The proposed rule to delay the compliance date for ICD-10 from Oct. 1, 2013 to Oct. 1, 2014 is posted to the Federal Register, and there is only 1 week left in the 30-day comment period. When proposing the delay to ICD-10, HHS took into consideration feedback that some provider groups have concerns about their ability to meet the Oct. 1, 2013 ...

In a letter last week directed to Georgina Verdugo, JD, LLM, MPA, director of the Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of Civil Rights (OCR), the American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA) responded to the July 14 proposed privacy rule changes pursuant to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA). AHIMA President ...

To mark the important role health information technology (HIT) plays in improving healthcare delivery in America, more than 170 partner organizations have joined together for National Health Information Technology Week, June 14-18. With the theme: One Voice, One Vision: Transforming Health and Care, the 5th Annual National Health IT Week kicked ...

Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius has announced $83.9 million in grants to help networks of health centers adopt electronic health records (EHR) and other health information technology (HIT) systems. The funds are part of the $2 billion allotted to HHS' Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) under the ...

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) will host a national provider conference call on ''ICD-10 Implementation in a 5010 Environment'' on Tuesday, June 15, from noon to 2 p.m. EST. The conference call will be geared toward medical coders, physician office staff, provider billing staff, health records staff, vendors, ...

(Editor's note: The following is a message from Dr. David Blumenthal, National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, posted on May 14, 2010.) Private and secure health information exchange enables information to follow the patient when and where it is needed for better care. The Federal government is working to enable a wide range ...

(Editor's note: The following is a message from Dr. David Blumenthal, National Coordinator for Health Information Technology.)Healthcare professionals appreciate opportunities to learn from innovative colleagues and communities -- to see what really works, to get ''boots-on-the-ground'' perspectives, to learn best practices and to use the ...

When the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) finally released the long-awaited proposed definition of meaningful use as it applies to electronic health records (EHRs), it opened up a 60-day public comment period. In the spirit of ''full'' disclosure, the government has posted some of these comments on a Web site. Here are just a few ...

When I was in high school, I worked as a cashier and stock person at a chain drug store. The job was less than thrilling and I often found myself standing alone at the cash register for hours, waiting on customer after customer, many of them disgruntled before they even walked in. But chipper I remained, sending each shopper off with a cheery ...

In another HITECH milestone, the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) has posted a list of covered entities (CEs) that reported breaches affecting 500 or more individuals. The list, available to the public via OCR's Web site, fulfills an obligation outlined in last year's HITECH Act. CEs have been required to report such breaches since last ...