The eHealth Initiative announced plans to create a 2020 Roadmap that will examine the transformation of the health care industry in recent years and propose recommendations for continued innovation, Clinical Innovation and Technology reports (Pedulli, Clinical Innovation and Technology, 3/26).
The HHS Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response and the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT have launched a new initiative designed to help spur the use of health IT in emergency medical services, EHR Intelligence reports.
About the Initiative
On Feb. 26, the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT released a Notice of Proposed Rule Making to develop a Voluntary 2015 Edition Electronic Health Record Certification Program and update its previous certification criteria and rules.
An article supported by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) examines gaps in current electronic health record (EHR) functionality and needed enhancements to better support primary care. “Electronic health record functionality needed to better support primary care” recently appeared in the Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association.
From the executive summary, “These recommendations provide a first step in moving from a billing-centered perspective (i.e., focusing
on ensuring maximum and timely reimbursement) to a clinician-centered perspective where the EHR design supports clinical cognitive work,
such as moving from an initial working diagnosis to a formal diagnosis for a complex patient. These recommendations point the way towards a “patient visit
management system,” which incorporates broader notions of supporting workload management, and supporting the flexible flow of patients and tasks.”
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services issued guidance for eligible professionals, eligible hospitals and critical access hospitals that are unable to implement the 2014 Edition of Certified Electronic Health Record technology in time to successfully demonstrate meaningful use for the 2014 reporting year.
Visit the EHR Incentive Program webpage (http://www.cms.gov/Regulations-and-Guidance/Legislation/EHRIncentiveProg... ) for the:
The U.S. Access Board is in the process of jointly updating its Section 508 Standards for Electronic and Information Technology and its Telecommunications Act (Section 255) Accessibility Guidelines. On February 23, the Board submitted a proposed rule to update these standards and guidelines to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review. OMB has 90 days to review the rule under Executive Order 12866. Once cleared by OMB, the proposed rule will be published in the Federal Register and will be available for public comment for a specified period of time.
Janet Freeman-Daily writes a blog about lung cancer. As a former aerospace systems engineer with a degree from MIT, Freeman-Daily uses her blog, "Gray Connections," to describe scientific information in less technical terms for patients with lung cancer. It's also a forum in which she can share her personal experiences as someone who had been diagnosed (in 2011) with stage 4 lung cancer. She describes the purpose of her blog this way:
The departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs "have not substantiated their claims" that implementing separate, interoperable electronic health record systems will be more affordable and quicker than their original plan to develop a joint EHR system for both agencies, according to a new report from the Government Accountability Office, Health Data Manageme
We are based in the Washington DC Metro Area (Fairfax, VA ) and have been dealing with snow-days, snow delays, traffic etc. If you are anything like us, you are looking forward to HIMSS 2014. Not only for the informative sessions, meetings with vendors, networking with colleagues, but for THE WEATHER.
The Weather Channel says that for next week Orlando FL will be in the mid 70s. Nice.
Amazing Charts.com, LLC, a leading developer of Electronic Health Record (EHR) systems, today released the results of its first Amazing Charts User Survey, revealing new insights into what 652 physicians value most out of EHR technology and what practices perceive to be their greatest challenges and opportunities over the next five years. The first Amazing Charts User Survey was completed by Amazing Charts users on January 14, 2014.
The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) has released certification and meaningful use requirements for electronic health records (EHRs). These require that EHR vendors include evidence of user-centered design and user test results in their certification submission. To be able to obtain the ONC certification (and meaningful use funding) EHR vendors must follow a formal User Centered Design (UCD) process and perform summative usability testing on specific areas of the product.
Date and time: Wednesday, January 15, 2014 3:00 pm
Eastern Standard Time (New York, GMT-05:00)
Join the Next eHealth Provider Webinar on January 14 to Learn How You Can Prepare for Stage 2
Are you participating in the EHR Incentive Programs? Have you completed two or more years of Stage 1? If so, it’s time to start preparing for Stage 2 and earn an incentive for 2014 participation.
Join CMS for the next eHealth provider webinar on Tuesday, January 14th from 12:00 – 1:30 p.m. ET to get ready for Stage 2.
What will you learn?
MedcityNews recently posted an article detailing the best EMR companies in the USA. Their webpage seems to lock up in several of our browsers, so we've cut/pasted it here so that you can read it without having technical issues...
Healthcare organizations and physicians are invariably looking to meet regulatory requirements in 2014 in order to be better equipped to deliver accountable care, maximize revenues and improve patient lives.
1. EHR Vendors will have more time to focus on their users.
a. To be able to obtain the ONC certification (and meaningful use funding for their customers) EHR vendors must follow a formal User Centered Design (UCD) process.
b. We recommend that EHR vendors follow ISO-9241-11 and show evidence that their design process is focused upon efficiency, effectiveness, and satisfaction.
2. EHR vendors will have time to perform many iterations of user testing.
Join ONC on Wednesday, December 18 for a webinar discussion regarding the proposed regulatory timeline for EHR certification criteria for 2015.
Web Conference Information
Conference Line: 888-469-1748
Meeting Number: 243-89
ONC subject matter experts will provide information about the new timeline and then will be available for a question-and-answer session following the presentation.
Agenda
CMS Changes Name of the EHR Incentive Programs (Meaningful Use) and Advancing Care Information to “Promoting Interoperability”
As providers of usability testing and user experience services we know that one of the major advantages of electronic health records (EHRs) are their potential to increase patient safety by preventing, detecting and aiding in the recovery from human errors. ONC has set certification standards for safety-enhanced design (SED), making patient safety a primary focus in the design of an EHR.
CMS and the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) have established standards and certification criteria that EHRs must use in order to successfully capture and calculate objectives for Stage 2 of Meaningful Use. These new standards and certification criteria now in effect.
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