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 payment.
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Many Health Professionals Buying iPad, But its Effect on Healthcare Still in Question
Cheryl Clark, for HealthLeaders Media, April 5, 2010
By random and unscientific measure, about one in 10 people in line to buy an iPad at a San Diego Apple Store Saturday were health providers hoping to use it for patient care.
Kevin Kaloha, an intern at nearby UCSD School of Medicine, said he was in line on orders from his Radiology Department chiefs. "They told me to come down here and buy one," he said. "I think they want to test it and try it out to see how we can use it for imaging."
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'Alarm fatigue' death shines light on national safety issue
April 6, 2010 — 1:03pm ET | By Debra Beaulieu
According to patient safety experts, the recently released report of the death of a heart patient at Boston's Massachusetts General Hospital in January shines a light on a national problem known as "alarm fatigue." Although intended to enhance patient safety, the typical cacophony of beeps and buzzes linked to patient monitoring devices in hospitals can lead healthcare workers to ultimately tune the noise out or even off, both of which investigators say occurred in the MGH case, reports the Boston Globe.
According to the report, 10 nurses could not recall hearing the beeps at the central nurses' station or seeing scrolling tickertape messages on three hallway signs that would have warned them as a patient's heart rate fell and finally stopped over a 20-minute span, reports the Globe. A separate bedside monitor was also turned off inadvertently.
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http://www.ehiprimarycare.com/news/5799/gps%27_future_should_include_it_incentives
GPs' future should include IT incentives
06 Apr 2010
GP practices should be offered financial incentives to support data quality and to move to paperless practices, according to GP representatives.
The BMA’s General Practitioner Committee has published a 50 point plan for the future of general practice in the UK, which includes recommendations on a series of areas including IT, the Quality and Outcomes Framework and out-of-hours care.
'Fit for the future – the evolution of general practice' says the further development of GP IT will require continual improvement in data quality and progress towards paperless practices. It calls for financial incentives to support that move.
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http://www.ehiprimarycare.com/news/5792/experts_fear_punch_and_judy_election
Experts fear Punch and Judy election
01 Apr 2010
Policy and healthcare IT experts have urged an incoming government to resist the temptation to shake up the NHS and radically reorganise its IT.
Asked to put forward manifesto ideas for the general election that is likely to be called after the Easter break, commentators from think tanks, analysts and the health service needed structural stability to cope with the quality and efficiency demands being made on it.
They also said the working parts of the National Programme for IT in the NHS should be retained, although trusts should be given more responsibility for their IT systems, working within a national framework of standards.
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http://www.who.int/goe/ehir/2010/6_april_2010/en/index.html
6 April 2010
eHealth Worldwide
:: Kenya - Kenya’s e-health potential remains untapped (24 March 2010 - All Voices)
As services assume electronic status, many sectors are coming up with innovative Information Technology (IT) solutions which make it easier to deliver cost effective services. Among the lucrative yet unexploited sectors is e-health. E-health refers to health services and information delivered or enhanced through the Internet and related technologies.
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http://www.e-health-insider.com/news/5807/london_it_programme_slashed
London IT Programme slashed
07 Apr 2010
NHS trusts in London have been told they will get a dramatically scaled back programme of IT modernisation following the new contract signed with BT last week.
The new deal with the local service provider cuts £112m - or about 10% of the value of the original £1.1 billion contract – from the deal signed in 2003.
Yet in return for paying a bit less, the NHS will get far less delivered. Most strikingly, many fewer acute trusts will now get Cerner Millennium, and fewer community trusts will get RiO.
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http://www.healthcareitnews.com/blog/preparing-professionals-nationwide-health-care-transformation
Preparing Professionals for a Nationwide Health Care Transformation
A Message from Dr. David Blumenthal, National Coordinator for Health Information Technology
April 7, 2010
I know that health care providers are concerned about implementing new health information technology and finding professionals who can operate and maintain such systems. I know many clinicians are unsure how they will develop or strengthen their skill set to incorporate using health IT efficiently and effectively without jeopardizing their communication with patients during a clinical visit. It seems like a daunting transformation to clinicians themselves and, indeed, for our health care system overall. The HITECH Act recognized that the success of this health IT journey depends on people: people who are passionate about improving patient care, and who are supported in making those improvements.
