Free Health IT Instruction Materials Available
The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology
(ONC) has released to the public an updated third version of the instructional
materials used in the Health IT Workforce Development Program.
The materials support six-month,
non-degree training programs within
community colleges that prepare professionals for six health IT roles. Program participants choose to receive
training as a practice workflow and
information management redesign
specialist, clinician/practitioner consultant, implementation support specialist, implementation manager, tech-nical/software support, or trainer.
The downloadable materials include
slide-based lectures, audio resources
accompanied by transcripts, activities,
sample questions and answers, and in-
structor manuals. Instructors will also
find a free download for components
of a hands-on lab that makes use of
an adapted educational version of the
Veterans Affairs VistA EHR, which may
further enhance the development of
their curriculum.
These materials bolster much-need-ed growth in the workforce of health IT
professionals who will help providers
continue to advance healthcare quality, safety, and cost efficiency with the
effective implementation of electronic
health records.
ONC awarded $10 million in April
2010 to Oregon Health and Science
University, University of Alabama at
Birmingham, Johns Hopkins University, Columbia University, and Duke University to create the materials.
Oregon Health and Science University received additional funding in order to create the National Training and
Dissemination Center—a secure site
where all materials are currently available through 2012. For more information and access to the materials, create
a free account at www.onc-ntdc.org or
www.onc-ntdc.info. ¢
REGULATORY RESEARCH OFFERING
www.arbourgroup.com
Arbour Group LLC announced the
launch of the new Arbour Research
Center (SM), an expanded regulatory
offering that is focused on supporting
compliance efforts by providing data
gathering, analysis, interpretation, and
reporting on regulatory topics related to
market demographics, product viability,
and other key areas.
INFORMED CONSENT APP
http://www.mytrus.com
Clinical technology and services com-
pany Mytrus has announced the re-
lease of an iPad application to explain
informed consent to patients before en-
rolling in clinical trials. This new method
of presenting educational material to
the patient has demonstrated higher ef-
ficiency in the enrollment process and
higher overall patient comprehension of
information.
Meaningful Use Payments Pass $3.8 Billion
Nearly 20,000 eligible professionals
and more than 100 hospitals registered
for the meaningful use program in February, according to statistics released
by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services in March. Total registration in the EHR incentive program has
topped 211,600.
To date, the Medicare and Medicaid EHR Incentive Programs have
paid more than $3.8 billion to eligible
professionals, hospitals, and critical
access hospitals since the first incentives began in January 2011. More than
$738 million of the total was paid in the
month of February 2012 alone.
More than 62,000 of registered providers have already received payments
for successful participation in the programs, according to CMS. That includes approximately 2,300 hospitals
and 59,700 professionals.
The first Medicaid incentives were
paid in January 2011, and Medicare
payments began with the first successful attestations the following
spring. Medicaid payments are made
through the states, and not all states
have launched their programs. At the
time of CMS’s report, 43 states had
active programs, with Wyoming and
South Dakota being the most recent
additions.
This is the last year that eligible professionals will be able to receive the
maximum incentive payment possible
by participating in the Medicare EHR
Incentive Program.
For access to full data and reports,
eligibility requirements, resource
guides and more, visit www.cms.gov/
EHRIncentivePrograms/56_DataAn-
dReports.asp. ¢
QUALI TY AND PERFORMANCE IMPROVEMEN T
www.ahimastore.org
The fifth edition of AHIMA’s bestselling
Quality and Performance Improvement
in Healthcare: A Tool for Programmed
Learning covers the latest trends in
healthcare quality control and perfor-
mance, with a wealth of information
on performance improvement founda-
tions, fundamentals, and core prin-
ciples. It includes updated information
in several key areas, and features case
studies and real-world scenarios.
NATURAL LANGUAGE PROCESSING
www.3m.com
3M announced that they will be ap-
plying CodeRyte’s clinical natural lan-
guage processing (NLP) technology to
the 3M 360 Encompass System, an
automated coding and documentation
improvement system. This new inte-
gration offers further development and
innovation in the applications of NLP
while providing solutions to the docu-
mentation and coding issues associat-
ed with healthcare reform, new quality
reporting requirements, and the ICD- 10
transition. ¢
