Healthcare IT Update

Linuxerist & Burton Samograd

EHRs can make your life easier, if your staff training is comprehensive.

Your electronic health record (EHR) system may be helpful in filling in documents on your behalf — but make sure it isn’t filling in more than it should.

As most practices are aware, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 offers annual bonuses to practices that show “meaningful use” of EHRs over a five year period starting in 2011. In 2015, practices that aren’t meaningful users will face penalties.

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Innovation and communication are keys to vendor-provider relationship.

The fevered search for HIT vendors continues for many health care organizations. It’s always nice to hear about vendors who are singled out for their excellence in the specific area of HIT — many companies claim to know the area, but do your research before believing what you’re told in a marketing meeting.

Five firms have made it to the top list of health care IT companies with the most potential in 2010, according to a HIT industry group. Read on to find out who they are.

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Doubt over financial viability could be the only thing holding them back.

Home monitoring devices could be the next big thing in health care, but the technology won’t catch on unless doctors get a more lucrative financial incentive for using the technology.

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Respondents fear unresolved reimbursement issues could be a barrier.

The use of telehealth technology will have a positive impact on the health care industry over the next 10 years, a poll by Intel suggests.

Eighty-nine percent of the health care decision makers polled put their bets on the technology, but also expressed some reservations, including the reluctance of patients and caregivers to try it, and the issue of reimbursement.

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HITECH Act requires use of EHRs as tools to inform about disclosures under Privacy Rule.

Health care organizations and providers thought they dodged a bullet long ago when they convinced HHS to exclude disclosures of patient data used in the process of treatment and payments from the HIPAA privacy rules. But now, thanks to the HITECH Act, HHS is back, wondering what would be so terrible about requiring an accounting of such disclosures now.

Through a request for information issued in early May titled HIPAA Privacy Rule Accounting of Disclosures Under the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (75 Fed Reg 23214 May 3, 2010), the HHS Office for Civil Rights says it expects to learn more about the interests of individuals, and the administrative burden on covered entities as well as business associates, concerning accounting for such disclosures.

Under current standards of the HIPAA Privacy Rule, an individual has the right to receive a listing – known as an accounting of disclosures — that explains when a HIPAA covered entity discloses the individual’s information to others. The current rule, however, does not require a covered entity to list disclosures to carry out treatment, payment, and health care operations.

The HITECH Act of 2009 upgrades the current rule by providing an individual a right to receive information about disclosures made through a covered entity’s use of electronic health records for purposes of carrying out treatment, payment, and health care operations. To do this, the covered entity must have the capacity to track, store and compile a vast amount of information regarding EHRs.

Specifically, the OCR’s RFI seeks comments from health consumers and health care providers/organizations concerning:

• What are the benefits to the individual of an accounting of disclosures made for treatment, payment, and health care operations purposes?
• If you are a covered entity, how do you make clear to individuals their right to receive an accounting of disclosures? How many requests for an accounting have you received from individuals?
• What is the feasibility of an EHR module that is exclusively dedicated to accounting for disclosures (both disclosures that must be tracked for the purpose of accounting under the current HIPAA Privacy Rule and disclosures to carry out treatment, payment, and health care operations)? Would such a module work with covered entities that maintain decentralized EHR systems?

After reviewing comments from the RFI, HHS is expected to issue a Notice of Public Rulemaking on the new accounting for disclosures regulations with a 60-day comment period, according to the law firm McDermott Will & Emery. Final rules will follow thereafter.

There is money to be given out to medical practices for using EMRs. AUDIO: Medical Coding 101: The Need-to-Know for CEOs.

Use this checklist on your next walkthrough to make sure you’re not overlooking crucial security breaches.

It’s always a good idea to complete regular walkthroughs in your health care organization in order to quickly and easily monitor your staff’s HIPAA compliance.

Read on to find a helpful tool for HIT pros in the form of a checklist.

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Pilot program in South Florida enters testing stage.

Voice or speech recognition has been a useful technology for fields including special education, call centers, and national defense. The health care sector could be the next bandwagon passenger, as regulators in Florida are beginning to use voice recognition to combat fraud.

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Will using EMRs cause physicians to sacrifice personal communication with patients?

While electronic medical records (EMRs) have their downsides – the main one being start-up expenses – a new possible problem is revealed in a recent report released by the Center for Studying Health System Change.

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Apple’s latest endeavor could be core to mobile health care of the future.

The iPhone is smart enough to be your home or office computer’s mini-version, so what’s to keep Steve Jobs from becoming your mini-health monitor?

iPhone maker Apple has applied for a patent on an integrated sensor that can monitor a user’s cardiac activity.

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Experts emphasize balance between patient care and privacy.

Personal health data is less secure now than it was a year ago, according to a recent online survey by nCircle, an IT solutions provider.

Almost half of the 257 people who participated in the survey said they are anxious about the fact that multiple partners of their health care providers (i.e., such as EHR vendors and insurers) have access to personal electronic information — increasing the risk of security breaches.

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