Interoperability
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services reported a new batch of meaningful use attestation numbers on Wednesday, showing a modest improvement over the disappointing rates that were reported in July.
For the moment, at least, it seems Stage 2 meaningful use is just too difficult for most hospitals and practices to manage. With attestation numbers disappointingly low through the first half of 2014, can we expect to see an appreciable uptick in success stories by the end of the year? One observer's opinion: "probably not."
Just one in five full-time health information technology employees say they're "very satisfied" with their current job, a recent survey finds; a substantial 12 percent, meanwhile, say they're "very dissatisfied." But this is in marked contrast with IT consultants.
Expanding on a partnership announced this past spring, athenahealth and Henry Schein will integrate their respective technologies to better enable community health centers to meet reporting requirements.
Jonathan Bush, former ambulance driver, founder of birthing centers in San Diego and co-founder and CEO of athenahealth, a public company valued at nearly $5 billion, can add author to his list of achievements.
As David Blumenthal, MD, sees it, Stage 2 is where the rubber meets the road for the Meaningful Use EHR Incentive Program -- the government's grand scheme to drag the American healthcare system, kicking and screaming, into the 21st Century. But, is it proving to be just too much for most providers?
It will either be a passing breeze or the early rumblings of a storm to come. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services' revealed the ostensibly shockingly low percentage of hospitals and eligible providers to attest to Stage 2 thus far and, in so doing, insisted that it's "early" and "dangerous" to draw conclusions.
Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center is adding momentum and new capabilities to its interoperability and population health initiatives.
On paper, it sounds easy. Eligible hospitals that refer patients to another care setting must electronically transmit "a summary of care record for more than 10 percent of such transitions and referrals." One hospital's experience shows it's harder than it might look.
CMS and ONC revealed the latest statistics on Tuesday morning, showing that 1 percent of eligible providers and 3 percent of eligible hospitals have attested to Stage 2 to date.
