Healthcare Policy news from FierceHealthIT

Minnesota providers and insurers will soon become the first in the United States required to file all claims electronically. A new law, which takes effect in 2009, includes all business-to-business transactions, as well as transactions between providers, insurers and the state.

The law also impacts worker's comp claims, chiropractic, dental and pharmacy claims and medical care claims filed through auto insurance plans. Insurers and providers will be required to follow a standard …

When CMS agreed to give providers a bit of a breather on transitioning to the new National Provider Identifier, it might have given them a false sense of security, according to a consultant who coaches execs on this topic. True, CMS agreed to suspend penalties for providers who aren't NPI compliant yet, but are making reasonable and diligent efforts to get there. The problem is that …

Non-profit hospitals across the U.S. got a gift this week from the IRS, which ruled once and for all they can safely donate EMR systems and related support services to affiliated doctors. Many of these hospitals have looked at giving doctors with staff privileges EMR systems, rather than waiting until the physicians were ready to invest themselves. However, until last week it wasn't clear whether the IRS saw such donations as providing "private benefit," something that could endanger a …

Wider adoption of EMRs would significantly improve U.S. quality of care, but small-group and solo-practice physicians will need help if they're going to get on board, according Congressional testimony by the president of the American College of Physicians. Right now, bringing an EMR on board costs $44,000 per physician, and generates an average ongoing $8,500 per year in annual costs, ACP president Lynne Kirk, MD told the house Subcommittee on Regulations, Healthcare and Trade of the …

HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt unveiled a new initiative on Friday which would rely heavily on advanced health IT tools to individualize and improve patient care.
Leavitt's "Personalized Health Care" program will link genetic information with traditional health records on a large scale, in an effort to predict and thereby prevent the onset of many diseases. Leavitt has said that this effort will be one of his top priorities for the next two years.

Overall, HHS agencies like the …

A plan to foster EMR adoption by shifting millions out of the state's medical malpractice fund has gotten a sharp rebuke from state auditors, who say that the move could be illegal and would undermine the state's med mal coverage system. Governor Jim Doyle (D) would like to take $175 million out of the fund, which insures about 14,000 Wisconsin doctors and providers against claims over $1 million, and use the money largely to fund providers who switch to EMRs. Doyle argues that if …

Jumping on board an initiative kicked off by HHS secretary Michael Leavitt, California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has signed an order pushing healthcare providers to adopt more health information technology and make pricing and quality information more readily available. The state, which has set a goal of 100 percent electronic data exchange within 10 years, will now push for HIT by supporting organizations that use e-prescribing and other health data exchange technologies.

The …

For a while now, the voluntary hospital industry has been nervously waiting for the IRS to offer some guidance on whether they can legally give EMRs or other IT equipment to physicians--and have gotten no response. Now, hospital executives are starting to get antsy. Last week the American Hospital Association issued yet another request urging the IRS to offer clear guidance on whether health IT donations to doctors are OK, acceptable some of the time or unacceptable.

It's now been …

HHS has awarded $103 million to 27 states, supporting programs a range of programs--including health IT initiatives--designed to improve the way Medicaid dollars are used. Congress has approved a total of $150 million for these "transformation grants," which will distributed over fiscal '07 and '08. While the states will be able to use the funds for a variety of purposes, key themes include the development of programs to encourage EMR use, clinical decision support tools or e-prescribing. …

Are you a highly computer-savvy physician? Well, now may be your golden hour, according to one blogger. The position of chief medical information officer (CMIO) is getting hotter by the minute, as hospitals seek doctors to manage their investments in clinical IT categories like EMRs, e-prescribing and clinical support systems. CMIOs often make $200K or more per year, with some enjoying much larger salaries than that. And this isn't a boring job--they get the shape the future of medicine, …