By Andy Slavitt & Niall Brennan – Just over a month ago, HHS convened a forum that brought together consumers, providers, employers, manufacturers, health insurance companies, representatives from state and federal government, and other stakeholders to discuss ideas on how our country can meet the dual imperatives of encouraging drug development and innovation, while ensuring access and affordability.
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By David Blumenthal MD & David Squires – When it comes to historic changes in the U.S. health care system, few years could compete with 2014, but 2015 gave it a run for its money. With 2016 knocking at the door, it’s time to take a look back and round up the biggest health care events of the year.
By Donald Moulds PhD – Six years ago, as a new president was taking office and the prospect of significant health care reform was moving from pipe dream to possibility, the city of McAllen, Texas, was thrust into the national spotlight.
By Doug Fielding – The patterns of patient collections can often seem difficult to predict, largely because there are factors in play – externalities, to borrow the language of economists – that simply don’t exist in other sectors of the American economy.
December brings with it holidays, colder weather (usually), and the chance to sit back and review the 2015 calendar year. It was a busy year for our federal partners and FHA as teams focused on numerous projects and deliverables, including the Healthcare Directory, Patient Consent & Authorization, Directed Exchange, and the Enterprise Architecture.
By John Halamka MD – When I wrote about the most important healthcare IT stories of 2015 (such as ICD-10 and Meaningful Use), I did not include a discussion of Information Security. That’s because security deserves its own post. Increasingly complex threats and an array of new security technology, policy, and education projects consumed us all in 2015.
By John Halamka MD – The December 2015 HIT Standards Committee focused on 3 key projects as we wrapped up our work for the year. Cris Ross presented the work of the Certified Technology Comparison Task Force. The idea behind this work is simple.
By David Macfarlane – Maybe the initial challenge of population health is deciding exactly what that phrase means. Well before it became a catchphrase in health IT, population health was the province of academics who devised predictably academic definitions.
By Matt Patterson MD – In my ritual of year-end reflection, I am struck by an unshakeable parallel between the general healthcare climate today, and the atmosphere surrounding the late stages of the American Revolution and the start of our fledgling nation.