Policy and Legislation

Stories on healthcare IT policy focus on subjects such as legislative developments impacting healthcare IT, regulations for the use of IT in the delivery of healthcare, guidelines for monitoring quality of care, and funding opportunities in healthcare IT. Policy stories often deal with the federal, state and local institutions responsible for regulating the healthcare IT industry.



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14.6 percent of docs are not eligible for MU, don't have an EHR
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HHS aims to help public gauge how healthcare is doing
May 16, 2012 | Mary Mosquera
The Department of Health and Human Services has made available an online tool that makes it easy for the public to monitor and measure how the nation's healthcare system is performing.
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N.Y. man defrauds Medicare of $70,000 in medical device reimbursements
May 15, 2012 | Diana Manos
A New York man pleaded guilty in district court this week for forging physician's chart notes to make Medicare or private carrier claims qualify for reimbursements for bone growth stimulator medical devices.
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7 common myths about data encryption
May 14, 2012 | Michelle McNickle
Although data encryption is becoming a valuable option to protect against breached PHI, certain myths and misconceptions about it still exists, according to a new report by WinMagic Data Security. The report outlines and debunks seven common myths about data encryption.
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Not retiring at 65: Physician goes from anti-EHR to pro-ACO
May 14, 2012 | Diana Manos
Jeffrey Selwyn, an internist at New Pueblo Medicine in Tucson, Ariz., is 65, but he says he's nowhere near retiring. Unlike many docs his age who are throwing in the towel due to the increased pressures on physicians to use EHRs, Selwyn is excited. He wasn't always a fan, however.
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$20B in incentives go to waste each year, says study
May 14, 2012 | Stephanie Bouchard
More than 75 percent of healthcare incentives are so small or poorly publicized that providers aren't even aware of them, according to a new study that suggests more than $20 billion in incentives may be wasted annually.
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ONC taps public for help on nationwide exchange
May 14, 2012 | Mary Mosquera
The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology is calling for public comment on proposals for rules of the road to govern the nationwide health information network (NwHIN).
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Maine practice celebrates its meaningful use status
May 11, 2012 | Bernie Monegain
Coastal Women's Healthcare, a seven-physician practice located in a town of nearly 20,000 residents along the Southern Maine coast, is among a group of elite meaningful users of electronic health records nationwide.
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CMS lists names of EHR incentive recipients
May 10, 2012 | Mary Mosquera
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has published the names, business phone numbers, and business addresses of Medicare providers that have demonstrated meaningful use of an electronic health record and received an incentive payment as of March 2012.
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CHIME supports year delay on ICD-10 as 'middle ground'
May 9, 2012 | Bernie Monegain
The College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (CHIME) on Wednesday submitted comments on ICD-10 proposed rulemaking to Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. CHIME urged HHS to remain committed to ICD-10, while calling the one-year delay an appropriate "middle ground" for all stakeholders.
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AHIMA repeats opposition to ICD-10 delay
May 9, 2012 | Bernie Monegain
AHIMA has said it before, and it is saying it again. Delaying ICD-10 deadlines is not a good idea. However in a comment letter filed Wednesday with the Department of Health and Human Services, the organization said it would continue to work with HHS to ensure the delay would be as short as possible.
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New ONC dashboard tracks nationwide HITECH progress
May 9, 2012 | Mike Miliard
The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) has launched its new Health IT Dashboard, offering an interactive trove of data related to grants programs, regional extension centers and other measures of health IT adoption.
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ONC privacy and security guide offers 10 steps for MU
May 9, 2012 | Mike Miliard
ONC's Office of the Chief Privacy Officer (OCPO) has published a "Guide to Privacy and Security of Health Information," which aims to help physicians, nurses and IT staff better understand how the safety of patient data is essential to meaningful use of electronic health records and mobile devices.
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Meaningful Use Buyer’s Guide
February 1, 2012 | White Papers
Key questions to ask your vendor to help avoid the hidden costs of achieving Meaningful Use
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The Key Findings of the 2012 HIMSS Analytics Report: Security of Patient Data
May 4, 2012 | On Demand Webinars
On May 2, experts from Kroll Advisory Solutions and <a href="/directory/healthcare-information-and-management-systems-society-himss" target="_blank" class="directory-item-link">HIMSS</a> Analytics analyzed the key findings of the 2012 HIMSS Analytics Report: Security of Patient Data, which suggests that 16 years after the enactment of the HIPAA – the first of many regulations governing data security in the healthcare industry – increased compliance has not resulted in increased security. In fact, healthcare data breaches have risen steadily, despite stringent regulatory activity and heightened compliance.
