health information technology

The National Coordinator for Health Information Technology announced today a nationwide, open call for entries in the Healthy New Year Video Challenge, highlighting personal stories of patients and families using health technology to improve health.

The video challenge, launched by the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC), kicks off the first in a series of consumer video contests in 2012 as a way to engage consumers to integrate technology into their health care.

Today, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius released a report showing that doctors’ adoption of health information technology (IT) doubled in two years.  HHS also announced new actions to speed the use of health IT in doctors’ offices and hospitals nationwide, which will improve health care and create jobs nationwide.

The HHS Office for the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology announced today that more than 100,000 primary care providers are adopting certified Electronic Health Records (EHRs) to help improve their quality of care and ultimately lower health care costs.

At my Oct. 2011 post "A Diary of EHR-Initiated Tragedy" I wrote that:

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I've realized that these past posts, when integrated for an upcoming investigation, tell a story that is probably not uncommon in hospitals today.

They form a sort of Diary of EHR-Initiated Tragedy.

Sadly, this Diary was my account of my own mother's EHR-related injuries.

There is a new chapter brewing.

The Center for Public Integrity has published a story ahead of the Thursday release of the Institute of Medicine's report on health IT safety (a panel, by the way, which rejected my testifying, live, about my own mother's injury and death related to health IT despite my credentials and explicit requests).

Excerpts:

(National Academy of Sciences) The federal government is investing billions of dollars to encourage hospitals and health care providers to adopt health information technology so that all Americans can benefit.

At my Sept. 22, 2011 post "NPfIT Programme goes PfffT" I wrote about the £12.7bn National Programme for IT in the NHS (National Health Service) in the UK being ended after years of delays, technical difficulties, contractual disputes and rising costs.

I had predicted this for years.

Now the New York Times has felt this to be News Fit to Print. The NYT may be alone in terms of US coverage of this situation by national newspapers:

HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius today proposed new rules that would expand the rights of patients to access their health information through the use of health information technology (IT).

Specifically, the new rules would empower patients and allow them to gain access to test results reports directly from labs.

They would ensure that labs covered by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) provide such information, upon request, directly to patients or their personal representatives.

Rural health networks across the nation will receive more than $11.9 million to support their adoption of Health Information Technology (HIT) and certified Electronic Health Records (EHR).

The funding announced today by HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius will also help these rural health networks’ participating eligible providers qualify for Medicare and Medicaid EHR incentive payments, administered by the Centers for Medicare &Medicaid Services.

A letter on Health IT from Congresswoman Renee Ellmers, (R) NC, Chairwoman of the U.S.

House of Representative's Committee on Small Business, Subcommittee on Healthcare and Technology was just sent to Secretary of the Dept. of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius.

The themes in the letter will be familiar to readers of Healthcare Renewal.

A PDF copy of the letter can be downloaded by clicking below, and the text follows.