What a Day! I have come to view HIMSS as the source for what’s happening in healthcare. Today was not different – the floor of the conference was abuzz with folks asking (in almost a whisper): “Will ICD-10 really be enforced by CMS come October 1st, 2013?” “Will we really need to have all of […]
Regulatory Compliance
Meeting the Challenge of Managing Population Health
In the closing weeks before the Christmas holiday, I made a whirlwind tour of several large integrated delivery networks (IDNs) in search of the newest Holy Grail in healthcare: Managing Population Health. The race to Accountable Care Organizations and Shared Savings performance contracts has resulted in a new level of enterprise data integration never imagined […]
Are you sick of Meaningful Use?
The theme from physicians, CIOs, CMIOs, and other sundry healthcare professionals at HIMSS is consistent. Qualifying for Meaningful Use is taking up all our spare time. MU initiatives are usurping staff and delaying other projects. Many say they would like for it to just go away, but they also realize the more good, reliable, and […]
HIMSS 12: ICD-10 & The Latest AMA Delay Strategy
As we talk to many attendees at the HIMSS 2012 show about their strategies for meeting the ICD-10 October 2013 deadline, the American Medical Association continues its efforts to delay or stop the implementation altogether. A letter which was recently sent by AMA Executive Vice President and CEO James Madara to House Speaker John Boehner […]
HIMSS 12: Still Not Convinced on Physician Acceptance of Health IT
Despite significant investments in healthcare IT, recent studies have found a “surprising” level of skepticism about its benefits. Many physicians are still not convinced that electronic health records or health information exchanges will improve patient outcomes, access to services or reduce unnecessary procedures. As these are the very benefits cited for driving adoption of both […]
HIMSS 2012 Trend Watch
HIMSS 2012 is upon us already. Our team will be in Las Vegas for the February 21-23 for the event. With all of the changes we are witnessing in the health insurance industry, this year’s conference promises to address the many needs of conference attendees. Whether it is meeting regulatory compliance issues or preparing for […]
The Importance of Being Earnest about Security in Healthcare, Part 2
First, let me start with questions I asked at the close of Part 1. How does your organization manage security and its risks? Do you have a governance process in place, is it comprehensive, requirements driven, with the risks communicated, understood and mitigation plans developed and reviewed? Can you adequately answer these questions? If you […]
Oh, Say Can You ONC?
Providers and patients should be comfortable that their Health IT systems are secure, confidential, play well with other systems and functional. To enable this, the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act has appointed the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) as the certifying body that blesses each […]
ICD-10 Revenue Neutrality: Health Outcomes and Cost
As the October 1, 2013, deadline for ICD-10 compliance gets closer, the Revenue Cycle Management will surface as the next Healthcare Organization show stopper. ICD-10 clinical specificity will better position Providers to accurately identify actual conditions and treatment, but reimbursement accuracy will require verification of acceptable variance utilizing historical ICD-9 coding, billing and receivable data. […]
Facing and Overcoming the 2012 #HealthIT Challenges Amidst the End of the World – Part I of 2
Background Healthcare providers and eligible primary physician practices are undergoing analysis paralysis because of all the government impositions on improving healthcare with the following list of complex problems to solve: HIPAA’s Version 5010 conversion, ICD-10 migrations, Meaningful Use (MU) of EHRs and Attestation , Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) , Data Aggregation and mining for successful […]
Does your data pass the Snopes test?
If you are reading this blog, you are a heavy internet user. While browsing, you have probably run across several statements of fact that were later proven to be false. Most of you also know about Snopes.com, a website that claims to be the “definitive internet reference source for urban legends, folklore, myths, rumors, and […]
The Importance of Being Earnest about Security in Healthcare, Part 1
In Healthcare, we talk about how important security is, all the while secretly hoping and assuming that, as an organization, we’re in compliance and have all the appropriate safeguards in place. When discussing compliance, at the very least this refers to the baseline set by the HIPAA Security Rule and the many contractual obligations we […]