ONC announces launch of “Direct Project” pilots via Press Release and Blumenthal/Chopra Blog Post

Posted on February 2, 2011 by Mike Squires

‘Open Government’ process yields rapid drive toward early exchange of electronic health information
HHS Press Release: 2/2/2011
Blumenthal and Chopra Blog post from ONC’s Health IT Buzz blog comes after press release
Additional articles: NY Times, Govt Health IT, and Project Direct blog

www.directproject.org

The Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT (ONC) announced today that providers and public health agencies in Minnesota and Rhode Island began this month exchanging health information using specifications developed by the Direct Project, an ‘open government’ initiative that calls on cooperative efforts by organizations in the health care and information technology sectors. Other Direct Project pilot programs will also be launched soon in New York, Connecticut, Tennessee, Texas, Oklahoma and California to demonstrate the effectiveness of the streamlined Direct Project approach, which supports information exchange for core elements of patient care and public health reporting.

The launch of the pilot demonstrations, less than a year from the inception of the Direct Project, shows the project is on track to give U.S. health care providers early access to an easy-to-use, internet-based tool that can replace mail and fax transmissions of patient data with secure and efficient electronic health information exchange.

“This is an important milestone in our journey to achieve secure health information exchange, and it means that health care providers large and small will have an early option for electronic exchange of information supporting their most basic and frequently-needed uses,” said Dr. David Blumenthal, national coordinator for health information technology. “Other efforts are also going forward at full-throttle to build a comprehensive structure of health information exchange. But by bringing together health care and IT companies, including competitors, to rapidly produce a system that supports basic clinical delivery and public health needs, we will be able to more quickly start building electronic information exchange into our health care system.”

Designed as part of President Obama’s ‘open government’ initiative to drive rapid innovation, the Direct Project last year brought together some 200 participants from more than 60 companies and other organizations. The volunteers worked together to assemble consensus standards that support secure exchange of basic clinical information and public health data. Now, pilot testing of information exchange based on Direct Project specifications is being carried out on schedule this year, aiming toward formal adoption of the standards and wide availability for providers by 2012.

“This is a new approach to public sector leadership, and it works,” said Aneesh Chopra, the United States Chief Technology Officer. “Instead of depending on a traditional top-down approach, stakeholders worked together to develop an open, standardized platform that dramatically lowers costs and barriers to secure health information exchange. The Direct Project is a great example of how government can work as a convener to catalyze new ideas and business models through collaboration.”

The two pilot programs that have already begun using Direct Project-based information exchange are in Minnesota and Rhode Island:

Since mid-January, Hennepin County Medical Center (HCMC), Minnesota’s premier Level 1 Adult and Pediatric Trauma Center, has been successfully sending immunization records to the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH). “This demonstrates the success that is possible through public-private collaborations,” said James Golden, PhD, Minnesota’s state HIT coordinator. “This is an important milestone for Minnesota and a key step toward the seamless electronic movement of information to improve care and public health.”

Recognizing Minnesota’s leadership in delivering high-quality, cost-effective healthcare, U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) said, “this is the type of innovation that can help strengthen our health care system by reducing waste and improving quality. We need to continue to improve our health care system by continuing to integrate information technology to better serve patients and providers.”

The second pilot implementation site, The Rhode Island Quality Institute (RIQI), has delivered a pilot project with two primary goals. First, RIQI is improving patient care when patients are referred to specialists by demonstrating simple, direct provider-to-provider data. Second, RIQI is leveraging Direct Project messaging as a means to securely feed clinical information, with patient consent from practice-based EHRs to the state-wide HIE, currentcare, to improve quality by detecting gaps in care and making sure the full record is available to all care providers.

Discussing RIQI’s collaborative approach to health IT, Laura Adams, president and CEO of RIQI said, “All too often, providers do not have the data they need to take the best care of patients they serve. Direct Project allows the Quality Institute to be on the cutting edge – providing health information exchange via currentcare, delivering the efficient rollout of technology through the Regional Extension Center, and enabling and measuring real patient outcome improvements in our Beacon Community. The ability to bring together and drive consensus among a diverse set of stakeholders has been critical in the successful rollout of these innovative programs.”

“Rhode Island continues to be a nationwide leader in improving health care with better information technology,” said Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI). “Health care providers communicating with each other in a secure and cost-efficient way helps patients get better sooner with less hassle and confusion.”

Other pilot projects to be launched this year include a Tennessee effort with the Veteran’s Administration, local hospitals and CareSpark to provide care to veterans and their families; a New York effort including clinicians in hospital and ambulatory care settings with MedAllies and EHR vendors; a Connecticut effort involving patients, hospitals, ambulatory care settings and a Federally Qualified Health Center with Medical Professional Services, a PHR, and a major reference laboratory; an expansion of the VisionShare immunization data pilot to Oklahoma; a California rural care effort involving patients, hospitals and ambulatory care settings with Redwood MedNet; and an effort in South Texas with a collaboration of hospitals, ambulatory care settings, public health, and community health organizations to improve care to mothers with gestational diabetes and their newborns.

The Direct Project was launched in March 2010 as a part of the Nationwide Health Information Network, to specify a simple, secure, scalable, standards-based way for participants to send authenticated, encrypted health information directly to known, trusted recipients over the Internet in support of Stage 1 Meaningful Use requirements. Participants include EHR and PHR vendors, medical organizations, systems integrators, integrated delivery networks, federal organizations, state and regional health information organizations, organizations that provide health information exchange capabilities, and health information technology consultants.

Information transfers supported by Direct Project specifications address core needs, including standardized exchange of laboratory results; physician-to-physician transfers of summary patient records; transmission of data from physicians to hospitals for patient admission; transmission of hospital discharge data back to physicians; and transmission of information to public health agencies. In addition to representing most-needed information transfers for clinicians and hospitals, these information exchange capabilities will also support providers in meeting “meaningful use” objectives established last year by HHS, and will thus support providers in qualifying for Medicare and Medicaid incentive payments in their use of electronic health records. The Direct Project specifications can also support physician-to-patient information transfers, and Microsoft Corp. today announced an application for that purpose based on Direct Project standards. For more information about the Direct Project, please visit http://directproject.org.

Other ongoing efforts supported by ONC are underway to bring about a comprehensive health information structure in the U.S. These include technical and governance issues that are being addressed under the Nationwide Health Information Network, which embodies the standards, services and policies that enable health information exchange over the internet. The Nationwide Health Information Network Exchange is already supporting some health information exchange between federal agencies and the private sector. In addition, ONC provides grants to states to develop locally-appropriate policies and standards for health information exchange that are consonant with broader national standards.

For more information about the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, please visit http://healthit.hhs.gov/.
###

Direct Project Pilot Programs Launched
Wednesday, February 2nd, 2011 | Posted by: Dr. David Blumenthal and Aneesh Chopra U.S. Chief Technology Officer and Associate Director for Technology White House Office of Science and Technology Policy on ONC’s Health IT Buzz blog and reposted here by e-Healthcare Marketing.

