Science Applications International Corp. has
received a $10-million contract to help
the US Veterans Affairs Department’s Office
of Information and Technology develop a
strategic planning process for health
IT.
The Department of Health and Human
Services’ Federal Health Architecture has
awarded a $5.7-million contract to CGI
Federal to support the Connect information exchange project.
Standard Register, a provider of workflow
and patient ID and safety tools, has
acquired Dialog Medical, a provider of
informed consent and patient education systems.
Florida Pulmonary Consultants will implement EHR and practice management
tools from Benchmark Systems.
Accounting of Disclosure Rule Released
On May 31 the Office for Civil Rights
published a proposed rule expanding an individual’s rights to an accounting of disclosures of protected
health information. The rule modifies
the HIPAA privacy rule to implement
changes mandated under the 2009
HITECH Act.
OCR’s proposed rule addresses the
HITECH requirement that covered entities must account for disclosures of
protected health information made for
purposes of treatment, payment, and
healthcare operations—actions previously exempt under HIPAA—if they
maintain the information in electronic
format.
The rule also confirms that covered
entities must account for the disclo-
sures of their business associates
or require the associates make their
own accounting. Business associates
must respond to individual requests
made directly to them.
As specified in HITECH, the ac-
counting period is shortened to three
years from the date of the individual’s
request.
In addition, acting on its “general
authority under HIPAA,” OCR pro-
poses revising the privacy rule to cre-
ate two separate rights for individuals:
the right to an accounting of disclo-
sures and the right to a report on ac-
cess.
The access report would not distinguish between “uses” and “
disclosures.” Thus it would apply when any
Baylor Health Care System in Texas will
deploy an EHR system from GE Healthcare.
Karos Health in Canada has selected
diagnostic imaging sharing systems
from Hospital Diagnostic Imaging Repository
Services.
HIM services vendor IOD has acquired
health data management firm Confidential Copiers.
Prime Healthcare Services in California
has selected document management
workflow tools from FormFast.
St. Joseph Mercy Oakland in Michigan and
Baycare Health and Jackson Health System
in Florida have selected data storage
and Web-based healthcare applications from Legacy Data Access.
HYAURA, a health IT company, has
acquired open-source EHR provider
EHR Live.
Self Regional Healthcare in South Carolina
has selected health information exchange services from RelayHealth.
Market intelligence operator IMS Health
has acquired Med-Vantage, a software
vendor serving healthcare payers. ¢
First Medicare EHR Payments Total $75 Million
More than 300 healthcare providers received a total of $75 million in the first
payments made under the Medicare
EHR incentive program, according to
numbers released May 26 by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. The payments were made May
19 to 320 individuals and hospitals that
registered in the first two weeks of the
program.
Eligible providers began reporting
their performance on April 18, the day
CMS opened the online attestation
program. In the first stage of the meaningful use program, participants must
attest to meeting the requirements for
a continuous 90-day period. CMS expects providers will attest throughout
2011 as more complete their reporting
periods.
From January through April Medicaid incentive programs in seven states
disbursed $83.3 million to eligible professionals and eligible hospitals, CMS
reports. Fifteen states had launched
incentive programs as of May, with 11
of the programs beginning in January.
CMS expects most remaining states
will launch their incentive programs
throughout the year.
CMS offers a list of active state programs and expected launch dates on
its Web site www.cms.gov/apps/files/
medicaid-HIT-sites.
More than 42,600 eligible professionals and hospitals had registered
for the Medicare and Medicaid programs through April 30, according to
CMS. Eligible hospitals and professionals may register for the program at
any time.
Eligible hospitals must begin their
90-day reporting periods by July 3.
The reporting year ends September
30. Hospitals must register and attest
by November 30 to receive an incentive payment for the 2011 fiscal year.
Eligible providers must begin their
90-day reporting periods no later than
October 3 for the 2011 calendar year.
The reporting year ends December 31,
and they have until February 29 to register and attest to receive an incentive
payment for 2011. ¢
