Providers May Have More Time to Submit Electronic Clinical Quality Measures
Eligible hospitals and critical access hospitals participating in the Hospital Inpatient Quality Reporting program and/or the Medicare EHR Incentive Program will have extra time for submission of electronic clinical quality measures. In a January 17, 2017 blog post, Kate Goodrich, MD, director of CMS' Center for Clinical Standards and Quality, said those hospitals submitting eCQM data for the 2016 reporting period (pertaining to the FY 2018 payment determination) will now have until Monday, March 13, at 11:59 p.m. PT, rather than the last day of February.
Inpatient Prospective Payment System
CMS also has plans to m...
Source: Policy and Medicine - February 22, 2017 Category: American Health Authors: Thomas Sullivan - Policy & Medicine Writing Staff Source Type: blogs
Dashboards Are For 737 Pilots, Not Physicians.
By JACOB REIDER, MD
You’re right, Dr Hatch. Nobody’s feels like they’re winning. Last week I was in a room with a group of physicians, and the Chief Medical Officer of an ACO was explaining to them that he could give them all dashboards that they would love.
But the physicians didn’t look like they were dreaming of the same valentines. “What would we do with a dashboard?” Said one. “Is this another Meaningful Use requirement gone bad?” Said another.
The undertone is that “we didn’t sign up for this population health” stuff. Physicians are intellectually challenged by, and find meaning in ...
Source: The Health Care Blog - February 20, 2017 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: John Irvine Tags: Uncategorized Source Type: blogs
Commentary: Time to look beyond EHRs to Direct messaging, natural language processing, rules engines to liberate data
While healthcare entities are waiting for EHR vendors to make data more interoperable, a raft of emerging technologies are enabling information exchange in ways that work effectively today, according to Lisa Moon, a partner with the Timmaron Group. (Source: Healthcare IT News Blog)
Source: Healthcare IT News Blog - February 15, 2017 Category: Information Technology Tags: Electronic Health Records Health Information Exchange (HIE) Interoperability Meaningful Use Source Type: blogs
The Physician ’s Bill of Rights
I love teaching my children about history, and in the process, I often see a clearer perspective of events I learned about at a young age when I had less life experience under my belt.
As I have been revisiting the evolution of our country, the formation and restructuring of our society, and the emergence of periods of oppression, rebellion, and social change, I have been struck by the concept that over the past few decades, our healers have been subjected to systematic oppression and disadvantage by certain constraints, in a way that threatens the fabric of health care in our country. The causes and reasons are many, an...
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - February 10, 2017 Category: Journals (General) Authors: < a href="http://www.kevinmd.com/blog/post-author/michele-c-parker" rel="tag" > Michele C. Parker, MD < /a > Tags: Physician Primary care Source Type: blogs
Dispatch from Japan and New Zealand
This week I ’ve taken vacation time to help my colleagues in Japan and New Zealand with national IT planning. As I often say, the healthcare IT challenges are the same all over the world, but the cultural context is different.In Japan, I spent 2 days in Tokyo and 1 day in Kyoto, lecturing, meeting, and listening to stakeholders. There is a great desire to share data for care coordination and clinical trials/clinical research. Telemedicine/telehealth is increasingly important in an aging Japanese society that has increasing healthcare needs but a limited number of caregivers and few opportunities to...
Source: Life as a Healthcare CIO - February 8, 2017 Category: Information Technology Source Type: blogs
Weekly Overseas Health IT Links – 28th January, 2017.
Here are a few I came across last week. Note: Each link is followed by a title and few paragraphs. 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.-----http://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/tom-price-takes-aim-inefficiencies-meaningful-use-questions-how-pay-precision-medicineTom Price takes aim at the inefficiencies of meaningful use, questions how to pay for precision medicineThe HHS nominee decries a law that has turned physicians "into data entry clerks." Meanwhile, genomics represents a "brave new world," he...
Source: Australian Health Information Technology - January 27, 2017 Category: Information Technology Authors: Dr David More MB PhD FACHI Source Type: blogs
Meaningful use: A view from the penalty box
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) EHR Incentive Program — also known as meaningful use (MU) — initially provided incentives to accelerate the adoption of electronic health records (EHRs) to meet certified program requirements. Many physicians were mandated to change over to electronic records at the cost of tens of thousands of dollars. Electronic records have never been shown to improve patient care or outcomes with statistical significance, the criteria physicians routinely use when making care decisions.
Physicians who failed to participate in MU would receive penalties in the form of ...
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - January 23, 2017 Category: Journals (General) Authors: < a href="http://www.kevinmd.com/blog/post-author/niran-s-al-agba" rel="tag" > Niran S. Al-Agba, MD < /a > Tags: Tech Health IT Source Type: blogs
Key Takeaways From the Price Confirmation Hearing
BY PAUL KECKLEY
As DC readies for the Inaugural fest, the four-hour confirmation hearing for President-elect Trump’s nominee for HHS Secretary, Tom Price, an orthopedic surgeon and six term House of Representatives’ member from the Atlanta suburbs, was the focus yesterday. For healthcare industry watchers, the contentious hearing surfaced several themes likely to mark the new administration’s approach to its health policies.
