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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:
HHS Releases Final Rule – Updated HIPAA Privacy And Security Rules
HHS has released the long-awaited final rule updating the privacy and security rules under (HIPAA) The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act.
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HIPAA Privacy And Security Final Rule Establishes A New Era For PHI Security
The enhanced set of protections finalized in the omnibus HIPAA privacy and security rule released Jan.17 now becomes the new baseline for anyone who handles health information. It doesn’t change meaningful use requirements, but combined, the two may drive more providers to protect patient data, according to privacy and security experts.
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HIPAA Privacy And Security Final Rule: Perspectives From A Healthcare Lawyer
The omnibus HIPAA Privacy and Security final rule HHS released on Jan. 17 answered some questions, provided necessary guidance in certain areas — but some of the thorniest issues, data breach notification among those, are still cryptic enough that lawyers and privacy officers will still face difficult judgment calls every time a laptop is lost or stolen.
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OCR Transforming Itself To An Enforcement Organization
I don’t do risk assessments; I assess risk,” said Sharon Finney, corporate data security officer at Adventist Health System, speaking at the December 2012 Healthcare IT News/HIMSS Media Privacy & Security Forum in Boston.
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Medical Organizations Calling For Revisions To Proposed Stage 3 Meaningful Use Criteria
The American College of Physicians, the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society and Texas Medical Society have joined a growing chorus of organizations calling for revisions to proposed Stage 3 meaningful-use criteria and the way future standards for the federal electronic health-record incentive payment programs should be developed.
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Best Practices For Rural Hospital EHR Implementation Success
Rural and community hospitals should develop an effective plan of action that unites IT departments, internal administration and clinical providers to have the best chance of meeting meaningful use now and in the future.
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CPOE Role Is Vital To Achieving Meaningful Use
Once considered the leading edge of information technology, computerized physician order entry (CPOE) is now simmering on the back burner of healthcare priorities. While it is not forgotten, attention toward CPOE has been deflected in favor of other concerns, such as meaningful use, interoperability, RAC audits and ICD-10 coding projects.
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CCHIT Announces Plans To Develop IT Framework For ACO’s
The Certification Commission for Health Information Technology (CCHIT) plans to develop an IT framework for accountable care organizations (ACOs). The framework will identify the health IT infrastructure components necessary for a provider organization to function effectively as an ACO and help identify any gaps that would prevent them from meeting their goals as an ACO.
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Monthly HHS & CMS Update:
EHR Incentive Payments Now Total Over Ten Billion
Medicare and Medicaid electronic health record payments are estimated to have blasted through $10.3 billion to a total of 180,200 physicians and hospitals through December 2012 since the program’s inception. December’s payments of $1.25 billion were driven by the largest amount of hospital payments for an individual month, according to Robert Anthony, a specialist in CMS’ Office of eHealth Standards and Services.
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GAO Report Examines 2011 CMS EHR Incentive Payments
A new report by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) examines how the Medicaid EHR incentive payments were distributed in 2011.
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The ONC Proposes Using EHR Certification Criteria For Patient Safety Event Reporting
The Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT wants to use electronic health record certification criteria to make it easier for physicians to report patient safety events, which provide critical raw data for developers, healthcare providers, researchers and policymakers to improve the safety of health IT and make care safer.
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ONC Announces Authorized EHR Certification Bodies For Stage 2 Meaningful Use
A small milestone on the road to Stage 2 meaningful use of electronic health-record systems has been passed.
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CMS Exploring Electronic Submission Of Clinical Quality Measures
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) wants to explore whether hospitals will be able to begin submitting clinical quality measures through their electronic health record systems by 2014.
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ONC Pilot Focuses On Patients’ Privacy Concerns
In considering whether to participate in a health information exchange, patients want to know whether their clinical information will be shared with their insurance company and whether their more sensitive information, in addition to routine patient information, will be included.
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