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HIE

Good or perfect: Cutting the fastest path forward

Guest post by Patrick Gordon, Director, Colorado Beacon Consortium

Early pioneers to Colorado did not have the luxury of waiting for railway or infrastructure to be in place before taming a new frontier. Their vision and determination laid the foundation for the settlers who followed. They used the tools and talents they had to develop an infrastructure and ultimately build viable, productive communities. Had they waited for the perfect conditions, they’d still be back east.

It’s a lesson we’ve […]

The EHR|HIE Interoperability Workgroup — Potentially Earth-Shattering

Yesterday’s announcement of  “Standard Health Data Connectivity Specifications” by the EHR|HIE Interoperability Workgroup (EHR|HIE WG) is potentially earth-shattering.

My mom would not know what I mean by “Standard Health Data Connectivity Specifications,” so I’ll try to write this in plain English.

Who Are These Guys? The EHR|HIE Interoperability Workgroup

The workgroup consists of HIEs (Health Information Exchanges) representing seven of the largest states, eight EHR vendors, and three HIE software/services vendors.

Is Hospital-Physician Integration Sustainable?

Reprinted courtesy of MCOL.

Perspectives on a Selected Key Topic |     April 2011/May 2011     |   Volume Three Issue Two

Will a material number of hospitals and their core medical […]

List of Top 10 Health Plan Issues — Out of Whack!

Healthcare IT News just published its list of top issues for health plans in 2011:

Administrative Mandates (Compliance HIPAA 5010, ICD-10, etc.).
Care Management, Data Analytics, and Informatics.
Health Insurance Exchanges and Individual Markets.
New Provider Payment & Delivery Systems (ACOs, PCMHs, etc.).
Bend the Cost Trend.
Medicare and Medicaid.
Health Information Exchanges and EMRs.
Consumer’s Role in the Modernization of Healthcare.
Reform Uncertainties.
Payer/Provider Interoperability.

Dear health plan colleagues,

Wake up! The order of this list is totally out of whack.

#2: Care Management, Data Analytics, Informatics. Good…sounds about right.

However,

#2 can’t […]

Tire Kickers Need Not Apply: 8 First Impressions of the Medicare ACO Rule

On March 31, CMS released the long-awaited “Medicare Shared Savings Program: Accountable Care Organizations” document (ACO Rule). Read the details here (strong suggestion: unless you’re working on your PhD in ACOs, start with the fact sheets).

There are many surprises. Here are eight first impressions on this 429 page tome:

The bar has been set high…very high.  Tire kickers need not apply.
Don’t expect to see many or any small ACOs.
Patients will be confused by ACOs.
Concerns over maintaining competition and avoiding antitrust are […]

The Crucial Distinction Between “Accountable Care” and ACOs

While in Philadelphia earlier this week, my colleague Dr. David Nace presented me with a print copy of McKesson Relay Health’s newest whitepaper — Providing Accountability: Accountable Care Concepts for Providers.  I felt honored as he handed it to me and confided that it was one of only six copies in print.  I took time to read it carefully on the long flight home.

The whitepaper is a great overview of accountable care and ACOs (Accountable Care Organizations). It’s a quick and easily digestible read.

However, there is one […]

Is Economic Credentialing A Tool for Primary Care to Lead ACOs?

Is economic credentialing — the use of economic factors such as loyalty and utilization rates in the physician credentialing process — a potential tool for primary care physicians to lead ACOs?   and reestablish the vitality of primary care in American health care?

Keith Wright and Gregory Drutchas’ incisive article Economic Credentialing: A Prescription To Secure Shared Savings Under Accountable Care provides useful history and context about economic credentialing:

For many years, the use of economic factors by hospitals in making medical staff credentialing decisions […]

Getting DIRECTly to the Point: The Role of the Direct Project in Fast-Tracking Health IT Interoperability

By Rich Elmore and Arien Malec. Rich Elmore is the Direct Project Communication Workgroup leader and Vice President, Strategic Initiatives at Allscripts.  Arien Malec is ONC’s Coordinator, Direct Project and Coordinator, S&I Framework.

A patient’s health records are no longer confined to a doctor’s office, shelved inside a dusty file cabinet. With the advent of the Nationwide Health Information Network, a framework of standards, services and policies that allow health practitioners to securely exchange health data, medical records digitized to be easily […]

10 Reasons Why an Open IT Platform Strategy is the Right Long-Term Choice for an ACO

Many Physicians and Clinical Service Providers Will Not Be In Your ACO Contracting Network.
Expect Significant Patient Leakage (Migration) Out of Your ACO Network
Expect Patient Demands for Sharing Records.
Minimize Anti-Trust Concerns.
Expect Continuing Government Pressure for Broad Data Exchange.

Updates on Proposed Stage 2 and 3 Meaningful Use Criteria

The Health IT Policy Committee has published proposed Stage 2 and 3 Meaningful Use Recommendations and they’re open for public comment until February 25.

I’ll share a couple of particularly useful and well written analyses and commentaries by colleagues.

Health IT guru and thought leader Dr. John Halamka writes about The Proposed Stage 2 and 3 Meaningful Use Recommendations in his blog.

This is a great article to get a thumbnail overview of all the proposed recommendations. John lists 38 criteria and provides a quick […]