HIT September 2009 Calendar

Posted on September 7, 2009 by Mike Squires

September 2009 Health Information Technology Calendar
National Dates
3: CCHIT Town Call on New 2011 Certification:
               Presentation Materials Available
8: ONC: HIT Extension Program: Regional Centers:
              Prelimimary Application Due
10: HITSP Webinar on Medication Management Real World Sites
11: ONC: State Health Information Exchange Program:
               Letter of Intent Due
15: HIT Standards Committee Meeting
18: HIT Policy Commitee Meeting
21-25: National Health IT Week: One Voice, One Vision:
               Transforming Health and Care, Washington, DC.
22-23: HIMSS 8th Annual Policy Summit, Washington, DC.
29: ONC HIT Extension Program: Regional Centers:
               Preliminary Approval

New Jersey Dates
3: NJ HIT Commission Meeting
10: NJ Senate Legislative Oversight Committee Hearing:
Electronic Medical Records: 10 am Meeting – Committee Room 4, 1st Floor, State House Annex, Trenton, NJ: The committee will meet to take testimony from invited guests on the issue of electronic medical records. The committee will also hear from the Department of Health and Senior Services and the Department of Banking and Insurance on the implementation of the NJ Health Information Technology Act.

11: State of NJ HIE Project Grants: Guidance Conference Call
10:30am to noon. Call-in details to come.
23: HIMSS National Advocacy Day: NJ Chapter goes to Washington, DC.
25: State of NJ HIE Project Grant: Applications Due

Additional Dates to Come.

Halamka’s HITSP eTown Hall II

Posted on August 28, 2009 by Mike Squires

Halamka describes HITSP’s efforts to address ARRA/HITECH
As part of a Health IT double-header on August 27, 2009, John Halamka, MD, MS, HITSP Chair, held an digital Town Hall meeting about HITSP’s work in relation to the law, ARRA, and the process being conducted by Office of National Coordinator (ONC), and the HIT Standards and Policy Committees.

HITSP is the Healthcare Information Technology Standards Panel, a public/private collaboration setup to help achieve ubiquitous interoperability between healthcare software applications throughout a local to national health information network. Within an excellent overview of the process going on at the national level, Halamka’s slide show for the Town Hall describes the new HITSP Tiger Team’s development of EHR-Centric Interoperability Specifications (IS 107) to meet ARRA’s requirements.
For slide set referenced above and documents referenced below, see Halamka’s Life as a Healthcare CIO blog.
Archived Webinar: Go to the August section of HITSP’s 2009 Archived Webcasts page and click on the Audio (wmv) file, which is actually complete with slides and audio.

HIT Policy and Standards Committee Recommendations/Matrixes
In addition to slide set for the Town Hall, Halamka posted each matrix approved last week by the HIT Standards Committee from its three workgroups on Clinical Quality, Clinical Operations, and Security and Privacy. He also posted documents approved the prior week by the HIT Policy Committee: Meaningful Use Matrix and HIE priorities. Halamka, of Harvard Medical School, serves as vice chair of the HIT Standards Committee, along with HIT Standards Committee chair Jonathan Perlin of Hospital Corporation of America.

(The other half of the double-header, a Webcast by ONC about the grant application process for Regional Extension Centers, was going on at the same time as the Town Hall, with a reported 1,000 people watching/listening. Both sessions will be archived.)

Facts-At-A-Glance: ONC Grant Programs

Posted on August 25, 2009 by Mike Squires

HIT Extension Program and State HIE Program Facts-At-A-Glance
It’s worth rereading the two-page PDF (one page html) for each of these programs to gain perspective.

HIT Extension Program for Regional Centers:
20 Grants to Be Awarded in Oct-Dec 2009
With the 2010 federal fiscal year starting October 1, 2009, 20 grants are expected to be awarded in Q1 FY2010, 25 in Q3 FY2010, Balance (25 or more) in Q4 FY2010.
Facts-At-A-Glance (html version) (pdf version)

State Health Information Exchange Program
“The private sector will play an important role in providing innovative technological solutions to initiate, establish and maintain appropriate and secure HIE among health care providers at the state and national levels.”
Facts-At-A-Glance (html version) (pdf version)

HHS to industry: Help assess health IT networks

Posted on August 25, 2009 by Mike Squires

October 1, 2009 CMS Deadline to Submit Ideas on HIEs and National Exchange
Alice Lipowicz reported in FederalComputerWeek on August 21, 2009, “The Health and Human Services Department wants industry help to identify the current scope of health information exchanges and how best to foster a nationwide exchange for quality and outcome reporting.”

CMS Request for Information (RFI) posted August 20, 2009:
National Gap Analysis and Readiness Assessment for the Health Information Technology Infrastructure to Enable the Electronic Exchange of Quality Measures as part of EHR Meaningful Use
Link to RFI on FedBizOpps.gov
Excerpts from RFI Synposis :
“In preparation for the implementation of the healthcare segment of ARRA, HHS wishes to conduct a national scan of the electronic infrastructure available among all entities sharing a role in the reporting of measures, including quality measures, to potentially support meaningful EHR use in the near term and the broader exchange of health information expected with health care reform. These entities include federal agencies,…, State Medicaid agencies, other State agencies (e.g. public health departments), Health Information Exchanges/Health Information Networks, and healthcare providers.”