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May 29th @ 1PM ET--St. Joseph’s Security and Compliance Success Story: Implementing Identity Management in Healthcare
April 18, 2012 | Upcoming Webinars
Join this complimentary webcast to learn how St. Joseph’s has instituted a very successful identity management program to bolster security, enforce (and prove) compliance and significantly reduce administration costs. Learn how a platform approach to Identity offers not only complete security coverage for healthcare organizations but also provides the agility to seamlessly scale their security and compliance initiatives across their entire infrastructure
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Embrace Healthcare Change Safely: Practical Strategies for Security Risk Management
April 4, 2012 | On Demand Webinars
Healthcare is in the midst of a perfect storm of change with a combination of healthcare, consumer and IT/security trends driving both compelling benefits to improve patient care and reduce cost, while also bringing significant privacy and security risk. These challenges are compounded by limited budget, security incidents like breaches, and increasing regulation and breach notification rules. Learn how to use practical risk management in a proactive, preventative approach to embrace and benefit from these changes safely.
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Disruptive Innovation: The Key to Empowering Patients, Transforming the Healthcare System
March 29, 2012 | White Papers
The United States is undergoing a major transformation of its healthcare delivery system, driven by federal health IT investments and healthcare reforms. This content piece features information from a joint presentation at the HIMSS12 Annual Conference & Exhibition in Las Vegas in February, where Eric Dishman, General Manager of Health Strategy and Solutions at Intel Corporation, and Jason Hwang, MD, executive director of healthcare at the Innosight Institute, presented on the power of “disruptive innovation” to meet the challenges of transforming the U.S. health sector. Download this paper to read examples of how disruption health IT innovation is driving new care models across the globe.
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Overcoming The Risks of Bacterial Conditions Found in Computer Keyboards at Healthcare Facilities
March 1, 2012 | White Papers
Computer technology has become a vital component of patient care in hospitals and other healthcare facilities, but has it also introduced new threats to those patients? Research indicates that computer keyboards can act as reservoirs for microorganisms and bacteria that can be cross-transmitted via the hands of healthcare providers. This free white paper examines the risks associated with these bacterial conditions in keyboards and how they can be overcome.
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The Power of Health Analytics: Informed decisions, improved outcomes
March 1, 2012 | White Papers
Inside, industry experts examine how health analytics can drastically improve the current state of health care in the US. By integrating and analyzing the vast amounts of data available, the industry will be better equipped to identify at-risk patients, evaluate potential treatment plans, assess individual physicians’ performance and more.
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Manage the Challenges of Health Care Reform
March 1, 2012 | White Papers
This paper examines why health care reform is causing a shift to a consumer-driven business model and the role analytics plays in helping organizations make the transformation successfully. Citing examples from previous airline, telecom and financial services regulatory changes, it explains why generating unique customer insights from data is crucial.
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Branch on Demand for Healthcare: Extending and Securing Access Across Caregiving Locations
January 5, 2012 | White Papers
Healthcare professionals need to focus on quality of patient care and on securing the patient data, even in the most remote locations. Network services provided to remote facilities, clinics, and offices depend less on the size of the location and more on the functions being performed at that location. Learn more about Branch on Demand, a cloud-enabled networking solution for remote locations that simplifies provisioning, management, security, and troubleshooting for these deployments.
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Wi-Fi Provides Rx for Healthcare Challenges
January 5, 2012 | White Papers
The healthcare environment naturally lends itself to wireless networking, given the inherently mobile nature of physicians, nurses, orderlies, and others who move from beds to examining rooms, ministering to patients. This paper looks at how healthcare providers are using wireless LANs creatively to improve patient care and to realize much-needed cost efficiencies. It also discusses the primary challenges health organizations face in their deployments and offers up solutions for successfully addressing them.
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Payment Policy Optimization: Blending Analytics with Rules to Prevent Wasteful, Abusive and Fraudulent Healthcare Spending
December 12, 2011 | White Papers
Curtailing the massive drain caused by waste, abuse and fraud in healthcare has never been more impor¬tant. New payment models are on the horizon, including <a href="/directory/bundled-payments" target="_blank" class="directory-item-link">bundled payments</a>, and greater emphasis is being placed on payment for outcomes. Given the magnitude and visibility of the problem, insurers need to avail themselves of advanced and effective means to reduce wasteful, abusive and fraudulent medical spend¬ing in the most efficient way possible. This demands a more holistic approach across the payment continuum, using technologies that not only address issues from multiple angles but also facilitate cross-organization partnership. Read more now.
