Yesterday, I participated in a National Library of Medicine Conference called "Long term Preservation and Management of the EHR.” Given that the electronic health record is a legal record, a source of data for clinical care, and a repository of knowledge for clinical research, how do we preserve it for a sufficiently long period of time to maximize value to patient, caretaker, and scientist?
Health Information Technology
Meaningful Use attestation: Which hospitals will go first?
Last week CMS announced that attestation for the Medicare EHR Incentive Program (Stage 1 of Meaningful Use) will open on April 18, 2011.
Their announcement includes screenshots of the attestation website that will be used by eligible professionals, eligible hospitals, and critical access hospitals to document meaningful use of certified EHR technology.
Prior to attestation, all providers must register through CMS’ web-based Medicare and Medicaid EHR Incentive Program Registration and Attestation System.
Explainer: Health care reform’s Accountable Care Organizations
Since the Affordable Care Act passed, many senior healthcare executives have told me – “I do not know what an Accountable Care Organization is, but I know we need to be one!”
On March 31, HHS released the Accountable Care Organization Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, so now we know what an Accountable Care Organization must be. From the Introduction:
Practice Fusion closes $23 million round | Funding roundup
Practice Fusion Inc. added $23 million to its coffers as the company closed its Series B round.
The round was lead by Founders Fund, whose managing partner Peter Thiel was the first investor in Facebook.
Practice Fusion may not have the same implications for societal change as Founders’ most famous investment, but its electronic medical record system is adding users at a rate that’s faster than Facebook’s.
Health care IT: Independent organizations can share data
Evolving accountable care organizations will need to coordinate care, measure quality, and implement the tools needed to manage wellness. All these goals require novel IT infrastructure and applications.
I’ve prepared a roadmap which illustrates how every EHR and Hospital Information System among all our affiliated partners exchanges (or will soon exchange data). Yesterday, an important part of that strategy, bidirectional data exchange between Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center’s systems and Atrius Epic System went live.
Federal Health IT Standards Committee: March meeting
The March HIT Standards Committee (a Federal Advisory Committee) meeting focused on the Stage 2 Meaningful Use work ahead, the Direct Project, certificate management, provider directories, devices, and plans to ensure the certification process has the tools and scripts it needs to reduce the burden on vendors and self-certifiers.
Updox lands tax credit from Ohio for job creation
Health information technology company Updox LLC won a job-creation tax credit from the state of Ohio valued at $258,000 over six years.
The tax credit is aimed at helping the company expand its Dublin, Ohio work force. Updox would hire 45 workers, which would generate $2.8 million in payroll related to the expansion project. The company would make an investment of $675,000 in machinery and equipment.
If the company accepts the tax credit, it would agree to maintain operations in Dublin for nine years, according to the Ohio Department of Development (ODOD).
Federal health IT strategic plan: The government’s five goals
On March 25, the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) released the Federal Healthcare IT Strategic Plan 2011-2015.
Here’s an outline of the five goals and a bit of commentary:
Goal I: Achieve Adoption and Information Exchange through Meaningful Use of Health IT
A. Accelerate adoption of electronic health records
OnPoint Medical hopes to overcome its incubator’s collapse
Health IT company OnPoint Medical Diagnostics Inc. could be the silver lining of the collapsed Minnesota incubator Healthcare IP Partners.
The organization fell to pieces in less than two years after trying to commercialize Mayo Clinic technology, such as the kind used by OnPoint.
Most of the incubator’s five spinoffs have uncertain futures.
ADP enters health IT market with AdvancedMD takeover | Acquisitions roundup
Human resources service provider Automatic Data Processing Inc. (NSDQ:ADP) jumped into the healthcare information technology market with the acquisition of AdvancedMD.
Salt Lake City-based AdvancedMD is a 200-employee company that provides cloud-based practice management and electronic medical record products. Its services are currently used by about 4,100 practices, according to ADP.
Ascom wins FDA 510(k) clearance for patient alert system
A medical alert system developed by wireless communications company Ascom Holding AG (SWX:ASCN) received 510(k) clearance from the Food & Drug Administration, and now the company is gearing up to bring the new offering to its installed customer base of nearly 1,200 U.S. hospitals.