The state of Maine currently has the largest operating statewide exchange in the country in relation to population. Although Devore Culver, Executive Director of Maine’s HealthInfoNet, expects that distinction to change in the months ahead, the state’s HIE is entering the final months of its demonstration phase, and is slated to move in to its full statewide implementation in the second half of 2010. Culver, who is former CIO of Eastern Maine Health Care, recently spoke with CMIO about the progress HealthInfoNet has made.
Monday, March 1, 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM
The State of Georgia's Department of Community Health is leading a strategic initiative to design, develop and implement a statewide EHR system and health information exchange for Georgia's Medicaid population.
The proposed Medicaid expansion is characterized as the largest public administration challenge that states have ever faced, but with adequate support from government and private philanthropies, the program has the potential to become a national leader in effective, high-quality care over the next five years, according to a recent article in Health Affairs.
A systematic review of the Massachusetts healthcare system found significant variations amongst hospitals and physicians that were not based on quality of care, according to a preliminary investigation conducted by the office of Attorney General Martha Coakley.
The greatest threat to the U.S. budget stability in the coming decade is the growth of federal spending on healthcare, according to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), which found that spending for Medicare and Medicaid, under current law, is expected to keep growing faster than the economy, reaching 6.6 percent of the gross domestic product by 2020 and potentially reaching 10 percent by 2035.
Medicaid programs in South Carolina, Alaska, Kentucky and Wisconsin will receive federal matching funds for state planning activities necessary to implement the EHR incentive program established by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) reported Thursday.
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has awarded the Kansas Health Policy Authority a $1.7 million grant to fund the initial planning process for deploying health IT within the state Medicaid system and Children’s Health Insurance Program.
The American Hospital Association (AHA) has sent a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., urging that Congress maintain the level of insurance coverage offered in the House version of healthcare reform when it reconciles the competing Senate and House healthcare reform bills.
Written by Jeff Byers
Healthcare professionals are strongly urged to review and comment on the proposed meaningful use definitions and EHR interim final rule from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT (ONC), according to presenters of a Webinar, hosted by Washington D.C.-based eHealth Initiative on Jan. 8.
The internal affairs unit of the Detroit Police Department teamed up with the Detroit Department of Health and Wellness Promotion on Tuesday in the investigation of two recent incidents involving medical record theft that took place this fall from health programs within the city.
|
An “inappropriate definition" of meaningful use and “inefficient administration” of the Medicare and Medicaid EHR incentive programs will lead to failed implementation of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA), resulting in the “needless squandering of resources and significant disruption” to the U.S. healthcare system, according to a letter written to David Blumenthal, MD, from the Medical Group Management Association (MGMA).
CalOptima, a Medicaid managed care plan serving Orange County, Calif., has identified the potential loss of past medical claims information for approximately 68,000 of its members that was stored on electronic media devices.
Written by Jeff Byers
Achieving meaningful use for EHR systems won’t be easy--but is possible, according to a report published in September by the Computer Science Corporation, “Meaningful Use for Hospitals: The Top Ten Challenges.”
The recession has put more people on Medicaid and sharply increased state spending on the program, forcing state officials to cut costs even with help coming from the federal government through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA).
The National Governors Association's State Alliance for e-Health Tuesday issued a report, which is intended to give interim guidance to state leaders as they begin to implement the Health IT for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act included in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009.
With public attention in the United States focused on ways to reform the healthcare system, a publication from ABI Research examines wireless telehealth and forecasts that 15 million systems will be in use--mainly in North America--by early in 2012, and may serve as a means of cost savings.
Health & Human Services Secretary (HHS) Kathleen Sebelius has reported that $6 billion in new federal funds will be made available to states and U.S. territories for fiscal year 2009 to provide healthcare to millions of children across the United States through their Children's Health Insurance Programs (CHIP).
Healthcare reform cannot survive on expanding coverage alone; it requires promoting best practices to fix what is broken, wrote President Barack Obama in a letter sent June 2 to Sens. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., and Max Baucus, D-Mont.,--the two key stakeholders who have been at odds over the payor component of the administration's healthcare reform plan.
|
RSS 
The use of health IT to reduce rehospitalizations will be welcome but also disruptive, said Stephen Jencks, an independent consultant in healthcare safety during a Feb. 24 webinar on the potential use of health IT to mitigate rehospitalizations, sponsored by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ).
During the Health IT Standards Committee meeting on Feb. 24 in Washington, D.C., the Clinical Operations Workgroup sought to gather comments on proposed recommendations on implementation specifications for content exchange, vocabulary and code set standards for the Interim Final Rule of meaningful use.
The state of Maine currently has the largest operating statewide exchange in the country in relation to population. Although Devore Culver, Executive Director of Maine’s HealthInfoNet, expects that distinction to change in the months ahead, the state’s HIE is entering the final months of its demonstration phase, and is slated to move in to its full statewide implementation in the second half of 2010. Culver, who is former CIO of Eastern Maine Health Care, recently spoke with CMIO about the progress HealthInfoNet has made.
In 2006, the Center for Devices and Radiological Health (CDRH), a branch of the FDA, began examining the number of medical device reports they received. Over the past two years, the number of submitted reports has increased, sparking a demand for the CDRH to make a move to electronic reporting.
A new hospital breaking ground usually isn’t breaking news. But the vision of patient care at one new facility, tentatively named Palomar Medical Center West (PMC West), is currently illegal under California state law.
