HealthData Tech Labs

CMS Data: 95% of Medicare RAC ‘Corrections’ Are Overpayments

Medicare Recovery Audit Contractors are increasingly successful at finding overpayments, but the amount of underpayments the contractors unearth continues to dwindle, according to data from Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

Intermountain Tracking Patients’ Cumulative Radiation Exposure

Intermountain Healthcare in Salt Lake City now enables patients and physicians to access radiation histories and the cumulative radiation a patient has received.

New Interoperability Training Tools Focus on Stage 2 Criteria

The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology has launched a suite of electronic health records interoperability training tools.

HIT Vendor Round-up: Prognosis, HealthInfoNet, PracticeMax & McKesson

New leadership, an acquisition and milestones are among recent health information technology vendor announcements:

Using Analytics to Support an ‘Ambulatory ICU’ Model

The Stanford Coordinated Care project puts sophisticated I.T. tools to the task of monitoring and treating difficult populations of patients.

New Analytics Initiative for Consultancy Encore Health

Encore Health Resources, a Houston-based health information technology consulting firm, has launched a new health analytics consulting practice to help organizations design and implement their analytics strategies.

AHA Welcomes Senate Legislation to Rein in RACs

The American Hospital Association is supporting legislation introduced in the U.S. Senate to impose significant new restrictions on the Medicare Recovery Audit Contractors program.

New WEDI Program Facilitates State ICD-10 Cooperation

The Workgroup for Electronic Data Interchange has launched a new program for states to collaborate on reaching compliance with the ICD-10 code sets.

University Settles with Feds After HIPAA Violations

Idaho State University, which did not conduct a HIPAA security risk analysis for more than five years--even after suffering a breach of protected health information--has agreed to pay $400,000 to the HHS Office for Civil Rights to settle allegations of HIPAA privacy and security rule violations.

Feds: 2013 Goal for Meaningful Use Participation Already Met

As of April, the federal government has met its goal for provider participation in the electronic health records meaningful use program by the end of 2013, according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

First Vendors Get Accredited for Direct Messaging Services

The Electronic Healthcare Network Accreditation Commission has accredited the first four vendors to meet newly developed best practices for providing secure messaging services using the Direct Project protocols.

Do You Know a ‘Health I.T. Young Blood’ ? – Contest Underway

Entries are now being accepted for the second annual “Health I.T. Young Bloods” contest sponsored by Health Data Management. The contest recognizes the technology accomplishments of clinicians, administrators and I.T. staff in the health care industry.

Healthland Acquisition Targets the Continuum of Care

Healthland, a vendor of clinical and financial/administrative information systems for rural community and critical access hospitals, has acquired American HealthTech, which sells software to skilled nursing facilities and other post-acute care providers.

Consumer Groups, EHR Vendors Talk Back to GOP Senators

Fourteen consumer organizations in a joint letter advise six Republican members of the U.S. Senate to not seek to pause or delay the electronic health records meaningful use program.

Data Entry Error Leads to Data Breach at LSU

A simple data entry error in March caused a data breach affecting 8,330 patients of Louisiana State University Health System in Shreveport, La.

Feds May Boost Medicaid I.T. Matches

New Funds Targeted to Smallest Hospitals

Cardinal Health Offers Safety Grants

Payers Make Moves Toward MU Incentives

Will Meaningful Use Incentives Work?

MORE LINKS »