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Department of Veterans Affairs spends big on Health IT, sees big return
April 7, 2010 — 1:46pm ET | By Dan Bowman
Health information technology adoption ultimately can lead to better quality care and cost savings, if new research at the Department of Veterans Affairs is any indication. Investments in the Veterans Health Information Systems and Technology Architecture (VistA) between 2001 and 2007 led to fewer unnecessary or redundant tests and better quality care, which added up to $3.09 billion in overall net benefits after investment costs, according to a study recently published in the medical journal Health Affairs.
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http://www.kaiserhealthnews.org/Stories/2010/April/07/veterans-admin-electronic-health-record.aspx
Savings From Computerizing Medical Records Are Hard To Measure
Apr 07, 2010
This story also appeared on NPR's health blog, Shots
When it comes to health policy, few ideas find as much bipartisan support as the notion that widespread adoption of health information technology could improve medical care and save money. But putting a realistic number on those savings remains an elusive goal for health IT advocates.
A study published yesterday in the journal Health Affairs takes another step towards putting a dollar value on those savings. The Department of Veterans Affairs may have saved up to $3.1 billion between 1997 and 2007, the researchers report, but that finding is laden with caveats.
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Paving the Path to Progress with a Roadmap for Health IT
A Message from Dr. David Blumenthal, National Coordinator for Health Information Technology
April 5, 2010
The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) is responsible for putting forward a vision for nationwide, interoperable health IT. Our work requires that we also support the creation of a learning health system that is patient-centered and uses information to continuously improve health and health care of individuals and the population. We have begun to get input for a detailed roadmap outlining goals, principles, objectives, strategies, and tactics toward this effort. This roadmap will pave the way to our vision and help keep us accountable.
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http://govhealthit.com/newsitem.aspx?nid=73466
HIT panel wants certification labeling for EHRs
By Mary Mosquera
Tuesday, April 06, 2010
The federal Health IT Policy Committee recommended health IT vendors use labels to clarify that their products are certified to satisfy first-stage requirements for meaningful use in order to ward off potential confusion among buyers about whether systems they are considering will qualify them for the incentive program.
The labeling scheme was one of the suggestions made by the committee to the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT, which has asked for comments about its plan to offer “temporary” certification of health IT products and systems.
The temporary certification program is designed to qualify health IT systems for first stage of the meaningful use plan, which begins next year. A permanent plan will be developed to certify health IT products for future phases of meaningful use.
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http://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/va-hospitals-use-video-games-rehab-vets-brain-injuries
VA hospitals use video games to rehab vets with brain injuries
April 05, 2010 | Mike Miliard, Managing Editor
TEMPE, AZ – Kinetic Muscles, Inc. (KMI), a provider of neurorehabilitation technology for stroke and cerebral palsy patients, has received a two-year Phase II Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant to study a new treatment for military veterans returning from war with traumatic brain injury (TBI).
The announcement follows the promising results of Phase I of study, which combined neuropsychological therapy and digital gaming technology. This led the Department of Defense to fund Phase II, which will validate effectiveness of the therapy system through clinical testing in VA hospitals.
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http://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/study-it-doesnt-boost-docs-knowledge-rx
Study: IT doesn't boost docs' knowledge of Rx
April 05, 2010 | Molly Merrill, Associate Editor
HONOLULU – Despite high rates of health IT use, few Hawaii physicians are aware of the cost of medications they prescribe, and this impedes their ability to consider drug affordability for their patients, according to a new study.
The study, which was led by Chien-Wen Tseng, MD, associate professor at UH Mānoa's John A. Burns School of Medicine, surveyed 247 primary care physicians in Hawai'i in 2007 to find out how often they knew patients' out-of-pocket costs for medications when they wrote prescriptions.
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http://www.ehealtheurope.net/news/5804/just_752_patients_view_their_scr_online
Just 752 patients view their SCR online
07 Apr 2010
Just 752 patients out of the more than 1.2m who have a Summary Care Record have opted to view their SCR on HealthSpace.
The tiny number of patients accessing their record on NHS Connecting for Health's portal, which was launched three years ago, is equivalent to less than 0.062% of patients with an SCR.
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Thursday, April 08, 2010
Long-Awaited DEA Rule on Controlled Substances Could Boost E-Rx Rates
Last week, the Drug Enforcement Agency took a major step in alleviating what many see as a significant barrier to electronic prescribing adoption.
