Just as I clarified last week in my post about Certification, the answer to the question “do we need more or less healthcare IT regulation and legislation” is that we need the right amount of the right regulations/legislation. Sometimes when clinicians prescribe medication, although it does therapeutic good, it creates side effects which need to be addressed by changing a dose or by adding additional medications. Such is the case with HITECH. It was generally good medicine, but now that we’ve seen the side effects on workflow, clinician burden, and efficiency, there needs to be a dose adjustment...
electronic health information
See the following -
2017 Emerges as Pivotal Year for FHIR Interoperability Standard
Health Level Seven International’s Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (FHIR) application programming interface is moving closer to becoming a mature standard, with the “normative” version slated for release sometime in 2017. Standards are widely perceived as providing the greatest potential for achieving national health IT interoperability in the near future. In particular, FHIR is seen by industry stakeholders as a promising solution to the complex interoperability challenges that are confronting healthcare organizations...
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3 Global Health IT Takeaways You Need to Know - Reflections from ONC 3rd Interoperability Forum
The Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT (ONC) engages in several global health IT projects from a United States government perspective. ONC works with global counterparts to share experiences, and ensure alignment between global interoperability efforts and the United States' approaches to interoperability. This includes working through worldwide partnerships, bi-lateral and multi-lateral engagements, global networks, and memoranda of understanding. Through these engagements, we focus on advancing common health data standards for global interoperability, enhancing individuals' access to their data, progressing healthcare providers' experiences, and improving factors associated with transparency and competition.
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Are jackalopes and information blocking similar?
Looking to dupe urbanite travelers, bartenders and bar owners in rural Western taverns sometimes fasten antelope horns to the head of a large jackrabbit. They then mount the whole thing, hang it over the bar and tell visitors looking for a craft brewed IPA to watch for vicious jackalopes when they’re out and about. So, are we having a jackalope moment in health IT? Do we believe in something we can’t see? The suggestion has been made that some vendors are actively engaged in “information blocking”—a basic refusal to exchange patient data with other systems. Either that or they’re charging boatloads of money to do so, which is framed as a form of information blocking in a way, but not exactly.
careMESH Announces the First National Provider Directory Built Entirely to the HL7 FHIR Standard
careMESH, the only service provider to guarantee digital delivery of patient health information to any US-based clinician, announced the launch of the country's first National Provider Directory based entirely on the HL7 FHIR (Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources) R4 standard. HL7 is a not-for-profit organization focused on developing consensus standards for the exchange, integration, sharing, and retrieval of electronic health information that supports clinical practice and the management and delivery of healthcare.
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Cloud-Based VistA EHR Company, iCare, Partners with ZirMed
The Industry’s First Cloud-based EHR for Hospitals Partners with Progressive Technology Company to Help Enterprise-Level Healthcare Organizations Achieve Clinical and Financial Excellence Read More »
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Coalescing Interest in Geospatial Standards for Health Domain
During the recent OGC Health DWG meeting, participants supported advancing the HL7 – OGC Statement of Underst...The OGC geospatial standards are expected to enrich health information. Guest presenters provided insight on potential alignment of OGC Health DWG activities with health domain requirements for standardization and interoperability.
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Connect for Care
On Tuesday, I spoke at the Bipartisan Policy Center about our vision for the near future where electronic health information is unlocked and securely accessible to achieve better care, smarter spending, and healthier people.It was inspiring to see so many of our partners in the health IT community come together to talk about a future where we have a learning, connected health care system that leverages technology just as well and just as easily as the latest apps we all have on our phones for hailing a ride or paying our bills...
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Do We Need More or Less Healthcare IT Regulation and Legislation?
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Halamka Summarizes the CMS Meaningful Use Final Rule
I’ve been asked to summarize the 752 page CMS Meaningful Use Final Rule...Between the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking and the publication of the CMS Final Rule, the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 (MACRA) passed to include sunsetting the Meaningful Use payment adjustment for professionals at the end of 2018. Also, MACRA requires the establishment of a Merit-Based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) which would incorporate Meaningful Use. The comment period will be used in an attempt to align the Meaningful Use program and the MIPS program...Stage 3 is more controversial and I will focus on that.
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HELP Committee Passes Patient Centered Care EHR Bill
The Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee legislation on improved EHR use has passed, according to a public statement from the committee. The bill’s passage was unanimous. Earlier this year, the HELP Committee drafted legislation to improve EHR use. This legislation centered primarily on improving physician EHR use, decreasing data blocking, and making health IT patient-centered...
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HHS And ONC Invest $28 Million In Health Information Exchange Grants
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Sylvia Burwell announced this morning an important Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) funding opportunity, which is part of a Department-wide effort to achieve the safe and secure exchange and use of electronic health information to improve health and transform care...
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HHS Launches Cash Contest for Innovative FHIR Apps
The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) announced today a three-part strategy to spur the development of market-ready, user-friendly software applications (apps) for consumers and health care providers...The strategy includes two software app challenges with award prizes totaling $175,000 each: one focused on consumer use and one focused on provider use. Additionally, a competitive funding opportunity of up to $275,000 will support the development of an open resource to make it easier for developers to publish their apps and for providers to discover and compare them...
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HHS Releases Interoperability Rules
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) today proposed new rules to support seamless and secure access, exchange, and use of electronic health information. The rules, issued by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC), would increase choice and competition while fostering innovation that promotes patient access to and control over their health information. The proposed ONC rule would require that patient electronic access to this electronic health information (EHI) be made available at no cost.
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Humetrix to Demo iBlueButton's Capabilities to Serve Veterans Leveraging the New VA Lighthouse Blue Button 2.0 API at CES in Capitol Hill
At the Consumer Technology Association's (CTA) Tenth Annual CES on the Hill, Humetrix will demonstrate iBlueButton, its Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) approved Blue Button 2.0 mobile health application, to give Americans covered by Medicare as well as Veterans and TRICARE enrollees the ability to securely access, store and share - under their direct and sole control - their health records. CES on the Hill will take place on Wednesday May 1st from 6:00 - 8:00 pm in the cafeteria of the Rayburn Office Building...iBlueButton transforms claim data in real time into an actionable longitudinal health record. Immediately available on the user's phone or tablet, iBlueButton provides up to date lists of medications (actually delivered by a pharmacy, and not simply prescribed), diagnoses, and prior tests and procedures for users to review and share with their physicians wherever they receive care...
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ONC Releases Final Rule on Interoperability: How Might it Affect Public Health?
On March 9, 2020 the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) released its final rule on the 21st Century Cures Act: Interoperability, Information Blocking, and the ONC Health IT Certification Program. Referred to by some people as the "Information Blocking Rule," since this is the primary topic, the document actually covers a host of other issues related to interoperability driven primarily by requirements of the 21st Century Cures Act. In addition to the final rule itself you can read the ONC press release, a comparison between the proposed and final rules, and lots of other resources.
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