Medicare

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Missing from MACRA: 2 Meaningful Use millstones

Press Release | American Medical Association | May 9, 2017

Physicians are now free from reporting on two major Meaningful Use requirements, but some doctors may not be aware of this long-sought change that became effective Jan 1. While it is hard to say how many physicians are in the dark about the change, there are anecdotal reports that some doctors don’t know that the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act (MACRA) final rule agreed with AMA’s call to drop computerized physician order entry (CPOE) and clinical decision support (CDS) from Medicare’s payment program. What’s safe to say for certain is that the move comes as relief to physicians, based on surveys measuring their attitudes on electronic health records (EHR) usability in patient care...

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Morning...Reading Assignment

Timothy Noah | The New Republic | October 25, 2011

My friend Phillip Longman has for three decades been one of America's most creative, common-sensical, and non-doctrinaire thinkers on public policy. Read More »

Mostashari: Obama Reelection Points To Critical Role Of Data

Mary Mosquera | Government Health IT | November 7, 2012

Farzad Mostashari, MD, the national health IT coordinator, said that data and analytics played a critical role in the campaign and re-election of President Barack Obama – mirroring the growing importance of data in healthcare. Read More »

Mr. Obama, Tear Down This Wall

Dave Chase | Forbes | June 5, 2013

Remarkable progress has been made since I posted a recap of the first White House Roundtable on Patient Access to Health Data took place a year ago that I’ve appended below. Read More »

My Name Is Rob. And I’m A Recovering Doctor.

Rob Lamberts | The Health Care Blog | June 22, 2013

Yeah, I am recovering…doing a lot better, actually.  Things are tough, but they are a lot better since I left my destructive relationship with Medicare, Medicaid, and insurance companies.  I’ve had to learn how to manage my own money (now that I can’t count on them to bail me out any more), but things are looking a lot better... Read More »

Nationwide Exchange Stands On Its Own

Tom Sullivan | Healthcare IT News | October 11, 2012

Marking a bridge’s beginning, ONC on Thursday made it official: eHealth Exchange is standing on its own as a non-federal, non-profit entity. Read More »

Nationwide HIE Corrals 500 Hospitals, 4,000 Practices

Ken Terry | Information Week | February 9, 2012

More than 500 hospitals and 4,000 physician practices and clinics are participating in the Nationwide Health Information Network (NwHIN) exchange, according to Lauren Thompson, program director of the Federal Health Architecture (FHA) program in the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC). Read More »

New bill Aims To Remove Coverage Restrictions Of Telemedicine

Erin McCann | Government Health IT | January 4, 2013

A new bill introduced Sunday in the U.S. House of Representatives that, if passed, would expand telehealth services in Medicare and Medicaid programs has garnered the support of The American Telemedicine Association. Read More »

New data shows Affordable Care Act (ACA) helped Seniors save $8.9 billion on prescription drugs nationwide

Press Release | CMS News | November 26, 2013

Seniors and people with disabilities with Medicare prescription drug plan coverage saved $8.9 billion to date on their prescription drugs thanks to the Affordable Care Act, according to new data released today by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). Read More »

New House Bill Would Boost Digital Health Use In Federal Programs

Staff Writer | iHealth Beat | December 3, 2013

A new bill (HR 3577) introduced by Rep. Scott Peters (D-Calif.) calls for increased use of digital health technologies in federal programs as part of an effort to reduce health care costs, MobiHealthNews reports. Read More »

New ONC, Health 2.0 Developer Challenges Offer Cash Awards for Medical Apps

Brian T. Horowitz | eWEEK | October 6, 2011

Conference organizer Health 2.0 and the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) within the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) have launched two new developer challenges for health care: "One in a Million Hearts" and "PopHealth Tools Development." Read More »

Newsmaker Interview: Aneesh Chopra

Staff | Healthcare IT News | December 6, 2011

[Blue Button] is just a simple idea. The Markle Foundation had a meeting in which they talked about personal health records and what will that future look like and what role would they play in it. And a number of folks, including Adam Bosworth, who was originally one of the founders of XML, said, ‘Wouldn’t it be great if there was a little button – maybe a blue button – that would allow patients to download a copy of their information and allow them to transport it wherever they go?

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Next Steps for ACOs

Robert A. Berenson and Rachel A. Burton | Health Affairs | January 31, 2012

Accountable care organizations (ACOs) are networks of physicians and other providers that are held accountable for the cost and quality of the full continuum of care delivered to a group of patients...Will this new approach to health care delivery live up to the dual promises of reducing costs and improving quality of care? Read More »

Not So Fast: CMS Says Meaningful Use Not Dead, New Incentive Program Will Take Time

Mike Miliard | Healthcare Finance | January 20, 2016

One week after Andy Slavitt said meaningful use would be replaced soon, the acting Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services administrator and national coordinator Karen DeSalvo made it clear that the changes would take time and that providers must still follow the current program. Slavitt and DeSalvo in a blog post Tuesday afternoon explained the new regulatory framework would move away from measuring clicks to focusing on care...

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Nursing Home Care May Be Out Of Reach For Many Aging 'Boomers': Study

Robert Preidt | HealthDay | June 30, 2014

With higher rates of illness but fewer adult children to care for them, many of America's baby boom generation may find themselves unable to pay for the nursing home care they need, a new study warns.

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