110420-1dozz.html

Patients lose out in regulation fiasco

Mark Metherell

April 21, 2011

MORE than 3500 doctors and other health practitioners have been temporarily deregistered, leaving patients without Medicare payments after what had been hailed a historic advance in national regulation.

The full scope of the administrative fiasco unleashed by the new Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency is unfolding in submissions to a Senate committee inquiring into the chaotic changeover from state-run to national registrations.

John Kolbe, the president of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians, said the changeover had prompted ''a number of incidents that are a cause for concern'' with specialist physicians reporting their registration had been cancelled without warning after they had failed to renew it.

-----

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/australian-it/eye-tracker-research-sharpens-tools-for-e-learning/story-e6frgakx-1226041188008

Eye tracker research sharpens tools for e-learning

AUSTRALIAN researchers will use eye tracker technology to measure nurses' responses and understanding of electrocardiographs and how people interpret X-rays.

Central Queensland University has set up a world-class eye tracking facility to undertake the projects and other e-learning research.

The facility was developed at the university's Learning and Teaching Education Research Centre at Noosa, on the Sunshine Coast.

The Swedish-designed eye tracker is used largely for commercial market research, but it is also valuable for measuring the effectiveness of educational materials, according to researchers.

-----

http://www.6minutes.com.au/news/pathologists-sign-up-for-e-health

Pathologists sign up for e-health

Pathologists have agreed to implement an electronic system to ensure GPs stop ordering unnecessary tests.

As part of a new five year funding agreement with the Federal government, the pathology industry has agreed to assist GPs “to better request pathology services” with a new Electronic Decision Support Tools, following concerns they are ordering too many tests.

Details of the program have not yet been finalised, but there are plans for doctors to have access to pathology services guidelines on their desktop to help them decide which tests to order.

-----

http://www.ehi.co.uk/news/primary-care/6814/pennine-care-ditches-lorenzo

Pennine Care ditches Lorenzo

15 April 2011 Jon Hoeksma

Pennine Care NHS Foundation Trust has withdrawn from taking the Lorenzo electronic patient record system from local service provider CSC.

The move casts fresh doubts about the future of the National Programme for IT in the NHS.

Pennine was meant to be the last of four ‘early adopter’ trusts taking Lorenzo from CSC; the LSP for the North, Midlands and East of England.

Installation at Pennine would enable CSC to belatedly meet contractual commitments and unlock milestone payments. Without Pennine, CSC would appear no longer able to fulfil these commitments.

-----

http://www.ehi.co.uk/news/industry/6809/csc-says-isoft-deal-not-just-about-nhs

CSC says iSoft deal not just about NHS

18 April 2011 Jon Hoeksma

CSC says that its planned acquisition of iSoft is not just to shore up its NHS contracts but is about the firm’s international ambitions in healthcare.

Andrew Spence, CSC’s director of healthcare strategic development, told eHealth Insider: “The UK is important and continues to have a pull, but there will not be another national programme in the UK - while it is quite likely that there will be similar programmes in many other countries.

“The UK is a really mature market for us; this deal is really about creating opportunities for us outside the UK. In areas like Europe, Latin America, the Middle East, Australia and even the US we can see fantastic opportunities.”

-----

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/opinion/angry-shareholders-question-lynas-over-forge-sublease-deal/story-e6frg9if-1226041214374

Cohen challenge

GARY Cohen, the founder and former executive chairman of the healthcare systems provider iSoft has questioned whether the proposed $180m takeover of the company by Computer Sciences Corporation of the US has been structured to provide a special benefit to a major iSoft shareholder. On April 2, iSoft announced a recommended cash offer of 17c a share from CSC. The acquisition would be by way of a scheme of arrangement and the parties have entered into a scheme implementation agreement (SIA).

ISoft directors said the proposal arose from a strategic review initiated by the directors aimed at maximising value for shareholders and to reduce group debt. Upon completion of the scheme CSC will repay iSoft's senior banking facilities and convertible notes in full.

Oceania Capital Partners (OCP), which owns 24.5 per cent of iSoft, announced that it supported the acquisition, subject to a superior proposal.