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IBM with IDC Health Insights: Exploring the HITECH Act for Privacy and Security of Personal Health Information
November 22, 2011 | On Demand Webinars
The Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (<a href="/directory/health-information-technology-economic-and-clinical-health-hitech-act" target="_blank" class="directory-item-link">HITECH Act</a>) improves and expands current Federal privacy and security protections for health information. As healthcare organizations move to exchanging large amounts of health information electronically, it is important to ensure that such information remains private and secure. Please join analyst Scott Lundstrom, Group Vice President, IDC Health Insights for this webcast. He will explore the key excerpts from the Act, <a href="/directory/centers-medicare-medicaid-services-cms" target="_blank" class="directory-item-link">Centers for Medicare &amp; Medicaid Services (CMS)</a> audit steps, look at Healthcare organizations who have been fined and the impact on their organizations, and outline corrective measures on how to avoid a security breach.
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Positioning ONC for Continued Success
May 16, 2012 | Farzad Mostashari, MD
Today, we announced two exciting changes within the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT – the creation of an Office of the Chief Medical Officer and an Office of Consumer eHealth.
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How the repeal of ACA could affect the uninsured
May 9, 2012 | Kelly Mehler
A decay in access to medical services for American adults could continue even if President Obama is re-elected in November, according to a recent Health Affairs study.
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Twitter recap: Todd Park talks Big Data Week
April 25, 2012 | Kelly Mehler
Todd Park (@todd_park), United States chief technology officer for the Obama Administration, engaged in a live Twitter chat as part of Big Data Week, a string of community-led events relating to big data. Here is a Twitter recap of the Q&A.
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Why Romneycare still haunts Mitt
April 4, 2012 | Kelly Mehler
The candidates are still going at it. For frontrunner Mitt Romney, the biggest challenge of the Republican presidential primaries seems to be the direct similarities between his own Massachusetts healthcare law, and the Affordable Care Act, spearheaded by President Obama.
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Twitter reactions: Should there be a tax on those without health insurance?
March 27, 2012 | Kelly Mehler
We asked our social media followers whether they feel a tax on the people would be the best possible penalty. Is it unconstitutional? Is it fair? Are there other sanctions that seem more realistic? Here's a Twitter recap of their responses.
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What I learned at HIMSS about developments in health IT for the rest of 2012
March 27, 2012 | Shahid Shah
Like many of you, I made the annual pilgrimage to the HIMSS Conference last month but I didn’t write much publicly about it. Here’s what I learned while I was in Vegas and my takeaways for the rest of the year.
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Social media reactions to the Ryan budget proposal
March 22, 2012 | Kelly Mehler
On Tuesday, House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), unveiled a new GOP budget plan, "The Path to Prosperity Budget." With a YouTube video circulating, an op-ed in The Wall Street Journal, and various on-camera interviews, Republicans are calling the proposal the "real solution" to the debt crisis.
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Using popHealth
March 20, 2012 | John Halamka
While in Chicago recently, I was asked how we validated our quality measures when we moved from chart abstraction to automated computation of PRQS, Meaningful Use, Pioneer ACO, and Alternative Quality Contract measures via the Massachusetts eHealth Collaborative Quality Data Center (QDC).
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Why states should move forward with health insurance exchanges
March 13, 2012 | David Merritt
Imagine that you’re being required to buy a car. You will have to pay for most of it, but you can’t choose exactly what you want and there are so many restrictions on your options. There’s one more catch: If you don’t choose one yourself, the dealer will decide for you. This is the same predicament that many state policymakers find themselves in regarding the creation of health insurance exchanges.
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SOTU barely covers healthcare reform law: Social media reactions
January 27, 2012 | Kelly Mehler
After this week's State of the Union address, the Politico website dug into why President Obama barely mentioned healthcare reform law. Obama's law has garnered only 42 percent support by Americans, but has been among the most significant policy accomplishments for Obama since he took office.
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Healthcare 'flubs in Florida'
January 24, 2012 | Tom Sullivan
Last night, the remaining four GOP candidates debated in Tampa, Florida and, as usual, there were a number of topics misrepresented as facts – Mitt Romney’s attacks on the federal health law among those.
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Now there are five
January 17, 2012 | Tom Sullivan
Jon Huntsman, one of the Republican candidates with a background of instituting new healthcare measures, dropped out of the presidential race Jan. 16.
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Sebelius to visit Houston, discuss innovation
March 8, 2012 | Industry News Release
Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius will visit Houston to discuss how hospitals and health care providers are finding innovative ways to improve patient care.