Today we celebrated another milestone on the Nation’s journey to better health care through the use of electronic health records and health information technology. We launched two pilot projects – one in Minnesota and the other in Rhode Island – for easily and securely transmitting personal health information via the Internet. These efforts – combined with others that will soon be underway in New York, Connecticut, Tennessee, Oklahoma, Texas, and California – mean we’re on schedule with a very important new tool that will soon enable health care providers to safely transmit patient data over the Internet, instead of relying on mail and fax. This is a significant step toward meeting ONC’s commitment to make health information exchange (HIE) accessible and practical for all the nation’s clinicians.

HIE is one of the primary benefits that can be derived from adopting health information technology. HIE means your records can be shared among your doctors, without getting lost or delayed. It means your hospital discharge instructions can be provided instantly to your physician – and to you. It means that if you are in an accident and arrive in the ER unconscious, your record can be made available, and the care you receive can be that much safer and more effective.

Since last year, HHS has been supporting a new initiative, the Direct Project, to provide an early, practical option for health information exchange. Even while other work goes on to build a more complete HIE infrastructure, Direct aimed at rapidly developing a system that providers could use soon, to support the simpler information exchange functions that they need the most.

This project started only 10 months ago, in March 2010. Now, the launch of pilot programs means that we’re on schedule to take it live, and make safe, Internet-based transfers of most-used health information a reality in the United States. That will enable existing electronic exchanges to become more standardized and convenient. And it will enable many more providers, and many more data transactions, to take advantage of the HIE benefit.

How was this fast-paced development achieved? Actually, by adopting some lessons from the IT sector itself. We set aside the “top down” approach that’s traditional for government. Instead we invited private companies (including some well-known competitors!) and public sector entities to work together, on a volunteer basis, to respond to the need for a leading-edge HIE option. Here was the challenge: Give us an easy-to-use tool, with consensus specifications, that will support HIE for the most common clinical information needs – and deliver a useable result for providers in less than two years.

And it’s working. Employing the principles and practice of “open government,” as championed by the President, these different stakeholders worked together and delivered a product, which is now in its testing phase. These same stakeholders will go out, we hope, and develop competing products based on the very standards they worked together to assemble!

It’s time for new ways of achieving the public good. The national push to health information technology is one new horizon. And the “open government” principles that today are delivering an entry-level HIE system, ahead of schedule, are yet another.

It is indeed a milestone worth celebrating.
###
For comments on Blumenthal/Chopra blog post, go directly to ONC’s Health IT Buzz blog.

Press Roundup
Steve Lohr of New York Times describes in February 2, 2011 Bits blog post how ONC took a “page from the open-source model of collaboration” to develop the Direct Project, formerly called NHIN Direct.

In Government Health IT on February 2, 2011, Mary Mosquera reported that a “total of 29 health IT vendors say they plan to connect using Direct’s standards and specifications.”

Arien Malec, director for the Direct Project, wrote his own blog post with initial reporting on the breadth of the project and a go-live event held in Washington, DC on February 2, 2011.

Peter Neupert, corporate vice president of the Microsoft Health Solutions Group, announced in his Neupert on Health blog on February 2, 2011 ”that next week we will be launching new functionality that wires every Microsoft HealthVault account to use online encrypted patient e-mail based on Direct Project security protocols. To start with, we will enable physicians to transmit a copy of a patient’s clinical information to a new email address created within HealthVault.”

Blumenthal Letter #24: Our Journey Continues: $80 Million in Add’l Funds to RECs, 8 HIEs, and Community Colleges

Posted on January 27, 2011 by Mike Squires

Our Journey Continues…

Dr. David Blumenthal

A Message from Dr. David Blumenthal, the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology

January 27, 2011 (accessed 1/27/2011 from ONC site)

With the new year, we are turning the page to a next chapter in our journey to adoption and meaningful use of health information technology (HIT). As we begin this chapter, ONC is accelerating progress with new funding for programs vital to our goals.

No doubt the “star player” in 2011 is the Medicare and Medicaid Electronic Health Records (EHR) Incentive Programs. As of this year, providers can begin qualifying for significant payments through Medicare and Medicaid, as they achieve meaningful use objectives.

But equally important are the “supporting players.” These are the programs created under the HITECH Act to help providers adopt and achieve meaningful use of EHRs through technical assistance, through information exchange, and through development of a new workforce of HIT specialists.

These supporting programs all started last year, and they’ve had a successful launch:

We funded 62 Regional Extension Centers (RECs) across the nation to provide technical assistance, especially for smaller practice primary care providers, rural hospitals and other settings which serve the underserved. We want the RECs to assist at least 100,000 primary care providers. And already, some 38,000 primary care providers have enrolled for REC assistance.
We created a state grant program to support health information exchange (HIE) and facilitate all the potential uses and benefits of secure information sharing. Already, approved HIE implementation plans are in place in 25 states.
We funded 84 community colleges to train HIT specialists that will help to meet the anticipated national shortage of 50,000. The first 3,400 students will graduate by May, 2011 – and with excellent job prospects.

This month we are adding new funding for these important initiatives:

For the RECs, we are providing additional funding of $32 million. This especially reflects our plan to accelerate outreach to health care providers to encourage registration for the CMS Incentive Programs and to provide more support in the field as providers adopt health information technology in their practices. We recognize that the early transition to HIT can be challenging and we want to make sure that our RECs are fully operational to help make this transition as smooth as possible. We are committed to offer substantial ongoing support to achieve meaningful use through the RECs.

For HIE, we are providing $16 million in new Challenge Grants to encourage breakthrough innovations for health information exchange that can be leveraged widely to support nationwide health information exchange and interoperability. The HIE Challenge Grant Program is providing 10 awards of between $1 and $2 million to State HIE Cooperative Agreement Program grantees, to develop innovative and scalable solutions in five key areas: achieving specific health goals, improving care transitions, consumer-mediated information exchange, enhanced querying for patient care, and fostering distributed population-level analytics.

For community colleges, $32 million in second year funding is being provided to continue academic HIT programs training the specialists needed to make rapid adoption and meaningful use possible. We remain on track to ramp up and graduate an estimated 10,500 students a year through our community college programs.

In playing their part for HIT adoption and meaningful use, every awardee in our supporting programs is a star! Awardees and funding amounts for these programs can be found at http://healthit.hhs.gov.

Warmest Regards,
David Blumenthal, MD, MPP
National Coordinator for Health Information Technology

The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) encourages you to share this information as we work together to enhance the quality, safety and value of care and the health of all Americans through the use of electronic health records and health information technology.

For more information and to receive regular updates from the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, please subscribe to our Health IT News list.
###

See list of newly awarded challenge grants to state HIEs on e-Healthcare Marketing.

ONC Awards 10 Challenge Grants to 8 State HIEs: Totals $16 Million

Posted on January 27, 2011 by Mike Squires

Health Information Exchange Challenge Grant Program
Excerpted from ONC site on 1/27/2011.

The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) has awarded $16 million in new Challenge Grants to encourage breakthrough innovations for health information exchange that can be leveraged widely to support nationwide health information exchange and interoperability.

