On Friday, National Coordinator for Health IT David Blumenthal said the U.S. is behind several other countries in adopting health IT, MedPage Today reports (Walker, MedPage Today, 10/30).

Blumenthal spoke during a briefing in Washington, D.C., about efforts by the U.S. and other countries to invest in health IT (Zigmond, Modern Healthcare, 10/30).

Other Countries’ Efforts

In Denmark, patients can access details of their hospital stays, physician visits and medications by signing in to an online portal (MedPage Today, 10/30).

In Sweden, primary care documentation is 100% electronic, and 97% of hospitals use electronic health records, according to Sabine Koch, a professor of health informatics at Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm.

Implementation Issues

Blumenthal said there have been several barriers to adopting health IT in the U.S., including:

• A lack of adequate funds;
• Not having the necessary infrastructure to support the exchange of health information;
• Concerns among health care providers about what type of EHR system to purchase and whether it will become outdated; and
• The need to convince the general public that health information will be exchanged privately (Modern Healthcare, 10/30).

Blumenthal said most of these challenges will be addressed by the 2009 economic stimulus package’s HITECH Act, which allocates $19 billion to improve health IT capabilities and encourage EHR adoption.

Health care providers who demonstrate “meaningful use” of certified EHRs can receive incentive payments through Medicaid and Medicare (MedPage Today, 10/30).

Source: iHealthBeat

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Fifty percent of health care providers have adopted a “comprehensive” or “partial” electronic health record system, according to a report released on Thursday by CompTIA, an IT trade association, National Journal‘s “Tech Daily Dose” reports.

Under the 2009 economic stimulus package, health care providers who demonstrate “meaningful use” of certified EHRs can qualify for Medicaid and Medicare incentive payments.

The study surveyed 370 IT firms in the U.S., 40% of which are in the health care industry, and 300 U.S. health care providers. The results have a margin of error of plus or minus five percentage points.

Report Findings

According to the study:

• 34% of health care providers use a comprehensive EHR system;
• 16% reported using a partial EHR system;
• About 29% said they are evaluating their EHR options; and
• 20% said they had not looked at the issue.

EHR Satisfaction

Among health care providers who have adopted EHR systems:

• 59% said they were “completely” or “mostly” satisfied; and
• 36% said they were partly satisfied and partly dissatisfied.

According to the study, the reliability of EHR systems is the most reported complaint among health care providers (Gruenwald, “Tech Daily Dose,” National Journal, 10/28).

Health IT Spending

In the next 12 months, about half of health care practices will increase their IT expenditures, according to the study.

Health care providers who plan on making health IT purchases will seek new network equipment and tablet PCs that can give providers greater mobility, according to the study (Merrill, Healthcare IT News, 10/28).

Source: iHealthBeat

A former UCSF Medical Center employee was sentenced Thursday to a year and a day in federal prison for using the Social Security numbers of fellow workers to complete health surveys so he could receive hundreds of $100 vouchers good for purchases from Amazon.com.

Cam Giang, 31, of San Francisco pleaded guilty in July to wire fraud, two months after UC fired him.

From January to April, Giang used other UC employees’ personal information to create accounts for a website maintained by StayWell Health Management Inc., which conducts online health surveys for employees, federal prosecutors said.

Giang created hundreds of StayWell accounts and completed 382 online health surveys. In return, StayWell sent him “hundreds of $100 online vouchers,” authorities said.

Source: SFGate

A new digital pathology device could increase collaboration between clinicians while reducing turnaround times for patients waiting to hear the results of a biopsy, InformationWeek reports.

Launch of Omnyx

In 2008, GE Healthcare and the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center launched a joint venture called Omnyx (Kolbasuk McGee, InformationWeek, 10/28). The project stems from GE’s Healthymagination initiative aimed at improving health care access and quality while reducing cost (Miliard, Healthcare IT News, 10/28).

The group recently began shipping its digital pathology device to medical institutions in the U.S. and Canada for testing. The institutions tasked with testing the Omnyx device include:

• Montefiore Medical Center in New York;
• Stanford University Medical Center in California;
• University Health Network in Toronto; and
• UPMC.

Speeding Up Pathology

Traditional pathology methods involve waiting for the shipment of glass slides, which must be stacked and inventoried. As a result, patients often wait days or weeks to receive a diagnosis.

In comparison, Omnyx’s digital device works by using dual-camera scanning technology (InformationWeek, 10/28).

The tool uses two cameras simultaneously to digitize pathology slides. It also includes new imaging software and an IT framework to digitize a pathology department’s workflow (CMIO, 10/28).

Tony Melason, vice president of strategy at Omnyx, said the digital system allows pathologists to remotely collaborate on patient cases and accelerate diagnoses.

In addition, digital pathology enables biopsy results and clinical images to be integrated with a patient’s electronic health record (InformationWeek, 10/28).

