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HIMSS is pushing the National Institute of Standards and Technology to keep its Framework for Improving Critical Infrastructure Cybersecurity voluntary. HIMSS, which represents more than 52,000 health IT professionals, wrote to NIST on Monday in response to its request for information. NIST has extended the original Tuesday comment deadline to Feb. 23. NIST noted it was looking for ways in which the framework is being used to improve cybersecurity risk management; how best practices for using the framework are being shared; the relative value of different parts of the framework; the possible need for an update of the framework, and options for long-term governance of the framework. [Also: Cybersecurity strategies evolving in face of big risk] As HIMSS sees it, the framework could be used as a tool to develop a common set of consensus-based, private sector-led guidelines, best practices, methodologies, procedures and processes in relation to privacy and information security risk management. Since many healthcare organizations could benefit from improving their risk management process and better address cybersecurity risks, HIMSS supports the idea that the Framework could be useful in helping healthcare organizations improve their security posture, wrote HIMSS President and CEO H. Stephen Lieber and and HIMSS Board Chair Dana Alexander in their response. They also discussed how NIST’s Cybersecurity Framework serves to inform organizations that are in need of either creating or updating their own risk management program. Whether an organization is standing up a new cybersecurity program or has a sophisticated program already in place, the Framework has the potential to serve organizations well in advancing the capabilities of organizations in addressing cybersecurity risk. [Like Healthcare IT News on Facebook] NIST first released Version 1.0 of the framework in February 2014. It is among a handful of security best practices and guidance standards gaining purchase in healthcare, including HITRUST Common Security Framework, ISO/IEC 27002 and Control Objectives for Information Technology, or COBIT. Responses will contribute to shaping NIST's decision-making about how to strengthen the framework and, ideally, the nation's critical infrastructure. Twitter: @HealthITNews

Cerner has launched its new Cerner Open Developer Experience -- known as "code_" -- in a bid to spur wider collaboration with third-party and client developers for SMART on FHIR applications. SMART on FHIR tools run on top of electronic health records, giving physicians access to the apps from within their workflow, enabling them to more easily interact with health data. Developers who visit code.cerner.com can begin coding immediately with the SMART on FHIR tools and browse current apps that are available or in development. Cerner officials say code_ is designed with open communications and robust API documentation in mind, meant to offer access to tools that enable innovative app development. See all of our HIMSS16 previews "Cerner is committed to taking a leadership role to support third-party developers and help further health information technology," said David McCallie, MD, senior vice president, medical informatics, at Cerner, in a statement. "Encouraging innovators to develop apps that work across existing health records can help the industry advance the way care is delivered through improved interoperability capabilities," he added. [Also: Cerner adds FHIR power] Fifteen new SMART on FHIR apps are in development or in production and will be showcased in Cerner (Booth 2032) at HIMSS16, which takes place Feb. 29 to March 4, at Sands Expo Center in Las Vegas. "Fostering new ideas from the developer community enables us to reach a broader market of potential users,” said Bob Robke, Cerner's vice president of interoperability, noting that the platform "has potential to unlock the next cutting-edge solution that could benefit not only our entire client base, but the industry as well." Twitter: @MikeMiliardHITN This story is part of our ongoing coverage of the HIMSS16 conference. Follow our live blog for real-time updates, and visit Destination HIMSS16 for a full rundown of our reporting from the show. For a selection of some of the best social media posts of the show, visit our Trending at #HIMSS16 hub.

The Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions on Tuesday passed the bipartisan Improving Health Information Technology Act with a vote of 22-0.  The bill addresses electronic health record usability and seeks to reduce burdens tied to documentation. It also calls for transparent ratings on EHR usability and security, calls out information blocking and gives the Department of Health of Human Services’ Office of the Inspector General the authority to establish deterrents. [Also: Senate panel to look into EHR usability] The legislation, which moves to the full Senate, also promises to convene existing data-sharing networks to develop a voluntary model framework and common agreement for the secure exchange of health information across existing networks. The bill also directs the Governmental Accountability Office to conduct a study of methods for securely matching patient records to the correct individual. “Our goal is to make our country's electronic health record system something that helps patients rather than something that doctors and hospitals dread so much that patients are not helped,” said Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tennessee, in a statement. Alexander and Sen. Patty Murray, D-Washington, led the effort. “Democrats and Republicans have been able to reach agreement on policies that will help empower patients and providers with more and better information to help drive treatment and improve health outcomes,” Murray added. Twitter: @HealthITNews

Republicans, blasting the proposal as overzealous when it comes to spending, have already shot down the 2017 budget.

