HHS Updates Health Survey Standards
In late October the US Department of
Health and Human Services released
final standards to more consistently
measure race, ethnicity, sex, primary
language, and disability status, thereby improving the ability to highlight disparities in health status and target interventions to reduce these disparities.
The Affordable Care Act mandated the
new standards.
The standards, effective upon publication, apply to health surveys sponsored by HHS where respondents
either self-report information or a
knowledgeable person responds for
all members of a household. The standards will be used in all new surveys
and at the time of revision to current
surveys.
Making data standards consistent
will help identify the significant health
differences that often exist between
and within ethnic groups, particularly
among Asian, Hispanic/Latino, and Pa-
cific Islander populations.
The new data collection require-
ments also will improve researchers’
ability to consistently monitor more di-
mensions of health disparities among
people with disabilities.
“Many racial and ethnic minorities,
people with limited English proficiency,
people with disabilities, and other pop-
ulations face unique health challenges,
often have reduced access to health
care and often pay the price with poor-
er health,” said Garth Graham, MD,
MPH, HHS deputy assistant secretary
for minority health, in a press release.
“Today we are implementing an impor-
tant provision of the Affordable Care
Act that reinforces our commitment to
reducing these health disparities.”
For more information on the final data
standards, visit www.minorityhealth.
hhs.gov/section4302. ¢
MEDICAL IMAGING SOLUTION
www.accenture.com
Accenture and AT&T have launched a
new medical imaging solution that en-
ables medical professionals to review
patient images. The Accenture Medi-
cal Imaging Solution enables national
hospital networks to centrally manage
medical images and collaborate ef-
ficiently with other institutions, physi-
cians, and radiologists.
MEDICAL DATA APP
www.ama-assn.org/ama/pub/about-
ama/apps/ my-medications.page
The AMA released a smartphone ap-
plication that aims to help consumers
store and share their health informa-
tion. The new app, called “My Medica-
tions,” allows consumers to use their
smartphones to store data about their
current medications, drug allergies,
emergency contacts, healthcare pro-
viders, and immunizations.
Public Review of Quality Measures Selection
The Affordable Care Act requires the
Department of Health and Human Services institute a federal “
pre-rulemak-ing process” for selecting quality and
efficiency measures for its qualifying
programs. Under the new process,
HHS must make publicly available,
by December 1 of each year, a list of
measures it is considering for its qualifying programs, including measures
suggested by the public. It must
provide the opportunity for
multistakeholder groups
to review and provide input by February 1.
The review and input
process is being con-
ducted by the Measure
Applications Partnership,
or MAP, a public-private
partnership convened by the
National Quality Forum. Throughout
December and January, MAP is con-
vening meetings to review the HHS
measures list. These meetings are
open to the public and will include a
public comment period immediately
prior to the release of the February 1
report.
Should HHS select for its programs
any quality or efficiency measure that
is not endorsed by the National Quality Forum it must publish its rationale
for doing so. It must also publish an
assessment of the measures’
impact every three years at
minimum. The first report is
due March 1, 2012.
For more on MAP and the
2012 measures, visit www.
qualityforum.org/
map. ¢
MEANINGFUL USE GUIDE
https://www.cms.gov/EHRIncentive-
Programs/Downloads/Beginners_
Guide.pdf
The Centers for Medicare and Med-
icaid Services released a tool to help
guide physicians and other eligible
professionals through all phases of the
Medicare EHR incentive payment pro-
gram. It includes chapters on program
basics, eligibility, and registration and
provides a description of all stage 1
meaningful use criteria. It also advises
practitioners on how to choose the op-
tional measures they will use as part of
the attestation phase of the program.
ICD 10-CM/PCS AND ICD-9-CM CODING
www.ahimastore.org
AHIMA’s Basic ICD-10-CM/PCS and
ICD-9-CM Coding provides students
and in-training professionals with a bal-
anced approach to coding. It includes
in-depth instruction and practical exer-
cises to build a foundation from which
to apply ICD-9-CM and ICD-10-CM/
PCS conventions and rules to everyday
examples and exercises using actual
case documentation. ¢
