Government & Policy
As the Supreme Court hearings are getting under way, John Graham discusses why the individual mandate does not work in Massachusetts, and some inherent contradictions in the health reform law.
When ONC stands up the NwHIN-Exchange in October, there will be at least 25 partners spanning military, private and public health entities sharing patient records with each other on the back of various standards.
Leveraging NwHIN-Exchange has enabled Community Health Information Collaborative (CHIC) to win contracts with federal agencies such as the SSA and VA, improve patient care locally and become the HIE people look to as an example in its region. CHIC CEO Cheryl Stephens discusses how it all works.
U.S. Surgeon General Regina Benjamin, MD, an advocate for the use of electronic health records, touted preventive care and the benefits of healthcare reform when she spoke in Maine on Monday, the second anniversary of the Affordable Care Act.
The sector lags behind others, and many facets of healthcare and HIT are ripe for improvement, but there are bright spots and the people, policy, technology, along with the progress already made point toward a promising future.
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.