Healthcare IT News - February 2010
Single Sign-on:
Clearly a growth market page 34
Published in partnership with
t he n e w s so u rce f or hea l t hcare i n f orma t io n t ech n o l ogy
n
February 2010
Meaningful help
HIMSS responds with an array of tools to guide members through meaningful use rules. PAGE 26
News
Meaningful use is here
Experts call it ‘balancing act.’
By Diana Manos, Senior Editor WASHINGTON
Boosting quality
NQF releases 70 new ways to measure quality of care. PAGE 3
States’ stimulus
Medicaid programs receive stimulus funds for EHR uptake. PAGE 6
commentary
Change from the top
VP of operations at Texas hospital writes about fixing what ails hospitals from the inside. PAGE 12
HOSPITALS & IDNs
CIO of the Year
The 2009 award, to be presented at HIMSS, goes to Sharp HealthCare’s William Spooner. PAGE 17
Physician practices & ambulatory care Larry Hopperstead, MD, stands amid the paper files at Central Maine Medical Center in this 2008 photo, illustrating a paper-based system the government says needs to change with information technology.
Photo By Sun-Journal, Lewiston, Maine
– Complying with the government’s meaningful use definition to qualify for federal incentives will require a balancing act between improving patient care and using IT, according to experts. C. Martin Harris,
MD, CIO
at the Cleveland Clinic C. Martin Harris, MD and a member of the government’s Health IT Policy Committee, views the proposed meaningful use definition, unveiled on Dec. 30, as designed to engage patients and families while ensuring privacy and security. It’s also aimed at making it possible for doctors to start thinking about broader public health efforts and the elimination of health disparities, he said.
Meaningful see page 8
EHR gap
Report indicates differing views on EHRs between practitioners and policymakers. PAGE 23
Payers
Opening doors
Blue Shield of California urges members to make use of member portal. PAGE 29
Vendors
Healthcare providers weigh in on game-changing rules.
By Molly Merrill, Associate Editor WASHINGTON
Complex, fast, disruptive, strategic
Cisco pilot
Telemedicine work begins in southern California. PAGE 32
Clinical Toolkit
– Providers are airing their concerns about the newly proposed meaningful use requirements as they begin to wade through the 700 pages of documents that will help them gain bonuses under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and the Office of the National
Coordinator for Health “The timeline feels too Information Technology aggressive.” released a list of 25 Stage – Stephanie Reel 1 Meaningful Use criteThe Medical Group Management ria for eligible providers Association said medical groups would and a list of 23 Stage 1 confront significant challenges in trying Meaningful Use criteria Stephanie Reel to meet the program’s requirements due for eligible hospitals on Marc Probst Dec 30. A final rule will be issued after the 60- to its complexity. Others agreed. “The regulation is complex,” said Marc Probst, day public comment period, which began on Jan. 13 when the proposed rule was published in the CIO at Intermountain Healthcare in Salt Lake Federal Register. providers see page 20
Single sign-on
Real benefits, but it’s not a slamdunk. PAGE 34
Brailer: ‘Meaningful’ is in the details
By Patty Enrado, Special Projects Editor
SAN FRANCISCO
Management Solutions
Balancing act
Experts say achieving data security in hospitals is tough. PAGE 35
www.HealthcareITNews.com
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– The proposed meaningful use criteria up for public comment reflect “thoughtful policy,” said David Brailer, MD, the nation’s former healthcare IT chief – its first. “It would have been easy to be
symbolic rather than meaningful,” the founder and chairman of the San Francisco-based healthcare investor firm Health Evolution Partners said. He expected the criteria to “be looser, less meaningful.” Instead, he said, “I’m pretty impressed.”
“It would have been easy to be SYMBOLIC rather than MEANINGFUL.”
– David Brailer, MD
In the short term, the criteria reflect the body of work and the broad consensus of the definition of standards from the private sector, quality agencies and forums, a product certification organization and the disbanded AHIC (American Health Information Community), he said. As health IT chief, Brailer’s philosophy was having government be a supportive
agent of the consensus of the work being done by the private sector. “The meaningful use criteria are highly consistent with what we did,” he said. “It feels right to me.” “ONC has matured wonderfully in terms of appropriate policy
BRAILER see page 8
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