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Health IT Disaster Planning Your Health IT
Andrew Gettinger | September 4, 2018
September is National Preparedness Month, which makes it the perfect time for clinicians and healthcare entities to consider what would happen if their health information technology (health IT) systems are unavailable or in some way compromised. This issue has become more important over time as healthcare is increasingly dependent on technology and a growing percentage of the workforce have never practiced without health IT and may not know what to do if their systems or information are unavailable.
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Privacy and Security HIPAA & Health Information Portability: A Foundation for Interoperability
Kathryn Marchesini | August 30, 2018
Twenty-two years ago this month, the U.S. Congress enacted the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA). The federal Privacy, Security, and Breach Notification Rules implemented under HIPAA, and administered and enforced by the HHS Office for Civil Rights (OCR), continue to serve as the national foundation of protections for individually identifiable health information, and of individuals’ rights with respect to their information, including the right to see and obtain copies of their health information from their healthcare providers and health plans.
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Health IT A New Home for the Electronic Prescribing Testing Tool
Steven Posnack | August 7, 2018
In 2017 we announced “A 5-Year Goal to Transition the ONC Health IT Certification Program’s Testing Portfolio” to include as many industry-developed and maintained testing tools as possible. This month, we reached another important milestone toward this goal: the National Council for Prescription Drug Programs (NCPDP) has formally taken over the stewardship of the electronic prescribing testing tool approved for use under the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) Health IT Certification Program (Certification Program).
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Interoperability Interoperability Standards Advisory: Annual Request for Comments
Steven Posnack | July 31, 2018
Sunscreen – check.
Bathing suit – check.
Towel – check.
Comment on the Interoperability Standards Advisory – …?
Health IT ONC Supports CMS proposed CY 2019 Physician Fee Schedule
Don Rucker | July 12, 2018
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), as part of the CY 2019 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule proposed rule, is proposing a historic shift in the documentation requirements associated with clinician office-based Evaluation and Management (E/M) visits for Medicare. This proposal would help to significantly reduce administrative burdens imposed on the nation’s clinicians, allowing them to spend more time with their patients.
The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) was tasked by Congress in the 21st Century Cures Act to work with CMS to reduce clinician burden associated with health information technology.