Key takeaways from yesterday:
Party posturing: The orchestration of each party’s messaging was evident and in stark contrast. Democrats on the Senate’s Health, Education, Labor and Pensions ...
Source: The Health Care Blog - January 19, 2017 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: John Irvine Tags: Repeal Replace Uncategorized Source Type: blogs
Building The Value-Based Health Care System Of The Future Depends On Meeting Clinicians ’ Data Needs
Data is the lifeblood of the value-based payment environment. Every time a doctor takes care of a patient, we have an opportunity to use information in ways that help patients get better care. The goal is to use the information from each patient encounter to make the next encounter better — across the entire health care system. But it is easier said than done. As we prepare to transition from this administration, we’d like to take stock of what our nation has accomplished and to lay out a potential roadmap for the next administration.
Making data easy to use begins by putting it into secure, private, digital form. ...
Source: Health Affairs Blog - January 17, 2017 Category: Health Management Authors: Vindell Washington and Andy Slavitt Tags: Featured Health IT big data EHRs ONC value based care Source Type: blogs
Reform dentistry but don ’ t blindly copy the medical model
It’s always struck me as odd that the dental and medical systems are so separate. Oral health and overall health are closely interlinked, and the mouth is just as much a part of the body as anything else. A commentary in Health Affairs (The Dental-Medical Divide) by Elizabeth A. Mertz, a dental professor at UCSF does a good job of laying out the current state and what to expect going forward. While I learned from the article and agree with many of the conclusions, I do think it’s important that dentistry continue to deviate in some ways from the path followed by the medical profession.
Dentists started as barber/surgeo...
Source: Health Business Blog - January 11, 2017 Category: Health Management Authors: dewe67 Tags: Policy and politics innovation LANAP Source Type: blogs
My Advice to the Trump Administration
As I ' ve listened to the confirmation hearings for cabinet nominees, I ’ve realized that no one with healthcare IT expertise has yet been identified by the transition team. I continue to ask all my colleagues about any contact they ’ve had with anyone advising the new administration - so far, no one has been asked anything by anyone related to healthcare IT.At this early time in the administration, it ’s important to offer advice as to the priorities ahead for the next few years. What would I recommend to the new administration? Here ’s my five point plan:1. Focus on enabling infra...
Source: Life as a Healthcare CIO - January 11, 2017 Category: Information Technology Source Type: blogs
A Bird ’s Eye View from the Penalty Box
By NIRAN AL-AGBRA, MD
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) EHR Incentive Program—also known as Meaningful Use (MU)—initially provided incentives to accelerate the adoption of electronic health records (EHRs) to meet certified program requirements. Many physicians were mandated to change over to electronic records at the cost of tens of thousands of dollars. Electronic records have never been shown to improve patient care or outcomes with statistical significance, the criteria physicians routinely use when making care decisions.
Physicians who failed to participate in MU would receive penalties i...
Source: The Health Care Blog - January 10, 2017 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: John Irvine Tags: Uncategorized Source Type: blogs
Star Wars Is Really About Protecting Patient Data (Yes It Is)
By MATT SEAGER
Star Wars may be a light-hearted adventure film series at its core, but that hasn’t stopped professionals and academics from extracting some real-world lessons from the series. A couple of prominent examples include a thesis on the economic impact of building the Death Star and NPR’s political science analysis of the inner workings of the galactic senate.
With the latest Star Wars film, Rogue One, it’s the healthcare IT industry’s turn to take a crack at the known universe’s most popular space saga. Be forewarned: the following analysis includes spoilers from the new film.
A key component the pl...
Source: The Health Care Blog - January 4, 2017 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: John Irvine Tags: Tech Uncategorized Source Type: blogs
The data was suffering. And it cleaved at this doctor ’s soul.
The notion began early in computer science class during Jason’s freshman year. The professor had noticed a certain elegance and zeal in his work and suggested medicine. That was in the days of the giants when clinicians were tied to such clunky programs as meaningful use and PQRS. In this antiquated milieu, Jason cut his teeth on basic health care architecture.
In those prehistoric years, there still remained a bias toward eye contact and empathic expression. Thankfully, over time, the technocrats pushed the boundaries. Jason couldn’t be happier. His hands hovered over the keyboard, and his eyes took in each fi...
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - January 3, 2017 Category: Journals (General) Authors: < a href="http://www.kevinmd.com/blog/post-author/jordan-grumet" rel="tag" > Jordan Grumet, MD < /a > Tags: Physician Health IT Source Type: blogs
