|
Delivering Quality Health IT Industry & Government News, Insights and Trends that are Physician Focused and Patient Driven®!
In this month’s newsletter, our topics include:
Monthly HHS & CMS Update:
Health IT Groups Cautiously Praise Stage Meaningful Use Delay
Information technology groups offered cautious praise to the CMS for extending Stage 2 of the electronic health record incentive payment program to three years and pushing back the start of Stage 3 until at least 2017. But they also asked for increased flexibility for healthcare providers.
Read More | Back to Top
Healthcare Leaders React To ONC’s New Chief Appointment
HHS appointed a new chief to head the Office of the National Coordinator on Thursday, and so far the decision has been lauded by industry leaders.
Karen DeSalvo, MD, current health commissioner of New Orleans, will be taking the ONC reins Jan. 13, replacing acting national coordinator Jacob Reider. She is the first woman to serve in this role.
Read More | Back to Top
Executive Reaction To The Stage 2 Meaningful Use Extension
It’s official. Hospitals and healthcare providers nationwide may get a little more time with meaningful use requirements after CMS proposed Friday extending the Stage 2 deadline to 2016 – a decision that has many health IT officials breathing big sighs of relief.
Read More | Back to Top
Not Everyone Is Pleased About Meaningful Use Extension
After months of physicians, hospitals and IT groups calling for more time to complete meaningful use, the federal government has finally responded. But not everyone is pleased.
Read More | Back to Top
The Financial Impact Of The Meaningful Use Stage 2 Extension
The decision by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to push back by one year the deadline for compliance with meaningful use stage 2 is good news for hospitals and physician practices. Many providers have had trouble marshalling adequate financial resources toward meeting even the stage 1 deadline on implementation of electronic health records.
Read More | Back to Top
PHI Data Breaches Makes Top Five Security Concerns For 2014
Every year, Coalfire, an IT governance, risk and compliance firm, names its top 5 information security and compliance predictions for the new year. And this time around, healthcare data breaches made the cut.
Read More | Back to Top
Reported PHI Data Breaches Increased In 2013
More than twice as many individuals have been affected by healthcare data breaches in 2013 than in 2012. And the main reason is a handful of mega-breaches this year, the current federal tally shows.
Read More | Back to Top
Five Best Practices For Medical Organizations To Protect Against PHI Breaches
Health information technology continues to be acquired and implemented by medical organizations all throughout the United States at historic levels. This significant trend in health IT adoption can be attributed to the myriad of government initiatives and polices currently in place to promote the use of health IT. As accessibility to patient information continues to increase, so does the risk of protected health information breaches.
Read More | Back to Top
Monthly HHS & CMS Update:
HSS Appoints New ONC Chief
New Orleans Health Commissioner Karen DeSalvo, MD, will take over as national coordinator for health information technology, HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced this morning.
Read More | Back to Top
CMS, ONC Extend Meaningful Use
A joint CMS and ONC blog post today divulges the government’s intentions to extend the timeline for meaningful use Stages 2 and 3.
“Under the revised schedule, Stage 2 would be extended through 2016 and Stage 3 would begin in 2017 for those providers that have completed at least two years in Stage 2,” explained acting national coordinator Jacob Reider, MD, and Rod Tagalicod, director of the CMS office of health standards and services.
Read More | Back to Top
CMS EHR Incentive Program Payouts Reach 17B
As providers ready for meaningful use Stage 2 attestation and policymakers start designing Stage 3, CMS announced that the Medicare and Medicaid EHR incentive programs have paid out just shy of $17 billion to spur adoption thus far.
Read More | Back to Top
HHS Ten Big New Year’s Resoltutions For 2014
The Department of Health and Human Services has a few glaring management and performance issues it needs to work out in the coming year — at least according to a new report put out by the Office of Inspector General.
Read More | Back to Top
OIG Report Finds OCR Security Failures
It’s an ironic story. The Office for Civil Rights, the division of HHS responsible for investigating HIPAA privacy and security violations, is now facing scrutiny after its own security practices failed to meet federal requirements.
Read More | Back to Top
HHS, HIMSS Partner For Patient ID
HIMSS is working with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, through HHS’ Innovator in Residence program, to develop a strategy for nationwide patient data matching.
Read More | Back to Top
|
