Billions of Dollars in Federal Stimulus Funding (Taxpayer Money) Used for Electronic Health Records; Creation of Smartphone Applications for Health and Healthcare Moving Quickly — Bureaucrats Will Have Unlimited Access to Our Healthcare Records and Control Over Our Healthcare
Electronic Health Record Vendors Step Up Game in Preparation for Federal Stimulus Funding
May 12, 2010iHealthBeat.org - Health IT vendors are vying for their share of the billions of dollars in federal stimulus funding that soon will be available to health care providers who demonstrate "meaningful use" of electronic health records.
The federal government recently released rules describing how health care providers can demonstrate meaningful use of certified EHRs to qualify for Medicare and Medicaid incentive payments under the 2009 federal economic stimulus package.
In an iHealthBeat Special Report by Deirdre Kennedy, experts discuss how health care providers are choosing vendors to help them meet the federal requirements for meaningful use of EHRs. Click here for the audio report.
The Special Report includes comments from:
• Alisa Ray, executive director of the Certification Commission for Health IT;
Michael Stearns, president and CEO of e-MDs; and
• Steven Waldren, director of the American Academy of Family Physicians' Center for Health IT.
Wisconsin Passes Law to Establish Statewide EHR Exchange System
May 12, 2010iHealthBeat.org - On Tuesday, Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle (D) signed into law the WIRED for Health Act (AB 779), which will create an entity to oversee the establishment of a statewide electronic health record system, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports (Boulton, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 5/11).
Wisconsin is receiving $9.4 million through the 2009 federal economic stimulus package to plan and develop the statewide network.
The law will create a not-for-profit corporation to apply for additional federal funds to cover the cost of the system (AP/Lacrosse Tribune, 5/12).
At an event to mark the enactment of the bill, Doyle said the EHR network would allow health care providers to access patient medical data from other facilities throughout Wisconsin (Olds, WKBT, 5/11).
Officials noted that the project could face challenges in:
• Establishing interoperability standards for EHRs;
• Ensuring the privacy and security of patient data; and
• Reining in additional costs (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 5/11).
Arizona County to Buy $10M EHR System to Boost Inmate Care
May 12, 2010iHeathBeat.org - Officials in Maricopa County, Ariz., are moving forward with a $10 million plan to purchase an electronic health record system in an effort to improve inmate health care, the Arizona Republic reports.
Background
In recent years, family members, inmate advocates, consultants and attorneys have blamed health care issues and deaths in county jails on problems managing inmate health data.
Despite consultant advice and an order from a federal judge, the Board of Supervisors and Correctional Health Services had not taken adequate steps to address problems with health data storage, the Republic reports.
County Supervisor Mary Rose Wilcox said that when CHS lost its accreditation in 2009, the county was forced to consider switching to an EHR system.
EHR Implementation
The new EHR system will allow county jail officials to easily access medical history for repeat inmates, track infectious diseases and ensure inmates are living in appropriate conditions.
Funding for the EHR system is included in the county's tentative $2.1 billion budget for next year.
All five county supervisors are expected to support the initiative.
CHS Director Betty Adams said that procurement officials aim to issue a request for bids after the budget is adopted in June. According to the Republic, finding an EHR vendor could take an additional six months (Wingett/Hensley, Arizona Republic, 5/11).
Biden, Sebelius Award $220M in Federal Stimulus Funds for Testing the Adoption of Health IT
May 4, 2010iHealthBeat.org (Federal Stimulus Spending) - On Tuesday, Vice President Biden and HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced the 15 communities that will share $220 million in federal grants to create pilot programs testing the adoption of health IT, Bloomberg reports (Johnston, Bloomberg, 5/4).
The Beacon Community awards are part of a $2 billion effort to achieve widespread "meaningful use" of health IT by 2014 (Lubell, Modern Healthcare, 5/4). The grants are being distributed by the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT, which received 130 grant applications.
According to Sebelius, the Beacon Communities will provide insight into how health IT can improve health care delivery.
The 15 selected communities will use health IT to connect health care providers, community health programs, federal programs and patients and develop new ways of improving quality and efficiency. Each community has set measurable goals for three areas of health system improvement: Quality; Cost-efficiency; and Population health (Monegain, Healthcare IT News, 5/4).
According to the White House, the Beacon Community Program will create as many as 1,100 jobs that pay an average of $70,000 per year (Mulligan, Providence Journal, 5/4).
The federal stimulus package includes $30 million to fund additional Beacon Community cooperative agreement awards, however application details have not yet been released (Modern Healthcare, 5/4).
The 15 Beacon Communities and their awards are:
Community Services Council of Tulsa, $12.04 million;
Delta Health Alliance in Mississippi, $14.67 million;
Eastern Maine Healthcare Systems, $12.75 million;
Geisinger Clinic in Danville, Penn., $16.07 million;
HealthInsight in Salt Lake City, Utah, $15.79 million;
Indiana Health Information Exchange in Indianapolis, $16.01 million;
Inland Northwest Health Services in Spokane, Wash., $15.7 million;
Louisiana Public Health Institute in New Orleans, $13.53 million;
Mayo Clinic Rochester in Minnesota, $12.28 million;
Rhode Island Quality Institute, $15.91 million;
Rocky Mountain Health Maintenance Organization in Grand Junction, Colo., $11.88 million;
Southern Piedmont Community Care Plan in Concord, N.C., $15.91 million;
The Regents of the University of California-San Diego, $15.28 million;
University of Hawaii at Hilo, $16.09 million; and
Western New York Clinical Information Exchange in Buffalo, $16.09 million (Healthcare IT News, 5/4).
How Smartphones Are Changing Health Care for Consumers and Providers
April 2010California Health Care Foundation - The recent adoption and use of smartphones by both consumers and providers of health care are the focus of this timely report by Jane Sarasohn-Kahn. The uptake of this technology is rapid; two-thirds of physicians and 42% of the public used smartphones as of late 2009, despite the recession that began a year earlier.
The creation of applications related to health and health care is also moving quickly. As of February 2010, there were nearly 6,000 such apps within the Apple AppStore. Of these, 73% were intended for use by consumer or patient end-users, while 27% were targeted to health care professionals.
Apps geared to physicians include alerts, medical reference tools, diagnostic tools, continuing medical education, and patient records programs. Consumer-oriented apps include those for medication compliance, mobile and home monitoring, home care, managing conditions, and wellness/fitness.
How Smartphones Are Changing Health Care for Consumers and Providers (PDF 877k)
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