Making Sense of Meaningful Use

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Categories: Making Sense of Meaningful Use

Report Calls for CMS To Improve its Response to Data Breaches

A report from HHS’ Office of Inspector General calls for CMS to improve its processes for notifying Medicare beneficiaries about data breaches. The report also notes that contractors are not effectively using a CMS database that contains information on Medicare beneficiaries and providers who have been affected by identity theft. Health Data Management, Modern Healthcare.

Categories: Making Sense of Meaningful Use

Health IT Business News Roundup for the Week of October 12, 2012

ICF International has received a three-year, $45 million task order to continue providing certain data management services to NIH. Teladoc has partnered with Blue Shield of California to provide telehealth services to members of the California Public Employees’ Retirement System.

Categories: Making Sense of Meaningful Use

ONC Develops Database To Find Volunteers for Health IT Work Groups

Individuals who are interested in serving on a federal health IT work group can use a new online database to enter information about themselves and their top areas of expertise. The database was created by the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT. Government Health IT.

Categories: Making Sense of Meaningful Use

Lack of Decision Support Hindering Comparative Effectiveness Research

A Health Affairs study finds that a lack of decision support tools and other factors are hindering comparative effectiveness research from changing clinical practices. The study notes that clinicians often face challenges related to decision support tools. Modern Healthcare et al.

Categories: Making Sense of Meaningful Use

New Center Standardizes Vocabulary Sets for Meaningful Use Stage 2

The National Library of Medicine worked in collaboration with the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT and CMS to launch the Value Set Authority Center, which standardizes the vocabulary value sets for meaningful use Stage 2 quality measures. InformationWeek.

Categories: Making Sense of Meaningful Use

Bioethics Panel Urges Stronger Privacy Rules for Genomic Data

A report from the Presidential Commission for the Study of Bioethical Issues calls for federal and state governments to adopt consistent regulations to protect the privacy and security of individuals’ genomic data. Amy Gutmann, chair of the commission, said that nearly half of states lack laws protecting individuals from having their DNA sequenced without their consent. USA Today et al.

Categories: Making Sense of Meaningful Use

Mobile Health Use To Increase, but Barriers Remain, Report Says

A report from Frost & Sullivan predicts that the use of mobile health tools will increase over the next few years but that barriers, such as security concerns, remain. The report offers several recommendations for boosting mobile health adoption. InformationWeek.

Categories: Making Sense of Meaningful Use

Allscripts Protests After Losing Bid for Health IT Project in NYC Hospitals

Allscripts has filed a complaint with the New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation for awarding a $303 million contract to Epic Systems for a major health IT project. Allscripts said its proposal would have cost less than Epic’s contract. New York Times, Modern Healthcare.

Categories: Making Sense of Meaningful Use

GlaxoSmithKline To Open Access to Clinical Trial Data for Research

GlaxoSmithKline plans to make much of its drug data from clinical trials available to researchers starting in 2013. An expert panel will review information requests from scientists, and then GSK will make the relevant data available on a secure website. Reuters, New York Times.

Categories: Making Sense of Meaningful Use

Study Links Use of EHR Systems With Higher Care Quality Scores

A study published in the Journal of General Internal Medicine finds that doctors who use electronic health record systems achieve higher care quality scores for certain conditions than doctors using paper records. For example, nearly 66% of physician EHR users met care quality measures for chlamydia screening, compared with 53% of physicians using paper records. Healthcare IT News et al.

Categories: Making Sense of Meaningful Use

Social Security Database Restrictions Hindering Medical Research Efforts

The Social Security Administration recently decided to restrict access to certain information in its database of death records because of concerns about identity theft. Researchers say that the agency’s policy shift is negatively affecting medical studies. New York Times.

Categories: Making Sense of Meaningful Use

Advisory Committees Seek Input on Patient Identity Verification

The Health IT Policy and Standards committees are seeking input about how federal officials could help facilitate patient identity verification. Work groups of the committees plan to hold a Web hearing on the issue Oct. 29. Health Data Management, ONC’s “Health IT Buzz.”

Categories: Making Sense of Meaningful Use

HIMSS G7 Outlines Strategies To Achieve ICD-10 Compliance

HIMSS G7 — a roundtable of experts organized by the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society — has issued a report outlining strategies to ensure that health care providers are ready to meet the new ICD-10 deadline. EHR Intelligence, Modern Healthcare.

Categories: Making Sense of Meaningful Use

Health Messages on Social Media Could Help Curb STIs, Study Finds

A study finds that public health messages delivered via social media might help reduce the spread of sexually transmitted infections. According to the study, young adults who received sexual health news via Facebook were more likely to use condoms than a control group. Forbes et al.

Categories: Making Sense of Meaningful Use

GAO Praises Upgrades to Medicare Eligibility Transaction System

A new report by the Government Accountability Office finds that CMS has improved the operations of its HIPAA Eligibility Transaction System in part by implementing a series of upgrades to the hardware, software and operating system for HETS. Health Data Management, FierceHealthIT.

Categories: Making Sense of Meaningful Use

Humetrix, KinergyHealth Named Winners of Blue Button Contests

Humetrix and KinergyHealth are the winners in two contests aimed at leveraging Blue Button technology to improve patient access to health data. The Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT and the Advisory Board Company launched the contests. Modern Healthcare.

Categories: Making Sense of Meaningful Use