Are nurses undervalued in hospital social media?

Med City News

Dec,05,2012
by: Deanna Pogorelc
Internet search data might suggest that nurses aren’t one of the more highly respected professions in healthcare, but other factors suggest otherwise. Nurses are being put at the helm of retail and employer clinics. Entrepreneurs are creating all kinds of new technologies to help nurses do their jobs more efficiently and effectively. And an article that’s circulating the healthcare social media Twittersphere today provides just one example of how they’re helping a hospital create that all-important online connection between patients and providers.
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This Week's Healthcare News

Modern Healthcare.com
Doc-office use of basic EHRs hits nearly 40%, survey finds
Dec,06,2012
by: Joseph Conn
Nearly 4 in 10 office-based physicians are now using an electronic health-record system with a basic level of functions, according to the latest estimates from an annual federal survey, up from about 1 in 3 a year ago. The National Center for Health Statistics at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has placed basic EHR adoption for office-based physicians—excluding anesthesiologist, pathologists and radiologists—in 2012 at 39.6%. That's an increase from the 33.9% adoption rate in last year's survey and not quite twice as high as the 21.8% EHR adoption rate found by the survey in 2009, when the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act passed, creating federal programs under Medicare and Medicaid to boost EHR adoption and their meaningful use.
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Healthcare Info Security
Reports: Costly Data Breaches Persist
Dec,06,2012
by: Marianne Kolbasuk McGee
Two new reports provide more evidence that healthcare information security leaders need to make a New Year's resolution to step up their data breach prevention efforts. A survey of 80 healthcare organizations, conducted by the research firm Ponemon Institute and sponsored by ID Experts, found that 94 percent have had at least one data breach in the past two years and 45 percent have had more than five incidents. By comparison, in a 2010 study, only 29 percent reported that their organization had more than five breaches in the past two years.
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iHealthbeat
Bill Aims To Advance Innovation in Mobile Health Technology
Dec,05, 2012
by: Staff
On Monday, Rep. Mike Honda (D-Calif.) introduced a bill that aims to advance innovation in mobile health and other health care technologies, Modern Healthcare reports. The legislation -- called the Healthcare Innovation and Marketplace Technologies Act -- would require FDA to establish a new office of wireless health technology (Lee, Modern Healthcare, 12/4). The new office would work with other government agencies and private businesses to help the FDA commissioner develop a "consistent, reasonable, and predictable regulatory framework" for wireless and digital health tools (Dolan, MobiHealthNews, 12/4).
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Small Business Healthcare Consortium

Hello Small Business Owners,
I am writing to you because our changing health care system will have a profound effect on all of us. Now that the election is over and the Supreme Court has ruled, the Affordable Care Act (ACA) is not going away. It will not be repealed and it is up to us to make sure it will work for small businesses and individuals as it was intended to do. That’s why I joined the Campaign for Better Health Care’s newly created Small Business Health Care Consortium (SBHCC).

This consortium views the needs of small businesses and their employees as a top priority. And, as a member of the Steering Committee of the SBHCC, I am personally inviting you and asking you to invite your network of small businesses to participate in a one hour, educational free webinar about the Affordable Care Act on January 15th at 11:00am CST or January 16th at 3:30pm CST. Discussions around health reform have been confusing and, sometimes, even misleading. It is the goal of this free webinar to provide factual information about the changes that are already happening and those coming in the near future. It will discuss the benefits and opportunities of the ACA and what Illinois small businesses need to do to make sure this law will benefit them.

Follow this link to register for:
January 15th: https://cc.readytalk.com/cc/s/registrations/new?cid=ecg0qj9s21aq

January 16th: https://cc.readytalk.com/cc/s/registrations/new?cid=m2wt2unotbju

Many key components of the ACA are national in nature. For instance, small businesses currently providing health insurance to their employees could be eligible for a 35% tax credit. And, while employers with fewer than 50 full time employees are not required to provide health insurance, their employees can take advantage of the ACA’s benefits. Other components will be implemented at the State level and these decisions will either enhance small businesses or provide another hurdle. One important component is that all states must implement a health insurance exchange (marketplace). These exchanges will include a rate review process with defined, easy to understand plans to consider and review side-by-side. As small business owners we share many of the same, serious business challenges. It is my hope that you and your small business peers do want to learn more about the ACA. Let’s take this opportunity to act collectively to get control of health insurance costs and improve access to coverage.

The opportunity to create positive change is now. It is about fairness and choices for small businesses. Please register:
January 15th, 11am CST:
https://cc.readytalk.com/cc/s/registrations/new?cid=ecg0qj9s21aq
January 16th, 3:30pm CST:
https://cc.readytalk.com/cc/s/registrations/new?cid=m2wt2unotbju

And, do not hesitate to contact me with any questions or ideas. Reach me at 312-286-8416 email wireheadtec@gmail.com or Wirehead Technology Healthcare IT Serives at www.wireheadtec.com/Home.html Find a listing of our SBHCC Steering Committee members at: www.cbhconline.org/smallbusiness .

Sincerely,
Howard Lee CIO
Wirehead Technology

If you need answers to your Healthcare IT needs now visit our Healthcare Managed Services page at Wirehead Technology