EMR Implementation & HITECH Act Blog
A blog for doctors and medical office staff seeking assistance with EMR and the HITECH Act.
Tag Archives: HITECH Act
2010
Research Shows That Electronic Medical Records Save Babies’ Lives
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We talk a lot in this blog about the financial aspects of Electronic Medical Records (EMRs), and with good reason – they can entail a substantial investment in time and money. But it’s sometimes easy to lose sight of the purpose of all that investment – to save lives.
2010
NIST Begins Rolling Out EHR Performance Testing Program
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There are hundreds and hundreds of Electronic Health Record software packages in the marketplace that claim to be capable of allowing you to establish meaningful use, but how do you know if those claims are true? So far there has not been an impartial, independent way to determine the truthfulness of a vendor’s claims.
Filed under: Electronic Health Records, HITECH Act, Meaningful Use
Tagged: EHR, Electronic Health Records, HITECH Act
2010
Business Associates Now Subject To Security Rules and Penalties
The HITECH Act was signed into law just one year ago. That wouldn’t be noteworthy, except that at the one-year anniversary of its signing, HIPAA privacy rules became applicable to business associates of covered entities.
Previously, covered entities weren’t subject to these rules, except to the extent that they were governed by their business associate agreements (BAAs).
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Filed under: HIPAA, HITECH Act
Tagged: HIPAA, HITECH Act, HITECH and HIPAA
2010
ONC Appoints New Chief Privacy Officer
When the HITECH Act was signed into law last year, it was evident that privacy would be a big part of compliance with the new laws. And sure enough, among the changes were the extension of HIPAA privacy requirements to business associates and other third parties, and increased penalties which now can run into the millions.Filed under: HITECH Act
Tagged: HITECH Act, Joy Pritts, ONCHIT
2009
CPOEs, EHRs and Massachusetts Law
Massachusetts takes its electronic health records (EHRs) very seriously. So seriously, in fact, that last year it passed a law requiring hospitals to use EHRs and doctors to be competent using EHRs by 2015. The same law also mandated hospital use of computerized physician order entry (CPOE) systems by October 1, 2012.
The law, signed by Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick, also created and funded the Massachusetts e-Health Institute (MeHI) to be the guiding force behind the implementations of Electronic Health Records and CPOE. Part of the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative (MassTech), a statewide development agency, MeHI is already looking at EHRs for use in Massachusetts hospitals.
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Filed under: CPOE, EHR, Electronic Health Records, HIT, HITECH Act
Tagged: CPOE, EHR, Electronic Health Records, HITECH Act
2009
The HITECH Act and Encryption
Does the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act require you to encrypt electronic health records? There has been heated discussion about this one. To get to the bottom of the HITECH Act encryption issue, let’s use the time honored technique of answering one question with another:
“Do you have a lot of money you don’t need?”
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2009
Medical Offices and Recordkeeping: Updating the HITECH Way
Some medical offices still have file rooms that resemble libraries: row after row of file cabinets with brightly colored letters and numbers on file folder edges. Sometimes they look more like primary-colored artwork than a functional business system! Evolution is slow but inevitable. Remember when typewriters were the norm in most business offices and virtually all records were kept in manila files? Not a lot has radically changed — until recently. The Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act is now fast-forwarding implementation of electronic medical record (EMR) technology in US medical offices and facilities. Continue reading after video. Continue reading »
Filed under: EMR, HITECH Act, Medical Office Technology
Tagged: EHR, Electronic Health Records, Electronic Medical Records, EMR, HITECH Act, HITECH and HIPAA, Medical Errors
2009
The HITECH Act: Just What Is Meaningful Use?
According to the HITECH Act, physicians are eligible to receive up to $44,000 in total incentives per physician for “meaningful use” of a certified Electronic Medical Record (EMR) starting in 2011. But just what is meaningful use?
In his June 2009 speech to a Health Information Technology symposium, Dr. David Blumenthal said, “Meaningful use is going to be an evolving concept.” Being President Obama’s point man for the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act, Dr. Blumenthal should know. He continues by describing the HITECH Act’s meaningful use concept as a method to “set goals about health care, and not about information technology.”
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Filed under: HITECH Act, Meaningful Use
Tagged: HITECH Act, HITECH and HIPAA, HITECH Implementation, HITECH Physician Incentives, Meaningful Use
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