Healthcare IT Update

Many reported cases involve electronic systems, but paper records are still a security threat.

Theft, loss, unauthorized access, or hacking. Whatever the breach is, HHS encourages people to turn to their computers and report it online. HHS then reports the specifics of breaches of security that affect 500 or more individuals. Presently,  64 cases are posted online, which allegedly affected about 1.2 million individuals.

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Upfront costs could give way to savings in many areas, but do your homework first, and focus on balance.

If your medical practice has been considering the switch to an electronic health records (EHR) system, you may have heard how one can improve the efficiency of your billing processes, but you might also be frightened by the significant upfront costs.

So how do you balance the benefits with the expense? Follow these experts’ advice on how EHRs might benefit the key areas of your practice.

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Cloud computing offers fresh opportunities and challenges for HIT CIOs.

Universal digital information will grow 44-fold in 11 years – from less than one zettabyte in 2009 to 35 zettabytes in 2020. (A zettabyte, by the way, is a million petabytes, and a petabyte is a million gigabytes.) This exponential growth will pose a huge challenge to HIT CIOs and other IT professionals nationwide, according to a new study.

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CMS backs up information drive for the October 1, 2013 deadline.

A new application designed for the health care sector could make transition from the ICD-9 code system to ICD-10 expanded version much easier, claim IT vendors Ingenix and Health Language, Inc. (HLI).

The new Ingenix Global Code Manager solution translates between the 13,000-item ICD-9 code set and the 68,000-code ICD-10 set — a feature that will help health care organizations shift to the new disease classification system by October 1, 2013.

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But a new survey also indicates their direct reports aren’t downloading the message.

Getting electronic medical records systems off the ground in their hospitals is the most pressing concern for chief information officers, according to a recently reported survey, but that priority is not making its way down the totem pole to the managers and directors in their IT departments.

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Beacon funding program to kick off when 130 applicants are chosen.

Fifteen lucky communities will be awarded a total of about $220 million in grants for health IT infrastructure, national coordinator for health IT David Blumenthal, MD has announced.

The grants will come from the Beacon Community program, which provides funding to communities to build and strengthen their HIT infrastructure and exchange capabilities. The chosen communities will have to “pay it forward” by achieving measurable improvements in health care quality, safety, efficiency, and population health — and then sharing lessons learned.

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Crafting log-on banners helps staff safeguard protected info.

Don’t have the time or energy to tie strings around your workforce’s fingers to remind them about the importance of safeguarding the privacy of protected health information (PHI)? Well, here’s a far more practical and effective way to remind your staff to be on guard when it comes to handling PHI.

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Study suggests EHR could improve workflow efficiency.

Answering e-mails and attending to other tasks that provide limited reimbursement keep primary care physicians busy these days, according to a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine that analyzed data from electronic health records.

Led by Richard J. Baron, MD of Greenhouse Internists, a community-based internal medicine practice in Philadelphia, the study looked into the records of 8,440 patients between 15 and 99 years of age. Using EHR, it was able to track the average daily workload of a primary care physician for one year.

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Despite the promise of new jobs, EHR errors are still causing publicity and concern.

By now we know the feds are handing out money – to colleges and non-profits, mostly – to jumpstart the adoption and meaningful use of electronic health records. But what’s recently become clear, too, is the role health information technology is playing in jumpstarting the still-saggy U.S. economy – if it will just work right.

Read on to find out how the feds are promoting HIT as the source of new jobs while concurrently making major CYA moves to deal with reports of EHR errors.

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Medical device tax could pose big costs for consumers.

Now that the $787 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) includes approximately$20 billion for healthcare IT, the administration is starting to throw a lot of money around. Just where is that $20 billion coming from?

Some industry folks think it could come in the form of a new tax on medical devices. In a recent post on the Health Data Management Blog, Editor-in-Chief Greg Gillespie spotlights this new tax – a 2.3 percent excise tax on medical devices set to go into effect in 2013. He says this figure hasn’t received much exposure in the media because it doesn’t sound like much – unless you’re in the medical devices market. The tax could generate almost $2 billion every year, says Gillespie.

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