Government & Policy
Moving toward a true open source approach with Connect, the Federal Health Architecture plans to hold an industry day to understand existing options. FHA director Lauren Thompson says the group is also working on a governance structure for its federal partners.
Earlier this year, a Washington think tank whose healthcare wing is led by two former Senate Majority Leaders, put its weight behind more widespread use of IT in healthcare organizations nationwide.
New York hookers spreading HIV. Killer mosquitos. An anthrax-toting terrorist. An urban-scape rife with the sick and poor. These are just some of the challenges tackled by Farzad Mostashari, a Yale-educated physician, epidemiologist and self-confessed computer nerd. His current mission: moving doctors from the Age of Gutenberg into the 21st century. For starters, he'd like them to use e-mail at the office.
Between the lines of the proposed rules is CMS' recognition that meaningful use will take 4 years, right alongside mention that much of the existing EHR technology does not support certain MU2 core and menu objectives, while goals in patient engagement, care coordination, public health reporting, and medication reconciliation through HIE remains -- and then there's the foreshadowing of stage 4.
The HHS chief technology officer, widely-viewed as a driver of change, takes over from Aneesh Chopra as assistant to President Obama and U.S. CTO.
Todd Park will take over as assistant to the President and U.S. Chief Technology Officer (CTO), filling a vacancy created by last month's departure of Aneesh Chopra, the nation's first CTO.
HL7: not just for IT anymore. That thinking is the catalyst behind a triptych of recent moves designed to open the standards process up to more health professionals, notably caregivers.
By involving more health professionals -- caregivers specifically -- the organization hopes to not only enhance aspects of HL7 such as usability, workflow, domain content, but also to enable a more comprehensive and specific manner of decision support at the point of care. Well, that and other initiatives in genomics and mobile health.
Jimmy Farris played for the Redskins and Falcons. Now, he's looking to harness that grit in a fight for Idaho congress, and among his campaign strategies is to point out the benefits health reform has already brought to Idahoans.
For physicians, the proposed rule for meaningful use Stage 2 offers some changes that make it easier for healthcare providers to demonstrate the requirements, including aligning measures with other quality reporting programs.