The Health Information Exchange (HIE) Challenge Grant Program is providing 10 awards between $1 and $2 million to State HIE Cooperative Agreement Program grantees to develop innovative and scalable solutions in five key areas:

Achieving health goals through health information exchange
Improving long-term and post-acute care transitions
Consumer-mediated information exchange
Enabling enhanced query for patient care
Fostering distributed population-level analytics

The ONC-funded State HIE Cooperative Agreement Program promotes secure exchange of health information to enable patient-centered care and providers’ achievement of meaningful use requirements.

State/SDE	Previous Award Amount	Amount Awarded January 2011	Challenge Theme
Colorado Regional Health Information Organization	$9,175,777	$1,718,783	2
Georgia Department of Community Health	$13,003,003	$1,686,989	3
Indiana Health Information Technology, Inc.	$10,300,000	$1,718,439	4
Indiana Health Information Technology, Inc.		$1,267,970	3
Massachusetts Technology Park Corporation	$10,599,719	$1,717,610	2
Massachusetts Technology Park Corporation		$1,675,019	5
Maryland Department of Health & Mental Hygiene	$9,313,924	$1,683,171	2
HealthShare Montana	$5,767,926	$1,400,802	5
NC Dept of State Treasurer	$12,950,860	$1,708,693	1
Oklahoma Health Care Authrity	$8,883,741	$1,719,086	2
TOTAL	$79,994,950	$16,296,562

Learn more about the funding opportunity for this important initiative.

eHI Finalizes Jan 19-20 Annual Conference Agenda, Washington, DC.

Posted on January 17, 2011 by Mike Squires

eHealth Initiative Annual Conference,
Turning Policy into Action
Washington, DC

Featuring David Blumenthal and Joy Pritts from ONC, Keynote from Cokie Roberts.

Panels on CMS Innovation, Looking Ahead to Stage 2 Meaningful Use, Outlook for Health Care Policy with New Congress, eHI Awards, Privacy and Health IT, Care Coordination in Real Word, Creating Accountable Care Organizations, Data for Quality Improvement, and Progress and Barriers at State Level: HIT Coordination Panel.

For more information and registration, click here.

AGENDA
DAY ONE: Wednesday, January 19, 2011
9:30 a.m. – 1:30 p.m.
eHI Members Only

1:30 p.m. – 2:00 p.m.
Conference Registration

2:00 p.m. – 2:15 p.m.
Welcome and Overview of the Day
–Jennifer Covich Bordenick, Chief Executive Officer, eHealth Initiative
–William F. Jessee, MD, FACMPE, FACPM, President and Chief Executive Officer, Medical Group Management Association, 2011 eHealth Initiative Board Chair

2:15 p.m. – 3:00 p.m.
A Discussion with the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation
Guest Speakers:
–Moderator: Steve Stack, MD, Member, Secretary, American Medical Association
– Mandy Krauthamer Cohen, MD, MPH, Senior Advisor, Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation

3:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.
Meaningful Use: A Look Ahead to Stage 2
–Moderator: Larry Yuhasz, Director, Strategy and Business Development, Thomson Reuters
–Mark Bell, Chief Information Officer, North Carolina Hospital Association
–Hank Fanberg, Technology Advocacy, Christus Health
–Charles Jarvis, Vice President of Healthcare Services and Government Relations, NextGen Healthcare
–Harry F. Laws, MD, FAAP, Chief Medical Information Officer, Community Health Network, Clinical Professor of Pediatrics, Indiana School of Medicine

4:00 p.m. – 4:45 p.m.
The New Congress in 2011: Outlook for Health Care Policy
–Introduction: Leigh Burchell, Allscripts, and 2011 eHI Policy Steering Committee Vice Chair
–Democrat Perspective: David Thomas, Principal, Mehlman Vogel Castagnetti Inc.
–Republican Perspective: Alex Vogel, Partner, Mehlman Vogel Castagnetti Inc.

4:45 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.
Awards Ceremony & Welcome
–Presented by: William F. Jessee, MD, FACMPE, FACPM, President and Chief Executive Officer, Medical Group Management Association, 2011 eHealth Initiative Board Chair

DAY TWO: Thursday, January 20, 2011

7:30 a.m. – 8:30 a.m.
Registration & Breakfast

8:30 a.m. – 9:00 a.m.
Conference Overview Welcome Back

9:00 a.m. – 9:30 a.m.
Privacy and Health IT: A Conversation with the Chief Privacy Officer
–Introduction: Gerry Hinkley, Co-Chair, Health Care Industry Team, Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP
–Joy Pritts, Chief Privacy Officer, Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, US Department of Health and Human Services

9:30 a.m.- 10:30 a.m.
Care Coordination in the Real World
–Moderated by: Bruce Henderson, National Leader, EHR/HIE Practice, PricewaterhouseCoopers
Guest Speakers:
–Robert Fortini, Chief Clinical Officer, Bon Secours Medical Group from Bon Secours Health System
–Dr. Bruce Hamory, MD, Executive Vice President, Managing Partner, Geisinger Consulting Services, Geisinger Health System
–Charles Kennedy, MD, Vice President for Health Information Technology, WellPoint

10:30 a.m – 10:45 a.m.|
Networking Break

10:45 a.m.- 11:45 a.m.
Creating Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs)
–Moderated by: John Edelblut, Senior Executive, Accenture
–Andrew Ziskind, Partner and Senior Executive, Accenture
–Dick Salmon, MD, PhD, National Medical Director for Quality, CIGNA HealthCare
–Mike Flammini, Head of Strategy, Aetna
–James Walton, DO, MBA, Vice President of Health Equity and Chief Equity Officer, Baylor Health Care System

11:45 a.m.- 12:45 p.m.
Lunch and Networking

12:45 p.m. – 2:00 p.m.|
Data for Quality Improvement
–Moderator: Daniel Carmody, CPA, ChFC, Operations Director, Information Strategy and Solutions, CIGNA HealthCare
–Janet Corrigan, President and CEO, National Quality Forum
–Scott Cullen, MD, Lead for Clinical Analytics, Accenture
–Tracey Moorhead, President & CEO, Care Continuum Alliance
–Gurvaneet Randhawa, MD, MPH, Senior Advisor on Clinical Genomics & Personalized Medicine, Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality

2:00 p.m. – 2:15 p.m.
Networking Break

2:15 p.m. – 3:30 p.m.
HIT Coordination Panel: Progress and Barriers at State Level
–Moderator: Rebecca Little, Senior Vice President, Medicity
–Doug Dietzman, Executive Director, Michigan Health Connect
–Gina Bianco Perez, Executive Director, Delaware Health Information Network
–John K. Evans, MHA, FACHE, President, S2A Consulting
–Liza Fox-Wylie, Policy Director, Colorado Regional Health Information Organization
–Tom Liddell, Executive Director, Michiana Health Information Network
–Vikas Khosla, President and CEO, BluePrint Healthcare IT, NJ HIN Privacy and Security Committee Subject Matter Expert

3:30 p.m. – 4:15 p.m.
Keynote Address:
–Introduction by Diane Jones, Vice President of Policy and Government Affairs, eHealth Initiative
–David Blumenthal, MD, MPH, National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, US Department of Health and Human Services

4:15 p.m. – 5:00 p.m
Keynote Address:
–Introduction by Jennifer Covich, Chief Executive Officer, eHealth Initiative
–Cokie Roberts Cokie Roberts, ABC Congressional Correspondent and Senior News Analyst for National Public Radio

5:00 p.m. – 5:15 p.m
Closing Remarks
Jennifer Covich Bordenick, Chief Executive Officer, eHealth Initiative

For more information and registration, click here.

