Government & Policy
David Bodycombe of the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health on how health IT -- EHRs, predictive modeling, PHRs, genomic profiles -- are ushering in an era of greater individualization of care that will improve, among other things, treatment of patients with multi-morbidities.
Classic wedge or media ploy? Either way, the contraception controversy and proposed legislation may be more a tactic to get women to voting booths than anything else.
Just in time to consider for comments on ONC's proposed rule on meaningful use Stage 2 (comment period ends May 7), John Loonsk, MD, makes a case for data transfer standards more functional than SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) called for in MU Stage 2 - Loonsk describes SMTP as a "dead end."
Not since 1965, with the advent Medicare, has the U.S. experienced such a tumultuous time in healthcare policy. It is both exciting and a bit frightening, to all involved.
President Barack Obama and GOP frontrunner Mitt Romney will have to strike the fine balance of containing costs while deciding where they stand on Medicare expansion, as Tuesday's primary in Pennsylvania displays.
The meaningful use Stage 2 NPRM suggests SMTP as the transaction technology to connect all EHRs -- a decision more political than tech-savvy -- but the standard introduces new security concerns, supports only push, and falls short of what many people consider necessary for health information exchange. But there's still time left in the public comments period.
Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and Attorney General Eric Holder recently highlighted the Obama Administration's efforts to prevent Medicare fraud, through the Affordable Care Act and the Health Care Fraud Prevention and Enforcement Action Team (HEAT).
Despite delays, and billing glitches, progress is being made on the conversion. And there are benefits to the HIPAA 5010 mandate that healthcare entities will reap once they comply.
Heather Haugen, the Breakaway Group's vice president of research, explains how the healthcare industry has to change for ICD-10.
William Yasnoff, president of the Health Record Banking Alliance explains how the extensible service, MyDataCan, could be critical to facilitating our nation's health information infrastructure. But only if it the service is valuable enough to attract a large number of users.