-----

http://www.ehi.co.uk/insight/insider-view/728/insider-view:-jon-hoeksma

Insider view: Jon Hoeksma

EHealth Insider’s editor says it’s time to be frank on where CSC is with Lorenzo; and the only way to do it is to have an independent review of progress to date.

21 April 2011

The news that Pennine Care NHS Foundation Trust has decided not to implement Lorenzo after two years of trying represents a watershed moment for the Department of Health.

It has repeatedly told CSC, the local service provider for the North, Midlands and East of England, that it must get the iSoft electronic patient record live and bedded down at four ‘early adopter’ trusts to retain its National Programme for IT in the NHS contract.

Pennine was the last of these early adopters, although it was the first mental health trust to take the system that is already live – if not exactly bedded down – at one primary care trust (Bury) and two acute trusts (University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay and Birmingham Women’s).

A letter from NHS chief information officer Christine Connelly to MP Richard Bacon indicates that the DH is now looking for another mental health trust willing to step into Pennine’s shoes. Yet rather than simply seeking to press on regardless, the Department should be asking some more fundamental questions.

-----

http://www.computerworld.com.au/article/383521/former_isoft_ceo_files_delay_sale/?eid=-255&uid=25465

Former iSOFT CEO files to delay sale

Gary Cohen, former CEO of health IT company iSOFT (ASX:ISF) has filed court proceedings that could hold up the planned sale of the company to CSC

Former iSOFT (ASX:ISF) chief executive, Gary Cohen, has initiated court proceedings that could delay the sale of the company, Oceania Capital (ASX:OCP).

Cohen family company RJL Investments has claimed in a filing that it is due four weeks' prior notice before Oceania subsidiary, Oceania Healthcare Technology Investments, sells around 15 per cent of its 24 per cent stake.

The delay could give Cohen time to secure a better offer than the $0.17 per share bid from US company CSC, which iSOFT has tentatively accepted.

-----

http://www.zdnet.com.au/isoft-ex-ceo-supported-csc-buy-investor-339313365.htm

iSoft ex-CEO supported CSC buy: investor

By Renai LeMay, ZDNet.com.au on April 18th, 2011

One of the key investors in troubled e-health software giant iSoft has claimed that the company's former executive chairman Gary Cohen was supportive of a buyout of the company by IT services giant CSC — despite the fact that Cohen last week filed legal proceedings in what appeared to be an attempt to block part of the acquisition.

CSC confirmed several weeks ago that it would attempt to buy troubled iSOFT in a move slated to finally give CSC full control over the company it has long partnered with in the UK Government's national health technology systems makeover. The move is also expected to bring long-awaited stability to iSoft, which has struggled financially in recent years.

However, Fairfax and News Ltd newspapers have reported that Cohen — who quietly resigned from executive duties at iSoft in August last year — was planning a counter-offer for iSoft.

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http://www.mja.com.au/public/issues/194_08_180411/han10307_fm.html

Viewpoint

Doctors breaching patient privacy: Orwell redux

David J Handelsman, Leo A Turner and Ann J Conway

MJA 2011; 194 (8): 403-404

Legislative changes made without public discussion allow disclosure without patient consent

Of all the ethical principles underlying medical practice, confidentiality is so fundamental that its breach is an illegal, high-order betrayal of responsibility. Disclosing personal medical information without consent profoundly violates the autonomy, beneficence and privacy that patients have always rightly expected.1 Although disclosure without consent has only rarely been necessitated by an urgent threat to life or health, two recent legal erosions of doctor–patient confidentiality illustrate how privacy-invading legislation can so easily and silently harm individuals who do not form sufficiently clamorous rights-demanding groups. In one, a state government directs that private medical records be lodged in an Orwellian sounding “Central Register” without regard for the individual’s knowledge, and risking privacy breaches by seeking consent for disclosure to third parties. The other permits disclosures of a patient’s medical information against their wishes even without any urgent threat to the life or health of another person. Both represent unreasonable intrusions on privacy and erosion of personal liberty.

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http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/opinion/nbn-sell-off-remains-an-option/story-e6frg9if-1226043497439

NBN sell-off remains an option

MANY citizens are dismayed by the federal government's failure to conduct a cost-benefit analysis on the expensive National Broadband Network.

