Readers Comment on HDM Stories, Blogs

Health Data Management readers increasingly are commenting on news stories, blogs and essays on the HDM Web site, and bringing up good points.


Health Data Management readers increasingly are commenting on news stories, blogs and essays on the HDM Web site, and bringing up good points. Here's a sample of recent comments:

Huge Breach at Sutter:

"Congratulations to Sutter Health for NOT succumbing to the pressure to provide the useless credit/fraud protection services. I have been appalled at the $$$$s racked up by those companies. Kudos for not following the sheep and rather thinking logically!"

What's Next in AMA's Fight Against ICD-10?:

"The cost of the vigorous campaign against ICD-10 will not bring physicians back to be members of the AMA. I would question why they are just now bringing this up. Every other country in the world has already adopted ICD-10. If they are concerned about costs then they should give away their CPT coding products for free. Their process to update their CPT codes is very antiquated. Physicians would be in a better position if the AMA CPT codes were up to date and their CPT coding products were user friendly. None of their products are electronic and they license their codes to other entities and receive royalties. Why are they not offering CPT coding education free? Their stand is very hypocritical and uninformed."

New Report Echoes Call for National EHR Safety Board:

"EHR safety? Does this mean using an EHR in a way that the Doc doesn't get carpal tunnel syndrome? Or, is the point to track medical errors that were based on EHR data that led to a safety issue?"

Rob Tholemeier's blog, Privacy is Easy:

"Wow. It is rare that I just outright disagree with a post, but this one shows a complete lack of appreciation for how difficult it is to manage privacy and security in health care. Even with the required functionality that is now incorporated in every certified EHR, it is not just as simple as turning it on. There are literally thousands of accesses daily to patient records, by caregivers in multiple roles, and others involved in the case or encounter. VIP rules only address a fraction of these events. Without a third party solution to take the log data, index it and create the appropriate alerts and/or reports this task is not inconsequential."

Essay by Tracy Welsh of Hayes Management Consulting, Expect These Unexpected EHR Challenges:

"The fact that these challenges are accurately characterized as UNEXPECTED reveals a fatal flaw in many EHR implementations: the sole objective is to implement an EHR to enable the provider(s) to attest to Meaningful Use. When implementation objectives include making the practice of medicine more effective and efficient, these issues surface early in implementation planning and produce benefits that last much longer than the MU incentive payments."

CMS Grants a HIPAA 5010 Grace Period:

"Good to read that health care providers have been given time to implement the HIPAA 5010 transactions which are part of a complete overhaul of health care information management along with the ICD-10 coding system. ICD-10 offers increased specificity and granularity, thereby providing better diagnostics and targeted treatment of illnesses."

Greg's blog, Guns and Patients: We're Here at the Crossroads:

"Forgive the pun, but the NRA is trying to shoot the messenger. If they had their way, no data about gun deaths/injuries would be reported. To them, the personal right to bear arms is absolute and cannot be abridged in any way to reduce harm, so there's no point in collecting statistics. They would oppose any public health intervention suggested by the data. It would be like limiting free speech because someone's feelings might have been hurt by what was written or said. Their 'rights' trumps everyone else's risk. However, your points about how issues such as gun possession could derail efforts to aggregate EHR data for public health purposes is spot on. Already, an anti-vaccine website is advising its readers to opt out of immunization registries because of concerns they would be used to exclude their children from schools. I am fairly sure that we are just one major data breach away from an opt-in only system for sharing EHR data. The public attitude towards EHRs could turn very quickly."

 

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