Journal of AHIMA - June 2011

DEPARTMENT OF VE TERANS AFFAIRS FACES ONGOING MANAGEMENT CHALLENGES www.gao.gov/new.items/d11663t.pdf A report from the Government Accountability Office finds that the US Veterans Affairs Department has faltered in its efforts to effectively manage its IT systems, spending billions of dollars on projects that often failed to reach their intended goals.

A CALL TO ACTION: INFORMATION EXCHANGE
STRATEGIES FOR EFFECTIVE STATE GOVERN-
MENT
www.nascio.org
A guide released by the National As-
sociation of State Chief Information Of-
ficers helps state governments adopt
the National Information Exchange
Model, which is designed to improve
information sharing across govern-
ment. It provides state CIOs with the
background, guidance, and recom-
mendations in support of the adoption
of NIEM.

ONC Increases Patient HIE Consent Work

ONC has been gauging vendor interest and experience in a pilot that would evaluate consumer roles in electronic HIE consent, according to an April 25 article in Healthcare IT News.

The selected vendor would obtain feedback on patients’ consent choices in HIE and create innovative ways to educate consumers about their consent options.

Those options could include consent
through automated systems or con-
sent determined through a decision-
making process with patients’ primary
care physicians. Vendors interested in
the pilot needed to respond to ONC by
April 29.

In a related notice, ONC expanded a contract with Lockheed Martin Services to include how options for patient privacy consent can become “a core part of future meaningful use requirements for trusted exchange” of electronic health records. The agreement adds $1.26 million to a $5.3 million contract to develop and test an implementation model of the Nationwide Health Information Network. ¢

PHYSICIAN PRACTICES, E-PRESCRIBING
AND ACCESSING INFORMATION TO IMPROVE
PRESCRIBING DECISIONS
www.hschange.org
A study from the Center for Study-
ing Health System Change finds that
accessing information on formularies
and medication histories can be cum-
bersome or unreliable for physician
practices using e-prescribing. It cites
two major barriers to use of supporting
information when e-prescribing: hard-
to-use tools to view and import data
into patient records and data often not
seen as useful enough to spend the
extra time accessing.

Maryland MSOs to Aid EHR Adoption, HIE Maryland has begun developing management service organizations (MSOs) that will offer physicians meaningful-use certified, off-site EHRs and access to the statewide HIE.

MSOs will help physicians mitigate
several challenges that occur when
adopting an EHR, such as cost contain-
ment issues, system maintenance, and
managing privacy and security. MSOs
will enable physicians to assess patient
records via the Internet and connect to
the statewide HIE being developed by
the Chesapeake Regional Information
System for our Patients.

The MSO is seen as a cheaper, lower risk way for providers to implement an EHR and achieve HIE. ¢

HEALTH INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY CAN CREATE SIGNIFICANT ENVIRONMENTAL BENEFITS http://xnet.kp.org/newscenter/pressre- leases/nat/2011/ 050411greenhit.html A report from Kaiser Permanente finds that EHRs bring a neutral to slightly positive effect on environmental factors. It examines the “environmental footprint” of Kaiser Permanente’s EHR and picture archiving and communication systems. ¢

Patient Safety Initiative to Leverage Health IT In April the Obama administration launched the Partnership for Patients program to reduce medical errors and help improve the quality, safety, and af-fordability of healthcare for Americans.

Using as much as $1 billion in fund-
ing provided by the Affordable Care Act
and leveraging a number of ongoing
programs, the Department of Health
and Human Services will work with a
wide variety of public and private part-
ners to achieve two core goals:
x Keep patients from getting in-
jured or getting sicker. By the end
of 2013, preventable hospital-ac-
quired conditions would decrease
40 percent from 2010 levels.
x Help patients heal without com-
plication. By the end of 2013, pre-
ventable complications during a
transition from one care setting
to another would be decreased
such that all hospital readmissions
would be reduced by 20 percent
compared to 2010.

The recently formed Innovation Center at the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services intends to dedicate more than $500 million to test models of safer care delivery and promote implementation of best practices in patient safety.

CMS will also provide $500 million for the Community-based Care Transition Program, created by the Affordable Care Act, to support hospitals and community-based organizations in helping Medicare beneficiaries at high risk for hospital readmission safely transition from the hospital to other care settings.