As time goes by, the dismay of some may turn to reluctant resignation, but they shouldn't give up yet.

If the government runs full-term, the next federal election must be held by November 2013. The NBN would still largely be a pipedream then. NBN Co's corporate plan projects that construction won't be completed until December 2020. In mid-2013, only 15 per cent of premises will be able to access the NBN -- 11 per cent through fibre-to-the-premises. And only 5 per cent would actually be connected.

Fortunately, by that time, "only" $7 billion of NBN Co's $35.9bn total projected capital expenditure would have been spent.

-----

Enjoy!

David.

Monday, April 25, 2011

AusHealthIT Poll Number 67 – Results – 25 April, 2011.

The question was:

Do You Believe The NEHTA Board Understands What NEHTA is Doing and How Well It is Going?

The answers were as follows:

Perfectly

- 5 (13%)

Partly

- 3 (8%)

Not Really

- 7 (18%)

They Are Clueless

- 22 (59%)

Well that is seems pretty clear with 75% thinking the Board is pretty clueless about what is actually going on!

Votes : 37

Again, many thanks to those that voted!

David.

Friday, April 22, 2011

Weekend Off Alert

Just so you know the next post other than poll results will be late Tuesday April 26, 2011.

A short Easter break!

David.

Thursday, April 21, 2011

Weekly Overseas Health IT Links - 21 April, 2011.

Here are a few I have come across this week.

Note: Each link is followed by a title and a paragraph or two. For the full article click on the link above title of the article. Note also that full access to some links may require site registration or subscription payment.

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http://www.healthleadersmedia.com/content/PHY-264959/Physician-Engagement-Vital-to-EMR-Implementation

Physician Engagement Vital to EMR Implementation

Joe Cantlupe, for HealthLeaders Media , April 14, 2011

If the move toward electronic medical records were a race, the Valley Baptist Health System was ready to lap competitors several years ago. The system began looking into electronic medical records in 2008. James E. Eastham, president and CEO of the 800-bed hospital system in Harlingen, TX, was pretty excited about it then, remembering how everyone in the system was getting involved, and he saw physicians as part of the solution.

Within a short period of time, however, plans came to a sudden and costly halt. Physician "resistance" was part of the problem, Eastham recalls.

"We were excited about going to the EMR and spent a lot of time and resources and a lot of money. We wanted to be early adopters," Eastham says, recalling what turned out to be a humbling EMR transition, which is always a good lesson to everyone, physicians included.

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http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=IP/11/461&format=HTML&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=en

Brussels, 12 April 2011

Digital Agenda: Commission seeks views on improving healthcare by applying ICT (eHealth)

The European Commission is seeking citizens' and other interested parties' views on how the EU can help to deliver widespread benefits to the quality and efficiency of healthcare by applying information and communication technologies (ICT) (so-called 'eHealth'). ICT is already playing a central role in addressing the numerous challenges faced by healthcare systems across the EU including an ageing population, a rise in chronic diseases, budget cuts and a shortage of healthcare workers by for example allowing remote diagnosis, remote monitoring of patients' condition and secure sharing of patient records between healthcare professionals. However, there is considerable potential to develop eHealth much further in the future. eHealth can also make an important contribution to allowing people, especially older people, to enjoy more dignified and independent lives.

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http://www.healthdatamanagement.com/news/onc-hit-training-workforce-shortage-community-college-university-hitech-42323-1.html

ONC Program Yields 2,000+ HIT Workers

HDM Breaking News, April 15, 2011

A federal program to boost the number of health I.T. workers will graduate 2,280 workers this month, a total the Office of the National Coordinator expects to rise to 3,000 by the end of summer.

The Community College Consortia to Educate Health IT Professionals program is part of an array of efforts by ONC to address the HIT workforce shortage. The government estimates 50,000 more workers are needed industrywide to keep up with increasing I.T. demands. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act appropriated to ONC $2 billion in discretionary funds for health I.T. programs, including funding to address the worker shortfall.

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ONC Employs Social Media For Input On Strategy

The Federal Health IT Strategic Plan proposed revisions are available for public comment on the Health IT Buzz blog maintained by the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology.

