Kentucky Governor establishes Office of Electronic Health Information

August 19, 2009September 15, 2009 Kathie McDonald-McClure Health Information Technology, HITECH Law, State HIT Grants & Loans ARRA HIT Grants, HITECH Act, Kentucky Health Information Technology, linkedin

On August 14, 2009, Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear signed an Executive Order creating Kentucky’s Office of Electronic Health Information. This new Office will be the conduit for development of health information exchanges and the stimulus grants available to states under the HITECH Act. The Secretary of Kentucky’s Cabinet for Health and Family Services is vested with authority to appoint the Executive Director for the Office.

The press release announcing the creation of the office states that the Kentucky E-Health Network Board, which is administratively attached to the Cabinet for Health and Family Services, will also serve as an integral resource to the Office as it moves forward. CHFS Secretary Janie Miller said, “The Governor’s action will allow the Commonwealth to be in a position to apply for federal stimulus funds for planning and implementation of health information exchange to support infrastructure and build resource capacity, particularly for underserved communities.” The Executive Order’s effective date is August 16, 2009.

HIT Policy Committee Workgroup Releases Second Draft of “Meaningful Use”

July 15, 2009December 18, 2009 Kathie McDonald-McClure Electronic Health Records, Health Information Technology, HITECH Law, Meaningful Use EHR, Electronic Health Records, Health Information Technology, HIT, HITECH Act, Meaningful Use, ONC

On Thursday, July 16, 2009, the HIT Policy Committee presented its revised recommendation on the “meaningful use” definition. At the end of this meeting, the HIT Policy Committee forwarded its recommendation on the “meaningful use” definition to the Office of National Coordinator per the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (“HITECH Act”). The revised meaningful use matrix, 2011 Draft Quality Measures and other materials presented or discussed during the MU meeting on July 16, 2009 are available on the HIT Policy Committee webpage.

IOM Releases Top 100 Priorities for Comparative Effectiveness Research

June 30, 2009July 20, 2009 Kathie McDonald-McClure Comparative Effectiveness Research, Health care reform, HITECH Law ARRA, CER, Comparative Effectiveness Research, Health care reform, HITECH Act, Intitute of Medicine, IOM

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009 placed a mandate on the Institute of Medicine (IOM) to recommend national priorities for research questions to be addressed by comparative effectiveness research (CER) and supported by the ARRA stimulus funds. Pursuant to this mandate, on June 30, 2009, the IOM released a report, titled Initial National Priorities for Comparative Effective Research (Report). As described by the IOM, the Report “establishes a working definition of CER, develops a priority list of research topics to be undertaken with ARRA funding using broad stakeholder input, and identifies the necessary requirements to support a robust and sustainable CER enterprise.”

CMS Website on ARRA’s Health Information Technology Includes Fact Sheet with FAQs

June 26, 2009September 15, 2009 Kathie McDonald-McClure Electronic Health Records, Eligible Professional Incentives, Federal Law Resources, Health Information Technology, HITECH Law, Hospital EHR Stimulus, Privacy & Security eligible professional incentives for electronic medical records, Federal Law Resources, Health Information Technology, HIT, HITECH Act, hospital incentives for EHRs

On June 16, 2009, on the same date the ONC HIT Policy Committee released the first draft of “meaningful use” of electronic health records (EHRs), the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) launched the CMS Health Information Technology Website to address health information technology (Health IT or HIT) under the ARRA’s Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (HITECH Act). The CMS HIT website focuses on the following three areas of ARRA Health IT:

Health IT incentives and support for adoption
Establishment of Health IT standards and infrastructure
Privacy and security pertaining to Health IT

These are the three main areas pertaining to Health IT in which CMS will be involved under the HITECH Act.

Comment period on first draft of “meaningful use” closes Friday, June 26, 2009

June 24, 2009June 26, 2009 Kathie McDonald-McClure Electronic Health Records, Health care reform, Health Information Technology, HITECH Law, Meaningful Use Health Information Technology, HIT, HITECH Act, HITECH implementation, Meaningful Use, meaningful use of certified EHR, ONCHIT

As I previously reported in my June 17, 2009 post, the Meaningful Use Workgroup of the Office of National Coordinator’s HIT Policy Committee presented its initial draft of “meaningful use” at the Committee’s June 16, 2009 HIT Policy Committee meeting. The complete Meaningful Use Matrix setting out the objectives and measures for 2011, 2013 and 2015, can be reviewed on the HIT Policy Committee webpage. To submit comments on the draft, go to the HIT Policy Committee homepage and click on the Meaningful Use Comment Instructions in the box in the top right-hand corner of the page. Public comments are due by June 26, 2009.