Just as I clarified last week in my post about Certification, the answer to the question “do we need more or less healthcare IT regulation and legislation” is that we need the right amount of the right regulations/legislation. Sometimes when clinicians prescribe medication, although it does therapeutic good, it creates side effects which need to be addressed by changing a dose or by adding additional medications. Such is the case with HITECH. It was generally good medicine, but now that we’ve seen the side effects on workflow, clinician burden, and efficiency, there needs to be a dose adjustment...
Lamar Alexander
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AMA Applauds Senators' Efforts To Fix EHR Meaningful Use
Physicians are eager to implement EHRs, but overly aggressive timeline could have harmful, unintended consequences Read More »
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Burwell Faces Barrage Of Tough Questions In Confirmation Hearing
President Obama's nominee for Health and Human Services Secretary underwent a Senate committee hearing Thursday morning, during which Senator John McCain, R-Ariz., offered nothing but "highest praise for her work" as deputy director at the Office of Management and Budget, the role which Burwell currently holds. McCain admitted he recommended Burwell turn down the HHS nomination due to the position being among the "most thankless jobs" in Washington...
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Congress Passes Legislation Authorizing Critical Biodefense Programs
The House yesterday passed the Pandemic and All-Hazards Preparedness and Advancing Innovation Act. The bill reauthorizes existing statute governing public health efforts at the Department of Health and Human Services. Additions made by the bill - some of which were recommended by the Blue Ribbon Study Panel on Biodefense - address biodetection, hospital preparedness, medical countermeasures and response. Many of these programs will enable HHS to better defend the nation against biological threats. Both chambers of Congress have passed the bill, and it will now go to President Trump for signature.
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HIMSS EHR Association Fires Back At GOP Senators Calling For MU reboot
One month after six Republican Senators published a white paper calling for a new approach to the federal meaningful use incentive program, the HIMSS Electronic Health Record Association has drafted a point-by-point response. Read More »
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Lawmakers Call For 'Reboot' Of Meaningful Use Program
Six Republican Senators have formally requested that U.S. Department of Health & Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius provide a written plan to address how the agency is implementing the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act. Read More »
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Open-Source Everything: The Moral of the Healthcare.gov Debacle
The U.S. federal government, led by the executive branch, should make all taxpayer-funded software development open-sourced by default. In the short run, this would help to prevent the recurrence of problems like those that plague healthcare.gov. Longer term, it will lead to better, more secure software and could allow the government to deliver a range of services more effectively. And it would enrich democracy to boot. Read More »
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Precision Medicine Requires Unlocking Data from EHRs, Other Sources
Venture Funding for Digital Health in 2015 Reaches 2014 Level
Health information technology is “foundational” to President Obama’s $215 million Precision Medicine Initiative aimed at treating the specific needs and characteristics of individual patients, according to Karen DeSalvo, M.D., national coordinator for HIT. Read More »
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Senate hearing focuses on potential delay of MU Stage 3
Despite the federal government's best intentions to create an interoperable healthcare landscape, the Meaningful Use program has yet to truly prevent information blocking by both providers and vendors, legislators on the Senate's Health, Education, Labor & Pensions committee declared at a hearing Thursday. To that end, they led a discussion focused on potentially delaying Stage 3 of the program, proposed in late March.
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The Obamacare Insurance Exchange Train Is Already Coming Off The Rails
Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.) raised eyebrows across the country last month when he publicly fretted about an Obamacare “train wreck” as the Administration rushes to implement the many provisions of the law that take effect in 2014. Read More »
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US Senate Releases Draft Future Pandemic Preparedness Plan - Asks for Feedback
On June 10, 2020 the US Senate released a white paper titled "Preparing for the Next Pandemic" under the signature of Senator Lamar Alexander of Tennessee. The white paper has five recommendations to address future pandemics based on lessons learned from COVID-19 and the past 20 years of pandemic planning. "The five recommendations...along with a series of questions at the end of this white paper, are intended to elicit recommendations that Congress can consider and act on this year," Senator Alexander said in a statement, adding that "I am inviting comments, responses, and any additional recommendations for the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions to consider. This feedback will be shared with my colleagues, both Democrat and Republican." This feedback from the public will be accepted until June 26, 2020... Read More »
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Why 6 U.S. Senators Are Upset About The EHR Incentive Programs
Six U.S. Senators claim that the $35 billion Medicare and Medicaid Electronic Health Record (EHR) Incentive Programs are not achieving their goals and require a “reboot.” Read More »
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