By Neil Versel, InformationWeek

April 12, 2011

URL: http://www.informationweek.com/news/healthcare/policy/229401381

The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) last week said it's accepting comments on proposed revisions to the Federal Health IT Strategic Plan through April 22 via its "Health IT Buzz" blog. This experiment in social media means that all comments are publicly viewable right on the blog page.

The 80-page proposal is the first update to the strategic plan since 2008 and spells out ONC's strategy for meeting national health IT goals from 2011 through 2015.

The revision, required by the HITECH section of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, considers "the rapidly changing landscape of health IT and health IT policy that has been drastically altered over the past years by two major pieces of legislation that have established an agenda and committed significant resources to health IT-the HITECH Act and the Affordable Care Act," recently departed national health IT coordinator Dr. David Blumenthal wrote in a March 25 blog post at "Health IT Buzz."

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http://blogs.wsj.com/health/2011/04/13/athenahealths-bush-on-the-electronic-medical-record-burn-unit/

  • April 13, 2011, 4:28 PM ET

Athenahealth’s Bush on the Electronic Medical Record ‘Burn Unit’

Plenty of medical practices spent a lot of time and money to put in place electronic-medical record systems only to find that physicians find them so cumbersome to use that they, well, don’t.

So many, in fact, that Athenahealth has created a group called a “burn unit” to handle these physician practices that have been “burned” by the old systems and are looking for a new solution, the company’s chairman and CEO, Jonathan Bush, told us on a visit to Health Blog HQ.

About 35% of Athenahealth’s new EMR business comes from medical groups that have already tried one of the traditional software systems and aren’t happy with it. In many cases they’re large, hospital-owned physician groups that have either bought the systems themselves, or are unsuccessfully trying to roll out the system used by the hospital.

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http://www.fierceemr.com/story/ehr-alerts-dont-improve-abnormal-test-result-follow-rates/2011-04-14

EHR alerts don't improve abnormal test result follow up rates

April 14, 2011 — 2:24pm ET | By Janice Simmons

Alerting healthcare providers about abnormal test results through electronic health records (EHRs) may not always lead to timely follow-up of patients, researchers report in the latest issue of BMC Medical Informatics and Decision Making.

The researchers conducted a study consisting of six focus groups (with six to eight members) at two large Veterans Affairs facilities. Participants included full-time primary care providers, along with personnel representing diagnostic (radiology, laboratory) and information technology services.

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http://www.fierceemr.com/story/should-ehrs-be-regulated-medical-devices/2011-04-14

Should EHRs be regulated like medical devices?

April 14, 2011 — 4:32pm ET | By Janice Simmons

Will the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) decide to regulate electronic health records (EHRs) as medical devices--or will it decline? That's an interesting question that came up this past week at the first annual PharmEHR Summit in Philadelphia.

Jeffrey Shuren, MD, JD, the director of the FDA's Center for Devices and Radiological Health, told the audience that the FDA may reconsider its earlier hands-off approach toward EHRs. Or again, maybe it won't, he said. But either way, the issue remains "a political hot potato."

The EHR concerns are not new. Last year, for instance, the FDA's voluntary notification system logged in over a two-year period a total of 260 related reports of "malfunctions with the potential for patient harm," which resulted in 44 injuries and six deaths. Among the problems encountered were mixing up patients, putting test results in the wrong person's file, or losing critical medical information.

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http://www.healthleadersmedia.com/content/TEC-264937/CHIME-CIOs-Hopes-Sag-for-EHR-Early-Funding

CHIME: CIOs' Hopes Sag for EHR Early Funding

John Commins, for HealthLeaders Media , April 14, 2011

Healthcare CIOs remain optimistic about getting federal EHR stimulus funding, but a growing number acknowledge that federal reimbursement will come later than they'd originally predicted, a quarterly survey by the College of Health Information Management Executives shows.

One-third of the 200 CHIME members who responded to the March survey said they expect to qualify for stimulus funding under the HITECH portion of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act within the first year of the program, which began on Sept. 30, 2010.

The survey, however, shows fewer CHIME members believe they will qualify for funding within the first six months of the federal program. Only 7.5% of respondents said they expected to qualify for funding by April 1, 2011, compared with 15% of respondents to the same question in November 2010, and 28% of CIOs who responded to the first CHIME survey in August 2010.