Nine multi-part questions cover:
1. Options to create framework for national health information infastructure, including synthesis of existing products,as well as interoperability standards, Security and privacy standards, capacity planning, existing federal and state resource investments, and draft outline of national strategy.
Requirements/ideas to develop timeline and deliverables plans for
2. National expert consensus
3. Quality reporting operations
4. CHIPRA and pediatric EHRs
5. Information flow for meaningful use date from Medicare and Medicaid providers
6. Operations between Health and quality exchanges
7. Health plan perspective for electronic exchange of quality measure
8. Alignment of measurement and data and data transfers among Medicare fee-for-services, Medicaid Advantage, Medicaid, and other payers
9. Description of problems, barriers with validation, manual chart collection and abstraction and strategies to ameliorate.

HIT Standards Committee meets August 20, 2009

Posted on August 19, 2009 by Mike Squires

HIT Standards Committee meets: Washington, DC, Aug. 20, 2009
This post updated on August 24, 2009 to carry reports on the meeting.
Scheduled update on HIT Policy Committee and its Workgroups; Reports on Standards Committee’s Clinical Quality, Clinical Operations, Privacy & Security Workgroups. Recommendations from three Workgroups, with some modifications suggested at the meeting, were approved as recommendations to ONC, and a new subcommittee on adoption/implementation issues was approved.
Official Agenda and Reports.
–John Halamka, vice chair of HIT Standards Committee, reported highlights on August 20, 2009, on his blog Life as a Healthcare CIO.
–Diana Manos of HealthcareIT News’s report on August 20, 2009 is headlined “SNOMED CT will be required by 2015 for bonuses under economic recovery law.”
–Joseph Goedert’s report on August 21, 2009, in HealthData Management was headlined “HIE Data Standards Get Initial Approval,” and listed the primary content exchange standards and primary vocabulary standards.

‘Meaningful use” becomes more meaningful; Certification more delineated

Posted on August 17, 2009 by Mike Squires

Third time’s the charm: Committee accepts ‘meaningful use’ criteria; further defines certification process
Joseph Conn, HITS Staff writer for Modern Healthcare, reports on August 14, 2009 that HIT Policy Committee meeting in Washington, DC. accepted the recommendations of the Meaningful Use Workgroup. The Committee also accepted the five recommendations of the Certification and Adoption Workgroup, including the immediate role of CCHIT and the role of certifying entities including CCHIT after an interim period. The certification process will be focus on the accepted definitions of “meaningful use.” ‘Meaningful use’ recommendations will be finalized by the Office of National Coordinator, and will be forwarded to CMS for official rule making around the end of the year.

Fed panel’s meaningful use, certification guidance spark criticism
Diana Manos, senior editor, Healthcare IT News, reported on the HIT Policy Committee August 14, 2009 meeting, highlighting the criticism of different stakeholders. My own take, having followed previous HIT Policy Committee meetings and attending much of this one, is that great progress appears to being made in a constructive, coordinated and transparent manner, and that the working groups and committee respond to feedback in each iteration of reports and recommendations.

HealthData Management outlines Certification Recommendations and CMS Take on ‘Meaningful Use’
Joseph Goedert, of HealthData Management, reported on the August 14, 2009, HIT Policy Committee, with one story detailing the Certification recommendations, and another shedding some light on CMS thinking.

On the scene from Washington, DC, comments on CCHIT
The Certification and Adoption Workgroup co-chairs Paul Egerman and Mark Probst pointed out several times during their presentation the excellent cooperation and responsiveness of Mark Leavitt, CCHIT chair, and CCHIT, particularly in mapping out “meaningful use” criteria to CCHIT certification criteria and noting gaps. Attending much of the HIT Policy Committee meeting in Washington, DC on August 14, 2009, I can report this first hand.

Workgroup Co-Chair Says HIT Certification Process Is ‘Going Well’
Marianne McGee, Senior Writer, InformationWeek, reported August 18, 2009, on IW Healthcare Blogs on meeting and followup email interview with Certification & Adoption Workgroup co-chair Mark Probst, who is CIO, Intermountain Healthcare, Utah. Current recommendations of workgroup and larger committee should serve as reliable guide to vendors, physicians, and hospitals on “meaningful use” and certification, though final requirements will need formal approval from HHS and CMS, according to Probst. McGee does additional August 18, 2009 reporting on CCHIT and the recommendations from August 14, 2009 HIT Policy Committee meeting: HIT Certification Committee Still in Play.

