Stimulus

Tuesday, May 21, 2013

Stimulus

This section includes coverage of the federal government’s EHR incentive program for health care providers under the meaningful use umbrella. Topics include: EHR certification news, incentive attestation updates and lessons learned from medical groups and hospitals seeking to participate.

AHA to Senators: EHR Concerns Understandable, but Don’t Pause Meaningful Use

Joseph Goedert | May 20

The American Hospital Association concurs with many concerns from six Republican members of the U.S. Senate who recently called for a pause to the EHR meaningful use program and re-examination of its strategies.

EHR

Group Practices

Hospitals

Payers

Policy & Regulation

Quick Turnaround on Breach Notification

Joseph Goedert | May 17

The Dent Neurologic Institute in Amherst, N.Y., experienced a breach of protected health information on May 13 and issued a public notice on May 14.

Consumer Health

Data Security

Group Practices

Policy & Regulation

Hacker Gets Patient Credit Cards from North Carolina Providers

Joseph Goedert | May 16

A hacker accessed personal and credit card information for patients of at least two health care organizations in North Carolina, coming in through the facilities’ Web sites built by the same vendor, E-dreamz Inc. in Charlotte.

Consumer Health

Data Security

Group Practices

Policy & Regulation

OCR Seminars to Walk through Omnibus HIPAA Rule

Joseph Goedert | May 16

The HHS Office for Civil Rights has scheduled four Web seminars to explain the omnibus final HIPAA rule to modify the privacy, security, breach notification and enforcement rules.

Consumer Health

Data Security

Health Info Exchange

EHR

Group Practices

Hospitals

Payers

Policy & Regulation

PHI Breach #3 for Indiana University

Joseph Goedert | May 15

Indiana University Health Arnett Hospital is notifying about 10,300 patients after an employee’s password-protected but unencrypted laptop was stolen from a car on April 9. It is the third major breach for a university facility since August 2011.

Consumer Health

Data Security

Hospitals

Policy & Regulation

Web Seminar to Focus on Using Direct Messaging in Stage 2

Joseph Goedert | May 15

The Electronic Healthcare Network Accreditation Commission will host a free 90-minute Web seminar on May 30 to walk through using the Direct Project secure messaging protocols to comply with Stage 2 electronic health records meaningful use measures.

Electronic Data Interchange

Health Info Exchange

EHR

Payers

Group Practices

Hospitals

Policy & Regulation

Breach Pattern: Thieves Seek X-rays for their Silver Content

Joseph Goedert | May 14

An orthopedic clinic in North Carolina recently reported a major data breach when X-ray films were stolen for their silver content, and El Centro Regional Medical Center in California has just reported a similar breach.

Medical Imaging

Hospitals

Consumer Health

Data Security

Policy & Regulation

Breach at The MED in Memphis Hits 1,200

Joseph Goedert | May 13

Regional Medical Center at Memphis, known as The MED, is notifying nearly 1,200 patients of a breach of protected health information that includes Social Security numbers, reports WREG, the local CBS affiliate.

Data Security

Group Practices

Hospitals

Policy & Regulation

Consumer Health

ONC Offers Guidance on Stage 2 Transitions of Care

Joseph Goedert | May 10

The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology has issued guidance on how “health information service providers” and “health information organizations” can support providers in meeting the electronic health records meaningful use criteria for transition of care measures.

EHR

Health Info Exchange

Group Practices

Hospitals

Payers

Policy & Regulation

Vendor Scam Results in Data Breach for Clinic

Joseph Goedert | May 09

Raleigh Orthopaedic Clinic in North Carolina is notifying approximately 17,300 patients of a breach of their protected health information after the clinic apparently was the victim of a scam.

Consumer Health

Data Security

Group Practices

Policy & Regulation

Medical Imaging

HIT Vendor News Round-up

Gary Baldwin | May 07

Meaningful use certifications, mobile job searches, a new telemedicine product and a new name for an established firm are among recent announcements from health information technology vendors:

EHR

Group Practices

Hospitals

Policy & Regulation

Vendor News

Mobile Technology

Practice Management

Decision Support

AMA Defends Cloning EHR Data, Calls for Reconsidering Stage 2 Criteria

Joseph Goedert | May 06

Disputing that physicians are purposely using electronic health records to generate higher Medicare billings and “gaming the system,” the American Medical Association says federal policies themselves put providers in a Catch-22 situation. One fix, according to the AMA, is to reconsider Stage 2 meaningful use requirements.

EHR

Group Practices

Payers

Policy & Regulation

Hospitals

Revenue Cycle Management

Revenue Cycle & Payments

Coding

CHIME Defends Meaningful Use, but Wants Stage 3 Delayed

Joseph Goedert | May 06

The College of Healthcare Information Management Executives, in a letter to six U.S. Senators, strongly defends the electronic health records meaningful use program, while calling for a one-year extension of Stage 2 before Stage 3 begins.

EHR

Group Practices

Health Info Exchange

Hospitals

Payers

Policy & Regulation

Ready or Not, Here Come HIPAA Audits

Joseph Goedert | May 01

As the feds ramp up enforcement of privacy and security rules, providers look to fill protection gaps.

Data Security

EHR

Health Info Exchange

Group Practices

Hospitals

Payers

Policy & Regulation

Want to Impress OCR During a HIPAA Audit? Write a Book

Joseph Goedert | May 01

Here is a tutorial from the Cleveland Clinic on maximizing proof of HIPAA privacy/security rule compliance through organized documentation by making a Book of Evidence.

Data Security

Consumer Health

EHR

Health Info Exchange

Group Practices

Hospitals

Payers

Vendor News

Policy & Regulation

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