In some ways, the federal government has been sending health care providers contradictory messages when it comes to e-prescribing.
CMS has said e-prescribing can help prevent medication errors and adverse events, as well as reduce prescription drug costs. The Medicare Improvements for Patients and Providers Act of 2008 provides physicians who e-prescribe with a 2% increase in their Medicare payments in 2009 and 2010, a 1% increase in 2011 and 2012, and a 0.5% increase in 2013. Beginning in 2012, health care providers who do not e-prescribe will face penalties.
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http://www.modernhealthcare.com/article/20100408/NEWS/304089993
Ambulatory EHR buying a ‘roller coaster ride': study
By Joseph Conn / HITS staff writer
Posted: April 8, 2010 - 11:00 am ET
Health information technology market researcher KLAS Enterprises has a new report out that says both office-based providers who use electronic health-record systems and the software developers that hawk ambulatory EHRs are both in for a wild ride this year.
The title of the Orem, Utah-based firm's 236-page report on the EHR market released this week reflects what's in store for both: Ambulatory EMR Buying: A Roller Coaster Ride in 2010. According to KLAS, it was based on interviews with more than 370 providers who plan to choose an EHR in the next two years.
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http://www.modernhealthcare.com/article/20100408/NEWS/304089995
Friedman discusses potential of SHARP research
By Joseph Conn / HITS staff writer
Posted: April 8, 2010 - 11:00 am ET
In just a couple of years, the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology at HHS will be looking for tangible results from the $60 million in public investment that the ONC has made in the Strategic Health IT Advanced Research Projects.
Charles Friedman, chief scientific officer at the ONC, also expects the unanticipated will emerge from the research and development program, called SHARP for short.
“You never know what's going to result from what you fund directly, but I can tell you now, the synergies have an enormous chance of paying dividends above and beyond the funding of these groups,” Friedman said. “The coalitions that are being formed through SHARP will yield these benefits beyond even the work being funded.”
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AHRQ Provides Guidance on Collecting Quality, Patient Safety Information
Heather Comak, for HealthLeaders Media, April 7, 2010
The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) has released Common Formats Version 1.1, including technical specifications, which will help hospitals further standardize the collection and reporting of data related to patient safety events.
Patient safety events include unsafe conditions, near misses, and incidents of harm. The technical specifications included in this release will help software developers assist hospitals in reporting this type of data electronically, said the AHRQ.
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http://www.newvision.co.ug/D/8/12/715642
Govt unveils national identity card
Thursday, 8th April, 2010
By Barbara Among
THE German firm, Mühlbauer Technology Group, yesterday unveiled the new national identity card at Hotel Africana in Kampala.
The ID card will be made of polycarbonate (plastic) material. It will have as visible features a picture of the card holder, a signature, date of birth, sex, card number, date of expiry, a thumb print and the national flag with the map of Uganda.
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http://www.economist.com/business-finance/PrinterFriendly.cfm?story_id=15868133
When your carpet calls your doctor
Apr 8th 2010 | NEW YORK
From The Economist print edition
The coming convergence of wireless communications, social networking and medicine will transform health care
IS IT possible that amid all the hoopla about Apple’s iPad, one potential use has been overlooked? Larry Nathanson, head of emergency-medicine “informatics” at one of Harvard Medical School’s hospitals, has experimented with using the device in the casualty ward. He writes that “initial tests with our clinical applications went amazingly well…the EKGs look better onscreen than on paper. It was great having all of the clinical information right at the bedside to discuss with the patient.”
Dr Nathanson’s enthusiasm hints at the potential of wireless gadgets to improve health care, and to ensure more personalised treatment in particular. Pundits have long predicted that advances in genetics will usher in a golden age of individually tailored therapies. But in fact it is much lower-tech wireless devices and internet-based health software that are precipitating the mass customisation of health care, and creating entirely new business models in the process.
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VA Health IT Generates $3 Billion Savings
Over a 10-year period, the VA lowered costs while improving healthcare quality because of its health IT investments, says a research group..
By Nicole Lewis, InformationWeek
April 8, 2010
URL: http://www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=224202277
During the decade 1997 to 2007, the Department of Veterans Affairs spent $4 billion on health IT investments and saved more than $7 billion over the same period, a new study finds.
