One of the ways that HITECH Answers is different from other media sites is the sense of community. The thought leaders in our community are good about sharing their thoughts on the issues of today. We publish at least eleven guest posts a week now, on our three sites. In case you missed some, here are the top ten read and shared guest posts of the month. You can also read previous month’s Top Ten Lists. Thank you for contributing and reading.
CMS Announces Extension of 2016 Reporting Deadline
By Kate Goodrich, M.D., M.H.S., Director, Center for Clinical Standards & Quality, CMS
Twitter: @CMSgov
I am pleased to announce that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is notifying eligible hospitals and critical access hospitals participating in the Hospital Inpatient Quality Reporting (IQR) and/or the Medicare Electronic Health Record (EHR) Incentive Programs of a deadline extension. The extension is for the submission of electronic Clinical Quality Measure (eCQM) data for the 2016 reporting period, pertaining to the fiscal year (FY) 2018 payment determination. Continue reading on HITECHAnswers.net…
My Advice to the Trump Administration
By John Halamka, MD
Twitter: @jhalamka
As I’ve listened to the confirmation hearings for cabinet nominees, I’ve realized that no one with healthcare IT expertise has yet been identified by the transition team. I continue to ask all my colleagues about any contact they’ve had with anyone advising the new administration – so far, no one has been asked anything by anyone related to healthcare IT. At this early time in the administration, it’s important to offer advice as to the priorities ahead for the next few years. What would I recommend to the new administration? Here’s my five point plan: Continue reading on HITECHAnswers.net…
What’s Next for 2017
By Daniel Kivatinos, Co-Founder of drchrono
Twitter: @danielkivatinos
Twitter: @drchrono
With all the changes going in healthcare legislation over the past few years and as we head into 2017, it is easy to get confused. For some, providers have been using their EHR over the past few years to earn incentives and others preparing to be hit with reimbursement deductions. Now you should be asking, what’s next for 2017? Continue reading on HITECHAnswers.net…
2016 Health Care Year in Review
By David Squires and David Blumenthal, M.D., The Commonwealth Fund
Twitter: @commonwealthfnd
This was a tumultuous year in health care and elsewhere. Wherever we looked, the improbable and unbelievable became true and believable: from Brexit to a President-elect Trump to alleged foreign sabotage of our political institutions. Historians will dissect the remnants of these events for decades. For us, for now, let’s focus on health care, which is plenty. Continue reading on HITECHAnswers.net…
Securing Healthcare’s Move to the Cloud
By Susan Biddle, Sr. Director of Healthcare, Fortinet
Twitter: @Fortinet
A hot topic in healthcare IT discussions these days is the inevitable move of secure data to the cloud, and for good reason. Providing medical care has truly become a consumer market for hospitals and other healthcare institutions. Organizations are being expected to provide the absolute latest in patient care capabilities across the board, including hotel-like amenities to make a patient’s stay as comfortable as possible. People can choose what hospital they go to, and they are choosing based on both the quality of the care and the quality of the services provided. Continue reading on HITECHAnswers.net…
Should Your Medical Practice Hire a HIPAA Compliance Officer?
By Jim Johnson, President, LiveCompliance, a partner service for GroupOne Health Source Inc.
Twitter: @GroupOne_Health
Although healthcare facilities of all sizes and types are required to choose a HIPAA compliance officer to make sure that regulations are followed, some choose to blend the role with an existing one. For small to medium-sized practices, the thought of hiring a full-time HIPAA compliance officer may seem financially unfeasible. Continue reading on HITECHAnswers.net…
5 Health IT Trends to Watch in 2017
By Neil Smiley, Founder and CEO, Loopback Analytics
Twitter: @loopbackllc
Bundled payments and predictive analytics dominated the health information technology (HIT) landscape for much of 2016. And, while these will continue to be hot topics moving forward, 2017 is shaping up to become the year that providers and payers will effectively leverage these new capabilities to drive substantial clinical and financial improvement. Exactly how will these technological forces come together? Here are the top 5 health information technology trends to watch – and adopt – in the coming year. Continue reading on HIEAnswers.net…
Joint Commission: The Latest on Text Messaging Patient Care Orders
By David Harlow, JD MPH, Principal, The Harlow Group LLC
Twitter: @healthblawg
Over the past five years, the Joint Commission has frowned, smiled and again frowned upon the use of text messaging for transmitting patient care orders. The latest clarification, stating that secure texting for patient care orders is not acceptable (pdf), developed together with CMS, was deemed necessary because of lingering concerns regarding secure text messaging services. (Unsecured texting is subject to flat ban by the Joint Commission, which makes sense in a clinical setting — covered entity to covered entity; of course, where a patient has authorized unsecured texting between patient and covered entity, it is permitted.) Continue reading on HIEAnswers.net…
How to Pick Your Pace for the Quality Payment Program
By Jeff Jones, Executive Project Assistant, GroupOne Health Source Inc.
Twitter: @GroupOne_Health
With 2017 upon us, many practices are scrambling to understand the Quality Payment Program final rule. The final rule was published on October 14, 2016 with CMS making significant revisions to the proposed rule. In the final rule, CMS increased the flexibility of the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act (MACRA) by introducing an option-based implementation plan, titled “Pick Your Pace,” which allows providers to ease into MACRA for the 2017 reporting year. Continue reading on RCMAnswers.net…
Achieving Clinical Success in Quality Payment Programs
By Justin Barnes, Partner, iHealth Innovations
Twitter: @HITAdvisor
Twitter: @RevenueSherpa
In the inaugural reporting year of MACRA’s new Quality Payment Program, quality measures and clinical practice improvement activities will collectively account for 85 percent of MIPS composite scores used to determine Medicare reimbursement penalties and incentives for healthcare providers. As clinicians prepare to embark upon MIPS reporting, knowledgeability on clinical performance metrics and standing heading into and throughout QPP participation will be essential to meeting reporting and care delivery objectives under the new value-based payment model. Continue reading on RCMAnswers.net…
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