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ADVANCE for Health Information Executives is thrilled to welcome you to HIT Insider: Blogs part of the Healthcare POV: Blog and Forum Community from ADVANCE. Our new blogs offer posts covering timely questions, advice and opinions about the health information technology field. We have provided tags to assist in locating topics of interest, a profile page to make uniquely your own and a list of our most active posts to keep you abreast of the latest discussions. We look forward to hearing more about the HIT field from your Point of View (POV).
LATEST POSTS FROM EACH BLOG
November 20, 2009 2:55 PM by Frank Irving of The Politics of Health Care

Guest commentary from Valerie M. Chapman, RN, MSN

I am a wife, a mother of two awesome kids, a daughter, a sister and a nurse.

I am also a survivor.

At the age of 43 a routine screening mammogram picked up an abnormality in my left breast that turned out to be invasive lobular carcinoma. I had no family history or major risk factors, but there it was: breast cancer. I had breast-sparing surgery ...


 
November 19, 2009 4:05 PM by Bob Mitchell of ADVANCE Perspective: HIT

...well, not really. In the beautiful world of social networking and social media, you can live in infamy, for the rest of your earthly existence or beyond for that matter.

Facebook recently posted a blog about the need to memorialize an account when someone dies (and to think, life used to be so easy). Now, not only do you have ...


 
November 17, 2009 1:05 PM by Edward Marx of CIO Unplugged

The views and opinions expressed in this blog are mine personally, and are not necessarily representative of Texas Health Resources (THR) or its subsidiaries.

Last week, one of our hospitals went live on CPOE. My boss and I were there as part of the ribbon-cutting ceremony and to commend IT and the hospital for their hard work. When we met in the entryway, he eyed my attire with surprise. I was wearing ...


6 comments  
November 17, 2009 11:33 AM by Frank Irving of The Politics of Health Care

Guest commentary from Celwyn C. Evans, a senior partner at Greencastle Associates Consulting in Malvern, Pa.

With the passage of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) and the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act, the focus of debate has fallen squarely on the challenge of defining "meaningful use" of an electronic health record (EHR). Maybe it's time to ...


 
November 13, 2009 11:38 AM by Frank Irving of The Politics of Health Care

The Protecting America's Workers Act of 2009, if passed by Congress, would dramatically alter the regulatory regime.

Guest commentary from Eric J. Conn and Robert C. Gombar, partners in the law firm of McDermott Will & Emery, LLP, based in Washington, D.C.

Just weeks before his death, the late Senator Ted Kennedy (D-MA), with the help of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid ...


 
November 12, 2009 10:56 AM by Frank Irving of The Politics of Health Care

Evidence-based medicine will improve the quality of care and impact of each health care dollar spent.

Guest commentary from Marc Perlman, global vice president, Healthcare and Life Sciences Industry, Oracle

The U.S. health care industry is challenged like never before to improve outcomes while reducing costs. Our current rate of spending is unsustainable, and more important, ...


 
November 11, 2009 7:28 PM by Bob Mitchell of ADVANCE Perspective: HIT

I posted a blog recently about Software Advice posting a survey on its site. Here's the results of their survey about whether stimulus money for electronic health record/electronic medical record (EHR/EMR) adoption was creating any buyers or just tire-kickers.

Software ...


2 comments  
November 10, 2009 2:57 PM by Frank Irving of The Politics of Health Care

Guest commentary from Physicians for a National Health Program, an organization of 17,000 doctors who support single-payer national health insurance.

A research team at Harvard Medical School estimates that 2,266 U.S. military veterans under the age of 65 died last year because they lacked health insurance and thus had reduced access to care. ...


 
November 9, 2009 12:56 PM by Frank Irving of The Politics of Health Care

Guest commentary from William F. Jessee, MD, FACMPE, president and CEO of the Medical Group Management Association

The Medical Group Management Association (MGMA) is pleased that the House has voted favorably on H.R. 3962 (The Affordable Health Care for America Act) and we look forward to its rapid action on the companion bill, H.R. 3961, which will eliminate the 21.2 percent reduction in Medicare physician ...


 
November 3, 2009 4:06 PM by Edward Marx of CIO Unplugged

The views and opinions expressed in this blog are mine personally, and are not necessarily representative of Texas Health Resources (THR) or its subsidiaries.

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times; it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness; it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity; it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness; it was the spring ...


3 comments  

The Red Flags Rule hit two more hurdles recently.

On Oct. 29, 2009, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia granted summary judgment to the American Bar Association (ABA) to set aside an extended enforcement policy of the controversial Red Flags Rule in the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act (FACTA) as it would have pertained to working lawyers. (American Bar Association v. Federal ...


 
November 3, 2009 8:30 AM by Mark McGraw of ADVANCE Perspective: HIT

It's movie night, and you're not interested in subtitles or surrealism.

Maybe next week you'll go for the one with the "Winner: Best Foreign Language Film, 2008 Venice Film Festival" sticker on it. But tonight you're in the mood for a poorly acted and painfully predictable slasher film; the one where the band of promising, carefree teens head for a harmless weekend retreat at idyllic Camp Killmore.

And ...


