December 31, 2009
ONC has released its proposals for Meaningful Use and EHR Certification at www.healthit.hhs.gov. They met their goal of having guidance in December 2009. Unfortunately, the Meaningful Use and the EHR certification guidance comes in at 136 pages. The incentive program comes in at 556 pages. I hope that the regulations are not so complex and confusing that meaningful use ends creating more confusion.
Anyway, I will be reading through the documents and commenting on this blog. I also will provide comments to ONC as they have requested.
Happy New Year!!!!
Leave a Comment » | 
meaningful use | Tagged: EHR Certification, meaningful use, ONC | 
Permalink
Posted by Joseph Ingemi
October 18, 2009
You can read some more of my blogs at www.hospitalimpact.org.
I was recently reading about the Healthcare 2.0 Conference (http://www.health2blog.com/) held in San Franscisco. Some of the major themes were EMRs as platforms for running applications and social networking. There were many interesting innovations and insights. As I read about them, I wondered how these new ideas will integrate with meaningful use. Will the final regulation make room for these innovations and more importantly will the expense and compliance involved with meaningful use deter providers from going beyond what is required? Will larger developers be able to influence future iterations of Meaningful Use into making their applications requirements. On the positive side, will providers who offer some of these new applications gain a market advantage against those who move strictly with meaningful use?
We probably do not know the answer to any of these questions. However, I think these are ideas that we need to think about as move forward in the regulation of EMRs and Meaningful Use.
Leave a Comment » | 
meaningful use | Tagged: healthcare 2.0, meaningful use, regulation | 
Permalink
Posted by Joseph Ingemi
September 12, 2009
I have attempted to not get involved in the Healthcare Reform debate on this blog. My reasoning was that Health IT was dealt with in the Stimulus. However, I think that it may be time to begin tracking the reform since it will have an effect on Health IT. So what should those of us in the Health IT community be monitoring in the bills moving through Congress?
-Reimbursement Policies: Will the government mandate reimbursement for “virtual” care or medical homes? This will obviously faciliate technology for telemedicine and records sharing.
- Tort Reform: President Obama mentioned this in his joint address. The key to reducing tort will be reducing errors. Health IT can help with that reduction along with the creation of “safe harbors” for reporting errors.
-Pay for Performance: Should we begin a pay for performance model, Health IT could facilitate this through the sharing of best practices.
No doubt the final healthcare reform bill will effect us in the Health IT community.
Leave a Comment » | 
Congress, Funding, Healthcare Reform, Obama Administration, Telemedicine | Tagged: best practices, Healthcare Reform, Medical Homes, Pay-for-Performance, Reimbursement, safe harbor, Stimulus, Telemedicine, tort reform, virtual care | 
Permalink
Posted by Joseph Ingemi
September 5, 2009
I recently read an article at Telemedicine and E-Health (http://www.liebertonline.com/doi/pdfplus/10.1089/tmj.2009.9955) about the many ways that providers are using Twitter (www.twitter.com). While not actually practicing medicine nor doing consults, providers are sharing information, advertising, putting out general health information and connecting services with patients. As I thought about this applications, I began to think about Meaningful Use.
One the proposals for Meaningful Use is recording percentages of patients that are being consulted on healthy lifestyle choices such as smoking cessation. Theortetically, assuming privacy could be protected, a provider could use twitter to promote smoking cessation. If twitter is integrated with the EMR or a PHR like MS Healthvault. Then, in this instance, meaningful use could be satisfied.
Social media and Web 2.0 may create inexpensive ways to fulfill meaningful use requirements.
Leave a Comment » | Mobile, Telemedicine, Web 2.0, meaningful use | Tagged: EMR, meaningful use, Microsoft Healthvault, PHR, Smoking cessation, Social Media, Telemedicine, Telemedicine and E-Health, Twitter, Web 2.0 | Permalink
Posted by Joseph Ingemi
August 29, 2009
After taking the month of July off, I have returned to comment on the what is happening in the world of Health IT. I encourage everyone to check out www.hhs.gov. Some major events are happening.
First, the Office of the National Coordinator and its various committees are developing meaningful use standards. Initial drafts indicate that “performance” is being integrated into them such as evidence of encouraging healthy behaviors. So this bodes well for wellness organizations as well as IT companies that deal with metadata.
It seems that provider reimbursement is not the only funding that hinges on meaningful use. HHS has announced funding for state HIE programs and Health IT Research Extension Centers. State HIE programs also must promote meaningful use. And the research centers will develop best practices and guidance to providers for meaningful use. I think that the research centers will ultimately become clearing-houses for project managers, IT support contractors and consultants.
So these are the major happenings in the Health IT world. Ironically, these measures have gone unnoticed because of the Healthcare Reform debate’s dominance.
Leave a Comment » | Funding, Obama Administration, meaningful use | Tagged: Extension Health IT Research Centers, HHS, HIE, meaningful use, ONCE | Permalink
Posted by Joseph Ingemi
June 27, 2009
Mobile Computing
Gigaom (www.gigaom.com) and Salon (www.salon.com) has this article about a new iphone application, Fitorbit (www.fitorbit.com). The application allows you to link up with a live fitness trainer. There is a lot of interesting potential here for Health IT.
First, this is an example of utilizing Health IT to promote a healthy lifestyle and thus, lower utilization rates. Second, this business model can be adapted to other areas of healthcare. Not only, can this increase patient choice but also could allow for a “virtual” medical home. Finally, this may become a disruptive technology. A fitness trainer as by extension, a healthcare worker is geography dependent. This may no longer be the case.
http://www.salon.com/tech/giga_om/tech_insider/2009/06/22/fitorbit_fitness_training_site_connects_you_to_a_personal_trainer_iphone_app_to_follow_draft/
Healthcare Reform
Time had this article about Healthcare Co-Ops, as proposed by Senator Conrad. I think this is something worth some thought. Co-Ops may also form the foundation of state-level HIEs.
http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1906105,00.html
Leave a Comment » | Cloud computing, Mobile | Tagged: Co-Ops, Fitorbit, GigaOM, Healthcare Reform, HIE, iphone, medical home, Mobile Computing, patient choice, Salon, Senator Conrad, Time, utilization rate | Permalink
Posted by Joseph Ingemi
June 20, 2009
Leave a Comment » | Cloud computing, Healthcare Reform, Web 2.0 | Tagged: Accountable Care Organizations, benchmark, Cloud computing, GigaOM, Healthcare Reform, Mayo, public health, Salon, social networking, The New Yorker, utilization, WT News | Permalink
Posted by Joseph Ingemi
