The digitization of healthcare was a much-needed change brought after years of hard work and effort. One might wonder how could one justify the expenditure of 10 billion dollars in a span of five years just on digitization! The problem intensifies when after several studies we find out that EHRs only reciprocate around 30-35 cents…

On May 2, 2016 Peter Basch, MD, MACP, Chair, Medical Informatics Committee, American College of Physicians (ACP) submitted ACP’s comments on the ONC Health IT Certification Program to Dr. Karen DeSalvo, Acting Assistant Secretary for Health, National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. ACP is the largest medical specialty…

In a joint post on the CMS blog Andy Slavitt, Acting Administrator, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and Dr. Karen DeSalvo, National Coordinator, Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT announced plans to retire the Meaningful Use program in favour of a new program under the Merit-based Payment System (MIPS). The new program,…

Guest Editorial There is a collision of cynicism and optimism in any discussion of Millennial healthcare workers. For those who view the intrusion of digital technology into healthcare as a negative trend, Millennials, with their overdependence on technology, are part of the problem sucking the joy out of medicine. They embrace these interloping devices and…

Guest Editorial Interoperability is not just a set of technical hurdles, programming considerations, and communication initiatives—though it certainly entails plenty of such challenges. It is about realizing the much talked-about Continuum of Care, aligning doctors, specialists, nurses, patients, pharmacists—the many individuals and operating environments involved in delivering 21st century whole-person healthcare. Glaringly absent from popular…

On March 2, 2016 ONC published their “ONC Health IT Certification Program: Enhanced Oversight and Accountability” Proposed Rule in the Federal Register. The proposed rule would modify the ONC Health IT Certification Program and focuses on three areas: ONC Direct Review of Certified Health IT Oversight of ONC-Authorized Testing Laboratories Transparency and Availablity of Surveillance…

The latest release of Meaningful Use (MU) Attestation Data by HealthData.gov shows that as of Feb. 3, 2016 there had been 998,709 MU attestations. Epic Systems Corporation continues to be the market share leader amongst certified EHR systems. “EpicCare Ambulatory – Core EMR” is the single most attested EHR with 110,173 providers qualifying for meaningful…

Guest Editorial The healthcare industry does not have a rich culture of innovation. While regulatory burdens, enterprise developers, and even generation gaps have taken heat for causing grief over the course of the Meaningful Use program (RIP), there is a legacy of change-resistance in medicine that goes much further than the last ten years. As…

A January 20, 2016 Health Affairs Article by Dawn M. Heisey-Grove titled Variation In Rural Health Information Technology Adoption And Use (Health Affairs, no.(2016): doi: 10.1377/hlthaff.2015.0861) examines the differences between different provider groups in rural vs. urban settings. According to Heisey-Grove, initial adoption levels amongst rural providers was higher than their urban counterparts. “In 2013,…

Last week active CMS Administrator, Andy Slavitt, announced the phasing out of Meaningful Use “as we know it.” This week ONC National Coordinator for Health IT Karen DeSalvo and Andy Slavitt have expanded on plans for upcoming changes to the Meaningful Use program on the CMS blog. While many media outlets (AmericanEHR included) reported that Meaningful Use…

Speaking at the  J.P. Morgan Annual Health Care Conference on Jan. 11, 2016, Acting Administrator Andy Slavitt announced that CMS is in the process of ending Meaningful Use and moving to a new regime culminating with the MACRA implementation. The Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 (also known as MACRA) was signed into…