Bernie Monegain
Healthcare access, cost, quality and outcomes varies widely from one community to the next, both within states and across states, depending on the performance of the healthcare system available to residents, according to a new report from the Commonwealth Fund Commission on a High Performance Health System.
Who would have thought eight years ago that patient engagement would become one of the catch phrases for healthcare transformation. Yet, there it is, carefully laid out in the government’s proposed rule for meaningful use of electronic health records.
Data collected from sneaker chips will help elementary school kids get fit and stay fit. It’s the most recent project from Partners HealthCare’s Center for Connected Health. Called Step It Up, the program is going into six Boston public schools.
When Acting CMS Administrator Marilyn Tavenner said Feb. 14 that CMS would take another look at the timeline for converting from the ICD-9 billing code set to ICD-10, she unleashed a barrage of response – for and against – across the healthcare industry. The next day Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said HHS, indeed, intended to push back the deadline.
A new study by the Deloitte Center for Health Solutions indicates physicians are not using IT broadly to engage patients. No more than 20 percent of doctors are providing online scheduling or test results for their patients and just 6 percent are using social media to communicate with them, the study reveals.
The proposed Stage 2 meaningful use rule – a 455-page document – raises the bar on many Stage 1 requirements and introduces several new ones.
The umbrella of informatics is fairly broad. Really it’s applying technology to a particular area. So, in this case, it’s applying it to healthcare. It’s analyzing what components of technology are necessary to improve things.
Walgreens will use Surescripts' Clinical Interoperability services to electronically deliver patient data directly to primary care providers. The intent, say Walgreens officials, is to improve the coordination of care.
The HHS chief technology officer, widely-viewed as a driver of change, takes over from Aneesh Chopra as assistant to President Obama and U.S. CTO.
Todd Park will take over as assistant to the President and U.S. Chief Technology Officer (CTO), filling a vacancy created by last month's departure of Aneesh Chopra, the nation's first CTO.