February 2009 - EMR and HIPAA

EHR Adoption Will Be Slowed Significantly by HITECH

I recently posted what I think is a relatively reasonable timeline for EHR adoption. It’s very broad, but I think that most doctors could use it as a reasonable estimate of how long it will take to implement an EHR or EMR in their clinic. Of course...

Published Sat, Feb 28 2009 8:09 AM by EMR and HIPAA

HITECH’s Fundamental Assumptions and Plans

I was browsing through a document on the House Ways and Means website and I was really interested in what I found listed for what I believe is the basic assumptions and plans Congress and the House used to pass the HITECH act through congress. Health...

Published Fri, Feb 27 2009 3:09 PM by EMR and HIPAA

Meaningful EHR Use Timeline

I saw a link go across my Twitter feed called “The Meaningful Use Timeline.” The title of course was interesting and so I had to check it out. The basic idea presented is a big image showing the potential time frame required for doctors wanting...

Published Fri, Feb 27 2009 1:30 PM by EMR and HIPAA

The Health IT Stimulus Package… for 2011?

I’m always happy to have people smarter than me do a guest post on EMR and HIPAA. There’s far too much going on with Health Care IT for me to be able to cover everything that’s going on. So, I’d like to thank Randy Pickard for...

Published Fri, Feb 27 2009 3:39 AM by EMR and HIPAA

HITECH Basically Excludes Open Source EHR If They Select CCHIT

I’m a major proponent of the open source software movement. In fact, pretty much everything that I use to run this website is open source (WordPress, Linux, MySQL, PHP, Apache, etc). Wow, I didn’t even include all the software tools I use...

Published Thu, Feb 26 2009 1:08 PM by EMR and HIPAA

HHS Secretary MIA

If you’ve read this blog, then I’m sure you know that Tom Daschle withdrew his nomination for HHS secretary. Some people have suggeste Howard Dean to be a nice replacement for Tom Daschle as HHS secretary, but unless I missed something in...

Published Thu, Feb 26 2009 12:09 PM by EMR and HIPAA

The Problems with CCHIT Certification

In a really thoughtful post on HISTalk, Dewey Howell MD, PhD, Founder, CEO Design Clinicals, Inc. wrote a n article called “The Real Problem with CCHIT Certification.” In it, Dr. Howell basically makes the case against CCHIT, because it doesn’t...

Published Thu, Feb 26 2009 10:09 AM by EMR and HIPAA

List of EHR Companies for Survey

I recently got a survey from someone evaluating EHR implementations and the motivations around an EHR implementation. I’m suppose to get the results of the EHR survey. If there’s something interesting, I’ll post it on here for all to...

Published Wed, Feb 25 2009 9:46 PM by EMR and HIPAA

My Article on Understanding the Types of EHR Consultants

I mentioned previously that I was working on an article about EHR consultants. I wanted to sincerely thank all those people who commented on EHR consultants and sent me feedback on things I should include in my article. As you’ll see, I used a lot...

Published Tue, Feb 24 2009 4:47 PM by EMR and HIPAA

CCHIT As The HITECH Certification Criteria Poll

The HITECH act designated that in order to get the $40k+ of EHR stimulus money you have to implement a certified EHR. However, the HITECH act lets HHS decide which EHR certification criteria to use. All CCHIT vendors are hoping it will be the CCHIT certification...

Published Tue, Feb 24 2009 12:00 PM by EMR and HIPAA

CCHIT Being Thrown Under the Bus

If you’ve read much of this blog at all, then you know that I’m not a big fan of CCHIT. The basis of my feeling is that it’s expensive, doesn’t measure EHR usability (despite the impression that it does), and really feels like...

Published Tue, Feb 24 2009 11:45 AM by EMR and HIPAA

Many Doctors Won’t See EHR Stimulus Money

One of my biggest fears about the carrot and stick approach to the HITECH EHR stimulus package is that many doctors are never going to see any of the EHR stimulus package. Not because they aren’t going to implement an EHR, but because they won’t...

Published Mon, Feb 23 2009 10:02 PM by EMR and HIPAA

$18 Billion Might Be Spent to Stimulate EHR Adoption

I love how people are saying that $18 billion will be spent on EHR adoption due to what has been dubbed the HITECH act. My question is how did they come up with the $18 billion number? I guess you could say that it’s the max that the government...

Published Mon, Feb 23 2009 5:41 PM by EMR and HIPAA

Major Reason Why EMR Adoption Is So Low

Currently, doctors must invest time and money to implement EHR systems, but it’s the insurers and payers who ultimately benefit, thanks to a reduction in unnecessary tests and medications. Source Couldn’t have said it better myself. Now, how...

Published Sun, Feb 22 2009 1:58 AM by EMR and HIPAA

HITECH Act Gives HHS $2 Billion of Discretionary Funds

The HITECH Act gives Health and Human Services (HHS) 90 days to develop a plan to allocate $2 Billion of discretionary funds. Talk about a nice infusion of funding for HHS. HHS does have a set of core areas of focus for the money (per an Allscripts presentation...

Published Fri, Feb 20 2009 2:05 AM by EMR and HIPAA