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http://www.healthdatamanagement.com/news/meaningful-use-ehr-incentives-cio-survey-chime-42318-1.html

CIOs Expect to Make it Through Stage 1 MU, but it's Tough Going

HDM Breaking News, April 14, 2011

Just over 90 percent of 200 provider organization CIOs responding to a survey conducted in March expect their organization to qualify for Stage 1 meaningful use incentive payments, although many won't meet the goal until late in fiscal year 2012 and 2013. (The Stage 1 MU attestation process opens Monday, April 18. On April 20, HDM will host a Web seminar about the process. For more info, click here).

The 90 percent rate is consistent with previous quarterly surveys from the College of Healthcare Information Management Executives, although the new survey indicates that reaching meaningful use is tougher than many CIOs previously thought.

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http://www.fiercehealthcare.com/story/hhs-too-reliant-it-fight-medicare-fraud/2011-04-14

HHS too reliant on IT to fight Medicare fraud

April 14, 2011 — 11:48am ET | By Sara Jackson

HHS program integrity director Peter Budetti is a man excited about the possibilities of anti-fraud software, data mining/screening and analytics, according to a lengthy feature on healthcare fraud in Reuters yesterday. He says they'll not only catch con artists, but also prevent fraudulent payments from even being made.

"We will be able to run every (billing) claim through advanced technology screening by the middle of next year. Every claim will be subjected to a wide range of analytics all of the time and it will be a system that learns on top of itself," Budetti tells the news site. The department is working on risk-screening for new Medicare suppliers, the ability to automatically stop payments to suspected crooks and software to sniff for patterns of fraud.

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Consumers Slow To Adopt Electronic Personal Health Records

Some patients are still concerned about online security, while healthy consumers seem indifferent to the benefits of PHRs, according to a study by IDC Health Insights.

By Nicole Lewis, InformationWeek

April 08, 2011

URL: http://www.informationweek.com/news/healthcare/EMR/229401249

Consumers have been slow to adopt personal health records (PHR), a Web-based tool designed to encourage consumers to engage in their healthcare by tracking and aggregating their health information online, according to a study from IDC Health Insights. The findings come at a time when other technologies such as electronic health records, mobile health devices, e-prescriptions, and other technologies are seeing accelerated rates of adoption as healthcare delivery organizations implement systems to manage patient data.

The report – "Vendor Assessment: When Will PHR Platforms Gain Consumer Acceptance?" -- was based on an online survey of 1,200 consumers between February 18 and February 23, to gauge their interest in PHRs and to compare the numbers with a similar report conducted in 2006.

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http://healthcare-informatics.com/ME2/dirmod.asp?sid=&nm=&type=Publishing&mod=Publications%3A%3AArticle&mid=8F3A7027421841978F18BE895F87F791&tier=4&id=611B2533503749379725490812695CE6

Report from PharmEHR Summit: Will FDA Regulate EHRs?

Agency weighs device interoperability, safety issues as it updates software rules, exec says

By David Raths As the U.S. Food and Drug Administration updates its rules regarding software, will it choose to regulate electronic health records as medical devices?

Speaking at the first annual PharmEHR Summit in Philadelphia on April 7, Jeffrey Shuren, M.D., J.D., director of the Center for Devices and Radiological Health at the FDA, said his agency could change its traditional hands-off approach to EHRs, but he acknowledged that the potential of FDA regulation raises serious clinical issues and is a “political hot potato.” “As of right now we’re not regulating EHRs, and it may turn out that we won’t,” he said.

The FDA will issue new rules about software either later in 2011 or in 2012, Shuren said, adding that the agency already regulates certain types of software and is also developing rules for the development of medical mobile apps. FDA regulation could mean that EHR vendors would face review of their manufacturing processes and design controls, as well as FDA testing to show a system does what it claims to do.

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http://www.ehi.co.uk/news/acute-care/6801/hospital-it-cuts-and-job-losses-revealed

Hospital IT cuts and job losses revealed

13 April 2011 Lyn Whitfield

The scale of cuts and job losses being demanded by acute trusts is revealed in an eHealth Insider survey, published today.

