The Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT recently posted a set of answers to 20 frequently asked questions about its incentive program for the “meaningful use” of electronic health records, Government Health IT reports.

Under the 2009 federal economic stimulus package, health care providers who demonstrate meaningful use of certified EHRs will qualify for incentive payments (Mosquera, Government Health IT, 9/24).

The questions were based on inquiries from health care providers and health IT vendors seeking to participate in the meaningful use program. Many of the questions relate to the process for certifying EHRs (Carlson, Modern Healthcare, 9/24).

FAQs in Detail

In the FAQs, ONC said it would correct an error related to specifications for using EHRs to record and submit public health surveillance information. ONC said the specifications are designed for public health agencies, not EHR users (Goedert, Health Data Management, 9/24).

One question asks whether a health care provider could seek certification for an early version of an EHR that a vendor did not intend to submit for certification. ONC said the health care provider could seek the certification but would need to cover its cost.

Another scenario asks whether a vendor would need to seek certification for an EHR module if the complete EHR already is certified. ONC said the module also would need to obtain certification.

Next Up

CMS plans to open registration for the meaningful use incentive program in January.

By May 2011, qualifying hospitals and physicians could begin receiving the first set of incentive payments (Government Health IT, 9/24).
Source: iHealthBeat

The Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society recently launched an online State Health IT Dashboard to provide health care professionals and policymakers with easy access to information and resources on major health IT initiatives throughout the country, Healthcare IT News reports (Merrill, Healthcare IT News, 9/27).

The dashboard includes:

• A repository of state-specific health IT resources;
• Data on regional extension centers and health information exchanges;
• Tools to track health IT-related state legislation;
• Information on regional HIMSS chapters; and
• Contact information for recipients of the HIMSS’ Davies Award for effective use of electronic health records (Goedert, Health Data Management, 9/24).

Users can access the dashboard at no cost. Project organizers plan to update the online tool as more information becomes available (Healthcare IT News, 9/27).

Source: iHealthBeat

This week, current and former CMS administrators attending the American Telemedicine Association’s 2010 summit in Baltimore agreed that the agency could do more to boost adoption and reimbursement for telemedicine services, Modern Healthcare reports.

CMS Administrator Donald Berwick and former CMS Administrator Mark McClellan — who held the post during the George W. Bush administration — said that stronger ties between CMS and the telemedicine community could help:

• Cut health care costs;
• Expand health care access; and
• Improve the quality of medical services.

Berwick also highlighted telemedicine’s ability to lower medical error rates and empower consumers.

McClellan — who now serves as director of the Brookings Institution’s Engelberg Center for Health Care Reform — focused on telemedicine’s potential for cost savings.

In a statement, ATA CEO Jonathan Linkous said the support of the two health care leaders “reflects the growing consensus for telemedicine” (Lubell, Modern Healthcare, 9/29).

Source: iHealthBeat

On Wednesday, the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT awarded a contract worth nearly $1 million to the Institute of Medicine to conduct a study that seeks to advance health IT’s role in improving patient safety, CMIO reports (CMIO, 9/29).

The $989,000 contract lasts for one year (Conn, Modern Healthcare, 9/29).

Purpose of Study

For the study, IOM will examine a variety of patient safety topics, including:

• Summarizing existing knowledge of the effects of health IT on patient safety;
• Identifying preventive measures to reduce health IT-related safety concerns;
• Addressing the role of private-sector groups, such as certification and accreditation groups, and professional societies; and
• Discussing how the roles of federal agencies, such as FDA and CMS, possibly could change.

Expectations

CMS Administrator Donald Berwick said he has high expectations for improving patient safety through health IT (Merrill, Healthcare IT News, 9/30).

National Coordinator for Health IT David Blumenthal said IOM will use its “depth of knowledge” to ensure that health IT “reaches the goals we are seeking for patient safety improvement” (CMIO, 9/29).

Source: iHealthBeat

Patients who seek medical information on the Internet are proving a burden for physicians, according to panelists at an event sponsored by Social Media Charlotte, a networking organization, the Charlotte Observer reports.

Karen Albritton — president of Capstrat, a marketing and public relations firm — said patients often are self-diagnosing with incorrect information they find on the Internet (Frazier, Charlotte Observer, 9/21).

Jim Starman, a resident in orthopedic surgery at Carolinas Medical Center, said, “Often, we spend time basically discrediting inaccurate information [patients] read online before they got to the doctor’s office.”

Patients argue that seeking health information online is sensible in part because talking to a physician usually requires making an appointment or long wait times.

Panelists suggested that physicians could increase their Web presence on social networking sites and online discussion boards to provide accurate information (Frazier, Charlotte Observer, 9/22).