New Jersey: 20th State to Receive ONC Approval for HIE Operational Plan

Posted on January 17, 2011 by Mike Squires

ONC Approves 20th Strategic and Operational State HIE Plan: New Jersey
On January 13, 2011, the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT approved the operational portion of the State of New Jersey’s Strategic and Operational Plan for Health Information Exchange. This should lead soon to a release of funding for the first of four years of the plan. Previously only planning funds were released. Total Award Amount for New Jersey is $11,408,594. NJ-HITEC, New Jersey’s Regional Extension Center (REC), has already been awarded $23,048,351. Funds for HIE and REC programs are released based on reaching specific milestones.

List of Approved Plans on ONC’s State HIE Program site
New Jersey Strategic and Operational Plan–ONC Summary [PDF]

Following are excerpts from the first five of six pages ONC released summarizing the NJ program. The sixth page is an HIE Inventory, enabling easier comparisons with other state programs.

Health Information Exchange
Strategic and Operational Plan Profile

Overview
The State of New Jersey is committed to building on existing health information technology and exchange investments in developing a strategy for providers in the state to meet the EHR Incentive Program meaningful use requirements. It has developed a strategy for health information exchange that includes first strengthening exchange in local nodes and then creating a “network-of-networks” linking four regional health information exchange organizations (RHIOs) to create statewide coverage.

Model and Services
The New Jersey plan builds the capacity of local/regional exchange efforts. The state will use a large portion of the funds to support four local RHIOs in increasing data liquidity and supporting providers in achieving meaningful use. The work to strengthen the capacity of local exchange will be paired with strategic policy and operational interventions to increase lab data liquidity and e-prescribing participation statewide:
• Enable lab results delivery from Quest Diagnostics using the NHIN Direct specifications.
• Implement regulations that will require commercial and private laboratories to make electronically interfaced laboratory result transactions available to physician EHRs and regional HIEs at no extra cost to physicians.
• Implement a statewide education program on e-prescribing that targets the 15% of pharmacies not currently enabled for this functionality. This includes identification and monitoring of the targeted pharmacies.
In a later phase, that state will support node to node exchange and other services. The planned statewide services will include:
• Statewide broker/backbone that will connect HIEs
o Record locator services to find location of patient records across the state
o Patient health record services
• State-provided data from key registries (Immunization, Lead, Public Health, etc.)
• State-provided data on Medicaid Medication History
• State-provided Master Patient Index/Master Client Index (MPI/MCI)
• NJHIN stored “master” Record Locator Service for Standalone
EHRs and out-of-state provider access

Highlights
• Supporting Innovation: New Jersey has a special focus on incentivizing creative innovation within the state. They have established the HIT Innovation Center which is a partnership between the St. Barnabus healthcare system and the New Jersey Institute of Technology. There is a program under development to use NJIT students to create and develop HIT applications as well. The HIT Coordinator Office, the NJ-HITEC and the Innovation Center will be sponsoring an Innovation Summit in early 2011 to feature pilot projects already in place as well as special projects for future consideration. They also continue to emphasize and support a number of innovative projects currently in place across the state including:
o Meridian Home Health Pilot
o Bergen Regional Center Behavioral Health Pilot
o Virtua – Personal Health Records
o St Joe’s – Telemedicine

• Advancing Multi-State Collaboration: New Jersey has expressed an interest in leading new multi-state coordination activities for the mid-Atlantic region. All multi-state HIE coordination initiatives New Jersey is exploring will be in accordance with NHIN standards for communication and interaction. These include:
o Hosting a multi-state collaboration event – New Jersey plans to host its own multi-state collaboration event with surrounding states, to focus on sharing of plans and establishing an interstate approach for secure HIE.
o Project Management focus on multi-state pilots – New Jersey plans to assign full-time project management support to oversee and coordinate several interstate secure HIE pilot initiatives.
o Regional HIE data exchange – Three regional HIEs (South Jersey HIE, the Virtua HIE, and the South Jersey Health System HIE) have plans to exchange data in late 2010/early 2011 with Fox Chase Cancer Center’s HIE, located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

MEANINGFUL USE
[ONC issued new guidance to State HIE Programs on July 6, 2010, in the form of a Program Information Notice, which established "The immediate priority of the State HIE Program is to ensure that all eligible providers within every state have at least one option available to them to meet the HIE requirements of meaningful use in 2011... (and therefore) states and SDEs shall outline in their State Strategic and Operational Plans (state plans) a concrete and operationally feasible plan to address and enable these three HIE capabilities in the next year:
1. E-prescribing
2. Receipt of structured lab results
3. Sharing patient care summaries across unaffiliated organizations]

NJ E-Prescribing Landscape
As of the end of 2009, there are 1,609 community active pharmacies capable of filling e-prescriptions. This figure excludes hospital pharmacies, but includes both chain and independent facilities (both retail and closed) and represents an 85% adoption rate across pharmacies in New Jersey. A total of 2,696 physicians routed prescriptions electronically in New Jersey, representing a 15% e-prescribing adoption rate for physicians in New Jersey.
NJ E-Prescribing Strategy
The State HIT Coordinator’s office, working NJ-HITEC, the NJ Dept of Health and Senior Services, and state associations, will develop a new program tentatively titled “ePrescribing New Jersey” to target pharmacists, clinicians, and consumers. In January, the state will develop the list of pharmacies who do not offer ePrescribing by matching Surescripts’ list of ePrescribing pharmacies against the NJ Board of Pharmacy’s list of all licensed pharmacies in the state. In February, the Coordinator’s office, working with the Department of Health and Board of Pharmacy will develop information on ePrescribing in the form of a course, handouts, and Web pages (part of the state HIT Coordinator’s Web site). In March, the state and REC will coordinate the start of a series of educational sessions with the HIEs to target non-eRx pharmacies, consumers, and clinicians.

NJ Structured Lab Results Landscape
New Jersey has 5,703 Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments (CLIA)-recognized laboratories with various certifications. Of these, there are 85 CLIA-accredited independent clinical laboratories, 4,079 recognized physician office laboratories, and 134 CLIA-accredited hospital-based clinical laboratories in the State.

Electronic sharing of laboratory orders and results within hospitals is already a generally accepted practice for all hospitals in New Jersey.

