By Matt Fisher – The HIPAA Privacy Rule is an aspect of HIPAA that does not necessarily receive much attention. Most of the recent settlements and breach actions related to violations of the HIPAA Security Rule. The Security Rule offers more glamour from the press perspective because cybersecurity, hacking and other activities attract headlines.
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By Andy Slavitt – It was early 2015 and we had just gotten through a second successful season with HealthCare.gov, the turnaround that originally brought me into government, when the articles and letters started flying on our next big implementation – one that would affect nearly every physician and hospital in the country. And, anxiety levels were high.
By D’Arcy Gue – In a world where only the wealthy suffered from addiction, we wouldn’t have to worry so much about the effectiveness of treatment or who was going to pay for it. But most people don’t live in Malibu or have access to Betty Ford, so efficacy matters.
By John Smithwick – In the past few years, knowing what happens to patients between visits or after acute episodes hasn’t been a priority for provider organizations. As more and more reimbursements are tied to quality measures and outcomes, organizations are finding it vital to know the health status of their populations so they can spot problems earlier and intervene sooner to prevent the need for costly procedures.
By Jonathan Draper – Every day, hospitals and health systems across the country struggle with exchanging patient data between electronic health records, PACS and other health information systems. In a recent survey, for example, accountable care organizations (ACOs) cited lack of interoperability as their number one challenge to achieving improved, patient-centered care.
By Robert Rowley MD – The way we pay for healthcare is changing. The transition from fee-for-service (“fee for volume”) to value-based care is beginning to take shape, and will do so increasingly in the next few years. Federal pressures as well as private industry pressures are driving this change, as reviewed nicely in a white paper by Houlihan Lokey, “Value-Based Care.”
By Art Gross – Last month a hospital in Hollywood, CA was a victim of a ransomware attack that left computers unusable for over a week. According to a ZDNet article, the Southern California hospital was unable to practice its usual day-to-day operations.
By Andy Slavitt & Karen B. DeSalvo – The great promise of technology is to bring information to our fingertips, connect us to one another, improve our productivity, and create a platform for the next generation of innovations.
By Matt Fisher – The Office for Civil Rights (OCR) at the Department of Health and Human Services, the Office of the National Coordinator of HealthIT (ONC) and others are becoming prolific in the amount of HIPAA guidance being issued.