News

Due to critical shortages of healthcare personnel and ICU beds, several states have declared “crisis standards of care,” including Alaska. As if they don’t need one more thing to worry about, a new virus has been detected in the state. Dubbed “Alaskapox” by the media, the virus was found in two additional patients who sought treatment at a Fairbanks urgent care clinic. The symptoms include skin sores, fever, joint pains, and swollen lymph nodes. Both patients recovered within a few weeks, but it’s worrisome as these cases are similar to an initial case in 2015 and another one five years later. The virus has been identified as one from the same family as smallpox and cowpox. Epidemiologic investigation linked the virus to outdoor cats who may have picked it up from cows or other mammals, including voles. Just goes to show that public health was important before COVID-19 and will continue to be important in the future. Let’s hope governmental entities show up with their pocketbooks to fund the kinds of investigations needed to tackle emerging illnesses.

A new report from AHIMA, AMIA, and EHRA asks for consensus on the definitions of “electronic health information” and “designated record set” to better help organizations operationalize the requirements found in the 21st Century Cures Act. The organizations had formed a task force last year in preparation for key compliance deadlines. The task force will be asking stakeholders for feedback on the report and will continue to refine their work as the 2022 deadlines for compliance to the information blocking portions of the Act approach. The health information export portion of the Act kicks in at the end of 2023.

ONC must standardize the definition of electronic health information (EHI) for the successful operationalization of the 21st Century Cures Act final rule’s interoperability goals, according to a report from three major health IT organizations.

The American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA), the American Medical Informatics Association (AMIA), and the HIMSS Electronic Health Record Association (EHRA) formed a task force to create the Defining EHI and the Designated Record Set in an Electronic World report.

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Three major healthcare informatics organizations this week published a new study designed to help guide the conversation around how electronic health information should be managed and put to use by healthcare providers and technology developers.

WHY IT MATTERS
The American Health Information Management Association, the American Medical Informatics Association and the HIMSS Electronic Health Record Association on Monday put out a report, Defining EHI and the Designated Record Set in an Electronic World (PDF), which focuses on  issues around operationalization of the definitions of electronic health information and designated record set.

The definition of "electronic health information" will need to be standardized to ensure compliance with HHS' Cures Act Final Rule, according to a recent report by The American Health Information Management Association, the American Medical Informatics Association and the Electronic Health Record Association.

The American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA) (@AHIMAResources), the American Medical Informatics Association (AMIA) (@AMIAinformatics), and the Electronic Health Record Association (EHRA) (@EHRAssociation) announced the release of a preliminary report that examines key issues related to the operationalization of the definitions of electronic health information(EHI) and designated record set (DRS).

How these definitions will be operationalized by clinicians and developers are critical to successful compliance with the Cures Act Final Rule. The Cures Act Final Rule includes interoperability requirements related to information blocking and health IT certification, both of which rely on the definition of EHI, which is grounded in the definition of the designated record set as defined by HIPAA.

CENTENNIAL, Colo. – September 20, 2021 – Harris Healthcare’s Data Integrity Solution Business Unit – which includes patient data integrity powerhouses Just Associates, Inc., and QuadraMed® Corporation – have entered a strategic partnership with RightPatient® to integrate biometric patient identification into its existing suite of master patient index (MPI) management solutions. Doing so provides important protections against front-end contamination of the MPI and EMPI and helps eliminate the patient misidentification and safety issues created by “dirty” patient identification data. This is especially important now as spikes in remote patient registrations due to COVID-19 have led to a sharp increase in duplicate patient records.

Wellesley, MA — September 20, 2021 — Hayes, makers of the industry’s leading integrated auditing, billing compliance and revenue integrity platform for the nation’s premier healthcare organizations, announced today that Vasilios Nassiopoulos, CPC, CCO, will present Leveraging Denial Trends to Identify Risks and Prevent Audits at the AHIMA21 Virtual Conference. The presentation, which explores the catalyst behind rising claims denials and how healthcare organizations can reverse the trend, takes place on Sept. 22 at 11:45 a.m. ET.

The uncertainty and risk created by pandemic-related disruptions in care have health plans in uncharted water when it comes to relying on claims data and utilization patterns to inform their risk models. But while these disruptions weakened the reliability of traditional risk models, they also created opportunities to deepen and enrich member data by leveraging consumer and other data related to social determinants of health (SDoH)that can deliver significant performance and accuracy benefits.

