Author: Kathie McDonald-McClure

Commercial Payors Implementing EHR Meaningful Use Criteria in P4P Programs

Kathie McDonald-McClure Health care reform, Health Information Technology, HITECH Law, Hospital EHR Stimulus, Meaningful Use, Physician EMR Stimulus , , , , , , ,

Update: On August 9, 2010, Humana, Inc. and athenahealth, Inc. announced their collaboration to provide physicians access to a practice management/EHR software system combined with a rewards program related to quality measures.  For more information, click here.

On August 5, 2010, four major commercial health insurance payors participated in the Health Industry Forum in Washington, D.C., to discuss private industry collaboration with the United States Health & Human Services Department (HHS) to support providers in the adoption of certified electronic health records (EHRs). Leading the Forum’s panel discussion was David Blumenthal, M.D., Chief of the Office of National Coordinator of HIT.  All four payors will include the Meaningful Use criteria in their pay for performance (P4P) programs.

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Electronic Health Record Incentives for Multi-Campus Hospitals Act of 2010

Kathie McDonald-McClure Electronic Health Records, Health Information Technology, HITECH Law, Hospital EHR Stimulus, Meaningful Use , , , , , ,

Update: The text of HR 6072 is now available on the Library of Congress webpage here.

On Friday, July 30, 2010, Rep. Zack Space (D-OH) and several other representatives, introduced HR 6072, the Electronic Health Record Incentives for Multi-Campus Hospitals Act of 2010 (Multi-campus Hospital Act).  If passed, this Act would reduce the disparity in payment of electronic health record (EHR) incentives between multi-hospital systems that file a Medicare cost report for the entire system under one CMS Certification Number (CCN) and systems that file a Medicare cost report for each hospital in the system with a separate CCN. A multi-hospital system in the latter group, under the current CMS Final Rule for Meaningful Use (MU), would receive, in the aggregate, a proportionately larger EHR incentive amount than a system in the first group. 

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Final Rule on Breach Notification for Unsecured Protected Health Information Delayed for Additional Review

Kathie McDonald-McClure Electronic Health Records, Federal Law Resources, Health Information Technology, HITECH Law, Privacy & Security , , ,

The following statement was recently posted on the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services’ Office of Civil Rights website:  

“The Interim Final Rule for Breach Notification for Unsecured Protected Health Information, issued pursuant to the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act, was published in the Federal Register on August 24, 2009, and became effective on September 23, 2009.  During the 60-day public comment period on the Interim Final Rule, HHS received approximately 120 comments.

“HHS reviewed the public comment on the interim rule and developed a final rule, which was submitted to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for Executive Order 12866 regulatory review on May 14, 2010.  At this time, however, HHS is withdrawing the breach notification final rule from OMB review to allow for further consideration, given the Department’s experience to date in administering the regulations.  This is a complex issue and the Administration is committed to ensuring that individuals’ health information is secured to the extent possible to avoid unauthorized uses and disclosures, and that individuals are appropriately notified when incidents do occur.  We intend to publish a final rule in the Federal Register in the coming months.”

See Breach Notification Final Rule Update

CMS Holds Training Teleconference on EHR Final Rules

Kathie McDonald-McClure EHR Certification Standards, Electronic Health Records, Eligible Professional Incentives, Health Information Technology, HITECH Law, Hospital EHR Stimulus, Meaningful Use, Physician EMR Stimulus , , , , , , ,

On Thursday, July 22, 2010, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) held a publicly available teleconference to give an overview of the 800+ page Final Rule on Meaningful Use (MU) under the HITECH Act, as well as an overview of the Final and Proposed Rules on Temporary & Permanent Certification Program and the Final Rule on the Standards and Certification Criteria for electronic health records (EHRs).  CMS is making an “encore recording” of the 90-minute teleconference available until 11:00 pm, Saturday, July 24, 2010.  Call toll-free, 1-800-642-1689 and enter the conference ID 87841621 to hear the encore recording.  CMS will post an audio recording link to the teleconference on its EHR Incentive Programs website sometime in August 2010.  The slides accompanying the audio are available on that same website, here (scroll to Downloads and click on the links for the July 22, 2010 Training materials). 

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FCC’s Investment in Broadband Health Care Technology

Kathie McDonald-McClure Health Information Technology , , ,

On July 15, 2010, the Federal Communications Commission announced that it would expand investment in broadband for medically underserved communities. This $400 million annual investment is expected to help improve medical care and reduce health care costs by enabling the development of improved health IT infrastructures and solutions in rural areas. To read the FCC’s press release, click here.