The study reported that the VA's use of technology lowered costs by a net of $3.09 billion, while improving quality, safety, and patient satisfaction. It was conducted by members of the Center for Information Technology Leadership, a Charlestown, Mass. academic research organization that assesses the impact of health information technologies.
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http://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/emrs-double-edged-sword-doc-patient-communication
EMRs a 'double-edged sword' for doc, patient communication
April 08, 2010 | Molly Merrill, Associate Editor
WASHINGTON – Policies promoting electronic medical record adoption should include communication-skills training for clinicians and those using the technology, according to a new study.
The study found that while EMRs assist physicians in real-time communication with patients during office visits, they can also be a distraction and take away from visits.
The study was conducted by the Center for Studying Health System Change, a nonpartisan policy research organization (HSC), and was supported by the Commonwealth Fund.
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http://health-care-it.advanceweb.com/editorial/content/editorial.aspx?cc=218997
Self-service technology can cut costs and increase efficiency as well as improve patient care.
By Raj Toleti
Until now, implementations of self-service technology in the health care setting have primarily been driven by operational and financial objectives. And while the cost savings and increased efficiencies that self-service provides are significant, check-in kiosks and patient portals provide a number of clinical benefits as well. More specifically, these tools empower patients and equip physicians with the information needed to address gaps in care, when leveraged in combination with targeted applications such as prescription adherence management and clinical decision support.
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http://govhealthit.com/newsitem.aspx?nid=73478
AHRQ awards $40M to set-up HIT research center
By Mary Mosquera
Thursday, April 08, 2010
The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality awarded almost $40 million in contracts to help equip and stand up the Health IT Research Center, a national organization designed to support the recently funded health IT regional extension centers.
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BCBS Data Theft Now Affects 1 Million
HDM Breaking News, April 9, 2010
BlueCross and BlueShield of Tennessee, as of April 2, has now identified 998,422 current and former members as being at risk following the theft of 57 hard drives last October, the company announced in an update.
That's an increase from a mid-March figure of 521,761 members, as the plan has substantially completed forensic work to identify members at high or medium risk and now is focusing on identifying those at low risk--447,549 so far. Notification letters for these Tier 1, or low-risk members, started going out April 5.
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Pfizer seeks ways to ease adverse events reporting digitally
March 30, 2010
Pfizer is experimenting with electronic medical records and mobile technology to detect safety issues sooner.
The company is partnering with Sermo, Epocrates and Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston on projects aimed at making it easier for doctors to report adverse events information or ask questions about Pfizer medications, according to a Dow Jones report.
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E-Health Records: Should FDA Help Certify?
Health IT policy group debates merits of bringing FDA, others into EHR certification process.
By Anthony Guerra, InformationWeek
April 1, 2010
URL: http://www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=224201003
The Health IT Policy Committee's certification workgroup is considering whether working with the Food and Drug Administration to craft a certification program for electronic health record systems would improve patient safety.
On one side are those who argue that the FDA could add significant value in crafting a program. "We could collaborate on certification criteria that improves patient safety," says Paul Egerman, healthcare software entrepreneur and co-chair of the certification and adoption workgroup. The Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT (ONC) and the FDA could use the agency's Quality Systems Regulation as a point of reference to see what parts might work well for EHR systems, Egerman said.
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http://www.healthday.com/Article.asp?AID=637674
Medical Misinformation Can Spread Quickly Via 'Tweets'
Twitter users reveal misuse of antibiotics, including sharing leftover drugs, study finds
FRIDAY, April 2 (HealthDay News) -- Medical misinformation can spread quickly on Twitter, although social networks also offer the potential for sharing vital and correct health information, a new study shows.
Researchers from Columbia University and MixedInk in New York City identified more than 52,000 Twitter updates -- called "tweets" -- that mentioned antibiotics during a four-and-a-half month period in 2009.
Of those, about 700 tweets included incorrect information about antibiotics, including misunderstandings and bad advice about how they should be used or evidence of misuse. Examples included: "Well, looks like I have strep throat. Anyone have some extra antibiotics I could snag?" and "If I need to share my remaining antibiotics, I will."
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http://www.modernhealthcare.com/article/20100407/NEWS/304079992
EHRs improve patient contact, distract docs: study
By Joseph Conn / HITS staff writer
Posted: April 7, 2010 - 11:00 am ET
Electronic health-record systems can be a boon and a bane to physician-patient communications, according to a new report by the Center for Studying Health System Change, Washington, with support from the Commonwealth Fund, New York.
