HITECH Act ‘lit a fire’ under health systems


The nation's employers can expect a 9 percent jump in medical costs in 2011, according to a new report from PricewaterhouseCoopers, which details the reasons for the anticipated hike and highlights the possibility for savings over the long term – including the increasing use of electronic health records. "Health reform delivers only a minor impact on the underlying medical cost trends in 2011 and introduces hundreds of changes in the healthcare system designed to reduce costs and improve efficiencies in the long-term," said Kelly A. Barnes, U.S. health industries leader at PricewaterhouseCoopers. "These changes could bring significant new cost savings opportunities for employers and payers as well as new choices and transparency for workers buying insurance." 
"The mandates of the HITECH Act, passed in 2009, lit a fire under health systems because of the potential bonuses and future penalties for not complying with the new regulations," the report asserts.

Study reveals limited expectations for use of clinical data


Healthcare providers and payers face complex challenges when trying to maximize the value of their clinical data, but their expectations for clinical analytics vary significantly, according to a new study. "Can Organizations Maximize Clinical Data," a HIMSS Analytics study sponsored by San Diego-based clinical analytics company Anvita Health, was released last month. HIMSS Analytics conducted a focus group study of chief medical officers and chief medical informatics officers at payer and provider organizations. The study examines how members of each group define clinical analytics, how they analyze clinical data, which tools they use to analyze the data, and the challenges of using clinical data to improve their business.

IT adoption is about more than technology


The message from the HIMSS Virtual Conference and Expo session "The Roadmap of EMR Adoption and IT Hospital Success" was clear: IT implementation isn't just a technology project. It's a clinical one. The complexity of these projects has been steadily increasing, said Jim Deren, director of IS planning at Troy, Mich.-based CareTech Solutions. "Moving into the 1990s, hospitals were using more technology – patient scheduling and emergence of Web-base technology – and started embracing the PC world," said Deren. "Now, it's been getting much more complex. Organizations have a lot of data output and usage. And over the last two years, meaningful use has become the number-one thing IT people have been talking about."

Indiana Health Information Exchange expands


Leaders of the Indiana Health Information Exchange (IHIE) - claiming to be the largest HIE organization in the country – announced the exchange would expand to serve patients in Terre Haute and Clinton, Ind. Union Hospital, a 380-bed community healthcare facility with 2,400 employees, is the largest nonprofit healthcare provider between St. Louis, Mo. and Indianapolis, serving patients from west central Indiana and east central Illinois. It will join 60 other hospitals serving more than 6 million patients throughout the state as part of IHIE.