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The Drug Enforcement Agency recently released its much-anticipated Interim Final Rule (IFR) on electronic prescribing of controlled substances. While additional clarification is needed from DEA, the rule opens the door for electronic transmission of controlled-substance prescriptions to pharmacies and removes a significant barrier to the overall use of electronic prescribing.
ICD-10 is but one piece of the healthcare puzzle with which IT shops and the CIOs who support them need concern themselves. The usual suspects include EHRs, Meaningful Use, healthcare reform, and the HITECH Act - and while simmering that acronym soup don't forget about RAC.
Steven P. Rosenberg, MD, of Palm Beach Dermatology, wants the Florida Board of Medicine to issue a statewide warning for EMRs. Why?
In order to avoid HITECH penalties and demonstrate compliance, healthcare organizations must have documented policies and procedures, assigned responsibilities for privacy and security, and ongoing training for staff.
Introducing change in healthcare is never easy. Historically, adopting our most fundamental medical technologies, from the stethoscope to the x-ray, were met with significant doubt and opposition. So it comes as no surprise that in the face of change as transformational as the adoption of health IT - even though it carries the promise of vastly improving the nation's healthcare - some hospitals and providers push back.
A medical overdose resulted in death at a Maine hospital in early June. A man who was admitted to the emergency room was initially given a drug and then given 10 times the original dose a second time when his symptoms reappeared.
Based on the comments we received, last Friday's observations about the public's apparent awareness gap when it comes to making use of healthcare information struck a chord with a number of readers. But while the problem seems clear, how policymakers should proceed is less so.
We're starting to see more validation for EHR implementation from multiple organizations and different segments of the healthcare delivery system. This is good news.
A recent survey conducted by Harris Interactive for Xerox Corp. shed light on consumers' perceptions about EHRs. While nearly half of the 2,180 people polled said EHRs would make healthcare delivery more efficient, they didn't know how it would impact them as patients.
As the nation stands on the threshold of one of the most important eras in health information technology (IT) history, we are witnessing a "perfect storm" of health IT advancements, innovations and drastic overhauls.