(SPONSORED) For today's organization, managing risks to critical information has become a business priority, not just an IT responsibility. We all know cyberattacks damage reputations, destroy customer trust, and affect revenues.

Health IT giant Cerner Corp. has scored a $50.7 million data hosting contract from U.S. Department of Defense as part of its Defense Healthcare Management Systems Modernization, according to official documents. The DoD last year awarded Cerner and partner Leidos the $4.3 billion contract to deploy the new electronic health record for the U.S. military worldwide. Cerner won the contract over the objections of Amazon.com, Computer Sciences Corp., General Dynamics and IBM Corp., which appealed the decision and lost their case, documents showed. The DoD said that Cerner had made it clear to the government that the comapany does not allow connections to its managed services by any other commercial entity. In fact, Cerner's restrictions made it impossible for the Defense Department EHR's data to be hosted even by the DoD itself. [Also: DoD awards Cerner, Leidos, Accenture EHR contract] Cerner's EHR system also includes historical data, anonymized information from healthcare provider organizations that use the company's EHR and from the vendor's analytical models based on years of research and development. Had the DoD opted for a different company to host data, it would not have been able to use the Cerner historical data in conjunction with military EHR data and would have had to deal with a separate data setting, adding costs to the project, Pentagon officials said. [Like Healthcare IT News on Facebook] The competing vendors' objections weren't all specified, but according to a report from FCW, one vendor had suggested the DoD could compel Cerner to share its data/modeling functions with a third-party hosting company. Another bidder suggested replacing Cerner's analytics modules with those from another vendor. But DoD said that would lead to cost redundancies. Some of these same vendors, such as IBM and CSC, competed for the initial DHMSM contract in 2015 and didn't protest the initial award to Leidos/Cerner. Cerner's suite of healthcare information systems will replace the DoD's legacy health IT system in its 55 hospitals and more than 350 clinics, as well as in ships, submarines and other military locations. In addition to Leidos, Cerner also aligned with Accenture, Henry Schein and a number of small business partners to serve the Military Health System and its 9.6 million beneficiaries. Intermountain Healthcare is also a strategic partner providing clinical governance of solutions and workflow. Jessica Davis contributed to this report. Twitter: @SiwickiHealthIT

Consolidation, increased regulation and shortages of critical medications are just a few issues that have health system pharmacy managers scrambling. "We are being faced more and more by challenges within the system," said DeVere Day, pharmacy automation and technology manager at Salt Lake City-based Intermountain Healthcare. "We're facing challenges from an expense standpoint. There are certainly compliance and regulatory concerns. Automation has become very expensive for many hospital systems. Sterile compounding is a concern with hazardous drug therapies and medication shortages in the industry have created a lot of heartache." See all of our HIMSS16 previews Day will be presenting "Transforming the Pharmacy Supply Chain," an exploration of Intermountain's implementation of a central pharmacy supply chain center for its entire enterprise, and the strategic decision making that has resulted in pharmacy savings to the tune of approximately $3.5 million companywide in 2015. "We distribute about 4.5 million doses a year within our system," Day said. "The majority of those go to our 22 hospitals but we have 185 clinics we have begun working for as well, so we are now supplying many of the clinics within our system." Day cited technological platforms including carousels, packaging machines and a third-party software tool that enables staff at the supply chain center to visualize inventory at other Intermountain facilities. Those other facilities, in turn, can use that software to place orders directly, with each hospital's central pharmacy responsible for internal distribution. The technology is just the enabler of astute strategic thinking, however. For example, Intermountain compounds only nine IV drugs, and the focus on those leads to approximate savings of $500,000 annually over buying those drugs from a wholesaler, Day said. He cited rapidly changing industry status, such as the recent merger between Pfizer and Hospira, and AmerisourceBergen's announced purchase of compounder PharMEDium, as elements the central supply chain center can help cope with. "We have put ourselves into a position where we can adapt to market changes, and the market is changing so fast it's hard to predict where your greatest impact is going to be," he said. And while Day explained that economies of scale at a larger system may yield benefits smaller organizations can't match, that's no reason not to evaluate just what can be done to improve efficiency. [Like Healthcare IT News on Facebook] "I guess the strategic planning side of it has value for anybody," he said. "Some of our shops are as small as 20 beds, some as large as 400, and we have found ways to provide value for all of those." Day will be presenting "Transforming the Pharmacy Supply Chain" from 4 - 5 p.m. March 1 at the Sands Expo Convention Center, Marcello 4401. Twitter: @HealthITNews This story is part of our ongoing coverage of the HIMSS16 conference. Follow our live blog for real-time updates, and visit Destination HIMSS16 for a full rundown of our reporting from the show. For a selection of some of the best social media posts of the show, visit our Trending at #HIMSS16 hub.

