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Wednesday, March 10 2010
Four chief information officers, who are also members of the College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (CHIME), testified before the Implementation Workgroup federal panel this week on the challenges they foresee in implementing EHRs, under the current definition outlined in the interim final rule of meaningful use.
Tuesday, March 09 2010
Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius has sent a letter to several insurance company CEOs asking them to publicly justify proposed health insurance premium increases.
Monday, March 08 2010
Patients admitted to the hospital during the weekend hours are more likely to experience delays in major procedures, be emergency and critical cases and have a higher mortality rate compared to patients admitted during weekday hours, according to a statistical brief conducted by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ).
Monday, March 08 2010
As of March 1, all access to electronic Department of Defense (DoD) records through the Department of Veterans Affairs’ (VA) computerized patient record system (CPRS) remote data view (RDV) and VistAWeb was disabled due to the potential for incorrect or incomplete display of DoD patient medical records when using VA’s CPRS RDV or VistAWeb functions, according to a patient safety alert published by the VA Central Office issued March 3.
Monday, March 08 2010
While non-farm payroll employment saw little change in February (36,000 jobs lost and an unemployment rate holding at 9.7 percent), the U.S. healthcare industry continues to be one of the few bright spots in what continues to be a pretty dismal employment picture.
Friday, March 05 2010
Amicas has agreed to be acquired by Merge Healthcare in cash for a total of $248 million, which ends a struggle between Merge and Thoma Bravo over the medical imaging vendor.
Wednesday, March 03 2010
Written by Mary Stevens
ATLANTA -- “You have been leaders and we want you to continue to be leaders and we will follow your lead,” said David Blumenthal, National Coordinator for Health IT, in his March 3 keynote at HIMSS10. Speaking to a capacity crowd, Blumenthal outlined the ONC’s accomplishments of the past 10 months and the work still ahead.
Wednesday, March 03 2010
The U.S. Senate yesterday, by a 78-19 vote, passed the $10 billion Temporary Extension Act of 2010, which includes a provision that delays a 21.2 percent Medicare payment reduction to physicians until the end of March. The House of Representatives passed the legislation last week.
Tuesday, March 02 2010
The Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT (ONC) Tuesday released a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) for the establishment of two certification programs for purposes of testing and certifying health IT—one temporary and one permanent.
Tuesday, March 02 2010
The Amicas board of directors announced Monday that an updated proposal from Merge Healthcare to purchase Amicas for $6.05 per share is superior to the agreement it entered into with Thoma Bravo back in December.
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Tuesday, March 02 2010
Loss of patient data and prescription errors are just two potential safety risks associated with health IT (HIT) adoption. As the FDA examines these issues, the agency is questioning how to better regulate this new electronic field and which branch of government oversight is best suited to monitor such safety concerns.
Thursday, February 25 2010
A list of the covered entities that have reported health information data breaches impacting more than 500 people now has been posted by the Office of Civil Rights of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) on its Web site.
Wednesday, February 24 2010
Medtronic has reported positive financial results for the third quarter of fiscal year 2010, which ended Jan. 29.
Wednesday, February 24 2010
Merge Healthcare has reported receiving numerous calls from investors about its proposal to acquire Amicas for $6.05 cash per share, or an aggregate of $248 million, and in response the company is providing additional information to clarify certain questions raised by investors. The company also has received a commitment letter from Morgan Stanley Senior Funding for $200 million for bridge financing to partly fund the merger.
Wednesday, February 24 2010
Digital x-ray detectors are finally untethered and, in some cases, surprisingly easy to implement, according to a report issued today from healthcare market research firm KLAS.
Monday, February 22 2010
In an effort to “bridge the gap” between the House and Senate healthcare proposals, President Barack Obama today offered a new healthcare plan in advance of a bipartisan healthcare summit scheduled for later this week.
Thursday, February 18 2010
The Department of Health and Human Services has named Joy L. Pritts, a lawyer, as the first chief privacy officer at its Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT (ONC).
Tuesday, February 16 2010
Medical practice leaders cited multiple, continued administrative challenges with reporting data for Medicare's Physician Quality Reporting Initiative (PQRI), according to a survey released Feb. 17 by the Medical Group Management Association (MGMA).
Tuesday, February 16 2010
Most health IT professionals believe that at least 50,000 new jobs in health IT will be created by 2015, according to healthcare nonprofit organization American Society of Health Informatics Managers.
Friday, February 12 2010
Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and Department of Labor (DOL) Secretary Hilda Solis have released a total of nearly $1 billion in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) awards to help healthcare providers advance the adoption and meaningful use of health IT and train workers for the healthcare jobs.
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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.
