Mary Mosquera

The Department of Health and Human Services has a few glaring management and performance issues it needs to work out in the coming year -- at least according to a new report put out by the Office of Inspector General.

Healthcare providers may face disruptions in their payments even if they are on target to operate using ICD-10 codes on Oct. 1, 2014. Experts advise having up to several months' cash reserves or access to cash through a loan or line of credit to avoid potential headaches.

Bending to criticism that requirements were burdensome and complex, the Obama Administration announced late Tuesday it would delay until 2015 a key provision in the healthcare reform law -- the requirement that businesses with more than 50 employees must offer them insurance.

San Diego-based Humetrix has expanded the ways patients and physicians can exchange health records via its iBlueButton app using not only iPhones and iPads but also Android devices with secure Quick Response code to transfer the patient's Blue Button record between systems.

At the National Health Policy Conference in Washington this past week, officials from the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT and the National Institute of Standards and Technology made the case that EHRs must be usable -- and useful -- lest the huge investments in them be wasted.

For the second time, President Barack Obama has nominated Marilyn Tavenner to be permanent administrator for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. She has been serving as acting administrator since December 2011, when Donald Berwick, MD, stepped down.

Leaders of healthcare policy encouraged the industry to move ahead faster during a keynote address at the National Health Policy Conference in Washington, D.C., on Feb. 4 "...help us speed up the rate of change," Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius encouraged conference attendees.

ChenMed, a family owned primary care practice, has developed a delivery model focused on care for seniors with complicated healthcare issues, including heart disease, diabetes, dementia, and cancer.

The business value for providers and patients is what will drive health information exchange forward, even though most discussions typically center on the technology involved. And different uses for exchange will require different technologies.

The Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT has begun listening sessions to identify and understand the experience and barriers of organizations as they prepare to scale up health information exchange.