HCTAA News

Showcase of Interoperable HIT for Long-Term and Post Acute-Care - Call for Participation
The 2010 Long-Term and Post-Acute Care Health Information Technology (LTPAC-HIT) Summit will take place June 7 - 8, 2010 at the Hyatt Regency Baltimore on the Inner Harbor Hotel in Baltimore, Maryland. This year’s Summit will feature an Interoperability Showcase demonstrating HIT interoperability for shared care, transfer of care, personal health and e-prescribing. The Showcase will take place on Monday, June 7th, from 12:00 PM - 7:00 PM (EST) with dedicated demonstration time between 3:00 PM and 5:00 PM (EST). Interested in showcasing your interoperable HIT system? Please visit http://www.ahima.org/events/ltchitsummit/documents/InteroperabilityShowcaseApplication-Final_000.doc for an application and additional information. The deadline to apply is April 16, 2010. Table top exhibit opportunities are also available.

Federal News

Q and A: The HITECH Act
A year ago last month, President Obama signed into law the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (a.k.a. the Stimulus Bill), which made available $19 billion for health information technology (health IT), through the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act, better known as the HITECH Act. The $19 billion was divided into two separate categories, which ultimately allocated $17 billion in financial incentives to be paid to physicians who agreed to implement the use of health IT in their practice. The remaining $2 billion was “distributed through the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology for a number of projects, including health information exchange infrastructure, standards evaluation and development, grants to states for the purpose of furthering EHR adoption, improvements in telemedicine delivery and the establishment of regional HIT resource centers.” According to health care attorney Jeff Baird, “The intent of the new law is clear. All providers are encouraged to take two large steps by 2014: purchase ‘certified’ EHR technology and use it in a ‘meaningful way.‘ Physician and hospital providers that do not achieve this objective by the deadline will pass up available payment incentives, and all providers that do not achieve this objective by the deadline will begin incurring Medicare payment reductions.”
http://enews.penton.com/enews/homecare/homecare_monday/2010_march_1_homecare_monday/display

New HIT Task Force Presents Opportunities and Challenges
Last week, the Obama administration announced that it will establish a government-run health information technology (HIT) task force, which will help with the coordination of health IT, Healthcare IT News reports. Officials believe that the task force is in a good position to assist in both the adoption and coordination of health IT, given the fact that government agencies, such as the Department of Health and Human Services, the Department of Defense, and the Veterans Administration, already play a huge part in healthcare. However, the task force also faces some challenges. For instance, policy makers need to ensure that in creating a new network of advisory groups they are not simply replacing the old one but rather expanding it.
http://ehr.healthcareitnews.com/blog/new-hit-task-force-faces-opportunities-and-challenges

Congressman Gingrey Crusades for HIT Stimulus Bill
This week, during the Health Information Exchange (HIE) Symposium in Atlanta, Georgia, keynote speaker Congressman Phil Gingrey, MD (R-GA) stated that the bipartisan health IT efforts were “the single most important thing we can do” to reduce the cost of healthcare in the United States, Healthcare IT News reports. Gingrey stressed the importance of a fully integrated healthcare system, in which doctors must have certified technology and access to a health information exchange. Congressman Gingrey said that he favors the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act’s incentives and penalties provisions.
http://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/gingrey-hit-stimulus-bill-right-thing-do

State News

Mayo Clinic Teams Up with GE and Intel to Test the Effectiveness of Home Monitoring
GE Healthcare, Intel, and the Mayo Clinic of Rochester, Minnesota have teamed up to test a new prototype, which utilizes home health care for patients at risk of re-hospitalization, Healthcare IT News reports. The year-long study will be headed-up by the Mayo Clinic, and will evaluate whether GE and Intel videoconferencing services and home monitoring devices, actually help reduce the number of hospital and emergency room visits. Doctor Gregory Hanson, the principal investigator at the Mayo Clinic, suggested that this new prototype would replace the existing model of face-to-face doctor/patient interaction, which has become unsustainable and out-dated. He stated, “To meet evolving patient needs and broaden its reach in the 21st century, Mayo Clinic will build on its model of care to provide products and services to people in new ways.”
http://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/mayo-clinic-partners-ge-intel-home-based-monitoring-study

Technology News

A New Interface for the iPhone and iPod Touch Enables Doctors to Receive Message Notifications
According to Healthcare IT News, two hospitals in Sarasota, Florida and Pasadena, California are testing Philip Emergin’s new interface Voalte One. Voalte One is designed to replace pagers by enabling staff to send text messages to healthcare providers’ iPhone and iPod Touch, using the hospital’s directory and alert management systems. The messages are dispatched through data systems and other devices in the Emergin Patient Monitoring Gateway onsite at the hospitals.
http://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/new-mobile-interface-facilitate-iphone-alerts

Industry News

EHR Market Forecast at $5.4B by 2015
Global Industry Analysts (GIA), a market research firm, has published a recent report that shows that by 2015 the market for electronic medical records (EMR) will exceed $5.4 billion. The report shows that there are several factors that are contributing to this increased use of EMRs, such as “effective management of the medication process, substantial clinical improvement, minimization of staff, and extraction of detailed data.” The report recognizes that there are intial costs associated for healthcare providers in implementing the EMRs; however over time, the use of EMRs will ultimately save providers money and time. The GIA report explains that the “market growth will be driven primarily by the increasing recognition by healthcare providers that digital records help in effective communication between the clinical staff, and thereby increase operational efficiency.”
http://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/ehr-market-forecast-54b-2015

Telemedicine Can Enhance Lives of Chronically Ill Patients
A recent study, conducted by Philips Healthcare and the Catalonian Health Service, found that the use of telemedicine technologies, in the care of chronically ill patients, can reduce the number of hospitalizations and enhance the patient’s quality of life. The study, which monitored patients with severe heart failure from the comfort of their own homes, is a pilot project that may open the “door to the use of this technology in patients with chronic diseases.” In addition to patient’s vital signs being monitored, the study also employed the use of telehealth as an “educational tool” to help patients make wise life style choices. These educational materials, designed specially for the patient’s healthcare needs, can be accessed on the patients home television set, in the form of videos.
http://www.ehealthserver.com/philips/438-telemedicine-can-enhance-lives-of-chronically-ill-patients