On the positive side, the study found that an EHR helps improve physician-patient interaction because it provides quicker access to patient information, affording physicians time to spend with patients that they might otherwise lose hunting for information through paper records that are less organized.
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http://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/stories/2010/04/05/daily9.html
John Muir Health to notify 5,450 patients of data breach
San Francisco Business Times - by Chris Rauber
John Muir Health, the Walnut Creek-based hospital system, said Monday it has begun notifying 5,450 patients by mail of a “potential breach of their personal and health information.”
The move came after the theft two months ago of two laptop computers at the John Muir Physician Network Perinatal office in Walnut Creek, officials said April 5.
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http://www.modernhealthcare.com/article/20100406/NEWS/304069994
ONC goes to work on a ‘lighter' network
By Joseph Conn / HITS staff writer
Posted: April 6, 2010 - 11:00 am ET
NHIN Direct, a development project recently started by HHS, is a lighter-weight version of the proposed national health information network that has been the focus of a six-year federal effort to promote a “network of networks” to facilitate interoperability between electronic health-record systems.
The official kickoff meeting of NHIN Direct was March 23, although work had been under way for about three weeks before that. Work on NHIN Direct is being driven by the urgent imperatives of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, also known as the stimulus law.
The stimulus law provides an estimated $14.1 billion to $27.3 billion in federal subsidies to hospitals and office-based physicians to purchase EHR systems, contingent upon providers demonstrating they are using the EHRs in a “meaningful manner.”
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http://www.modernhealthcare.com/article/20100406/NEWS/304069993
Brailer interviews Blumenthal on privacy, standards
By Maureen McKinney / HITS staff writer
Posted: April 6, 2010 - 11:00 am ET
Patient privacy, the role of states in health information exchange, the effects health reform may have on health information technology adoption—these topics were all fair game when David Brailer, the first head of the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, sat down to talk with David Blumenthal, who currently holds the post, for a newly published interview that appears in the April issue of Health Affairs.
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http://www.modernhealthcare.com/article/20100406/NEWS/304069986
Current EHRs have limited quality, efficiency effect: study
By Maureen McKinney / HITS staff writer
Posted: April 6, 2010 - 8:00 am ET
In spite of the ever-increasing push to implement electronic health records, the link between EHR adoption and subsequent improvements in quality of care and efficiency is weak, according to a recently published study in Health Affairs.
Researchers, led by Catherine DesRoches, assistant professor at the Institute for Health Policy at Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, examined data from more than 2,900 hospitals and found no significant relationship between EHR adoption and performance on quality measures related to myocardial infarction, congestive heart failure or pneumonia, and found only some improvement in prevention of surgical complications.
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http://www.govhealthit.com/newsitem.aspx?nid=73461
ONC awards $84 million to expand health IT workforce
By Mary Mosquera
Monday, April 05, 2010
The Office of the National Health IT Coordinator last week awarded $84 million in grants to 16 universities and junior colleges to develop education and training programs to boost the number of skilled health IT workers available to help healthcare providers over the hurdles of adopting health IT.
ONC aims over time to reduce an estimated shortage of 50,000 workers in the health IT sector of the economy. That workforce is an important part of making the meaningful use of electronic health records a reality, said Dr. David Blumenthal, the national health IT coordinator, in the announcement April 2.
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Size Doesn't Matter When You're an Early Adopter of Health IT
Gienna Shaw, for HealthLeaders Media, April 6, 2010
When you think of innovation in healthcare technology, you probably picture a large academic medical center or a large hospital system. But small and rural hospitals are perfectly capable of making investments in new technologies.
In fact, one might argue that small rural hospitals that adopt new technologies are even more adventurous than the big guys. They have a lot more to lose.
In our HealthLeaders Media Industry Survey 2010, we asked technology leaders to describe their organization's IT culture. Most (43%) answered "wait until proven." But the second most-popular choice was "early adopter," with 37% choosing the response, up from 34% the previous year. (Another 20% said they are "behind the curve.")
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Groups Write PHR Guides
HDM Breaking News, April 5, 2010
Four industry associations have collaborated to introduce reference guides for personal health records for consumers and clinicians.
