Happy New Year! Lots of hard work ahead
Here’s a light way to end the year, with a Dilbert cartoon that’s actually more than 7 months old, but one that seems apt.
Dilbert, May 26, 2013©2013 Scott Adams
No, healthcare technology is never easy. Neither is healthcare improvement, not that a diagnostic robot would necessarily be an improvement. There’s a lot of work to do in 2014. For now, enjoy the evening, and have a happy new year! Don’t drink and drive. Here’s a map of regions where AAA is providing free tows home for drunken revelers. Lots of local taxi companies are offering free rides tonight. Here in Chicago, the CTA is letting...
Source: Neil Versel's Healthcare IT Blog - December 31, 2013 Category: Technology Consultants Authors: Neil Versel Tags: humor mobile personal notes diagnostic medicine Dilbert robotics Source Type: blogs
Late news, literally: A new national HIT coordinator
Karen DeSalvo, M.D.
I’m a little late to the party reporting on the naming of a new national health IT coordinator, Karen DeSalvo, M.D. HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced DeSalvo’s appointment on Dec. 19, two days after I boarded a plane out of the country for a much-needed vacation. I vowed not to respond to any work-related e-mail while away, and I stayed true to my word, so now I play catch-up.
I honestly know nothing of DeSalvo’s work as health commissioner of the City of New Orleans and senior health policy advisor to Mayor Mitchell Landrieu, even though I visited New Orleans twice in t...
Source: Neil Versel's Healthcare IT Blog - December 31, 2013 Category: Technology Consultants Authors: Neil Versel Tags: meaningful use ONC public health David Brailer Farzad Mostashari Hurricane Katrina Jacob Reider Karen DeSalvo Kathleen Sebelius Louisiana New Orleans Source Type: blogs
CMS proposes MU2 extension, MU3 start date of 2017
Less than three weeks ago, I reported from the American Medical Informatics Association Annual Symposium in Washington that officials from the Office of the National Coordinator for Healthcare Information Technology were publicly saying it was unlikely there would be a delay to Stage 2 of Meaningful Use.
In October, noting that the federal rule-making process can be arduous, former national health IT coordinator Dr. Farzad Mostashari said, “I think folks should assume that the timelines stick.” He was speaking to the College of Healthcare Information Management Executives a week after leaving government service...
Source: Neil Versel's Healthcare IT Blog - December 6, 2013 Category: Technology Consultants Authors: Neil Versel Tags: certification CMS EMR/EHR health IT health reform Healthcare IT meaningful use ONC regulations AMIA CHIME Farzad Mostashari Judy Murphy Travis Broome Source Type: blogs
Videocast with ATA: Mobile health predictions for 2014
A couple of weeks ago while I was in Washington for the U.S. News & World Report Hospital of Tomorrow conference, I stopped by the headquarters of the American Telemedicine Association to record a videocast with ATA CEO Jonathan Linkous. We discussed some of my predictions for 2014 in the fields of mobile health and telehealth:
Imperative to cut costs will drive demand.
More mental health services will be delivered remotely.
Clarity from the FDA means more diagnostic apps and smartphone add-on devices.
Patient engagement in Stage 2 Meaningful Use might finally make untethered PHRs and consumer-facing apps viable.
Home...
Source: Neil Versel's Healthcare IT Blog - November 15, 2013 Category: Technology Consultants Authors: Neil VerselNeil Versel Tags: consumerism health IT health reform Healthcare IT mobile regulations reimbursement Telehealth video American Telemedicine Association FDA healthcare costs meaningful use mental health patient engagement PHRs physician licen Source Type: blogs
Healthcare Scene buys Healthcare IT Central and Healthcare IT Today
Healthcare Scene, the blog network of John Lynn and of which this site is a part, has purchased job-finder site Healthcare IT Central and the related Healthcare IT Today blog, founded by Gwen Darling. I don’t think this transaction will directly affect my blog, but John offers this on his EMR and HIPAA blog: “If you asked me a month ago what I could do for organizations looking for healthcare IT talent or individuals seeking healthcare IT jobs, I wouldn’t have much to offer beyond advertising. Today, that all changes.”
We all know about the high demand for health IT jobs and the shortage of qualified pe...
Source: Neil Versel's Healthcare IT Blog - November 14, 2013 Category: Technology Consultants Authors: Neil Versel Tags: blogging health IT Health IT workforce Healthcare IT mergers and acquisitions Healthcare IT Central Healthcare IT Today Healthcare Scene Jobs Source Type: blogs
The ‘Hospital of Tomorrow’
WASHINGTON—I’ve just finished 2 1/2 days of helping US News and World Report cover its inaugural Hospital of Tomorrow conference. My assignment was to sit in on four of the breakout sessions, take notes, then write up a summary as quickly as possible, ostensibly for the benefit of attendees who had to pick from four options during each time slot and might have missed something they were interested in. Of course, it’s posted on a public site, so you didn’t have to be there to read the stories.
