In July of this year, ProPublica released a searchable database of 16,827 surgeons performing one of eight elective procedures in Medicare and their individual complication rates. They focused on elective cases because they typically involve healthier patients with the best odds of a smooth recovery.
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By Jim Tate – I read it almost every day. “Meaningful Use (MU) is over”. “The incentives are almost all paid out”. Everyone is acting like the entire CMS EHR Incentive Program is slipping away and with it the entire concept of MU. Better hold your horses. The death knell of MU has been overplayed.
By Dinesh Sheth – Why is it that patients are slow to take charge of their health records? Some articles suggest that management of health information should be a patient-driven initiative and the points that are used to propagate this idea are not without merit.
By John Halamka MD – Last week the U.S. Food and Drug Administration advised hospitals not to use Hospira’s Symbiq infusion system, concluding that a security vulnerability enables hackers to take remote control of the system. The agency issued the advisory some 10 days after the U.S. Department of Homeland Security warned of the vulnerability in the pump.
In April, Congress and President Obama approved what is commonly referred to as the doc fix bill. The bill repeals the Medicare Part B Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR) reimbursement formula and replaces it with the Merit-Based Incentive Payment System or MIPS.
By Sarianne Gruber – A Virtual Clip Board Pilot Study. Patient self-service kiosks in hospitals and physician offices have helped speed up the patient intake process, collect co-pays as well as improve data quality such errors and duplication of information.
By Divan Dave – In today’s world of healthcare information technology, there are many thing to consider before selecting an EHR. There are hundreds of vendors offering stand-alone modules to full blown EHR and Practice/Revenue Cycle Management Systems. Here are things to consider when making your decision.
By Terry Edwards – Nowadays, there are a dozen different ways we can communicate with one another. We can stop by in-person and talk face-to-face, or pick up the phone and chat. We can use Facebook to ‘Like’ life updates, email an interesting article, text to say we’re running late or use Instagram to share a memory.
By Steve Spearman – On July 8, 2015, St. Elizabeth’s Medical Center of Brighton, Massachusetts, agreed to pay $218,400 to the Department of Health and Human Services in a HIPAA violation settlement.