e-CareManagement blog

Chronic Disease Management • Technology • Strategy • Issues and Trends

A Compendium of Perspectives on the HITECH Certification NPRM

Just the Facts 
Certification Programs NPRM (Notice of Proposed Rulemaking)
Health IT, U. S. Department of Health and Human Services; March 2, 2010
Certification NPRM
Facts-At-A-Glance
FAQ
 
Bookmarked version of Certification NPRM (much easier to navigate)
U. S. Department of Health and Human Services; March 2, 2010
Via OCCAM Practice Management blog, March 3, 2010
 
Commentary and Analysis
 
Proposed EHR Certification Rule Changes Game
HDM Breaking [...]

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A Compendium of Resources on the Federal HIT Meaningful Use NPRM and Standards IFR

* = highly recommended
 
Descriptive Summaries and Documents
 
 *Dissecting the Meaningful Use Proposed Rule PowerPoint
eHealth Initiative Policy Webinar; January 8, 2010
 
*What You Need to Know About the Meaningful Use Proposed Rule, Standards and Implementation Specification, and Interim Final Rule Certification Criteria PowerPoint
HIMSS Webinar; January 6, 2010
 
*Meaningful Use, Certification Criteria and Standards, and HHS Certification Process
HIMSS, frequently updated [...]

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Medicare’s Biggest Change in 40 Years on the Horizon?

Earlier this week CMS issued a typically cryptic Announcement indicating that they were shelving the Medicare Medical Home Demonstration (MMHD) and instead would focus on the recently announced Multi-Payer Advanced Primary Care Initiative (MAPCI). My blog post from Tuesday provides details and asks the question “What does all this mean?”
Today’s blog post will tackle:

Medicare’s biggest change [...]

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HITECH Health IT Legislation: Opportunities for the DMAA Community

Dr. Don Storey and I spoke at the at The Forum 09 conference in San Diego earlier this week. The DMAA publication “The Continuum” had an excellent writeup of our enthusiastically received presentation. 
Here’s a copy of our PowerPoint slides…
HITECH Health IT Legislation: Opportunities for the DMAA Community
View more presentations from vincek.
and here’s DMAA’s writeup:
Helping physicians and hospitals meet the “meaningful [...]

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The Third Rail in HITECH Implementation: “Please Don’t Make Us All Speak Latin”

By Vince Kuraitis and Steven Waldren MD, MS.  Dr Waldren is Director of the Center for Health Information Technology at the American Academy of Family Practice (AAFP).
Two issues have rightfully surfaced front and center in the public’s understanding of HITECH Act implementation:

” definition of “Meaningful Use” of EHRs, and
” definition of “certification” process for EHRs

…and [...]

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CCHIT’s Latest Gambit

by Glen Laffel MD, PhD
Many of us have enjoyed a few good minutes of fun having our fortunes told by soothsayers who claim they can predict our future based on patterns of tea leaves in a cup or the playing cards we’ve pulled from a deck.

We pay a few dollars for the entertainment and if [...]

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PR Blunder of the Year: Federation of American Hospitals Says Meaningful Use Should Not Tie to Quality Improvement

These guys really don’t get it, and they need to be called on the carpet, taken to the woodshed, or pick your own favorite cliche.

The Federation of American Hospitals (FAH) sent a letter to Dr. David Blumenthal (National Coordinator for Health IT) arguing that “Meaningful Use” funding should not be tied to achievement of quality [...]

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HIT Policy Committee Recommends “Minimum” Certification of EHRs

At last Friday’s meeting, the HIT Policy Committee adopted the recommendations of the Certification and Adoption Workgroup.
Between the initial recommendations in July and the adopted recommendations in August, one critical word was added to the definition of “certification”.  That one word is “minimum” — and this one word expresses the correct approach and philosophy for the government’s role in [...]

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“Meaningful Use” Criteria as a Unifying Force

by Vince Kuraitis, Steve Adams, and David C. Kibbe MD, MBA
Over the past several years, many diverse initiatives have arisen offering partial solutions to systemic problems in the U.S. health care non-system. 
We see Meaningful Use Criteria recommended by the HIT Policy Committee as a unifying force for these previously disparate initiatives. These initiatives have included:

Patient Centered Medical Homes [...]

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