Recent Articles

HHS issues proposed rules on Stage 2 of Meaningful Use

February 27, 2012 20:22

On February 24, 2012, Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and the Office of National Coordinator for Health IT (ONC) issued proposed rules regarding Stage 2 of Meaningful Use. The proposed rules include the criteria for demonstrating Stage 2 Meaningful Use, and address the...

OCR to release final breach notification rule in March

February 16, 2012 21:31

Via Healthcare Info Security: The Department of Health and Human Services' Office for Civil Rights has set a March target date for release of the long-delayed final version of Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act modifications and the HIPAA breach notification rule. Although an HHS...

Data mining by hospitals may be profitable, but not risk-free

February 06, 2012 18:17

The USA Today published a story yesterday about a few hospitals using aggregated consumer data for marketing of such hospitals' most lucrative services. The article describes several instances where such direct marketing efforts yielded significant profits for the hospitals. We see healthcare...

HHS extends Stage 2 Meaningful Use deadline to 2014

November 30, 2011 20:25

HHS announced today that the government intends to make it easier for healthcare providers to adopt electronic health records (EHRs).  As part of this initiative, HHS decided to extend the deadline for meeting Stage 2 of Meaningful Use until 2014. Via HHS press release: Under the current...

CMS issues final rule on ACOs

October 26, 2011 18:00

On October 20, 2011, CMS published the final rule on Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) or, as it is formally known, the Medicare Shared Savings Program (the "Program"), enacted as part of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) of 2010. According to CMS chief Don Berwick,...

Nemours reports breach affecting 1.6 million individuals

October 19, 2011 19:40

Nemours, a children's health system with hospitals in Pennsylvania, Delaware, Florida and New Jersey, reported a massive breach affecting 1.6 million people, including patients, employees, and vendors. Via Health Data Management: 'On September 8, 2011, we learned that a locked tape storage cabinet...

HHS awards over $650 million in EHR incentive payments

September 26, 2011 21:40

HHS released the first numbers regarding its Meaningful Use incentives program, established by the HITECH Act of 2009. Unsurprisingly, most eligible professionals and hospitals receiving funds this year qualified for incentive payments under Medicaid, rather the Medicare, because Medicare has a...

Major data breach at Stanford Hospital

September 12, 2011 16:27

A spreadsheet containing personal data of 20,000 emergency room patients of Stanford Hospital appeared on Student of Fortune, a Web site which "crowdsources" homework to other students online. The lost data included names, admission dates, diagnoses and other sensitive...

Study: Most data breaches are caused by insiders

September 07, 2011 18:23

A survey by Veriphyr, a provider of identity and access intelligence solutions, found that insiders were responsible for over 60% of data breaches of protected health information (PHI). Specifically, 35% of the PHI breaches were due to insiders snooping into medical records of fellow employees, and...

iPad EHR app certified for meaningful use

August 01, 2011 20:10

In a sure sign of the times, Drchrono, which offers a free electronic health record platform on the iPad, became the first iPad app to receive official ONC-ACTB certification. According to Healthcare IT News, "the drchrono EHR platform has been awarded ambulatory certification (ONC-ATCB)...