CMS and the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) have established standards and certification criteria that EHRs must use in order to successfully capture and calculate objectives for Stage 2 of Meaningful Use. These new standards and certification criteria now in effect.
HEALTHCARE: COLLABORATING FOR BETTER SYSTEMS
The HIT Policy Committee's Privacy and Security Tiger Team will be holding a virtual, public hearing to explore practical ways to provide patients with greater transparency about the uses and disclosures of their digital, identifiable health information.
U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued final guidance for developers of mobile medical applications, or apps, which are software programs that run on mobile communication devices and perform the same functions as traditional medical devices. The guidance outlines the FDA’s tailored approach to mobile apps.
Today ONC released new online tools [ http://www.HealthIT.gov/meaningfulconsent ] to help providers and Health Information Exchange organizations (HIEs) educate patients about the electronic sharing of their health information.
About Meaningful Consent
Today, ONC and the HHS Office for Civil Rights (OCR) released model Notices of Privacy Practices for health care providers and health plans to use to communicate with their patients and plan members.
To be able to obtain an ONC certification (and meaningful use funding for their clients) EHR vendors must follow a formal User Centered Design (UCD) process and perform summative usability testing on specific areas of the product.
The Electronic Health Record Association (EHR Association), a non-profit association of more than 40 EHR companies, created an electronic health record (EHR) Developer Code of Conduct, which aims to encourage transparency and collaboration among EHR developers, as well as developers, providers, and industry stakeholders. The latest version of the code of conduct is available as a pdf here: http://bit.ly/13A1oLc
On the first page, the very first item (after a general statement) is Patient Safety.
The code says:
Here are the Top 10 Healthcare Usability Myths Debunked
Myth # 1 Clinicians are uncomfortable with technology and just need more training.
Fact: Current HIT systems often don’t fit the way end users think and work.
Myth # 2 Put it all on 1 screen to make it easier to use.
Fact: Developers need to understand workflows and tasks to know what information is needed.
Myth # 3 Whoever has the Most features wins.
Fact: Vet your current feature set. Less may be more.
The Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT (ONC) invites you save the date and join them in D.C. (or online) on September 16 2013 to learn about public and private sector led advancements to equip and empower patients to better manage their health in a digital era. The Summit is free, but space is limited in the Great Hall and available on a first come, first serve basis. The Main Event will be webcast for those unable to join in person. The webcast URL is : http://bit.ly/13qCwcj
Today’s digital omnivores express a preference for mobile screens across all professional tasks – an important behavioral shift that has potential to dramatically shape the way developers, content providers and marketers engage with clinicians as the three-screen workflow becomes the norm. As physicians and other healthcare
A newly published survey of 1,200 physicians nationwide by the Watertown, Mass.-based athenahealth, which specializes in providing cloud-based based services for electronic health record (EHR), practice management, and care coordination, is revealing a mixed bag of opinions among doctors regarding how well electronic health records (EHRs) are working for them, with a range of views about the efficacy, cost-benefit analysis, and usability, of EHRs. Meanwhile, attitudes towards government involvement in healthcare have become more positive in the past year.
Vitera Healthcare Solutions, a provider of ambulatory electronic health records (EHR) and practice management software and services, announced a complimentary webinar to help physicians and their practices prepare for upcoming Meaningful Use Stage 2 requirements.
Physicians, practice administrators, billing managers and all office-based staff members can attend “7 Practical Steps to Meaningful Use Stage 2” on August 28, 2013, from 12 p.m. to 1 p.m. ET, by registering at www.viterahealthcare.com/MU2
Alere™ Connect has been granted a 510(k) market clearance by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for the Alere™ MobileLink. The new product offering is one of Alere's connected device technologies designed to empower patients by allowing self-testing at home and delivering data quickly and seamlessly to clinical systems accessed by their healthcare providers.
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid (CMS) maintains a FAQ database ( https://questions.cms.gov/ ) questions submitted for answers having to do with provider programs.
Teratech Corporation today announced the launch of the new uSmart 3200T Ultrasound System, the first in Terason's uSmart family of proprietary products. This revolutionary new tablet, deemed "disruptive technology" by industry leaders, will change the way healthcare is delivered in both hospital and outpatient sectors of point-of-care ultrasound.
The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology has issued new guidance for health information organizations on how to support providers in enabling patients to view, download and transmit their electronic health records data, a new requirement in Stage 2 of the EHR meaningful use program.
On July 23, 2013, the American Hospital Association and the American Medical Association sent a joint letter to HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius asking for greater flexibility in the requirements of the meaningful use program, HealthLeaders Media reports (Commins, HealthLeaders Media, 7/25).
Health care providers and vendors told a U.S. Senate committee about ongoing challenges in electronic health record (EHR) adoption and argued the federal government should consider delaying the next phase of the “meaningful use” programs and allow flexibility in meeting program requirements. The Medicare and Medicaid EHR Incentive Programs provide incentives to providers that achieve “meaningful use” of EHR and impose penalties on those that do not.
Four members of the College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (CHIME) testified to federal officials today, calling for safe, orderly transition to Meaningful Use Stage 2 that leaves no one behind.