Here’s what I cranked out from Tuesday and Wednesday:
Session 202: A Close-Up Look at EHRs — ‘Taki...
Source: Neil Versel's Healthcare IT Blog - November 7, 2013 Category: Technology Consultants Authors: Neil VerselNeil Versel Tags: Accountable Care Organizations ARRA blogging consumerism education EMR/EHR health information exchange health IT health reform Healthcare IT hospitals Innovation interoperability meaningful use Patient Protection and Affordable Source Type: blogs
Podcast: MMRGlobal’s Bob Lorsch addresses the ‘patent troll’ issue
Two weeks ago, I picked apart a terribly misleading, ideologically steeped Fox News story that wrongly linked the initial failure of the healthcare.gov Affordable Care Act insurance exchange to the Meaningful Use EHR incentive program. Among my many criticisms was the reporter’s apparent confusion between an actual EHR and My Medical Records, the untethered PHR offered by MMRGlobal.
In that post, I said, “I haven’t seen a whole lot of evidence that MMRGlobal isn’t much more than a patent troll.”
Bob Lorsch, CEO of that company, posted in the comments that I should put my money where my mouth is an...
Source: Neil Versel's Healthcare IT Blog - November 1, 2013 Category: Technology Consultants Authors: Neil VerselNeil Versel Tags: EMR/EHR health information exchange health IT health reform Healthcare IT HIPAA Innovation jurisprudence meaningful use media Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act PHR podcast politics privacy security Bob Lorsch Fox Source Type: blogs
Top 10 things wrong with Fox News smear job on EHRs
Today, FoxNews.com published a hit job on health IT and EHRs in the guise of another hit job on Obamacare. I found out about it courtesy of this tweet:
This story is crap- on so many levels "@brwtrpilot: @Farzad_MD http://t.co/uAU2iQxY3e Just talk to Bob Lorsch and Buy the system already!!"
— Farzad Mostashari (@Farzad_MD) October 15, 2013
First off, it’s clear that Mostashari feels unshackled from having to watch his words now that he’s no longer national health IT coordinator. Secondly, he’s right. This story contains so many errors and misleading statements that it’s almost funny...
Source: Neil Versel's Healthcare IT Blog - October 15, 2013 Category: Technology Consultants Authors: Neil Versel Tags: ARRA Barack Obama CMS EMR/EHR health information exchange health IT health reform Healthcare IT HHS HIPAA hospitals interoperability Legislation meaningful use media ONC Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act PHR po Source Type: blogs
Transcript from Leslie Saxon’s appearance on CNN’s ‘The Next List’
LOS ANGELES—Yesterday, I covered the seventh annual Body Computing Conference at the University of Southern California, hosted by Dr. Leslie Saxon, chief of cardiovascular medicine at USC’s Keck School of Medicine. That got me thinking: Whatever happened to the video from Saxon’s appearance on CNN’s “The Next List” back in March?
I’m pretty sure CNN never actually posted the full video anywhere online, though the network did share a short teaser clip a couple days before the show, hosted by CNN Chief Medical Correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta, first aired. However, I did find a full, albeit un...
Source: Neil Versel's Healthcare IT Blog - October 5, 2013 Category: Technology Consultants Authors: Neil Versel Tags: health 2.0 health reform Healthcare IT Innovation mobile personalized medicine regulations remote monitoring Telehealth AliveCor Android Brian Russell Cardiology CHIME CNN Dave Albert FDA Leslie Saxon Medical devices Source Type: blogs
Podcast: A quick chat with Farzad Mostashari
Friday is the last day on the job for departing national health IT coordinator Dr. Farzad Mostashari, who is stepping down after four years with the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, including the last two years as head of ONC.
I was in Washington two weeks ago and stopped by the HHS headquarters for ONC’s Consumer Health IT Summit, the opening event of National Health IT Week, and got a few minutes with Mostashari. (I suppose that was good timing, because I imagine the government shutdown that took effect this week would have canceled the summit and even prevented me from entering...
