Isn't it ironic?
On our June 21 story about the federal government testing a "˜fraud-mapping' tool, a reader wrote:
"I love this quote, but when will the government ever invest the billions needed to change this?
'The technology for this fraud mapping tool and a Do Not Pay List database exist, yet the government was not using it," said (OMB Director Peter) Orzsag. "We pay a price in allowing the IT gap between the public and private sectors to persist.'"
In response to the same story, another reader wrote:
Fraud is an issue that can easily be dealt with. The real problem in Medicare is waste. Now how does information technolog handle waste?
PHI privacy pessimist
On a June 29 story we picked up from our sister publication Healthcare IT News on the approval of information exchange credentials, a reader wrote:
"Fear not! Hackers will still get into EHR data. Sadly, it is happening already and will not be stopped. While various encryptions and codes can be put in place it is only a matter of time before clever hackers get past them."
Public health IT hypocrisy?
A reader who did not want to be identified had this to say about our June 2 story on development of an app to push public health data out to software developers:
"Ask your local public health department how much money they have to invest in technology and developers. Most of them don't have an IT shop with developers, data base administrators, etc.
"Ask HHS how much money they give to local public health departments.
"Ask the governor of Georgia how much money the state has invested in public health.
"The fact is public health is ignored while everyone talks about how important health prevention is. "This is a joke."
Just-in-time education
Responding to our June 7 story about a proposal to fund work on embedding clinical education content in electronic health records, especially on the topic of genetics, a reader wrote:
"An embedded approach [in the EMR] to answering provider questions regarding genetic testing is a fabulous idea and applicable to other areas, as well, such as screening recommendations, patient education, and so forth. This will be a major programming effort, but will be worth the investment."
Nervous in the service
In answer to our story about Maryland's state HIE contracting with Axolotl to provide network services, Dr. Jonathan Plotsky from Rockville, Md., wrote:
"This is very anxiety provoking for small practices. I am being rushed forward with no assurance that my practice will survive the transition. It seems to make more sense to shut the practice and go to work for some large organization that has a staff devoted to HIS implementation. Any comments?"
What color was George Washington's white horse?
Lastly, we got way too many emails asking if we could supply the Web address to HHS's new healthcare.gov website "¦