National laboratories have a large presence in New Jersey. These laboratory companies provide connectivity solutions to many state hospitals and healthcare providers for the exchange of electronic lab orders and results. Three of the largest independent clinical laboratories in New Jersey (Quest Diagnostics Inc., Laboratory Corporation of America, and Bio-Reference Laboratories) are able to directly interface with numerous electronic health record (EHR) systems. These interfaces allow for EHR systems to send lab orders electronically and receive results that can be downloaded directly into the EHR. Other connectivity solutions offered by laboratory companies in the State include proprietary portals for requesting lab orders and receiving results.

While the capability to exchange lab orders and results exists within the State, healthcare providers and regional health information exchange organizations have had varying levels of success incorporating laboratory data from commercial laboratory companies into their electronic health information exchange environments. Hospitals and health information exchange organizations that want to exchange lab data with independent laboratories are required to build custom interfaces to support these integration points and to incur ongoing transaction costs. The resulting drain on monetary and human resources for these point-to-point interfaces for electronic laboratory data exchange continues to be an adoption-limiting factor in the State.
NJ Structured Lab Results Strategy
New Jersey will approach the adoption of electronic transmission of lab results by leveraging the NJHINT law S323 and the regulations already in place for the electronic reporting of medical data to the NJ Department of Health and Senior Services. The Office of Statewide HIT Coordinator will pursue statutory and regulatory avenues in 2010/2011 that will require commercial and private laboratories to make electronically interfaced laboratory result transactions available to physician EHRs and regional HIEs at no extra cost to physicians (replacing traditional means such as faxing of results).

NJ Patient Care Summary Landscape
There is minimal current activity in the state related to the sharing of patient care summaries.
NJ Patient Care Summary Strategy
New Jersey is taking several approaches to enable this requirement. The primary mechanism is to pursue certification processes and participation agreements with the HIEs that will require them to support the exchange of Patient Care Summaries (PCS) with Physician EHRs and other HIEs in order to be eligible for state-sponsored funding and related state benefits.

Blumenthal Letter #23: EHR Adoption Set to Soar

Posted on January 13, 2011 by Mike Squires

EHR Adoption Set to Soar

A Message from Dr. David Blumenthal, the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology

January 13, 2010 (accessed from ONC site on 1/13/2010)

Portrait of Dr. Blumenthal

The tide is turning.

An increasing number of office-based physician practices report having an electronic health record, according to a recent survey. Survey respondents also reported high levels of interest in adopting electronic health records and health information technology.

The survey [PDF - 220 KB] was conducted by the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS), an agency of the HHS’ Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

More and more physicians are putting a private and secure electronic framework in place to realize long-term improvements in quality of care, efficiency, and health costs. But the presence of an EHR does not make a physician a meaningful user.

An electronic health record, as defined in the survey, could have been just a “basic” EHR—one that stores patient demographic information, patient problem lists, clinical notes, laboratory and imaging results, and orders for prescriptions. Basic EHRs are not capable of being used to meet the requirements of meaningful use.

Fortunately, additional data commissioned by the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) and carried out in the course of regular annual surveillance by the NCHS and by the American Hospital Association (AHA) provide further encouragement that EHR adoption is about to pick up speed.

The NCHS survey found that 41 percent of office-based physicians are currently planning to achieve meaningful use of EHRs and apply for incentive payments. Four-fifths of these, or about a third of all office-based physicians (32.4 percent), plan to apply this year.

The AHA survey found that 81 percent of acute care non-federal hospitals plan to achieve meaningful use of EHRs and apply for incentive payments. About two-thirds of hospitals (65 percent) plan to enroll during Stage 1 of the Incentive Programs, in 2011-2012.

At ONC we are gratified that such sizeable percentages of physicians and hospitals intend to take the plunge—and to take the plunge sooner rather than later.

Acting early (in Stage 1) means obtaining maximum funding through the Medicare and Medicaid EHR Incentive Programs. Physicians and other eligible professionals can qualify for incentive payments totaling as much as $44,000 through Medicare or $63,750 through Medicaid. Hospitals can qualify for millions of dollars of incentive payments for implementing and becoming meaningful users of EHR technology.

The registration process is now open for health care providers to obtain significant incentive payments for the adoption and meaningful use of certified EHRs.

We recognize that EHR adoption and meaningful use are hard work and a big investment, especially for small primary care practices, where the vast majority of physicians work and where most of patient care is coordinated and documented. Many of these providers still need to learn about the opportunity they have.

Now is the time. Unprecedented resources, including the EHR incentive and technical assistance programs created under HITECH, are available. Sixty-two Regional Extension Centers (RECs) across the nation are prepared to offer customized, on-the-ground assistance. And the Health IT Workforce Development Program is training talented professionals to help providers implement and manage their health IT systems. Moreover, medical and hospital professional organizations are lighting the way.

Rest assured there are also regulations in place to make sure that information stored in an EHR is protected. The same Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) privacy and security protections that apply to paper records also apply to EHRs.

Never again will the same level of resources and talent be devoted to helping providers make the switch to health IT.

The incipient surge in EHR adoption is galvanizing, especially for those of us who are committed to making the transition from paper-based medical records to EHRs as seamless and as successful as possible for every provider. ONC will continue to offer encouragement and support.

For more information on the Medicare and Medicaid EHR Incentive Programs, visit http://www.cms.gov/EHRIncentivePrograms. Providers can also find REC contact information at http://healthit.hhs.gov/rec. Learn about the HIPAA Privacy and Security Rules by visiting http://www.hhs.gov/ocr/privacy/.

Warmest Regards,

David Blumenthal, MD, MPP
National Coordinator for Health Information Technology

For more information and to receive regular updates from the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, please subscribe to our Health IT News list.

8 of 10 Hospitals, 4 of 10 Physicians Plan to Adopt Electronic Health Records; Reversal of Trends

Posted on January 13, 2011 by Mike Squires

Surveys show significant proportions of hospitals and doctors already plan to adopt electronic health records and qualify for federal incentive payments
2/3 of Hospitals Plan to Enroll During Stage 1, 2011-2012
HHS Press Release
Thursday, January 13, 2010

Four-fifths of the nation’s hospitals, and 41 percent of office-based physicians, currently intend to take advantage of federal incentive payments for adoption and meaningful use of certified electronic health records (EHR) technology, according to survey data released today by the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC). The survey information was released as the registration period opened for the Medicare and Medicaid EHR Incentive Programs.

David Blumenthal, M.D., M.P.P., the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, said the survey numbers represent a reversal of the low interest in EHR adoption in previous years. He credited leadership from the medical community and the federal government for the improved prospects for adoption and use of health information technology (health IT).

“For years we have known that electronic health records would improve care for patients and bring about greater cost effectiveness in our health sector, yet adoption rates by health care providers remained low,” Dr. Blumenthal said. “In 2009, Congress and the President authorized major new federal support for EHR adoption and use, and in combination with medical professional and hospital leadership. I believe we are seeing the tide turn toward widespread and accelerating adoption and use of health IT.”

The data released today comes from surveys commissioned by ONC and carried out in the course of regular annual surveillance by the American Hospital Association (AHA) and the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS), an agency of HHS’ Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

The AHA survey found that 81 percent of hospitals plan to achieve meaningful use of EHRs and take advantage of incentive payments. About two-thirds of hospitals (65 percent) responded that they will enroll during Stage 1 of the Incentive Programs, in 2011-2012.

