Many people have asked me to review the Quality Payment Program final rule, released on October 14, 2016. Several summaries have already been written but your best bet is to rely on the CMS Quality Payment Program website at https://qpp.cms.gov. Yes, the rule is still complex - over 2400 pages, of which more than 50% is the mandated response to comments made on the proposed rule. The good news is that CMS has been very responsive to feedback, creating a transition plan for adoption, reducing the number of criteria and extending the timeline which enables iterative learning before large scale implementation. Under the Quality Payment Program, clinicians have two approaches to choose from for reimbursement: the Merit-based Incentive program (MIPS) and Advanced Alternative Payment Models (APMs)...
population health
See the following -
Population Health Demands Collaboration
Why go it alone with population health when partnerships can be so much more powerful? That was one of the pointed questions asked and answered at the mHealth Summit...
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Precision Medicine: Analytics, Data Science and EHRs in the New Age
The promise of genomics and personalized care are closer than many realize. But clinical systems and EHRs are not ready yet. While policymakers and innovators play catch-up, here’s a look at what you need to know. Considering how fast technology advances in the healthcare industry, it seems natural that a once-innovative concept could become obsolete in the span of, say, a dozen years. Knowledge, comprehension and capabilities continue moving forward, and if the instruments of support don't keep pace, it can cause a rift to appear. If nothing is done, it can exacerbate into a seismic event...
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Public Health Tech: The Future of Health Tech You Never Heard Of
Digital Health has experienced a glorious boom in the last decade and is expected to reach $379.3 Billion by 2024 with 25% of the growth occurring between 2016 and 2024. Patient management can now be done on user-friendly platforms; physicians can remotely monitor their patients with mobile devices and telemedicine; and personal trackers and genetic testing are allowing patients easier access to their own health data. Clearly, we understand the kind of power technology has on improving the delivery of care and management of disease...
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Struggling Hospitals Hold Off On Population Health, Analytics
Eighty-four percent of financially insecure hospitals are putting off investments in population health management and clinical analytics infrastructure, says a new survey by Black Book Rankings, focusing instead on improving revenue cycle management (RCM) and trimming waste to reduce their financial vulnerabilities...
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Survey: Healthcare Execs See Poor ROI from EHRs but Optimistic about Analytics
The billions in taxpayer dollars spent on electronic health records (EHRs) since 2009 have unfortunately generated a poor return for the nation’s healthcare system, according to a survey of more than 1,100 healthcare professionals conducted by Salt Lake City-based data analytics vendor Health Catalyst. Health Catalyst polled healthcare professionals attending the fourth annual Healthcare Analytics Summit September 12-14 in Salt Lake City...
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Tech Investor Gets Five Towns To Join Social-Health Experiment
Technology investor Esther Dyson thinks she has found the answer to America's growing health concerns, and has enlisted five smaller cities across the country to try and prove it. Dyson, an early investor in Square and board member for Yandex, Russia's answer to Google Inc, has drafted five towns to participate in a five-year long test, or what she calls a "healthy living challenge."...
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The Not-So-Precise Side of Precision Medicine
The launch of the Precision Medicine Initiative in 2015, along with this year's Cancer Moonshot, have touted the promise of genomic data for population health and more personalized diagnosis. As a result, more consumers are seeking genetic testing and more researchers are contributing to these initiatives. But the healthcare industry isn't necessarily prepared for this shift. The popularity of genetic testing doesn't come without risks, according to Mayo Clinic's recent report, The Promise and Peril of Precision Medicine...
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The Quality Payment Program Final Rule
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The Rise of Telemedicine
As reimbursement evolves from fee for service to alternative payment models, incentives will shift from treating sickness to keeping the population healthy. New investments will be made in technologies that reach into the home and enhance care team communication. 2016 saw an acceleration of telemedicine/telehealth. 2017 will see exponential growth. Telemedicine is hard to define. It could be real time video teleconferencing between clinicians (a consult), between a patient and clincian (a visit), or group to group (tumor board discussion). It could be the transmission of a static photograph, such as the poisonous mushroom/plant teleconsultation I do 900 times per year. It could be secure texting to coordinate patient care...
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Two New Federal Reports Released That Have Major Public Health Impacts
Two new Federal reports were recently released that have a public health impact. First, the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) released its 2022 Report to Congress: Update on Access, Exchange, and Use of Electronic Health Information. This report covers the current state of adoption of health information technology and access to electronic health information guided largely by the requirements of the 2016 21st Century Cures Act. The report observes that, “Although tremendous progress has been made with EHRs that capture and support the use of health information about individuals, the COVID-19 pandemic exposed gaps in health IT systems that support capturing and using population data. The challenges exposed during the public health response to the COVID-19 pandemic pinpointed the importance of health IT to monitor population health regarding public health surveillance of testing, diagnosis, and vaccine distribution.”
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US Lags Behind Wealthy Nations On Improving Health Outcomes
Raising questions about whether higher healthcare spending means better health outcomes, a new study shows the United States has high expenditures and mediocre population health at the national level. Read More »
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Using LibreHealth EHR for Education in Academic Settings
Traditionally, access to EHRs has been viewed as important only for software training, particularly order entry. What seems to be overlooked is the potential for education, analytics and research. Additionally, one could argue that there should be an open-source “EHR Sandbox” so multiple external EHR integrations could be studied and reported. Furthermore, many EHR users view the software as a means to enter or extract data on one patient at a time and fail to see the benefit in analyzing their entire clinic population (population health). The following diagram displays how an EHR could be used for education, training, analytics and research.
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Wearable Sweat Sensor Can Diagnose Cystic Fibrosis, Study Finds
A wristband-type wearable sweat sensor could transform diagnostics and drug evaluation for cystic fibrosis, diabetes and other diseases. The sensor collects sweat, measures its molecular constituents and then electronically transmits the results for analysis and diagnostics, according to a study led by researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine, in collaboration with the University of California-Berkeley. Unlike old-fashioned sweat collectors, the new device does not require patients to sit still for a long time while sweat accumulates in the collectors...
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What Does the Trump Presidency Imply for Healthcare and Healthcare IT?
Many organizations have asked me to comment on the impact of the Trump Presidency on Healthcare and Healthcare IT. I served the Bush administration for 4 years and the Obama administration for 6 years. I know that change in Washington happens incrementally. There is always an evolution, not a revolution, regardless of speechmaking hyperbole. What am I doing in Massachusetts? I’m staying the course, continuing my focus on social networking for healthcare, mobile, care management analytics, cloud, and security while leaving the strategic plan/budget as is...
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What To Expect At Government Health IT Conference
At the Government Health IT Conference & Exhibition 2013 next week, the apex of all the tracks, breakout sessions and likely hallway conversations will be engaging patients while lowering care costs. Read More »
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