HIT Policy Committee August 14, 2009 Meeting Documents
Agenda (pdf)
–Review of Meaningful Use Definition & Future Plans (ppt)
               Matrix Handout (pdf)
–Certification/Adoption Workgroup Recommendations – Specifics (ppt)
–Information Exchange Workgroup – The Scope of Federal Activity (ppt)
            See http://www.e-healthcaremarketing.com/archives/768 HIT Standards Committee – Update on Progress
–Clinical Operations Workgroup (ppt)
–Clinical Quality Workgroup (ppt)
            Matrix Handout (pdf)
–Privacy & Security Workgroup (ppt)

Next Steps for the HIT Standards Committee

Posted on July 31, 2009 by Mike Squires

Three Workgroups Prepare for August 20, 2009 HIT Standards Meeting
John Halamka, on his blog Life as a Healthcare CIO, reported July 29, 2009, on the progress of three working groups since the July 21, 2009 meeting of HIT Standards Committee as they prepare for August 20, 2009 meeting: Privacy and Security, Clinical Quality, and Clinical Operations. Groups are fine-tuning standards, partially in response to comments. On Security and Privacy, it appears that all health information transactions between organizations will need to be encrypted and that both SOAP and REST approaches to data exchange will be used depending on the specific transactions. On Clinical Quality, discussion is how to deal with removing certain patients from a specified field (exclusionary data) in light of inability of current EHR systems to handle. Clinical Operations is dealing with exchange of information where different vocabularies are being used.

Interview with Certification/Adoption Workgroup Co-chair Egerman

Posted on July 23, 2009 by Mike Squires

Behind the story: Interview with Paul Egerman, Co-chair of HIT Policy Committee’s Certification/Adoption Workgroup
Editor-in-Chief Anthony Guerra of Healthcare Informatics interviews co-chair Paul Egerman in two-part exclusive series, July 22-23, 2009, and gets the context behind the panelists and the decisions on certification and CCHIT.
Interview: Part One Interview: Part Two

Agenda/Articles/Presentations: Certification/Adoption Workgroup Sessions:
http://www.e-healthcaremarketing.com/archives/592
http://www.e-healthcaremarketing.com/archives/457

HIT Standards Committee Deliverables: July 21, 2009 – More ‘Meaningful Use’ Details

Posted on July 21, 2009 by Mike Squires

Standards panel aligns interoperability specs with ARRA
Added July 24, 2009: – Healthcare IT News reported by Editor Bernie Monegain that ”The Healthcare Information Technology Standards Panel has approved new interoperability specifications for electronic health records, data exchange and architecture that align with the federal government’s stimulus package for healthcare IT.”

Standards Mapped to ‘Meaningful Use’ by HIT Standards Committee
John Halamka, MD, vice chair of the committee, reports July 21, 2009, on his blog, Life as a Healthcare CIO, the deliverables of the HIT Standards Committee and its workgroups on Clinical Quality, Clinical Operations, and Privacy and Security with links to the report and a matrix for each workgroup. These documents add critical details to the plans, including “the approach used to specify the 27 performance measures for 2011 which support meaningful use.”

HITS staff writer Jean DerGurhian reports on quality updates.
FederalComputerWeek’s Alice Lipowiscz reports on Clinical Quality Workgroup’s recommendations for “31 performance and data capture measures,” including “26 benchmarks already endorsed by the National Quality Forum.”

Rough Draft Transcript Of July 21, 2009 HIT Standards Committee produced by Brain Ahier.

Health IT Standards Committee Meeting July 21, 2009: Meeting Agenda and Presentations
DOCUMENTS DIRECT FROM HIT Standards Committee Meetings Page:

Agenda

Meeting Minutes from 6/23/09 mtg

Meaningful Use Workgroup Presentation to HIT Policy Committee on July 16, 2009

Report of the Clinical Quality Workgroup

Quality Workgroup Update Grid for Meaningful Use

Clinical Operations Workgroup Report

Clinical Operations Workgroup Recommendations

Summary of HITSP Capabilities

Privacy and Security Workgroup: Recommendations

Privacy and Security Standards Applicable to ARRA Requirements (handout)

‘Meaningful Use’ Recommendations Approved by ONC Health IT Policy Committee

Posted on July 17, 2009 by Mike Squires

Health IT Policy Committee Approves ‘Meaningful Use’ Recommendations
Healthcare IT News reported on July 16, 2009 that the “ONC policy committee accepted its workgroup’s complex matrix of qualifications that will define “meaningful use” of health IT, a pivitol aspect to being a candidate for reimbursement bonuses and avoiding penalties under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA).” ONC will finalize recommendations to Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), which will have final say on rules that will be published by end of year and subject to public comment.

As reported by Joseph Goedert in HealthData Management on July 16, 2009 in “Meaningful Use Definition Gets Initial OK,” the committee recommends that the ”2011 criteria would be considered Adoption Year 1 criteria” enabling applicants in later years to roll in additional requirements over three years. Committee also recommended Personal Health Records should have real-time access to data by 2013, two years sooner than originally proposed. This article details the revisions from initial recommendations.

iHealthBeat‘s summary of these articles

Direct from
ONC’s HIT Policy Committee’s Meeting site: July 16, 2009
Agenda (pdf)

Overview of Public Comments (ppt)

Meaningful Use Workgroup Recommendations (ppt)
               Meaningful Use Matrix (pdf)
               2011 Draft Measures (pdf)

Certification/Adoption Workgroup Recommendations (ppt)

HIT Standards Committee Privacy and Security Workgroup (ppt)

Clinical Operations Workgroup (ppt)