Government & Policy
Preventing hospital-acquired infections (HAIs) with UV light has been the recent focus of federal attention. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has launched a two-year study that will measure the effectiveness of using advanced, no-touch environmental UV disinfection technology to reduce infections.
Interoperability is a lynchpin for health IT advancement, yet it is lacking, Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) told the audience at the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology 2012 Annual Meeting, Dec. 12 in Washington, DC.
The ONC and NIH are working the EU health agencies to develop international interoperability standards, with the goal of increasing patient access to personal health information globally.
The Workgroup for Electronic Data Interchange (WEDI) announced Thursday that it is conducting its latest online ICD-10 industry progress survey.
New findings show that communities where hospitals, other healthcare providers and community services work together to coordinate evidence-based hospital discharges and provide better support in the community can see a 6 percent drop in hospitalizations and rehospitalizations per 1,000 beneficiaries in just the first two years.
A look at how the Health eDecisions project is aimed at bolstering mainstream use of evidence-based practices.
The enhanced set of protections finalized in the omnibus HIPAA privacy and security rule released Jan.17 now becomes the new baseline for anyone who handles health information. It doesn't change meaningful use requirements, but combined, the two may drive more providers to protect patient data, according to privacy and security experts.
Despite offering certain clarifications, the final rule on HIPAA privacy and security leaves some areas open to interpretation, data breach notification among those.
Eleven states have received $1.5 billion more in grants from the Health and Human Services Department to support their creation of health insurance exchanges, which must be ready in October for enrollment season.
The final rule, released Jan. 17, fills in gaps and finalizes some changes to safeguard the privacy, security, and enforcement of patient information.