By Neil Versel

Dr. David Blumenthal has been national coordinator for health information technology for a little more than six months now, and for all the health IT meetings I go to, teleconferences I listen in on and webinars I participate in, Wednesday was the first time I’d had the opportunity to hear him speak.

In delivering the opening keynote to the College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (CHIME) Fall CIO Forum in Indian Wells, Calif., Blumenthal didn’t break a whole lot of new ground, but he did bring the national EMR strategy into sharper focus, give an update on some progress within the federal government, demonstrate his deep passion for healthcare quality improvement, and even put the vendor community on notice. (See the story in this week’s issue for more on his vendor-related comments.)

“You all are the very core of our success,” Blumenthal told this gathering of CIOs in the California desert. It was nothing they didn’t already know. He did say, however, that even without the healthcare reform being debated in Washington right now, the HITECH Act–the health IT portion of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act–still is “unprecedented” in the scope of change it will effect.

Blumenthal highlighted four things that flow from HITECH: “meaningful use” of EMRs–something we all know about; the Health IT Policy Committee and Health IT Standards Committee to advise HHS; privacy and security of health data, symbolized by the tightening of HIPAA; and, of course, the federal subsidy program. Blumenthal believes that the last point probably gets more attention than it deserves. “There’s the money, which is important, but it isn’t the whole thing,” he said.

“What Congress has basically asked us to do with this legislation is to change the practice of medicine,” Blumenthal said. “It’s really a matter of change management rather than technology.”

Blumenthal is prohibited by federal ethics standards from discussing deliberations on the forthcoming parameters for meaningful use, but he reiterated that a proposed rule will be out by the end of the year, and that HHS is still on target to finalize the definition next spring, following a 60-day public comment period on the proposal. He also said that his office is talking with other federal agencies with experience encrypting and securing sensitive electronic data, something that will be hugely important in healthcare as more patient information is computerized.

Blumenthal added that the health IT extension centers will be modeled after the long-established USDA Agricultural Extension Service. “This is all about technology transfer from government to industry,” he said. He also called on the hundreds of healthcare CIOs in attendance to provide leadership and educate hospital CEOs about the importance of

Above article published on http://www.fierceemr.com/story/blumenthal-doesnt-tip-hand-meaningful-use-highlights-non-financial-aspects-arra/2009-10-29#ixzz0WdXFxKVB

By Anne Zieger

It’s only been a few days since the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology issued a report explaining how it would meet new HIPAA privacy and security rules specified in the stimulus package.

Experts argue whether the new report, which spells out plans for complying with a stimulus act section known as High Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH), actually says anything novel. Some argue that deadlines for action spelled out in the document just match those in the stimulus plan, while others see the plans as a good first step.

Be that as it may, HHS has said that it will spend about $24.3 million on new privacy and security efforts, including carrying out regulatory and enforcement requirements of HITECH and training for state attorneys general, audits and reports to Congress.

New HIPAA provisions include language broadening privacy rules and penalties to include business associates; clarify that HIPAA’s criminal sanctions apply to employees or other individuals that wrongfully use or access PHI held by a covered entity; prohibit sales of PHI without prior consent; and allow state attorneys general to bring civil damages actions.

The question is whether any of these actions do much to step up HIPAA enforcement. After all, to date, vanishingly few HIPAA investigations have actually taken place. The question, it seems, is whether HHS will make use of the tools it has, much less new one

Above article published on

http://www.fiercehealthit.com/story/will-hitech-portion-stimulus-strengthen-hipaa/2009-05-26#ixzz0SZzpAFQY

Diana Manos, Senior Editor

Getting healthcare IT up and running in doctors’ offices is not the main objective behind the incentives provided by the federal government under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, according to David Blumenthal, MD, national coordinator of health information technology.

Improving health is.

At the 17th Annnual National HIPAA Summit held Sept. 15-18 in Washington, D.C., Blumenthal called the HITECH Act — included in ARRA — “brilliant” and “a visionary piece of legislation.” With $20 billion allotted to the advancement of healthcare IT, he said, the law would lay the foundation for health reform in the nation.

The United States has never spent this kind of money on sharing health information and protecting it, he said.

Blumenthal told attendees at the summit how he came to embrace the importance of healthcare IT. He had never been a technologically oriented person, he said, but was asked seven years ago by the hospital where he worked to learn how to use an electronic health record.

“It wasn’t easy,” he said. “But I soon learned it was an enormous boon to me to be able to access my patients’ records outside of the office.”

Blumenthal said he started using EHRs in his practice and noticed it changed the way he was able to take care of his patients. He could access specialists’ reports, lab results and medications. “I knew more about my patients. I could tell my patients things they needed to know and couldn’t know in a timely way from their specialists,” he said. “Those are things that had real value to me as a clinician and to my patients. That is the value that made me convinced that these technologies were going to benefit me as a clinician.”

Privacy is critical, Blumenthal added, and “absolutely foundational” to realizing the vision that the Obama administration has for improving healthcare through healthcare IT. The advancement of healthcare IT through ARRA will only be successful, he said, if the public has confidence in the privacy and security of their personal health information and if physicians buy in.

“The use of IT has professional competence at its core, ” he said. “I believe in the future my colleagues will see value in healthcare IT. Treating medicine is about information. Part of competence will be knowing how to protect (personal health) information, and another part will be knowing how to access it.”

Above article published on

http://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/healthcare-it-means-not-end-says-blumenthal

HDM Breaking News,

The federal government should extend the transition to a fully functional electronic health records system beyond 2015, according to the American Hospital Association.

The AHA has sent a comment letter on the initial proposal of a workgroup of the HIT Policy Committee to define meaningful use of electronic health records to David Blumenthal, national coordinator for health information technology.

“Our members believe that the functional abilities of the EHR that would result from implementation of the draft definition are correct, but that the proposed sequence for adoption is overly aggressive and unrealistic for most,” according to the AHA. “Increasing the requirements for being considered a meaningful user every two years should provide enough time for adoption, but only if the initial requirements are set at an achievable level. The AHA encourages the committee, ONC and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to develop a ‘meaningful use’ adoption timeline that begins with fewer functional requirements and extends the transition to a fully functional EHR beyond 2015.”

Computerized physician order entry, for instance, should not be required until after 2015 or beyond, the AHA contended in the comment letter. “Most hospitals are not prepared to make such significant advancements under the proposed implementation timeline, so rushing to adopt could compromise patient safety and the success of this effort,” the letter states. “Our members, including those with significant previous HIT investments and CPOE, consider a 2011 CPOE requirement to be unrealistic.”

The AHA calls for the definition of meaningful use in 2011 to focus on getting the majority of hospitals running with a basic EHR. Appropriate functions for 2011 should include clinical documentation of patient demographics, problem lists, medication lists, discharge summaries, and results viewing for lab reports, radiology reports and diagnostic tests, the AHA advises.

The association, mirroring comments of the American Medical Association and some 80 other physician organizations in a separate comment letter, also noted that providers must work during the same time period to migrate to the HIPAA 5010 transaction sets and ICD-10 code sets.

Above article published on

http://www.healthdatamanagement.com/news/meaningful_use-38560-1.html