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The credo "first, do no harm" applies not just to medical professionals, but to health IT intended to improve patient care, suggests a health-care management company executive. Dr. Wendy Whittington, chief medical officer of Dallas-based Anthelio Healthcare Solutions, told Healthcare Payer...
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Incentive payments to health-care providers who implement electronic health record systems continue to rise rapidly, with more than 225,000 practices and hospitals registered to receive payments under Medicare, Medicaid, or both, according to the most recent monthly report from the Centers for Medicare...
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Health IT Update
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Mon, Apr 23 2012
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Filed under: Medical Records, Meaningful Use, Stimulus Package, Software, HHS, Policy, Technology, Standards, Health reform, Health costs
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Electronic medical records are as outdated as pre-World Wide Web computer servers, with neither able to communicate with other sites electronically, writes a Texas internal medicine specialist who blogs under the name RangelMD. In other words, the doctor writes, EMRs are no Facebook. "(T)he vast...
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The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is delaying by a year the deadline for health-care organizations to comply with new electronic disease-classification codes. The new deadline will be Oct. 14, 2014. The postponement, announced today, gives health IT and health care providers and medical...
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Health IT Update
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Mon, Apr 9 2012
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Filed under: Medical Records, Meaningful Use, Outcomes, telemedicine, HHS, Policy, Technology, Industry, Standards, Regulation, Health reform
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Instead of striving for "meaningful use" of electronic health records, health-care providers aiming to provide accountable care should shoot for "optimal use" of EHRs, argues a Wisconsin hospital executive. "In the future, we'll want to ensure that we're using EHRs to...
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It turns out that setting up a health information exchange is relatively easy. Sustaining one is tricky. That's the contention of a report, "Best Practices: Establishing Sustainable Health Information Exchange," released Monday by IDC Health Insights, a health IT consultancy based in Framingham...
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The nation's health IT czar and the head of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services issued a joint statement encouraging states to help CMS meet its 2012 goal of paying incentives to 100,000 health care providers for achieving "meaningful use" of electronic health records. Acting...
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Health IT Update
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Thu, Mar 29 2012
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Filed under: Medical Records, Meaningful Use, Outcomes, Stimulus Package, Software, HHS, Policy, Technology, Standards, Regulation, Health reform, Treatment, Health costs
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The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has updated its proposed procedures for evaluating the usability of electronic health records, saying the three-step protocol "encourages a user-centered approach" to EHR development. "This guidance can be a useful tool for EHR...
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Health IT Update
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Mon, Mar 26 2012
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Filed under: Medical Records, Meaningful Use, Outcomes, Software, telemedicine, Policy, Technology, Industry, Standards, Regulation, Health reform
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Health IT vendors and health care providers are far from ready to start using a new international medical coding system known as ICD-10, according to a recent survey by the Workgroup for Electronic Data Interchange (WEDI), a nonprofit industry advisory group. In a March 15 letter to Lorraine Doo, deputy...
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Health IT Update
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Mon, Mar 26 2012
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Filed under: Medical Records, Outcomes, Software, HHS, Policy, Technology, Industry, Standards, Regulation, Health reform
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In addition to diagnosing and treating everything from heart problems to headaches, doctors in training must learn how to use health IT in their practice, according to a study published in this month's Health Affairs journal. And the training shouldn't end there, contend the authors of "The...
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Health IT Update
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Wed, Mar 21 2012
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Filed under: Medical Records, Meaningful Use, Outcomes, Software, telemedicine, HHS, Policy, Technology, Standards, Health reform, Treatment
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The federal government's proposed regulations for "next level" electronic health record performance will emphasize patients' electronic access to their health records and enhanced sharing of information throughout "transitions of care." The new Stage 2 meaningful-use guidelines...
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Health IT Update
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Fri, Feb 24 2012
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Filed under: Medical Records, Meaningful Use, Outcomes, Stimulus Package, Software, HHS, Security, Policy, Technology, Industry, Standards, Health reform, Treatment
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The Federal Register will publish proposed regulations for the second stage of electronic health record meaningful-use guidelines on Thursday, according to the national coordinator for health IT, Dr. Farzad Mostashari. There had been speculation that the rules might have been released Tuesday or Wednesday...
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Health IT Update
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Wed, Feb 22 2012
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Filed under: Medical Records, Meaningful Use, Outcomes, Stimulus Package, Software, telemedicine, HHS, Policy, Technology, Industry, Standards, Regulation, Health reform
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Health-care providers still have a lot of work to do to meet key health IT requirements expected under the government's Stage 2 "meaningful use" standard, a new industry report finds. CSC, an IT consulting firm based in Falls Church, Va., says the following essential areas require immediate...
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Health IT Update
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Fri, Feb 10 2012
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Filed under: Medical Records, Meaningful Use, Outcomes, Software, HHS, Policy, Technology, Industry, Standards, Regulation, Health reform, Treatment
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While health-care professionals seem to love iPads, health IT professionals are less enamored with the consumer-friendly tablet computers, according to a new industry report. Doctors and others are more likely to use technology they like, which could help chief information officers get everyone on board...
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Health IT Update
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Mon, Feb 6 2012
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Filed under: Medical Records, Outcomes, Software, Security, Policy, Technology, Industry, Standards, Regulation, Health reform, Treatment, Health costs
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A major U.S. Department of Health and Human Services contractor has fallen behind in its efforts to promote electronic health records, concluded the General Accountability Office in a Jan. 13 report. The contractor, the not-for-profit National Quality Foundation, or NQF, failed to deliver five of eight...