The NCHS survey found that 41 percent of office-based physicians are currently planning to achieve meaningful use of certified EHR technology and take advantage of the incentive payments. Four-fifths of these, or about a third of all office-based physicians (32.4 percent), responded that they will enroll during Stage 1 of the programs. Only 14 percent of respondents said they were not planning to apply for meaningful use incentives.

Additional survey data from NCHS show that significantly increasing numbers of primary care physicians have already adopted a basic EHR, rising by 50 percent from 19.8 percent of primary care physicians in 2008 to 29.6 percent in 2010. Basic EHRs provide a beginning point for use of electronic health records in physician offices, but most physicians would need to further upgrade their EHR systems or their use of the systems in order to qualify for meaningful use incentive payments.

Incentive payments for the adoption and meaningful use of certified EHR technology were authorized in the Health Information Technology Economic and Clinical Health Act (HITECH) in 2009. Incentive payments will be made through the Medicare and Medicaid programs. High rates of adoption and meaningful use could result in as much as $27 billion in incentive payments over 10 years.

Non-hospital-based physicians and other eligible professionals can obtain incentive payments of as much as $44,000 under Medicare or $63,750 under Medicaid. Under both Medicare and Medicaid, eligible hospitals may receive millions of dollars for implementing and meaningfully using certified EHR technology.

Provider registration for the Medicare EHR Incentive Program and some Medicaid EHR Incentive Programs opened Jan. 3, 2011. Most states will allow provider registration to begin for their Medicaid EHR Incentive Programs during the spring and summer of 2010.

“We are pleased to see this evidence of an enthusiastic early response, and we believe participation will continue to grow, especially as the Nation’s physicians become more familiar with this one-time opportunity to improve care while helping to offset the costs of adopting EHR systems,” said Donald Berwick, M.D., Administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS).

To qualify for incentive payments, under the Medicare EHR Incentive Program, providers must achieve meaningful use of certified EHR technology, under regulations issued by CMS and ONC. Medicaid providers can receive their first year’s incentive payment for adopting, implementing, and upgrading certified EHR technology but must demonstrate meaningful use in subsequent years in order to qualify for additional payments.

Dr. Blumenthal said the meaningful use process has contributed to the increased willingness of providers to adopt EHR systems, especially because it guides providers through staged objectives for the productive use of EHRs, and because providers can now be assured that Complete EHRs and EHR Modules certified under ONC criteria by ONC-authorized testing and certification bodies can be relied upon to support the meaningful use objectives.

He also pointed to the technical support programs created under the HITECH Act and now operating under ONC, which offer support to providers as they switch from paper records to EHRs. In particular, 62 Regional Extension Centers (RECs) across the nation will offer customized, on-the-ground assistance, especially for smaller-practice primary care providers and for small hospitals and clinics.

“We know that adoption of EHRs and conversion to EHR-based care is expensive and challenging, especially for smaller providers,” Dr. Blumenthal said. “With HITECH, we are able to provide unprecedented funding and technical support programs to help providers make the transition and to help our nation achieve the improvements in health care quality, safety and cost effectiveness EHRs will bring about.”

Dr. Blumenthal also praised medical professional organizations and hospital leaders, who have encouraged members to act soon in taking advantage of HITECH support programs and adopting EHR systems.

Survey results from NCHS and AHA can be obtained at :

http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/hestat/emr_ehr_09/emr_ehr_09.htm

http://www.ahadata.com/ahadata/html/AHASurvey.html

Information about the incentive payments program is available on the CMS website at http://www.cms.gov/ehrincentiveprograms.

Information about Regional Extension Centers (RECs) and technical assistance is available on the ONC website at http://healthit.hhs.gov/REC.

###

State Medicaid EHR Programs’ Expected Rollout Dates Released by CMS

Posted on January 10, 2011 by Mike Squires

Going Beyond the January and February 2011 State Medicaid EHR Incentive Program Rollout Dates and Web sites
Beyond the rollout dates of January and February 2011 for 14 state Medicaid EHR Incentive Programs, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) released the anticipated dates for the program to go live in the balance of the states and territories as of December 15, 2010. State and territory Medicaid information sites are also shown.

The CMS EHR Incentive Programs Spotlight Page listed the states that will have their State EHR Medicaid programs ready in the first two months of 2011.

Registration opens in the following states on January 3, 2011:

Alaska
Iowa
Kentucky
Louisiana
Oklahoma
Michigan
Mississippi
North Carolina
South Carolina
Tennessee
Texas

Registration opens in the following states in February 2011:

California
Missouri
North Dakota

List of all states and territories with expected dates they reported to CMS when they anticipate their state/territory Medicaid EHR programs to be ready. [The list in PDF form was dated December 15, 2010, and was included in 1/3/2011 update of a CMS FAQ on how dual eligible (Medicare and Medicaid) hospitals should register.]

“The Medicaid EHR Incentive Program is a voluntary program established by Congress, but administered individually by each State and territory. While we currently estimate that every State will have an Incentive Program in the future, the preparation for the program varies from State to State. Below is the estimated date each State [and territory] intends to begin accepting registrations for their Medicaid EHR Incentive Program. These dates are provided to CMS by the States, and this list is updated monthly. Even States that are listed as “Unknown” are progressing toward program launch; however, they have not provided CMS with an estimated launch date [as of December 15, 2010].”