Just over a third of respondents said their trusts were looking to make savings of more than 20% of their total budget, with another four out of ten saying trusts were looking for cuts of more than 10%.

The survey shows that the cuts are feeding through into job losses, a preoccupation with balancing the books, and reduced investment in IT.

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http://www.ehi.co.uk/news/acute-care/6803/cuts-hit-it-investment-ehi-survey-shows

Cuts hit IT investment, EHI survey shows

14 April 2011 EHI staff

NHS trusts are looking to “sweat” their current IT systems instead of invest “in new toys” as they struggle with efficiency saving demands.

An exclusive eHealth Insider survey, more details of which are published today, shows that board level and senior IT managers are expecting to see their budgets cut significantly over the coming year, and to have to make significant job losses.

It also suggests that their focus is on “keeping existing systems up and running” or on delivering basic infrastructure upgrades, rather than on major investments.

However, a quarter of those who responded said their trusts were planning to deliver a major patient administration system or electronic patient record upgrade.

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http://www.technologyreview.com/computing/37373/?nlid=4345&a=f

Watson Goes to Work in the Hospital

Technology developed for the Jeopardy champ is being used to identify when babies are acquiring an infection.

Designed to answer Jeopardy questions, IBM's Watson is of little use beyond the game show's set. But some of the techniques that helped the computer defeat two human Jeopardy champions in February are showing promise in a new context: the hospital. Researchers in Canada are using analytics like that which helped the computer decipher the language of clues to provide an early warning when babies in an intensive care unit acquire a hospital-borne infection.

As you would expect, babies in an ICU are surrounded by equipment that tracks their vital signs, but much of that data is wasted, says Carolyn McGregor, a researcher at the University of Ontario Institute of Technology. "They produce constant streams of data," she says, "but that information is often distilled down to a [nurse's] spot reading every 60 minutes, written on paper."

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http://www.modernhealthcare.com/article/20110412/NEWS/304129989/

Mobile app for melanoma detection wins VA, WWHI tech challenge

By Joseph Conn

Posted: April 12, 2011 - 11:30 am ET

Programmer, Vietnam War veteran and information technology entrepreneur Steven Palmer is the winner of a $10,000 prize funded by the West Wireless Health Institute in conjunction with the Veterans Affairs Department for developing a mobile-phone application to help patients with the early detection of melanoma, the institute has announced.

Palmer, a melanoma survivor who has a doctoral degree in science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, worked to develop the application with Dr. Martin Weinstock, a professor of dermatology and community health at the Alpert Medical School, Brown University, and chief of dermatology for the VA Medical Center in Providence, R.I. Palmer founded Alternate Universe Technologies in Providence to market his smart-phone applications.

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http://www.healthdatamanagement.com/blogs/blumenthal-onc-blog-hitech-office-of-the-national-coordinator-42303-1.html

Goodbye Dr. Blumenthal, and Thank You

Joseph Goedert

Health Data Management Blogs, April 11, 2011

David Blumenthal, M.D., has left government service to return to Harvard, having spent a whirlwind two years as national coordinator for health information technology. I have mixed feelings about his performance, but that doesn't temper the respect I have for the overall job he did.

On the negative side, he wasn't particularly media-friendly. When we talked it wasn't for long and he stuck to the script as much as possible. He never fixed the glaring lack of representation of physician practices and community hospitals on the HIT Policy and Standards advisory committees, which have considerable influence over the meaningful use rules and design of the emerging nationwide health information network.

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http://www.healthdatamanagement.com/news/budget-resolution-hitech-congress-42308-1.html

Budget Deal Appears to Spare HITECH

HDM Breaking News, April 12, 2011

An extensive search of the 459-page Continuing Resolution that cuts more than $38 billion from the federal government's fiscal 2011 finds no reductions in health information technology programs funded under the HITECH Act.

However, officials of the House Appropriations Committee and the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology did not quickly return e-mails asking whether any HITECH funds were eliminated.

