Healthcare IT News For VARs — November 7, 2014
By Megan Williams, contributing writer
In the news this week, EHR (electronic health records) interoperability is a key to value-based care, device theft is still the biggest cause of healthcare data breaches, and the Department of Defense (DoD) is in talks with PwC over a new, open-source EHR solution.
Report Links Poor EHR Interoperability To Problems In Value-Based Care
A letter from the Office Of The National Coordinator reports that a lack of EHR interoperability has posed increasing challenges for accountable care organizations, especially in situations where cross-system EHR integration is essential for meeting cost and quality goals. The challenge has been met differently by different ACOs around the country. The full report can be accessed here.
Device Theft Still Rules Data Breaches
Data protection company, Bitglass, recently released findings from its 2014 Healthcare Breach Report that reveal the majority of data breaches as coming from device theft and loss. Only 23 percent were due to hacking. The findings, based on analysis of data from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), revealed that nearly half of U.S. breaches come from the healthcare sector, and that 76 percent of those stem from loss or theft. The article also notes that healthcare data is “50 times more valuable than credit-card information on the black market,” largely because PHI (protected health information) falls under the responsibility of the patient, as opposed to financial institutions, according to Fierce IT Security.
DOD Considers Open-Source EHR
The Department Of Defense has opened up bidding for its Healthcare Management Systems Modernization (DHMSM) EHR modernization contract — a system which currently houses almost 10 million active duty, retired, and dependent military beneficiaries. PwC has announced its bid for the contract, which also includes the integration of open-source EHR. Read more at Health IT Outcomes.
Meaningful Use Stage 2 Numbers Are Disappointing
As of the first of this month, of the 500,000 active registrants in the Meaningful Use program for 2014, only 1,478 professionals and 840 hospitals have attested for Stage 2. While those figures are low, they are up from July numbers, when 972 professionals and 10 hospitals had attested. Additionally, new flexibility rules mean that it will be difficult to tell which providers are attesting until the end of the attestation period.
Two NYC EDs Set To House EHR Workflow Study
A four-year study has been scheduled to evaluate the impact of Meaningful Use on clinician workflow in New York. The New York Academy Of Medicine’s Center For Cognitive Studies In Medicine And Public Health has received a grant to examine the effect of EHRs and Meaningful Use criteria on clinical workflows in emergency departments (EDs) across a four year period. The studies will involve Mount Sinai Medical Center and New York-Presbyterian Hospital.
Healthcare IT Talking Points
This article from CHIME board member, Charles Christian in Modern Healthcare takes a look at the nation’s “data highway” as we finish the last reporting period for Stage 2 Meaningful Use for hospitals. The article reflects some of the challenges and insights from post-acute-care providers including nursing homes, home care providers, and rehab facilities, and discusses challenges they’ve had to creating true connectivity for their practices, using the use of a history and physical (H&P) as an illustrative example.
For more news and insights, visit BSMinfo’s Healthcare IT Resource Center.