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MedTech Media Announces the Launch of PhysBizTech
January 6, 2012 | Industry News Release
Online publication will provide business and technology intelligence to small and medium sized physician group practices
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Yardi acquires assisted living software provider ALMSA corporation
January 6, 2012 | Industry News Release
Yardi announced today that it has acquired ALMSA Corporation, which provides electronic health record (EHR) and electronic medication administration record (eMAR) software and services for assisted living and long-term care communities.
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RF Surgical signs 3-year agreement with Premier
November 9, 2011 | Industry News Release
RF Surgical, Inc., the leader in prevention and detection of retained surgical items (RSI), today announced a three year agreement with the Premier healthcare alliance, a leader in healthcare performance improvement. Under the terms of the agreement, the more than 2,500 U.S. hospitals, and 78,000 additional healthcare sites in the alliance, can select RF Surgical Detection Technology to prevent and detect RSIs from occurring in the operating room.
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HealthPartners creates true enterprise imaging strategy with Merge Healthcare iConnect
November 1, 2011 | Industry News Release
Merge Healthcare (NASDAQ: MRGE), a leading provider of enterprise imaging and interoperability solutions, today announced that HealthPartners, the largest consumer-governed, nonprofit health care organization in the nation, has selected its iConnect vendor neutral archive to create a true enterprise-wide imaging strategy across all of its hospitals and clinics.
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Liaison Technologies launches healthcare partner program
October 18, 2011 | Industry News Release
Liaison Technologies, a global provider of secure cloud-based integration and data management services and solutions, announced today a partner program for healthcare solution providers. The Liaison Healthcare Partner Program enables third parties to access and contribute to an integrated platform for patient information—all with an emphasis on trust and privacy, scalability and flexibility.
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Proposed HHS rule would require insurers to submit detailed patient healthcare information
October 6, 2011 | Industry News Release
Jericho Systems Corporation, the pioneer in Attribute-Based Access Control (ABAC) technology, today reinforced its commitment to protecting the privacy rights of patients, healthcare providers, insurers, and other government agencies while securely sharing sensitive healthcare information.
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Welch Allyn successfully completes acquisition of TRIMLINE Medical Products
October 4, 2011 | Industry News Release
Welch Allyn, a leading global provider of frontline medical products and solutions, today announced it has successfully completed the acquisition of TRIMLINE Medical Products Corporation, formerly a manufacturer of a full range of blood pressure cuffs, aneroid gauges and stethoscopes. Welch Allyn has fully integrated all blood pressure cuff manufacturing operations into its Skaneateles Falls, NY, and Tijuana, Mexico, facilities, giving the company a unique opportunity to better serve its customers by offering them the full spectrum of blood pressure management products—from mechanical gauges, to electronic devices, to disposable and reusable blood pressure cuffs.
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PLC Systems signs ACIST Medical Systems to distribute RenalGuard® in France and Germany
October 4, 2011 | Industry News Release
PLC Systems Inc. (OTCBB: PLCSF), a company focused on innovative medical device technologies, today announced that it had signed an agreement with ACIST Medical Systems, Inc., a Bracco Group company, to distribute its innovative RenalGuard System™ in France and Germany.
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LiveData to provide integration technology for Titan Medical's next-generation robotic surgery system
September 16, 2011 | Healthcare IT News Staff
LiveData, Inc., a leading innovator of real-time data integration and display technology, today announced today that it has signed a six-year development and licensing agreement with Titan Medical Inc. (TSX VENTURE:TMD). Under terms of the agreement, Titan Medical will have an exclusive, worldwide license for LiveData RTI Server as an integration technology for the Company's Amadeus Composer robotic surgical platform.
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Glen R. Stream, MD, MBI, assumes role of president of the American Academy of Family Physicians
September 15, 2011 | Industry News Release
Glen R. Stream, MD, MBI, FAAFP, a family physician in Spokane, Wash., assumes the role of president of the American Academy of Family Physicians today. Previously, he served three years as a director on the AAFP Board and one year as president-elect. Stream was elected president-elect in September 2010 by the Congress of Delegates, the AAFP's governing body. The AAFP represents 100,300 physicians and medical students nationwide.
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Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services demonstration link remote patient monitoring to reduced costs
September 12, 2011 | Industry News Release
Treatment of patients with chronic disease accounts for nearly four-fifths of U.S. healthcare spending. Robert Bosch Healthcare, Inc., the market leader in remote patient monitoring systems and a subsidiary of the Bosch Group, today announced new evidence demonstrating that implementing carefully designed care management and telehealth programs for these patients can help significantly reduce health care spending.
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