Both versions of the Personal Health Record Quick Reference Guide cover the purpose, benefits and privacy/access issues of PHRs, along with frequently asked questions.
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Survey: Mixed Bag on Security Readiness
HDM Breaking News, April 5, 2010
An updated biannual report from the HIMSS Analytics research unit of the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society in Chicago shows health organizations take data security compliance seriously but may be missing the big picture.
Kroll Fraud Solutions, Nashville, Tenn., commissioned the "2010 HIMSS Analytics Report: Security of Patient Data," which follows a similar report issued in April 2008. The new report issued on April 5 covers the results of 250 health professionals surveyed in December 2009.
Respondents rated their organizations high in complying with existing laws and regulations, averaging a score above 6 on a scale of 1-7 for CMS regulations, HIPAA, state security laws and the Red Flags rule, and 5.75 for HITECH Act security provisions. Yet 19 percent reported a data breach in the past year, up from 13 percent in the survey two years ago.
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Mobile technologies will enable patient-centered care, PwC report says
April 6, 2010 — 11:58am ET | By Neil Versel
Rising healthcare costs and prevalence of chronic disease are not merely American problems; they are affecting the delivery of care worldwide. The crunch, says a new PricewaterhouseCoopers report, will push millions upon millions of people to take more control over their own healthcare, often enabled by mobile technologies and the Internet.
"The overarching challenge for incumbent health systems will be to shift their internal focus from a siloed bureaucratic healthcare infrastructure to one that puts the patient at the center...and engages them to be active stakeholders in their health and the health system," the report reads.
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Tuesday, April 06, 2010
Déjà Vu: Objections to Health IT Rules Similar to Reaction to Regulation in Other Areas
"Meaningful use" is an elegant concept. The very words telegraph depth and purpose, and the notion is easy to understand. The implementation of this concept, however, is unlikely to be elegant or easy.
Indeed, the battle is already engaged. CMS and the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT have received more than 2,000 comments on the proposed regulations to enhance electronic health record adoption -- often referred to in government-speak as the "NPRM" (Notice of Proposed Rule Making) and the "IFR" (Interim Final Rule).
It won't all be happy reading. Many of those letters -- from physician and hospital groups that stand to gain or lose the most -- argue politely but strenuously that the proposed rules overreach and demand too much too soon of providers.
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http://www.technologyreview.com/biomedicine/24985/?nlid=2872&a=f
Tuesday, April 06, 2010
Combing Medical Records for Research
The vast data housed in electronic records and genomics databases could reveal new insights.
By Emily Singer
When the stimulus bill passed last year--allocating $20 billion to help doctors and hospitals adopt electronic medical records (EMRs)--many scientists were excited about the possibilities for medical research. EMRs provide vast amounts of medical information that can be combed automatically and used to ask questions that are too expensive or perhaps unethical to study in traditional clinical trials, such as whether newer, more expensive treatments are more effective than older ones.
"There is a lot of federal funding right now supporting the development of the infrastructure to do that kind of work, as well as to look at comparative effectiveness research using databases," says Richard Tannen, a physician at the University of Pennsylvania, in Philadelphia. "But it's a complex and difficult problem, in some ways more difficult than people appreciate."
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http://www.kaiserhealthnews.org/Daily-Reports/2010/April/05/Electronic-medical-records.aspx
Health IT Funding Raises Security Concerns; Some Hospitals Face Barrier To Funding
The Richmond Times-Dispatch wonders: "Two big questions yet to be answered with electronic health records are: Do they save money? And can they be made 100 percent secure? The verdict is still out on both. The thought of one's personal medical information being just a computer click away does not sit well with many consumers." The paper reviews several surveys from last year to note that "security is on everyone's mind" (Smith, 4/5).
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Records Taken from Recycling Bins
HDM Breaking News, April 1, 2010
Police in Lafayette, Colo., are investigating after at least 14 patients of a medical clinic owned by Boulder Community Hospital received anonymous letters informing them that their medical records were taken from unsecured recycling bins outside the clinic.
The letters, which included copies of the records, urged patients to report violations of federal medical information privacy rules. The stolen information included patients' medical records, including names, date of birth and Social Security numbers, according to published reports from local media outlets. Boulder Community Hospital has installed lockable recycling bins; two of eight bins were not locked, according to one report.
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Enjoy!
David.
