Government & Policy
As it works to broaden health information exchange capabilities across the care continuum, the Office of the National Coordinator has drawn up a certification guidance aimed at technology developers serving specialized providers who are ineligible for Medicare and Medicaid EHR incentive payments.
What I find stifling is the pace at which meaningful use is proceeding. When you put an entire industry under the MU pressure cooker, the need to meet federal mandates overwhelms anything else.
Health insurance exchanges require smarter analytics to reduce costs and ensure appropriate interventions. That starts with pulling together non-traditional data sources, tapping mobile technologies, measuring performance and insisting upon transparent BI tools.
Contractors hired by Medicare to audit the payment records of healthcare providers have a good track record spotting improper billing, the Department of Health and Human Services Inspector General concluded in a recent report, but legitimate concerns exist.
Much of the challenge nationally for bringing healthcare into the digital age, says outgoing ONC chief Farzad Mostashari, will be "getting to a common base of capabilities around the country, so that these providers...have some common assumption of what the capabilities of the systems will be around interoperability."
As the popular federal health IT leader prepares to leave his post, accountable care is making progress, but the ONC is also facing a challenging balancing act between supporting clinicians and regulating them.
The NFL team will display advertisements on its Gameday show, Facebook page, and Web site promoting the health insurance marketplace.
Should ACO patients receive better care than those under the fee-for-service model? Even if that expense falls on the provider? CMIO John Frownfelter, MD, discusses the big data approach UnityPoint is taking to answer those questions.
With all the hype surrounding big data, pinning down its ideal usage is important for planning the development and expanding uses. What goal should the healthcare industry have in mind as it explores the possibilities for improved care and lowered costs that big data presents?
It's only a matter of time until the herd of vendors is culled by federal regulations and market forces. Unless, of course, a garage developer scoops them all by creating the ultimate EHR.