Mary Mosquera
In a second delay in one week, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius has extended the deadline for one month for states to not only submit their blueprints for a state-based health insurance exchange, but also to decide if they plan to establish their own exchange.
As providers and hospitals drive toward meaningful use of certified EHRs, the ONC is at work on how the identity of individuals should be verified when they electronically access their health records.
Federal campaign builds usership to 1 million
When the National Institute of Standards and Technology recently selected Aegis.Net to establish a health IT test standard and interoperability as part of meaningful use of electronic health records, it highlighted the rising importance of interoperability testing.
Broadband networks are spurring improved quality and helping lower the cost of care in rural areas by reducing time to access of critical treatment and increasing the resources available to diagnose conditions.
The Medicaid expansion was supposed to be the least controversial part of the health reform lawsuit. But since the Supreme Court essentially made broadening its eligibility voluntary for states, not a day goes by without news reports guessing how Medicaid will fare in the future.
The catalog of meaningful tasks - from clinical decision support and care coordination, to quality and safety, patient engagement, and population health - promises to go a long way toward improving care, and the requirements are also apt to stretch hospitals and physicians as they work to achieve Stage 3 meaningful use.
The Hawaii Island Beacon Community is focused on improving care for individuals with complex chronic conditions to avoid hospital readmissions, and engaging patients to better understand and get involved in their care. Contributing Editor Mary Mosquera saw first-hand how it works.
Most of the headlines about the choice of Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan as running mate for presidential candidate Mitt Romney have screamed about how the author of the House budget plan would upend the Medicare program and upset seniors' certainty about healthcare. Ryan's plans for Medicaid, however, are more extreme and immediate.
The Supreme Court ruled on June 28 that it is constitutional to require all Americans to either obtain health insurance coverage or pay a penalty, defying the expectations of many that the majority conservative leaning justices would strike it down.