Only a few days remain to submit speaker and session proposals for the Healthcare IT News and HIMSS Pop Health Forum 2016, which will be held in Boston May 19-20. The Pop Health Forum’s goal is to give attendees, 250-plus healthcare providers and payers, solid information on how to improve their population health initiatives. Proposals should focus on one or more of the forum’s three key areas, the cornerstones of population health: data and analytics, coordinating care, and patient engagement.  Attendees prefer case studies and are eager to learn how their peers are addressing common challenges and pain points. As such, we place a high value on proposals from payer and provider organizations that offer practical, actionable information and real-life solutions.   The deadline to submit a proposal is 5 p.m. Friday, Feb. 12. Click here to submit a proposal and for more information.

The Department of Health and Human Services has proposed new rules on patient record disclosures to ensure substance use disorder patients can participate in new integrated healthcare models without risk of having their records shared inappropriately. The revisions on the Confidentiality of Alcohol and Drug Abuse Patient Records would also facilitate health information exchange and to address legitimate privacy concerns of patients seeking treatment for substance use, HHS said. [Also: eRx of controlled substances now legal in 50 states] “This proposal will help patients with substance use disorders fully participate and benefit from a healthcare delivery system that’s better, smarter and healthier, while protecting their privacy,” HHS Secretary Sylvia Burwell said in a statement. The proposal reflects the changing healthcare landscape, including the development of an electronic infrastructure that focuses on managing and exchanging patient data and an increased focus on performance measurement and quality improvement. The current rules, sometimes referred to as 'Part 2', were created in 1975 amid concerns that potential substance use disorder treatment information used in criminal prosecutions would deter individuals from seeking necessary treatment. It was last updated in 1987. Part 2 rules are more stringent than other federal protections, including the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, due to its targeted population. [Like Healthcare IT News on Facebook] “We're moving Medicare and the healthcare system as a whole toward new integrated care models that incentivize providers to coordinate and put the patient at the center of their care, and we're modernizing our rules to protect patients,” Burwell said. The public comment session on this proposal is open until 5 p.m. Eastern on April 11. Twitter: @JessiefDavis

The American Hospital Association has sent a list of demands the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services before the federal agency creates new rules surrounding electronic quality reporting measures. CMS earlier this month extended the public comment period for eCQM from Feb. 1 to Feb. 16, 2016. For starters, AHA, the largest hospital organization in the country, wants CMS to release the results of the previous eCQM demonstrations and pilots. [Also: CMS extends comment period on quality reporting] The organization also wants the agency to expand eCQM education and outreach. CMS and the Office of the National Coordinator first put out their request for public comment on Dec. 31, 2015, which called for feedback on several items related to the certification of health information technology. The request also asks for feedback on electronic health record products used for reporting to CMS incentive programs such as the Hospital Inpatient Quality Reporting Program and the Physician Quality Reporting System. AHA senior vice president of public policy Ashley Thompson wrote in comments to acting CMS administrator Andy Slavitt that the “AHA is encouraged that CMS is requesting feedback on several areas of concern to providers.” AHA leaders want CMS to outline transition plans from chart-based reporting to electronic reporting across CMS programs and clearly explain how eCQM will work other organizations’ reporting requirements, such as The Joint Commission. [Like Healthcare IT News on Facebook] Lastly, the AHA asked the agency to speed up efforts to identify and define data needed for reporting and to make sure that any modifications to definitions will align with existing requirements for eligible and critical access hospitals. “The AHA recommends that CMS also consider the input received to date from EHs, CAHs and eligible providers about their eCQM experiences, including the evidence from CMS eCQM pilots and demonstrations, to inform future rulemaking,” AHA wrote. Twitter: @HealthITNews