 
October 28, 2009 4:31 PM by Bob Mitchell of ADVANCE Perspective: HIT

Software Advice is hosting a survey  on its blog until Oct. 29 about the impact the federal economic stimulus bill has had on EMR adoption rates. The article and survey to the ...


 
October 20, 2009 5:32 PM by Frank Irving of The Politics of Health Care

Guest commentary from David St. Clair, founder and CEO of MEDecision, a provider of collaborative health care management solutions.

I felt the health care reform news out of Washington last week was decidedly mixed. For those of us who have advocated reform for many, many years, the mere fact that legislation made it past the Senate Finance Committee and one step closer to becoming reality is quite historic. ...


 
October 20, 2009 4:59 PM by Edward Marx of CIO Unplugged

The views and opinions expressed in this blog are mine personally, and are not necessarily representative of Texas Health Resources (THR) or its subsidiaries.

Friends of mine recently returned from a trip abroad. The advanced wireless infrastructures found in these third-world countries both astounded and pleased them. By unintentionally leapfrogging the technological revolution, these cities had bypassed ...


3 comments  
October 20, 2009 8:55 AM by Bob Mitchell of ADVANCE Perspective: HIT

There I was on a recent afternoon searching for more details on the term "meaningful use of an electronic health record," when I started poking around YouTube to see if there were any videos by David Blumenthal, MD, MPP, national coordinator for health information technology. Maybe he presented in a public forum and his comments were posted in a video.

What I was surprised to find, instead, ...


 
October 14, 2009 5:25 PM by Frank Irving of The Politics of Health Care

As the U.S. Senate attempts to merge bills from its Finance and Health committees, considerable controversy surrounds the data being used to support -- or detract from -- proposed measures.

For example, in a report prepared for America's Health Insurance Plans ...


 

In Beye v. Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey, a court addressed an issue that will likely recur -- the impact on a person's privacy of their voluntary disclosure of sensitive information on a social networking site. In this case the court ordered the plaintiffs to produce evidence that was posted on social networking sites, even if it reflected sensitive medical conditions (allegedly eating disorders ...

 
October 12, 2009 2:39 PM by Frank Irving of ADVANCE Perspective: HIT

According to a statement posted on its company Web site on Oct. 10, T-Mobile acknowledged that users lost information stored on the Sidekick device as a result of a server failure at data services provider Danger, a subsidiary of Microsoft.

T-Mobile's statement explained, "Regrettably, based on Microsoft/Danger's latest recovery ...


2 comments  
October 6, 2009 5:29 PM by Edward Marx of CIO Unplugged

The views and opinions expressed in this blog are mine personally, and are not necessarily representative of Texas Health Resources (THR) or its subsidiaries.

The first thing we boys did after disembarking the school bus was head north for the neighborhood 7-Eleven. Liberated from a day of junior high classes and a numbing 30-minute bus ride, we hungered for entertainment. Pinball was the current rage, ...


2 comments  

A group recently secretly videotaped interactions with employees of the poverty-rights organization ACORN, and those tapes have been played widely in the media. The ACORN situation illustrates the issue that two-party consent laws can create, irrespective of your views on ACORN or the recent events.

Certain ...


 
October 5, 2009 1:09 PM by Mark McGraw of ADVANCE Perspective: HIT

Being 36 years old and a journalist, I have to acknowledge a soft spot for newspapers. I remember a time when the local weekly was really the only game in town when it came to delivering news, sports scores, political commentary and the ruminations of my fellow Quakertown, Pa. residents on the ineptitude of borough council.

So, on a strictly sentimental level, it stings a bit when I hear talk -- however on target ...


5 comments  
September 30, 2009 4:10 PM by Frank Irving of The Politics of Health Care

Guest commentary by James A. Lastowka, a partner in the law firm of McDermott Will & Emery LLP based in Washington, D.C., and a member of the firm's OSHA, MSHA & Catastrophe Response Group.

The Obama administration's "new OSHA" has a simple message for U.S. industry. This message has been delivered loudly and clearly by both Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis and Acting Assistant Secretary for Occupational ...


1 comments  
September 22, 2009 4:26 PM by Edward Marx of CIO Unplugged

The views and opinions expressed in this blog are mine personally, and are not necessarily representative of Texas Health Resources (THR) or its subsidiaries.

Admit it. Health information technology (HIT) deployment is headed nowhere fast. Despite the evidence and supply-side rhetoric, demand wanes. Depending on whose study you believe and their definition of HIT, industry adoption of CPOE is languishing ...


1 comments  
September 22, 2009 3:49 PM by Andrew Serwin of Privacy for Health Information Executives

A number of laws restrict the dissemination of credit card numbers on receipts. California's law has provisions that became effective this year that differ from other laws.

California prohibits any person, firm, partnership, association, corporation or limited liability company that accepts credit or debit cards for the transaction of business from printing more than the last five digits of the credit or debit card ...


 

ABOUT OUR BLOGS

The ADVANCE for Health Information Executives editorial staff discusses current issues in health care IT and general technology topics.along with occasional musings on general-interest current events.

The Politics of Health Care presents a non-partisan look at health care policy developments.

Edward Marx, senior vice president and CIO at Texas Health Resources, one of the largest faith-based, non-profit health care delivery systems in the United States, posts regularly on professional development and other topics/issues of import to health information executives.

Attorney Andrew Serwin explains the broad reach of security breaches.