This Week's Healthcare News
HealthDataManagement
CMS Clarifies Patient Volume Percentages Under Medicaid Meaningful Use
Apr,3,2013
by:+Joseph Goedert
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services in a new frequently asked question clarifies the issue of providers rounding up their patient volume percentage when attesting for meaningful use of electronic health records under Medicaid:
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MobiHealthNews
Digital health could solve primary care shortage, Frost analyst says
Apr,04,2013
by:+Neil Versel
If digital health technologies take hold the way many believe they will, the U.S. may no longer have to worry about a pressing shortage of primary care physicians, projected by the Association of American Medical Colleges to reach 65,800 doctors by 2025.
“There are a lot of ways to deliver primary care,” explains Greg Caressi, senior vice president for healthcare and life sciences at market analysis firm Frost & Sullivan. A key function of primary care is to screen to determine if a patient needs to see a specialist. Remote technology and midlevel providers are more than adequate for triage and testing, he says.
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Med City News
We need a Public Health Graph to connect clinical, personal, social, and societal data
Apr,04, 2013
by:+ Mark Tobias
“Give us our damn data!” It’s a common refrain from patients, who want access to their medical records. Many assume they are entitled to information so intensely personal, learning too late that obtaining them is … a process.
The errors, oversights and treatment delays caused by a lack of access are heartbreaking and spur rightful indignation.
The promise of electronic health records is to improve patient access and engagement in their care, and make health care safer, higher quality, more affordable and more efficient’all at the same time. There is broad agreement that making digital records work is critical to fixing health care. Federal “meaningful use” (subscription required) requirements are providing the carrots and sticks necessary to spur adoption and get electronic systems to talk to each other and to patients. Physicians and hospitals have been paid an estimated $12.3 billion since the program started in 2011. Those not meeting requirements will face penalties in 2015.
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Featured Report: Access to EHR data 'overwhelmingly' positive for patients
Fierce EMR
Apr,01, 2013
by:+Marla Durben Hirsch
Providing patients with access to the information in their electronic health records "overwhelmingly" yielded positive benefits, according to a new study in the Journal of Medical Internet Research.
While patient review of their health data is an opportunity to engage them in their healthcare, some clinicians have expressed concern about such open access. The researchers, from the Veteran's Administration and elsewhere, sought to determine patients' actual experiences with such open access by studying the My HealtheVet EHR access pilot program. They used focus group interviews conducted at the Portland Ore.-based VA Medical Center, which had the highest percentage (72 percent) of enrollees in the pilot.
The researchers found that patients' access improved communication, coordination of care, and appointment follow-through. It also improved patients' knowledge of their own health, created a greater desire for self care, and increased their participation in their care.
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Hello Businesses Owner,
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 to join our network of small businesses who know that only through our collective voices that will assure that the Affordable Care Act live up to its goal of making healthcare affordable for all.
Discussions around health reform have been confusing and, sometimes, even misleading. It is the goal of the SBHCC to provide factual information about the changes that are already happening and those coming in the near future. The SBHCC discusses the benefits and opportunities of the ACA and what Illinois small businesses need to do to make sure this law will benefit them.
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. To that end I like for you to hear my own personal story about how the new healthcare law will effect me.
Please go to this link at Healthcare.gov to see my story Watch My Story
Then Join the SBHCC do not hesitate to contact me with any questions or thoughts. I may be reached at wireheadtec@gmail.com or Wirehead Technology
Sincerely,Howard Lee
CIO
Wirehead Technology
Tel-312-286-8416
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