Mary Mosquera
Even before healthcare providers begin to demonstrate the first set of meaningful use requirements next year, federal health IT policymakers are already working on how high to set the bar for providers to qualify for the next round of financial incentive payments in 2013.
The Veterans Affairs and Defense departments are working on consent management tools that would let patients control access to their personal health information - including medication lists, lab test results and diagnoses - during health information exchanges between the two agencies.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services will integrate the reporting of quality measures from physicians in its Medicare program using electronic health records with those from providers who demonstrate meaningful use of EHRs under the HITECH Act.
The Department of Health and Human Services awarded George Washington University a $1 million contract to study various healthcare reimbursement incentive approaches used by large government and commercial payers.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services will be the first federal agency to test a mapping and data analysis tool developed by a White House oversight board to spot irregularities in the flow of economic stimulus funds.
The Office of the National Coordinator is finalizing the details and design of NHIN Direct, the health information exchange tool-set it is preparing to help physicians and small practices share basic healthcare records securely over the Internet.
The Department of Veterans Affairs will make $80 million available to test technology applications developed through a competition to find innovative solutions to VA's most pressing healthcare challenges, including homelessness, expanding online healthcare and strategies for treating kidney disease on an outpatient basis.
The Department of Health and Human Services will share its community and population health data with technology innovators and public health officials in the hope that they will use it to create new applications and tools to improve the health of Americans.
Usability should become part of the certification test for electronic health records to ensure systems are designed so clinicians not only find them appealing to use but operate them safely and effectively.
Healthcare providers should encrypt patient information when they share it with another provider, even in a case of the direct exchange of personal health information or data that is not facilitated by a health information exchange or other third-party organization.