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http://www.healthleadersmedia.com/content/TEC-264831/More-Study-Needed-Prove-Telehealths-Worth.html

More Study Needed Prove Telehealth's Worth

Gienna Shaw, for HealthLeaders Media , April 12, 2011

The field of telehealth is still emerging, and while there's anecdotal evidence of its benefits to care, there haven't been a lot of long-term studies to quantify it. That hasn't stopped organizations from pursuing the model. In the 2011 HealthLeaders Media Industry Survey of technology leaders, 46% of respondents said they have one or more telemedicine programs in place. Another 41% say they'll have one in place in one to five years.

What's driving the technology? The shortage of intensivists, specialists, and physicians willing to take call, for starters. Remote access brings doctors to patients regardless of where they happen to be. Another factor is that the technology itself is advancing so fast.

Remote units have high-definition displays, the ability to zoom right in and take high-resolution photos and high-quality videos, and digital stethoscopes that let docs listen just as well as—or even better than—they can in person.

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http://www.ehi.co.uk/insight/analysis/724/expert-view:-tim-benson

Expert view: Tim Benson

The director of Abies outlines the role of the XDS suite of standards in sharing patients data in the new NHS, ahead of giving an expert seminar at Primary Health Info 2011.

12 April 2011

Every patient has his or her own unique combination of conditions, treatments, needs and values. These need to be treated holistically throughout their complex, unpredictable and life-long journey between many health care providers and clinicians.

But care providers and clinicians all have their own specialist skills, knowledge, ways of working and IT systems. As a result, the patient’s medical record is fragmented, making and it hard for anyone to grasp the whole picture, leading to unnecessary errors, duplication and waste.

The vision of the white paper, ‘Equity and excellence: Liberating the NHS’ is of patient-centric electronic patient records (EPRs) to solve this problem. It wants to place the patient, not the care provider organisation, at the centre of the information system.

This is a radical departure because NHS IT systems were originally developed in a provider-centric context, to solve problems within each separate organisation. Tracking patient records across multiple organisational boundaries is the most difficult type of many-to-many interoperability problem.

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http://www.healthleadersmedia.com/content/TEC-264723/ONC-Names-Mostashari-National-Coordinator-for-HIT

ONC Names Mostashari National Coordinator for HIT

John Commins, for HealthLeaders Media , April 8, 2011

Farzad Mostashari, MD, has been named National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, effective immediately. He replaces David Blumenthal, MD, who is returning to Harvard University after leading Office for the past two years, the Department of Health and Human Services announced.

Mostashari joined the Office of the National Coordinator in July 2009, serving as deputy national coordinator for the office, which is within the Department of Health and Human Services, said ONC in a media release.

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http://www.govhealthit.com/news/mostashari-recent-comments-offer-snapshot-onc-leadership

Mostashari recent comments offer snapshot of ONC leadership

April 08, 2011 | Mary Mosquera

Dr. Farzad Mostashari, the newly minted national health IT coordinator, recently offered a snapshot of the near-term direction for the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT as he saw it, steady on the current path but aware that "nothing stays still, and certainly not in health IT."

As Mostashari takes leadership, ONC is preparing to develop three proposed rules by the end of the year for stage 2 of meaningful use and the accompanying standards and certification criteria for electronic health records (EHRs). ONC will also propose a governance rule to support the expansion of the nationwide health information network (NHIN) to promote sharing of patient data.

ONC is coordinating with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to develop the regulations for the meaningful use of certified EHRs that healthcare providers must fulfill to qualify for Medicare and Medicaid incentive payments.

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http://www.ihealthbeat.org/features/2011/pick-for-new-health-it-chief-lauded-by-industry-challenges-lie-ahead.aspx

Thursday, April 14, 2011

Pick for New Health IT Chief Lauded by Industry; Challenges Lie Ahead

When David Blumenthal announced plans to step down as national coordinator for health IT this spring, some health care stakeholders raised concerns that his departure could slow the momentum of key federal health IT initiatives.

Blumenthal -- who became the country's health IT chief in March 2009 -- had always planned to leave the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT to return to an academic post at Harvard University. So while his announcement was not unexpected, it came at a critical time in federal health IT efforts. Stage 1 of the meaningful use incentive program now is under way, and policymakers are hard at work finalizing criteria for Stage 2 of the program.

