EVENTS

MAY

Brookings Event on Mobile Technology, Health Innovation

Washington, D.C.

MAY

Workshop on Best Practices for EHR Usability

Gaithersburg, Md.

MAY

HealthTech's Annual Exhibition, Conference

San Francisco

View All Events

FROM THE FOUNDATION

Patient Health Data, Understood

Most patient health records today are hard for consumers to understand. CHCF asked high-end designers what a "human-centered" approach might look like.

The Health Datapalooza

Register now for the June 5-6 HDI Forum III in Washington, DC, on health innovation that will include renowned speakers, breakout sessions, and an apps expo replete with demos, developers, and designers.

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HHS Launches Website To Track Data on U.S. Health Care Trends

Yesterday, HHS launched an online tool called the Health System Measurement Project to help health care professionals, policymakers and the public track U.S. health care trends. The website provides data on access to care, disease prevention, health IT and other issues. In addition, users can view health indicators by certain demographic characteristics. CMIO et al.

Experts Offer Guidance on How To Participate in EHR Incentive Program

In an Archives of Internal Medicine article, National Coordinator for Health IT Farzad Mostashari, former CMS Administrator Donald Berwick and other experts provide information about the meaningful use program and offer guidance to help health care providers participate. MedPage Today.

Public Hospital Group Seeks More Flexibility in Meaningful Use Rules

In a new issue brief, the National Association of Public Hospitals & Health Systems offered several recommendations for increasing flexibility in the meaningful use program, such as allowing a three-year timeframe between the Stage 1 and Stage 2 deadlines for the program. FierceHealthIT.

Physician Practices Call for Additional Time To Submit E-Rx Exemptions

Yesterday, the Medical Group Management Association-American College of Medical Practice Executives asked CMS to extend the deadline for health care providers to submit hardship exemptions to avoid penalties under the electronic prescribing program. Modern Physician.

Texas Physicians Urge HHS To Forgo Shift to ICD-10 Coding System

In a letter to HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, the Texas Medical Association called for the federal government to skip the transition to ICD-10 code sets. Instead, TMA suggested that the U.S. wait to implement ICD-11 code sets or adopt SNOMED-CT standards. Modern Healthcare.

University of California Spearheading New Initiative To Mine 'Big Data' in Health Care

NIH Director Francis Collins, Atul Butte of the Stanford School of Medicine, David Patterson of the University of California-Berkeley and Taylor Sittler of UC-San Francisco discussed new efforts to mine "big data" for health care and scientific research.

Running Time: 4:48

DATA POINTS

What Percentage of Physicians From Various U.S. Regions Have Adopted an EHR System?

Rates of electronic health record adoption among physicians in the Northeast U.S. grew from 19.9% in 2002 to 52.1% in 2011, while EHR adoption rates among physicians in the Western U.S. grew from 19.5% in 2002 to 60.8% in 2011, according to a recent Health Affairs study.

FEATURES

Business Partners: A New Risk to Health Data Security?

by John Moore, iHealthBeat Contributing Reporter

Third-party business associates were involved in many of the largest health data breaches that occurred last year. Experts say that business associate agreements help to ensure the security of patient data, but the agreements might not go far enough.

PERSPECTIVES

ONC Must Go Further To Achieve Flexibility in its 2014 Edition

by Marie Copoulos

The Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT's proposed rule outlining standards and criteria for the certification of EHRs under the meaningful use program is a step in the right direction, but it doesn't go far enough in creating true flexibility.