HHS finalizes new rules to cut regulations for hospitals and health care providers, saving more than $5 billion
May 10, 2012 (HHS News Release) - Today, Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced significant steps to reduce unnecessary, obsolete, or burdensome regulations on American hospitals and health care providers. These steps will help achieve the key goal of President Obama’s regulatory reform initiative to reduce unnecessary burdens on business and save nearly $1.1 billion across the health care system in the first year and more than $5 billion over five years.
“We are cutting red tape and improving health care for all Americans,” said Secretary Sebelius. “Now it will be easier for health care providers to do their jobs and deliver quality care.”
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ONC Seeks Public Comment on RFI on Governance of the Nationwide Health Information Network
by Jodi G. Daniel
May 11, 2012 (HealthIT Buzz Blog) - The release today of the Request for Information (RFI) on Governance of the Nationwide Health Information Network is a critical step toward enabling trusted and interoperable electronic health information exchange (electronic exchange) nationwide. A common set of “rules of the road” for privacy, security, business and technical requirements will help lay the necessary foundation to enable our nation’s electronic health information exchange capacity to grow. It can also help achieve the Administration’s vision for an electronically connected health system for the 21st Century that delivers efficient and quality health care for all Americans.
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GAO Seeking Nominations to HIT Policy Committee
May 12, 2012 (ONC Health IT email) - The Government Accountability Office (GAO) is now seeking nominations to fill a consumer/patient advocate vacancy on the Health Information Technology (HIT) Policy Committee. Nominations must be submitted to GAO by May 25, 2012. Please refer to the Federal Register Notice for more details.
Background:
The HIT Policy Committee was established under American Recovery and Reinvestment Act 2009 (ARRA)(P.L. 111-5), section 13101, new Section 3002. It is charged with recommending to the National Coordinator for Health IT a policy framework for the development and adoption of a nationwide health IT infrastructure that enables the electronic exchange and use of health information as is consistent with the Federal Health IT Strategic Plan, and that includes recommendations in the areas in which input is needed, such as standards, implementation, specifications, and certification criteria.
HIT Policy Committee members are appointed in the following manner: 3 individuals appointed by the Secretary of HHS, 4 members appointed by Congress, 13 members appointed by the Comptroller General of the United States, and other federal members appointed by the President. This vacancy is occurring under the Comptroller General’s appointing authority.
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Active Recruitment Pays Off for Small Town Clinics
by Candi Helseth
Spring 2012 (The Rural Monitor) - Like many other rural health care administrators nationwide, Nadine Boe and Jim Potvin really work two jobs—in addition to managing the day-to-day operations of their North Dakota clinics, Boe and Potvin spend an inordinate amount of work time engaged in “active recruitment” methods to fill primary care positions.
Active recruitment involves a multi-dimensional process that links providers and rural communities with a concerted effort going toward making a good, lasting match, according to Tom Morris, Associate Administrator at the Office of Rural Health Policy (ORHP).
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Vets Attracted to Rural Counties, Smaller Cities
by Bill Bishop
May 14, 2012 (The Daily Yonder) - Military veterans disproportionately live in rural and exurban communities. And vets who live in cities are much more likely to live in smaller urban areas, according to the latest data from the U.S. Census.
Military veterans are least likely to live in the centers of the nation’s financial, political and media power — New York, Washington, D.C. and Los Angeles. Those areas have among the lowest percentage of veterans in the population of any of the nation’s communities.
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Research shows telemonitoring helps control blood pressure
by Bernie Monegain
May 10, 2012 (HealthcareIT News) -Patients receiving telemonitoring along with high blood pressure management support from a pharmacist were more likely to lower their blood pressure than those without the support, according to research presented at the American Heart Association's Quality of Care and Outcomes Research Scientific Sessions 2012.
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Frontier Extended Stay Clinic Pilot Program Receives Positive Reviews
by David Lee
May 10, 2012 (Rural Health Voices) - The Rural Policy Research Institute (RUPRI) released a study today outlining the positive accomplishments of the Frontier Extended Stay Clinic (FESC) Pilot Program. A FESC facility is a “is a geographically isolated medical clinic designed to provide primary, emergency, and extended-stay care 24 hours per day when hospital services are not readily available.” Pilot sights existed in isolated areas of Alaska and Washington.
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Hospitals join forces to manage medical records
by Melissa Miller
May 14, 2012 (Southeast Missourian) - Two hospitals that once viewed each other as competition have come together to meet new federal mandates for electronic medical records.
SoutheastHEALTH and Missouri Delta Medical Center in Sikeston, Mo., formed a new company, Servir, to build and manage a common networking and data storage center for both organizations. They're currently seeking other medical providers to partner with them for data storage as well.
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White House Rural Council: Rural Stakeholders Meeting
by Doug McKalip
May 11, 2012 (whitehouse.gov) - On Tuesday, May 1st, the White House Rural Council, along with Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, hosted a group of 24 rural health care providers and experts to discuss issues around access to care and improving health outcomes in rural communities.
Rural physicians, nurses, mental hospital administrators, and rural health associations from across the country gathered to discuss a range of rural health issues--from the need to expand broadband to support telehealth services in California, to ways to improve health outcomes by focusing on nutrition and healthy living choices in Ohio.
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CMS releases final CoP, regulatory burden reduction rules
May 10, 2012 (AHANewsNow) - The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services today released a final regulation to revise the existing Conditions of Participation for hospitals and critical access hospitals, as well as a final rule that addresses more than two dozen regulatory requirements for a broader range of providers, including hospitals, ambulatory surgical centers, end-stage renal disease facilities and durable medical equipment suppliers. Together, CMS says the rules aim to promote efficiency and transparency, and to reduce health care providers' overall regulatory burden
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Health Care Law Increases Payments to Doctors for Primary Care
May 10, 2012 (RAConline.org) - Primary Care Providers Received Additional Medicare Payments in 2011; Will Receive Boost in Medicaid Funding in 2013 and 2014
Primary care physicians serving Medicaid patients would see their Medicaid payments rise under a proposed rule announced today by Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. Through the Affordable Care Act, the increase would bring Medicaid primary care service fees in line with those paid by Medicare. The boost would be in effect for calendar years (CY) 2013 and 2014. States would receive a total of more than $11 billion in new funds to bolster their Medicaid primary care delivery systems.
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Height, weight — BMI? Doctors urged to treat body mass index as a vital sign
by Judith Graham
May 12, 2012 (The Washington Post) - Doctors assess patients’ breathing, heart rate and blood pressure routinely at office visits. Soon, they may be adding body mass index to that list.
Tracking this measure — an indicator of whether someone is obese or overweight — at medical checkups as if it were a vital sign is among a new set of strategies recommended for battling obesity, which some experts predict will affect 42 percent of adults by 2030.
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