State EHR Medicaid Registration Dates and Web sites

State	Expected Launch Date	Program URL
AK	January 2011	http://hss.state.ak.us/hit/
AL	March 2011	http://www.onehealthrecord.alabama.gov/
AR	Spring 2011	https://www.medicaid.state.ar.us/provider/arra.aspx
AS	Unknown	No State URL Known
AZ	Unknown	http://www.azahcccs.gov/HIT/about/Incentives.aspx
CA	February 2011	http://medi-cal.ehr.ca.gov/
CO	Unknown	http://www.colorado.gov/cs/Satellite/HCPF/HCPF/1251581838726
CT	Unknown	http://www.ct.gov/dph/cwp/view.asp?a=3936&q=462912&dphNav_GID=1993
DC	Unknown	No State URL Known
DE	Spring 2011	http://dhss.delaware.gov/dhss/dmma/ehr_summary.html
FL	Unknown	http://fhin.net/FHIN/MedicaidElectronicHealthRecordIncentiveProgram.shtml
GA	Unknown	http://dch.georgia.gov/00/article/0,2086,31446711_154959664_156789923,00.html
GU	Unknown	http://dphss.guam.gov
HI	Unknown	http://www.med-quest.us/providers/ElectronicHealthRecordIncentiveProgram.html
IA	January 2011	http://www.ime.state.ia.us/Providers/EHRIncentives.html
ID	Fall 2011	http://www.MedicaidEHR.dhw.idaho.gov
IL	late Spring 2011	http://www.hie.illinois.gov/ehrincentives/
IN	Mid-2011	http://provider.indianamedicaid.com/general-provider-services/ehr-incentive-program.aspx
KS	June 2011	http://www.khpa.ks.gov/hite/default.htm
KY	January 2011	http://chfs.ky.gov/dms/EHR.htm
LA	January 2011	http://www.lamedicaid.com/provweb1/EHR/EHRIndex.htm
MA	Unknown	No State URL Known
MD	Unknown	http://mhcc.maryland.gov/electronichealth/electronichealth.html
ME	August 2011	http://www.maine.gov/dhhs/oms/HIT/index.html
MI	January 2011	http://michiganhealthit.org/
MN	Fall 2011	http://www.health.state.mn.us/e-health/hitech.html
MO	February 2011	http://www.dss.mo.gov/mhd/ehr/
MP	Unknown	No State URL Known
MS	January 2011	http://ms.arraincentive.com/
MT	Spring 2011	http://medicaidprovider.hhs.mt.gov/providerpages/ehrincentives.shtml
NC	January 2011	http://www.ncdhhs.gov/dma/provider/ehr.htm
ND	February 2011	http://www.healthit.nd.gov/medicaid
NE	Fall 2011	http://www.dhhs.ne.gov/med/EHR.htm
NH	Winter 2011/2012	http://www.NHMedicaidHIT.org
NJ	Unknown	No State URL Known
NM	Unknown	http://www.hsd.state.nm.us/mad/MeiPP.html
NV	Summer 2011	https://dhcfp.nv.gov/EHRIncentives.htm
NY	September 2011	http://www.health.ny.gov/regulations/arra/department_of_health_programs.htm#health_it
OH	Unknown	http://grc.osu.edu/MPIP
OK	January 2011	http://www.okhca.org/EHR-incentive
OR	Summer 2011	http://www.oregon.gov/DHS/mhit/incentive.shtml
PA	Unknown	http://www.dpw.state.pa.us/provider/healthcaremedicalassistance/medicalassistancehealthinformationtechnologyinitiative/index.html
PR Unknown
RI	June 2011	http://www.dhs.ri.gov/Portals/0/Uploads/Documents/Public/MA_Providers/ehr_incentive_prg.pdf
SC	January 2011	http://hit.scdhhs.gov/hit/
SD	Fall 2011	http://www.dss.sd.gov/medicalservices/incentiveprogram/
TN	January 2011	http://www.tn.gov/tenncare/hitech.html
TX	January 2011	http://www.tmhp.com/Pages/HealthIT/HIT_Home.aspx
UT	September 2011	http://health.utah.gov/medicaid/provhtml/HIT.htm
VA	Fall 2011	http://dmasva.dmas.virginia.gov/Content_pgs/pr-arra.aspx
VI	Unknown	No State URL Known
VT	Unknown	http://hcr.vermont.gov/cms_meaningful_use
WA	April 2011	http://hrsa.dshs.wa.gov/MedicaidHealthCareReform/IT.shtml
WI	Unknown	http://www.dhs.wisconsin.gov/ehrincentive/
WV	Unknown	No State URL Known
WY	Summer 2011	http://www.wyominghit.com/

As of December 15, 2010.

Blumenthal Blogs on HIT Taskforce Guidance on Federal Health IT

Posted on January 10, 2011 by Mike Squires

HIT Taskforce Guidance on Health IT
Friday, January 7th, 2011 | Posted by: Dr. David Blumenthal, National Coordinator for Health IT on ONC’s Health IT Buzz blog and reposted here by e-Healthcare Marketing.

In September 2010, Vivek Kundra, the Federal Chief Information Officer, and I issued guidance articulating five key health IT policy and technology principles for Federal health IT projects. The goal of these principles is to encourage better strategic alignment of health IT investments by guiding modernization strategies for existing systems, as well as new investment decisions. Agencies were asked to demonstrate how they plan to incorporate the following policy and technology principles into future health IT investments and to provide specific examples from their fiscal year (FY) 2012 budget submissions:

Improving health and health care: Agencies should design their health IT systems to support clinical decision-making and to measurably improve long term outcomes. For FY 2012, agencies will be asked to demonstrate their support for the universal attainment of Meaningful Use either by, if eligible, becoming Meaningful Users themselves or by assisting and encouraging others that are eligible, to become Meaningful Users.
Promoting open government: Agencies should share information with their clients/patients, when possible and practicable. An FY 2012 priority is providing clients/patients a secure, timely, electronic copy of their own information in a format they can use and reuse.
Securely sharing health information between providers for treatment purposes to enable better care: Agencies should ensure Federal HIT systems are interoperable. In FY 2012, agencies should use standards and specifications adopted under the HITECH Act in communicating between applications and organizations.
Being a trusted steward of taxpayer dollars: Agencies should incorporate interoperable voluntary consensus standards and terminologies where available, and contribute to their ongoing development, as their missions provide for and their resources permit. To this end, FY 2012 investments should use and re-use common, interoperable voluntary consensus standards and terminology, as well as employ modular, flexible solutions to ensure health IT systems are built for re-use and evolution.
Protecting privacy and security: Agencies should align their health IT investments with the Fair Information Practice Principles and demonstrate this alignment in FY 2012.

Following submission, agency plans underwent a rigorous peer review process, and representatives from HHS, Department of Agriculture, Department of Commerce, Department of Defense, Department of Veterans Affairs, Social Security Administration, and Office of Personnel Management took an active role in evaluating the investments of the various Federal counterparts.

The development of principles and the use of peer review to review Federal health IT expenditures constitute a novel basis for coordinating these expenditures and providing the best possible advice to sister agencies. In the future, we hope that this process will result in valuable learning for managers of health IT in the Federal Government, and lead to better value for patients and taxpayers.
###

To comment directly on this post, please go to ONC’s Health IT Buzz blog.

ONC Presents “Spotlight on Health IT in the News”

Posted on January 5, 2011 by Mike Squires

Spotlight on Health IT in the News
Excerpted this new feature from Office of the National Coordinator (ONC) for Health IT site, first published on 1/5/2010 and updated on 1/6/2010.

