Government & Policy
The Senate Finance committee on April 23 unanimously approved Marilyn Tavenner to head the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). Tavenner, who has been temporarily running CMS for the past two years, must now face a full Senate vote before she can officially take on the CMS Administrator position.
Max Baucus, the Montana Democrat, will continue focusing on implementation of the Affordable Care Act, among other top priorities, until he retires in 2014.
In health IT, it's a man's world. Although women account for more than 47 percent of the U.S. labor force, they hold a paltry 25 percent of senior health IT roles nationwide. Don't get used to this trend, however, say female industry leaders who are working to make the realm of information technology more accessible to women.
Two cooperative opportunities will drive a hybrid approach of comparative effectiveness research that includes a broad array of participants, including patients and researchers, that hold the potential to enable patients with actionable information.
State governments have a big job ahead in educating the public during the next several months as marketplaces are established. Many citizens will need hand-holding to understand the best healthcare option for them.
Members of a new workgroup focused on ways to improve patient safety and promote innovation in health IT, including mobile medical applications, have been selected by the Department of Health and Human Services and Federal Communications Commission. The workgroup will report to the Health IT Policy Committee which advises the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT.
At a Health IT Standards Committee meeting, ONC head Farzad Mostashari outlined his argument for a proposed vendor fees that's been rattling the industry. It would reduce financial uncertainty and sustain certification programs, he argued.
VA Secretary Eric Shinseki submitted the agency's 2014 budget, a request that was met with concerns from members of the Senate Committee on Veterans Affairs.
I wanted to learn more about the hurdles smaller, clinic-based physicians are encountering when trying to switch EHR vendors.
There was no shortage of big news made -- or announced -- at the 2013 HIMSS Annual Conference & Exhibition in New Orleans. As elusive as interoperability has been, the time has come, and people from every part of the industry are taking it seriously, including the CommonWell Health Alliance.