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http://www.fiercehealthit.com/story/despite-information-exchange-plans-all-healthcare-ultimately-local/2011-04-10

Despite information exchange plans, healthcare ultimately is local

April 10, 2011 — 5:44pm ET | By Ken Terry

The truism "all healthcare is local" seems to have been forgotten in the ambitious plans to hook up far-flung healthcare providers and create a national health data exchange. That was one of the thoughts I had back in 2004, when the Bush Administration called for the creation of a National Health Information Network (NHIN) before most doctors and hospitals even had electronic health records. The same thought occurred to me again last week, when five big healthcare providers established a Care Connectivity Consortium to allow the interchange of patient data.

The five CCC founders--Geisinger Health System, Group Health Cooperative (GHC), Intermountain Healthcare, Kaiser Permanente, and the Mayo Clinic--all reside in different parts of the country. (The only area of overlap is in Washington State, where Kaiser and GHC operate in different markets.) The chance that any of their patients will need care in one of the other systems is fairly small, so the interoperability they're going to demonstrate doesn't seem to serve a purpose, other than to accelerate the formation of the NHIN.

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http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/ct-biz-0412-medical-records-side-20110411,0,2302931.story

Medical privacy, access to records often at odds

Steps to prevent breaches can make it harder for doctors, hospitals to share data

In a world of paper records, consumers have long been vulnerable to someone's snooping around an unattended file drawer. Such thefts were rare but could be pulled off without detection.

In an electronic world, someone pulling a similar trick likely would get caught. Systems log who gains access to a record.

But such thefts could happen more easily on a grand scale. Instead of walking away with a backpack of records, it becomes possible to take off with virtual truckloads.

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http://www.modernhealthcare.com/article/20110411/NEWS/304119989/

ONC community-college program sees first graduating class

By Maureen McKinney

Posted: April 11, 2011 - 11:00 am ET

More than 3,000 health information technology professionals will graduate this month from 82 community-college programs funded by HHS' Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology.

This first wave of graduates, composed mainly of mid-career professionals, will be "equipped to facilitate the implementation of electronic health records, ideally in rural healthcare settings, where implementing EHRs is particularly problematic, largely due to a lack of expertise and a limited pool of HIT trained professionals," according to an ONC announcement.

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http://healthcareitnews.com/news/cisco-survey-finds-global-support-telehealth

Cisco survey finds global support for telehealth

April 07, 2011 | Eric Wicklund, Contributing Editor

WASHINGTON – At a time when patient-centered healthcare seems all the rage, a survey of top healthcare leaders around the world indicates they’re most concerned with implementing technology that allows doctors to communicate with each other.

Cisco’s Internet Business Solutions Group received responses from 96 leaders in 16 countries for its Global Health Leaders Survey. The results were released Wednesday in Washington, D.C., as part of the World Health Congress keynote presentation and a panel discussion titled Ministerial Forum on Global Health Innovation: A Perspective on National Health Opportunities.

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http://consumer.healthday.com/Article.asp?AID=651693

Scientists Use Computer to 'Read' Human Thoughts

Technology could help disabled patients relate to world around them, findings suggest

By Amanda Gardner

HealthDay Reporter

THURSDAY, April 7 (HealthDay News) -- After hooking up a computer to human brains, scientists were able to program the computer to "read" the thoughts of disabled patients, thereby enabling them to control the cursor on the screen.

The researchers are hoping the breakthrough will one day lead to ways to help disabled patients connect better with the world around them.

"We have been fundamentally interested in creating a brain-computer interface that could help people with severe disabilities interact with the world," said Dr. Eric C. Leuthardt, lead author of a paper describing the findings in the April 7 issue of the Journal of Neural Engineering.

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http://www.lfpress.com/news/london/2011/04/10/17943261.html

Liberals quietly push hospital secrecy bill

Last Updated: April 11, 2011 8:42am

After its $1-billion e-health scandal, Ontario vowed to allow greater access to hospital records to improve public transparency.

But the ruling Liberals are now backing off that pledge before legislation that was to take effect in 2012.

Midway through the province’s recent 328-page budget, a single line pointed to a change that nurses and a patient advocate say would cripple any move toward greater accountability.

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Enjoy!

David.