However, physicians who participate in online conversations are concerned about making themselves a bigger target for malpractice lawsuits or unintentionally breaking federal laws that require confidentiality in doctor-patient exchanges.

In addition, time spent by physicians on providing no-cost information online means money lost on regular appointments, according to Gayle Tuttle, director of strategic communications for BlueCross BlueShield of North Carolina (Charlotte Observer, 9/21).

Tuttle added that progress made in telemedicine services eventually could make Web-based communications cost-effective for both physicians and patients (Charlotte Observer, 9/22).

Source: iHealthBeat

On Tuesday, Google filed a federal lawsuit to prevent fraudulent pharmaceutical groups from advertising on its search engine and websites, the Wall Street Journal reports (Jarzemsky, Wall Street Journal, 9/23).

The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California (Perez, ComputerWorld, 9/22).

Google’s Argument

Google’s complaint alleges that one person and 50 unnamed defendants used AdWords to promote unverified pharmacy and prescription-drug operations.

AdWords is Google’s self-service program that allows users to post their advertisements next to relevant search results.

According to Google, the defendants “violated policies and circumvented technological measures” by posting ads without being verified by the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy (Wall Street Journal, 9/23).

In addition, Google maintains that the defendants intentionally misspelled pharmaceutical names to circumvent Google’s efforts to review ads (Claburn, InformationWeek, 9/22). These actions broke a contract with Google, the company says.

Internet companies increasingly are making efforts to prevent online advertising fraud, which could steer users away from doing business with legitimate companies, the Journal reports (Wall Street Journal, 9/23).

In a Google Blog post, Google lawyer Michael Zwibelman wrote that Google’s action should serve as a deterrent against other illegal marketing actions online (ComputerWorld, 9/22).

Growth in Rogue Pharmacies

For Google, more advertisers selling online pharmaceuticals can drive growth, but Zwibelman maintained that so-called rogue pharmacies can negatively affect the company, saying they are “bad for our users, for legitimate online pharmacies and for the entire e-commerce industry — so we are going to keep investing time and money to stop these kinds of harmful practices” (Wall Street Journal, 9/23).

He added that the number of rogue prescription drug vendors has increased and that their tactics have become more sophisticated (ComputerWorld, 9/22).

Also on Tuesday, eNom, a provider of Web addresses, sought to address fraudulent pharmaceutical ads by agreeing to work with LegitScript, an Internet pharmacy verification service (Wall Street Journal, 9/23).

Source: iHealthBeat

CMS has announced plans to revise certain details within the final rule for Stage 1 of the “meaningful use” incentive payment 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 Medicare and Medicaid incentive payments.

The agency will provide on its website more specific information on how health care providers can demonstrate meaningful use of EHRs (Mosquera, Government Health IT, 9/23).

Revising the Rule

Federal officials released the final rule for Stage 1 of the meaningful use program in July (iHealthBeat, 7/13).

Speaking Wednesday at a meeting of the Health IT Policy Committee’s meaningful use work group, Tony Trenkle — director of the Office of e-Health Standards and Services at CMS — said CMS soon will release clarifications aimed at addressing a few inconsistencies in the final rule.

He said the changes to the final rule are expected to provide clarification on some issues. Trenkle added that the revisions will guide the Policy Committee as it develops recommendations for future stages of the meaningful use program.

Preliminary Direction on Stage 2

In addition to the clarifications for Stage 1 of meaningful use, the meaningful use work group also discussed requirements of the program’s Stage 2 phase, scheduled to begin in 2013.

The panel is “backfilling” its development of Stage 2 by comparing Stage 1 requirements with where it wants to end up with Stage 3 in 2015, according to Government Health IT.

Possible preliminary requirements for Stage 2 include raising the performance level required for:

• Computerized provider orders;
• Electronic prescribing; and
• Other measures that began in Stage 1.

Paul Tang — chair of the meaningful use work group — said Stage 2 also should include more patient care data from EHRs to reduce health care providers’ reporting burden.

The work group also discussed requiring health care providers to link at least 20% of their patients with other members of a health care team to improve care coordination (Government Health IT, 9/23).

Blumenthal Weighs In

Meanwhile, National Coordinator for Health IT David Blumenthal has said he knows some details were overlooked in the process of releasing Stage 1 requirements.

For Stage 2, Blumenthal said health care providers and vendors should expect more complicated requirements on:

• Clinical decision support tools; and
• Health information exchange (Mosquera, Government Health IT, 9/21).

Next Steps

The meaningful use work group expects to release preliminary Stage 2 requirements in October. In December, the group plans to issue a request for comments on the proposed requirements (Government Health IT, 9/23).

Source: iHealthBeat