Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH)

See the following -

ABILITY Network Achieves Cloud-Enabled Accreditation Program (CEAP) from EHNAC

Press Release | ABILITY Network, Electronic Healthcare Network Accreditation Commission (EHNAC) | July 25, 2017

ABILITY Network, a leading information technology company, announced today it has achieved full accreditation with the Cloud-Enabled Accreditation Program (CEAP) from the Electronic Healthcare Network Accreditation Commission (EHNAC). ABILITY is one of the first healthcare information technology companies to achieve this new designation. Developed by industry peers, CEAP is offered exclusively for the users of FedRAMP-certified Cloud Service Providers (CSPs) – regardless of the healthcare data exchange model the CSP supports...

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AMA Responds To CMS Regarding Meaningful Use Penalties For Eligible Professionals

Press Release | American Medical Association | December 17, 2014

"The American Medical Association (AMA) is appalled by news from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) today that more than 50 percent of eligible professionals will face penalties under the Meaningful Use program in 2015, a number that is even worse than we anticipated...

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Are Electronic Medical Records Worth the Costs of Implementation?

Tara O'Neill | American Action Forum | August 6, 2015

All of these potential advances could greatly improve health outcomes and help bend the health care cost curve. Unfortunately, these advances come with significant costs, both financially and in terms of personal privacy. Going forward, policymakers should work to ensure limited resources are used in a more cost-effective manner. Changes to EMR policy have been part of recent legislative and executive action.

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As Funding Dries Up, ONC Reorganizes, Consolidates Offices

Dan Bowman | Fierce Health IT | May 30, 2014

National Coordinator for Health IT Karen DeSalvo, in an internal memo sent to ONC staffers and emailed to FierceHealthIT late Friday, announced a slew of organizational changes at the agency. The changes also are set to appear in the Federal Register on June 3...

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Big Cyber Hack Of Health Records Is 'Only A Matter Of Time'

David Pittman | Politico Pro | July 1, 2014

The health world is flirting with disaster, say the experts who monitor crime in cyberspace. A hack that exposes the medical and financial records of tens of thousands of patients is coming, they say — it’s only a matter of when...

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Dr. Halamka’s Dramatic MU Prediction In Boston

Mark Hagland | Healthcare Informatics | May 13, 2014

John Halamka, M.D. predicted on May 13 that 80 percent of U.S. hospitals would fail to attest to MU Stage 2 on time

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Epic and Other EHR Vendors Caught in Dilemmas by APIs (Part 1 of 2)

Andy Oram | EMR and HIPAA | March 15, 2017

The HITECH act of 2009 (part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act) gave an unprecedented boost to an obscure corner of the IT industry that produced electronic health records. For the next eight years they were given the opportunity to bring health care into the 21st century and implement common-sense reforms in data sharing and analytics. They largely squandered this opportunity, amassing hundreds of millions of dollars while watching health care costs ascend into the stratosphere, and preening themselves over modest improvements in their poorly functioning systems...

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Federal Incentive Payments For EHRs To Doctors And Hospitals Edge $24 Billion

Bob Brewin | Nextgov.com | June 12, 2014

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services paid out the equivalent of the gross national product of Costa Rica -- $23.7 billion -- to hospitals and medical professionals from 2011 through April 2014 to adopt electronic health records. 

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Funding Opportunities for Building Data Connections Between EMS and Healthcare Partners

Press Release | NHTSA Office of EMS | September 1, 2016

EMS providers often treat patients with complicated medical histories yet have no access to relevant health data, such as hospital or out-patient records, which might provide information critical to patient care. EMS reports also are rarely integrated into hospital records, leaving specialists and other hospital staff unaware of how patients presented to EMS initially and what treatments they received prior to arriving at the emergency department...Earlier this year, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) published a guidance letter that allows the use of Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) funds for expenditures related to electronically connecting Eligible Providers to other Medicaid providers, including EMS, to share health information.

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GAO Hits EHR Incentive Program Hard

Bernie Monegain | Healthcare IT News | March 7, 2014

The GAO recently took a swipe at the government's Meaningful Use EHR Incentive Program, saying it lacked strategy and called for action to establish a strategy in order to achieve its goals, especially those aimed at improving care.

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HHS Makes Changes to 'Wall of Shame' Breach Reporting Site

Marianne Kolbasuk McGee | Gov Info Security | July 25, 2017

The Department of Health and Human Services has made changes to its website, widely referred to as the "wall of shame," that lists reports of major health data breaches affecting 500 or more individuals. The changes come after complaints from some members of Congress and others that the website unfairly exposes breached organizations to endless public scrutiny because incidents are indefinitely listed on the site...

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JASON Task Force To ONC: Consider Delaying MU Stage 3 Incentives

Marla Durben Hirsch | Fierce EMR | October 14, 2014

The Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT should narrow Meaningful Use Stage 3 to focus on interoperability and "assertively monitor" the transition to public APIs but implement only "non-regulatory steps" to catalyze the transition, according to ONC's JASON task force...

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Moving Past the EHR Interoperability Blame Game

Julia Adler-Milstein, PhD | NEJM Catalyst | February 22, 2017

As a researcher who studies electronic health records (EHRs), I’ve lost count of the times I’ve been asked “Why can’t the systems talk to each other?” or, in more technical terms, “Why don’t we have interoperability?” The substantial increase in electronic health record adoption across the nation has not led to health data that can easily follow a patient across care settings. Still today, essential pieces of information are often missing or cumbersome to access. Patients are frustrated, and clinicians can’t make informed decisions...

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