Government & Policy

HIMSS vice president Dave Roberts is running for the San Diego County Board of Supervisors in a non-partisan race. Even there, healthcare is as contentious an issue as they come.

All are anxiously awaiting the ruling due by June's end, but some states are stalling on health reform measures, while others are forging ahead. But even if the Supreme Court strikes down the law, or pieces of it, there are at least 3 aspects states should continue pursuing.

While Delaware is moving slowly on health insurance exchanges and other pieces of health reform, it has demonstrated it is an innovator, having established the first operational statewide health information exchange in the country in May 2007.

The changes taking place in U.S. healthcare as a result of rapid healthcare IT adoption leave the nation's health IT chief Farzad Mostashari optimistic – especially about improving quality, he told the audience at a recent meeting of the National Quality Forum as he urged: "Keep our eyes on the prize."

There is room for improving how the government measures whether hospitals and physicians have met the requirements for meaningful use of EHRs to prevent improper payments, according to the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO).

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services plans to develop verification data and services to support coverage and eligibility infrastructure for health insurance exchanges and seeks industry information about applications that are available.

Catholic Health Initiatives is partnering with Orion Health to build an enterprise-wide HIE that will enable physicians and clinicians to access patient records across its 100 facilities in 19 states. Once connected, CHI plans to link to statewide HIEs in states where its 76 hospitals are located.

Catholic Health Initiatives is partnering with Orion Health to build an enterprise-wide HIE that will enable physicians and clinicians to access patient records across its 100 facilities in 19 states. Once connected, CHI plans to link to statewide HIEs in states where its 76 hospitals are located.

Questions being posed at the Government Health IT Conference in Washington this week relate to standards, EHRs, HIE, and distributed queries -- all geared toward public and population health.

The VA and DoD are setting a model the rest of the country will want to follow with the joint iEHR. Traficant explains the SOA piece of iEHR, and the brilliance of bringing in the open source community.