Source: Neil Versel's Healthcare IT Blog - October 3, 2013 Category: Technology Consultants Authors: Neil VerselNeil Versel Tags: ARRA consumerism EMR/EHR health IT health reform Healthcare IT HHS HIPAA meaningful use ONC podcast CHIME Farzad Mostashari patient engagement Source Type: blogs
I was wrong: Muntz to leave ONC
On Sept. 17, I predicted that Principal Deputy National Coordinator David Muntz would lead the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology at least on an interim or acting basis when National Coordinator Dr. Farzad Mostashari departs at the end of next week.
I was wrong.
Last night, Muntz announced his resignation in an e-mail to ONC staff:
From: Muntz, David (OS/ONC)
Sent: Wednesday, September 25, 2013 8:47 PM
Subject: Farewell to my federal family and friends
It is with a great deal of gratitude and sadness I have tendered my resignation as Principal Deputy National Coordinator for Health IT. ...
Source: Neil Versel's Healthcare IT Blog - September 26, 2013 Category: Technology Consultants Authors: Neil Versel Tags: health IT Healthcare IT HHS ONC David Muntz Farzad Mostashari Jacob Reider Joy Pritts Lisa Lewis Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology Source Type: blogs
Sermo apologizes for ‘misinterpretation’
On Friday, I called out physician social network Sermo for its “Pro Football Injury Challenge.” Someone fr0m the company was watching, even over the weekend, because Sermo put up a response on its blog on Sunday, apologizing for “insensitive language” in the original e-mail that led to, as the unnamed blogger put it, an “unfortunate misinterpretation” that “we were asking doctors to predict future player injuries.”
According to Sermo, the Pro Football Injury Challenge “was intended solely for physicians to aggregate data like the PBS study performed last pro football se...
Source: Neil Versel's Healthcare IT Blog - September 23, 2013 Category: Technology Consultants Authors: Neil Versel Tags: patient safety social media Sermo Source Type: blogs
DrChrono and Sermo, what are you thinking?
Free, mobile ambulatory EHR developer DrChrono made a minor ripple of news this week, claiming to be the first vendor to release an EHR for the new Apple iOS 7. But that’s not why I’m writing this post. I’m calling out DrChrono co-founder and COO Daniel Kivatinos for this tweet:
What is the HITECH Act and How Do You Cash In? http://t.co/Q8exLnxFIl #ehr #emr #mhealth #care #healthit #health2con #medicalrecords
— daniel kivatinos (@danielkivatinos) September 18, 2013
I was quick to respond on Twitter.
It isn’t about “cashing in” #ptsafety RT @danielkivatinos: What is the HITECH Act a...
Source: Neil Versel's Healthcare IT Blog - September 20, 2013 Category: Technology Consultants Authors: Neil Versel Tags: ARRA EMR/EHR health IT Healthcare IT meaningful use mobile patient safety practice management rants social media vendors DrChrono Practice Fusion Sermo Triple Aim Source Type: blogs
Follow-up from ATA Fall Forum
Last week, I joined Steve Dean of Falls Church, Va.-based Inova Health System’s Inova Telemedicine Program on stage at the American Telemedicine Association’s Fall Forum in Toronto for what turned out to be a very well-received session on mobile apps and devices finding their way into clinical workflows. It was either a Letterman-style top 10, or, as Dean described it, a Siskel and Ebert-style discussion and review of 10 popular and/or interesting apps.
In one example, Dean noted that Aetna’s iTriage consumer app had been downloaded more than 9.5 million times. One audience member questioned the relevance of ...
Source: Neil Versel's Healthcare IT Blog - September 19, 2013 Category: Technology Consultants Authors: Neil VerselNeil Versel Tags: consumerism Innovation mobile Telehealth Aetna AirStrip AliveCor American Telemedicine Association CMS consumer health information Department of Veterans Affairs DrawMD Fitbit Inova Healthcare System iTriage mym3 Propeller Source Type: blogs
At the very least, expect Muntz to be acting national coodinator
I don’t have any inside knowledge about whom the White House might be considering to replace Dr. Farzad Mostashari when he steps down from his post as national health IT coordinator on Oct. 5, but I get the sense Principal Deputy National Coordinator David Muntz will at least be acting head of the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology. What makes me think this?
Here is the lineup for tomorrow’s press conference at the U.S. Capitol marking National Health IT Week:
Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.)
Rep. Mike Honda (D-Calif.)
ONC Principal Deputy National Coordinator David Muntz
Form...
Source: Neil Versel's Healthcare IT Blog - September 17, 2013 Category: Technology Consultants Authors: Neil Versel Tags: health IT health reform Healthcare IT ONC David Muntz Farzad Mostashari Jim Geringer Joxel Garcia Mike Honda National Health IT Week sheldon Source Type: blogs