Blumenthal Looks Back at 2010, Offers Peek Into Plans for 2011
Q&A with David Blumenthal, M.D., M.P.P., National Coordinator for Health Information Technology
iHealthBeat, January 3, 2011

Dr. Blumenthal discusses the challenges ONC faced in 2010, plans for 2011, and the importance of health information technology (health IT) to the implementation of federal health reform law.
Electronic Health Records: Potential to Transform Medical Education
By Sachin H. Jain, M.D., M.B.A., Special Assistant to the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, and Bryant A. Adibe, B.S., Executive Director, Young Achievers Foundation
The American Journal of Managed Care, December 22, 2010

Dr. Jain and Bryant Adibe examine the ways in which EHR adoption can lead to improved patient-centered approaches to physician training.
Healthcare Information Technology Interventions to Improve Cardiovascular and Diabetes Medication Adherence
By Sachin H. Jain, M.D., M.B.A., Special Assistant to the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, et al.
The American Journal of Managed Care, December 22, 2010

This literature review discusses health IT interventions designed to improve medication adherence in cardiovascular disease and diabetes.
Alternative Measures of Electronic Health Record Adoption Among Hospitals
By Melinda J. Beeuwkes Buntin, Ph.D., Director, Office of Economic Analysis and Modeling, and Charles P. Friedman, Ph.D., Chief Scientific Officer, ONC
The American Journal of Managed Care, December 22, 2010

This study examines the type of EHR functions that hospitals have adopted.
Using Electronic Prescribing Transaction Data to Estimate Electronic Health Record Adoption
By Farzad Mostashari, M.D., Sc.M., Deputy National Coordinator for Programs and Policy; Melinda J. Beeuwkes Buntin, Ph.D., Director, Office of Economic Analysis and Modeling; and Emily Ruth Maxson, Duke University School of Medicine
The American Journal of Managed Care, December 22, 2010

This study investigates whether electronic prescribing transaction data can be used to accurately and efficiently track national and regional electronic health record adoption.
Health Information Technology Is Leading Multisector Health System Transformation
By David Blumenthal, M.D., M.P.P., National Coordinator for Health Information Technology and Sachin H. Jain, M.D., M.B.A., Special Assistant to the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology
The American Journal of Managed Care, December 17, 2010

Dr. Blumenthal and Dr. Jain discuss the impact of the HITECH Act on health information technology (health IT) adoption and provide an overview of the content found in the journal’s special issue on health IT.
Uniting the Tribes of Health System Improvement
By Aaron McKethan, Ph.D., Program Director, and Craig Brammer, Deputy Director, Beacon Community Program
The American Journal of Managed Care, December 17, 2010

Dr. McKethan and Craig Brammer discuss how multiple interventions and simultaneously implemented tools are required to transform the U.S. health care system.
Regional Quality Initiatives: Expanding the Partnership
Blog post by David Blumenthal, M.D., M.P.P., National Coordinator for Health Information Technology; Carolyn Clancy, M.D., Director of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ); and Risa Lavizzo-Mourey, President of The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF)
Health Affairs Blog, December 9, 2010

This joint ONC, AHRQ, and RWJF blog post discusses how dozens of diverse regions of the country are benefiting from an unprecedented commitment of resources and technical expertise to help local leaders improve the quality of health care provided in their region.
Perspective: Dr. David Blumenthal on Health Information Technology
Q&A with David Blumenthal, M.D., M.P.P., National Coordinator for Health Information Technology
MDNews.com, November 19, 2010

Dr. Blumenthal discusses provider involvement in implementation of health IT as part of a videotaped interview during the Medical Group Management Association 2010 conference, held October 24-27.

10. Fed Health Tech Chief Talks about E-Medical Records
Q&A with David Blumenthal, M.D., M.P.P., National Coordinator for Health Information Technology
The Texas Tribune, October 21, 2010

Dr. Blumenthal discusses the benefits of electronic health records and protections for patient privacy.

11. Beacons for Better Health
By Aaron McKethan, Ph.D., Program Director, and Craig Brammer, Deputy Director, Beacon Community Program
Health Affairs Blog, September 23, 2010

Dr. McKethan and Mr. Brammer discuss how Beacon Communities will showcase ways that health information technology is being used to support providers in delivering improved patient care.

12. This Doctor’s Task: Get Hospitals to Go Digital
Q&A with David Blumenthal, M.D., M.P.P., National Coordinator for Health Information Technology
Federal Times.com, September 13, 2010

Dr. Blumenthal elaborates on ONC’s efforts to encourage the electronic transformation of health care delivery on the national and local levels.

13. The Push for Electronic Medical Records (listen to audio file)
Interview with David Blumenthal, M.D., M.P.P., National Coordinator for Health Information Technology
Vermont Public Radio, September 9, 2010

Dr. Blumenthal speaks to Vermont Public Radio about the Vermont Information Technology Leaders Summit and how the state’s hospitals and providers can increase their electronic health records adoption.

14. Beaconology for Beginners: A Chat with ONC’s Aaron McKethan
Aaron McKethan, Ph.D., Program Director, Beacon Community Program
CMIO Blog, September 7, 2010

Dr. McKethan chats with CMIO about producing community-level clinical performance measures as modeled by the Beacon Community Program.

15. Strengthening the Gulf’s Health-Care Infrastructure for Generations to Come
By Kathleen Sebelius, Secretary, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
Huffington Post, August 27, 2010

HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius discusses rebuilding the health-care infrastructure to meet the Gulf communities’ long-term medical needs, including efforts by Beacon Communities to help providers move from paper files into the digital age.

16. The New Momentum Behind Electronic Health Records
By Kathleen Sebelius, Secretary, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
KHN Blog, Kaiser Health News, August 26, 2010

HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius details the benefits of health IT adoption for the entire health care system.

17. Health Information Technology Program Receives $2.7 Million in Federal Funding, Graduates First Class of Students This Summer
University of Texas at Austin Website, August 26, 2010

University of Texas at Austin graduates the nation’s first class of students from its federally funded health IT workforce development program.

18. Adoption and Meaningful Use of EHRs – The Journey Begins
By David Blumenthal, M.D., M.P.P., National Coordinator for Health Information Technology; and Don Berwick, M.D., Administrator, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services
Health Affairs Blog, August 5, 2010

Dr. Blumenthal and Dr. Berwick explain the need for federal leadership in helping providers nationwide to adopt and utilize health IT for better quality of care.

19. Perspective: The “Meaningful Use” Regulation for Electronic Health Records
By David Blumenthal, M.D., M.P.P., National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, and Marilyn Tavenner, R.N., M.H.A., Principal Deputy Administrator, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services
New England Journal of Medicine, July 13, 2010

Dr. Blumenthal and Marilyn Tavenner summarize the core objectives of the CMS “Meaningful Use” regulation and how it ties payments to the achievement of advances in health care processes and outcomes.

20. Perspective: Finding My Way to Electronic Health Records
By Surgeon General, Vice Admiral Regina M. Benjamin, M.D., M.B.A.
New England Journal of Medicine, July 13, 2010

Surgeon General Regina Benjamin shares her personal story about understanding the value of electric health records in preserving patient records when disaster strikes.

21. Health Information Technology: Laying the Infrastructure for National Health Reform [PDF - 146 KB]
By David Blumenthal, M.D., M.P.P., National Coordinator for Health Information Technology; Sachin H. Jain, M.D. M.B.A., Special Assistant to the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology; and Melinda Beeuwkes Buntin, Ph.D., Senior Economic Advisor, ONC
Health Affairs, June 2010

Drs. Blumenthal, Jain, and Buntin discuss the key ways in which health IT is critical to the implementation of national health reform.

22. Perspective: Launching HITECH
By David Blumenthal, M.D., M.P.P., National Coordinator for Health Information Technology
New England Journal of Medicine, February 4, 2010

Dr. Blumenthal outlines the HITECH Act as the groundwork for an advanced electronic health information system.

e-Healthcare Marketing

Health Information Exchange, Electronic Health Records and Personal Health Records

Category Archives: ONC