Source: iHealthBeat

Many employees who are enrolled in high-deductible health plans are becoming online “comparison shoppers” with regard to their medical care, the Los Angeles Times reports.

Variety of Cost-Comparison Options

Many cost-comparison tools for health plans can be found online, beginning with a simple Google search that might draw thousands of results.

In addition, there are websites that specifically cater to consumers seeking cost estimates for certain medical services and procedures and are capable of gathering information by state and location. These websites include:

• PriceDoc;
• MyMedicalCosts; and
• HealthcareBlueBook.

Website Limitations

Such websites have certain limitations, the Times reports.

For example, few websites offer physician-by-physician pricing based on specific procedures. Some websites also might offer comparisons for only a small group of physicians or specialists in a certain field.

Website officials also acknowledge that the nature of medicine makes it difficult to provide consumers a price guarantee, particularly because patients’ requirements for treatment can vary based on their:

• Age;
• Current medical status; and
• Family and personal medical histories.

Patrick Bradley — president and COO of PriceDoc — said that one patient might need extensive medical attention for an ailment, while another patient with the same condition might need only occasional medical care.

However, Bradley noted that the ability to compare costs for so-called price-predictable procedures — such as colonoscopies, mammograms and teeth cleaning — is improving (Kristof, Los Angeles Times, 10/24).

Source: iHealthBeat

CMS soon will release modifications for certain provisions in the final rule for Stage 1 of the “meaningful use” incentive program, Government Health IT reports.

Under the 2009 economic stimulus package, health care providers who demonstrate meaningful use of certified electronic health records can qualify for incentive payments through Medicaid and Medicare.

Tony Trenkle — director of the Office of e-Health Standards and Services at CMS — said the adjustments to the meaningful use criteria currently are undergoing a federal clearance process, which is the final step before publication. Trenkle spoke on Wednesday during a Health IT Policy Committee meeting.

Trenkle added that CMS also will release guidance for health care providers on how to meet quality measures in the incentive program.

Discussion of Stages 2, 3

During the meeting, the Policy Committee also considered what incentive requirements to include in the next stages of the meaningful use program.

Committee members discussed whether Stage 2 meaningful use requirements — which are expected to go into effect in 2013 — should be incrementally built on requirements from Stage 1, or if there should be a set of larger steps framed around measuring and improving patient outcomes.

Paul Tang — chair of the meaningful use work group and chief medical information officer at the Palo Alto Medical Foundation — said the committee would prefer to establish the Stage 3 goals for 2015 first and then backtrack to form Stage 2 requirements.

Committee member Latanya Sweeney — director of the data privacy lab at Carnegie Mellon University — said future meaningful use criteria should incorporate privacy regulations (Mosquera, Government Health IT, 10/20).

National Coordinator for Health IT David Blumenthal said that the rollout of Stage 1 of the meaningful use criteria “was very rushed” (Conn, Modern Healthcare, 10/21). He added that the next stages should focus on infrastructure and interoperability.

Time Frame

Tang said that the meaningful use work group aims to have draft requirements for Stages 2 and 3 by Nov. 19, adding that it will revise the draft after taking comments from the full Policy Committee.

He said final recommendations could be submitted to the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT by the third quarter of 2011, while CMS could release a notice of proposed rulemaking on the next stages by the fourth quarter of next year (Manos, Healthcare IT News, 10/21).

Source: iHealthBeat

HHS’ privacy and security “Tiger Team” recently recommended that health care providers offer patients easy-to-understand, layered notices about how health information exchanges will use and protect their medical data, Government Health IT reports.

Tiger Team Recommendations

During a meeting last Friday, Tiger Team members said physicians should include the health information exchange notices in the HIPAA privacy and security materials that patients receive and sign during office visits.

Paul Egerman — a software entrepreneur and co-chair of the Tiger Team — said the information provided to patients should explain health data exchange practices in a manner that is “manageable for patients to read and understand.” He said the notices should be written so that 90% of patients can understand how their health data will be shared.

Egerman also said the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT could play a role in implementing the Tiger Team’s recommendations by requiring health information exchanges and regional extension centers to organize educational campaigns about health data sharing.

The Tiger Team’s recommendations reinforce proposals that the Health IT Policy Committee submitted to HHS in August.

Source: iHealthBeat

Seventy percent of surveyed U.S. adults believe patients should be able to download and retain copies of personal health information, according to a new Markle Foundation survey.

Sixty-five percent of surveyed physicians also agree that patients should be able to download their health information, compared with 10% who are neutral and 15% who disagree.

The survey also found that 93% of the public rarely or never asks for copies of their personal health information or medical records in electronic format. Similarly, 92% of doctors report rarely or never receiving requests from patients for electronic versions of their medical information.

Results are based on online surveys of 779 U.S. physicians and 1,582 U.S. adults ages 18 and older conducted from Aug. 10 to Aug. 26, 2010.

Source: Markle Foundation, “Markle Survey on Health in a Networked Life 2010”