Expanding data sources and enhancing analytics capabilities allows health plans to develop the capacity for more precise, holistic member engagement while improving the most impactful health outcomes in individuals and populations. Doing so will help lift Star Ratings, improve care compliance, close gaps, enhance member satisfaction, reduce costs and drive profitability gains.

HIT Consultant»

CENTENNIAL, Colo. – September 2, 2021 – Two top data integrity powerhouses have joined forces to bring healthcare organizations an unmatched level of innovation and expertise to solve the industry’s toughest data integrity challenges. As part of Harris Healthcare’s Data Integrity Solutions (DIS) Business Unit, Just Associates, Inc., andQuadraMed^® Corporation are now partnered to deliver the advanced services and technology solutions needed to address the broad spectrum of challenges associated with patient matching and data integrity.

“Together, these highly experienced organizations will provide clients with best-in-class, industry-leading data integrity services and software that address key health information issues by reducing potential duplicate medical records and minimizing the ongoing cost of maintaining quality patient data,” said Lora Hefton, executive vice president, Harris’ DIS Business Unit.

CHICAGO – September 2, 2021 – The Electronic Health Record (EHR) Association announced the results of its annual Executive Committee elections for terms beginning July 1, 2021. The EHR Association is a trade association of nearly 30 companies that serve most of the nation’s hospitals and ambulatory care organizations using electronic health records (EHRs) and other health information and technology to deliver high quality, efficient care to their patients.

Hans Buitendijk, Director of Interoperability Strategy with the Cerner Corporation, continues as Chair of the Executive Committee, which establishes the Association’s guiding principles and develops and implements strategic plans. David Bucciferro, Senior Advisor at Foothold Technology, returns as Vice Chair.

MINNEAPOLIS — August 26, 2021 – Carrot Health, a leading provider of healthcare solutions powered by consumer and claims data, ranked among the top 400 fastest-growing private companies in its inaugural appearance on the 2021 Inc. 5000. The company revealed today that it ranked No. 311 on the annual list with a three-year revenue growth of 1481.5% – an announcement that comes on the heels of Carrot Health’s acquisition by Unite Us, the nation’s leading technology company connecting health and social care services.

“Our growth is a direct result of the shift in the nation’s focus toward creating health equity and improving equitable access to care, which reflects Carrot Health’s long-time mission to help shape a future without health disparities in which everyone nationwide is able to lead their healthiest lives,” said Kurt Waltenbaugh, CEO of Carrot Health. “To be recognized among the elite companies that make up the top 500 fastest-growing private companies is a testament to the dedication and perseverance of the entire Carrot Health team.”

At the intersection of health tech and diagnostics, hc1's CEO Brad Bostic talked about the company's origins and how it works with medical laboratories, hospitals and health plans.

The trade association for electronic health record (EHR) companies is asking the government to postpone civil monetary penalties for EHR developers and health information networks and exchanges that run afoul of new information-blocking regulations. The group contends that the industry needs to become familiar with the requirements and figure out how to comply with them.

Officials of the Electronic Health Record Association (EHRA) revealed the request during a press conference at the Health Information Management and Systems Society (HIMSS) convention in Las Vegas this week

The healthcare industry will be discussing COVID-19 lessons learned for the foreseeable future. Yet one take-away stands out as a glaring issue that demands immediate attention: keeping critical patient and public health data locked away in disconnected databases and multiple data siloes is not only unsustainable, but potentially deadly.

From the point when COVID-19 arrived in the U.S., public health officials lacked critical information and proactive real-time insights into the ebb and flow of the virus — denying them the ability to mobilize highly effective localized responses.

(INDIANAPOLIS, July 13, 2021) --  hc1, the leader in critical insight, analytics, and solutions for precision health, today announced it will host the second annual Precision Health Virtual Summit, a free, two-day virtual event taking place Aug. 31- Sept. 1, 2021, in partnership with Becker’s Healthcare. The event will bring together healthcare leaders and experts to focus on implementing precision health practices into care delivery, bringing the benefits of precision health to all patients.

The 2021 Precision Health Virtual Summit serves to showcase how advances in data-driven care by Precision Health Insight Networks (PHINs) are reducing overwhelming complexity in our care delivery system. Historically, the information clinicians required to deliver personalized, precise care was locked away in disconnected databases, buried in medical journals and isolated in multiple patient data silos. PHINs enable healthcare providers to uncover actionable insights in real-time to identify the right testing and prescriptions for optimal outcomes at the lowest cost.