About the eHealth Initiative and the Foundation for eHealth

What they are – How they work

By Staff Reporters

The eHealth Initiative and the Foundation for eHealth Initiative are independent, non-profit affiliated organizations, whose shared mission is to improve the quality, safety, and efficiency of healthcare information technology [HIT].

Protean Stakeholders

Both organizations are focused on engaging diverse stakeholders–including hospitals and other healthcare organizations, clinician, consumers and patient groups, employers and purchasers, health plans, manufacturers, public health agencies, academic and research institutions, and public sector stakeholders–to define and then implement specific actions that will address the quality, safety and efficiency challenges of domestic medical care through the use of interoperable HIT.

Membership

Since 2001, the eHealth Initiative has represented a diverse membership that is improving HIT. Over the years, eHI membership has grown to over 200 organizations.

Coalition Growth

In 2005, eHI launched the eHI Connecting Communities Membership, a rapidly growing coalition of leaders representing more than 200 state, regional and community-based initiatives focused on improving health through information exchange.

In 2009, eHI adopted the Information Therapy (Ix) Action Alliance. The IxAction Alliance, previously a part of the Center for Information Therapy – an eHI member – resides at the intersection of patient-centered care and HIT, focusing on issues relating to the prescription and use of targeted health information to help people make good health decisions and lead healthy lives.

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Assessment

The adoption of e-health initiatives promises to revolutionize health care in the United States by reducing errors, improving the quality of care delivered, reducing costs, and empowering consumers to better understand and address their own health care needs.

eHI is one of the few organization that represents all stakeholders in the industry. eHI advocates for the use of health IT that is practical, sustainable and addresses stakeholder needs, particularly those of patients.

Conclusion

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Whither Health Information Technology – Seriously?

Is it Really About Quality Improvement?

By Staff ReportersSurgeons

Health information technology (HIT) allows comprehensive management of medical information and its secure exchange between health care consumers and providers. Broad use of HIT has the potential to improve health care quality, prevent medical errors, increase the efficiency of care provision and reduce unnecessary health care costs, increase administrative efficiencies, decrease paperwork, expand access to affordable care, and improve population health.

Improving Patient Care

  • Interoperable HIT can improve individual patient care in numerous ways, including:
  • Complete, accurate, and searchable health information, available at the point of diagnosis and care, allowing for more informed decision-making to enhance the quality and reliability of health care delivery.
  • More efficient and convenient delivery of care, without having to wait for the exchange of records or paperwork, and without requiring unnecessary or repetitive tests or procedures.
  • Earlier diagnosis and characterization of disease, with the potential to thereby improve outcomes and reduce costs.
  • Reductions in adverse events through an improved understanding of each patient’s particular medical history, potential for drug-drug interactions, or (eventually) enhanced understanding of a patient’s metabolism or even genetic profile and likelihood of a positive or potentially harmful response to a course of treatment.
  • Increased efficiencies related to administrative tasks, allowing for more interaction with and transfer of information to patients, caregivers, and clinical care coordinators and monitoring of patient care.

Assessment

Link: http://healthit.hhs.gov/portal/server.pt?open=512&objID=1327&parentname=CommunityPage&parentid=112&mode=2&in_hi_userid=11113&cached=true A Letter from David Blumenthal, MD.

Conclusion

And so, your thoughts and comments on this Medical Executive-Post are appreciated. Is HIT really about medical quality improvement? Is Dr. Dave Blumenthal correct? Feel free to review our top-left column, and top-right sidebar materials, links, URLs and related websites, too. Then, be sure to subscribe to the ME-P. It is fast, free and secure.

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Dr. Pruitt Invites Dr. Cohen to Discuss eDRs

Where is the ADA’s Representative?

By Darrell K. Pruittpruitt; DDS

He or she should have been talking with me long ago. I have the audience and I’m giving you that opportunity I promised you, Dr. Donald Cohen.

Rest Easy

I’m aware that I possibly make you uncomfortable, considering how “unprofessionally” I’ve publicly treated lesser devoted HIPAA consultants. Rest easy! As soon as I read your article, I could tell that you’re different from your colleagues I’ve met. First of all, like me, you’re a dentist. That’s very important. Secondly, your credentials are impressive and reveal that compliancy is not a hobby for you like it is for others. Nobody can accumulate a history as impressive as yours without professional dedication. The last point, and the most important of the three, you seem honest about HIPAA compliance.

A Professional

It wasn’t lost on me that in your article you were professionally non-judgmental of the Rule. Instead of trying to justify a defenseless law, your job is to help dentists comply with the mandate as it is written or risk significant fines. Like tax-collecting, someone’s got to do the job of delivering bad news. You have a legitimate purpose to be involved in the dental industry, even if what you teach makes little difference at all if a dentist’s records are breached. I argue that following the inevitable bankruptcy from a breach, HHS fines are hardly a deterrent. And that is the issue: eDRs containing patient identifiers are too risky for the marketplace.

Electronic Dental Records

I think you would have to agree that eDRs are going nowhere until records are safe, and encryption is not going to be sufficient to protect dentists against dishonest employees. Ambitious bureaucrats in waiting, such as HIPAA consultants Travis Criswell, Sharalyn Fichtl, Kelly Mclendon and Olivia Wann – not a dentist among them – hooked their careers to the HIPAA mandate to avoid the tough sales jobs competition otherwise demands in the free market. All four share an authoritarian misconception that since it is the law, dentists will be forced to purchase their products – even if they are utterly senseless. I think we both know that they are oh so wrong. I promised earlier to give you an opportunity to publicly support truth in eDRs if you so choose. Perhaps we could rationally discuss in front of everyone how dentists can wriggle free of the approaching mess. There is no pressure here, other than this is public invitation. Since you haven’t made unrealistic claims about eDRs like others have, I am not interested in hounding you further. I simply ask you to consider responding to the article I posted in your name on PennWell titled “Dr. Donald Cohen’s opportunity.”

http://community.pennwelldentalgroup.com/forum/topics/dr-donald-cohens-opportunity

Assessment

I sincerely appreciate the respect you have shown me, and I pledge to afford you the same. Of all the consultants I have approached with my concerns about HIPAA and eDRs, you are the first to even acknowledge a problem simply by posting my concerns. I think you have the courage to face the realities of the marketplace, while others foolishly think dentists are a captive market.

Note: I submitted this to be posted following an August 28th press release posted by HIPAA consultant Dr. Donald Cohen titled, “Dentists Should Know about New HIPAA Rules.”

http://www.dentalblogs.com/archives/administrator/dentists-should-know-about-new-hipaa-rules/comment-page-1/#comment-35672

If you are interested in discussing the topics of interoperability with fax machines, de-identified eDRs and security that surpasses paper records, in front of you is the opportunity to address your largest audience yet, Dr. Cohen. I’m self-syndicated.

Note: Do you realize that if Dr. Cohen takes me up on the offer, this will be the first time two dentists have openly discussed eDRs on the Internet? Do you think it’s about time?

Conclusion

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Feds Propose Educational Website on ePHRs

Site Aimed at Consumers

[By Staff Reporters]

Conference RoomAs reported by Mary Mosquera on May 22 2009, the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONCHIT) just proposed developing a Web site for consumers. The site is to contain facts about electronic-personal health record systems and their privacy policies. It aims to help consumers and patients make informed decisions.

http://govhealthit.com/articles/2009/05/22/feds-propose-phr-website.aspx?s=GHIT_260509

Assessment

The Department of Health and Human Services [DHHS] Agency information collection request, for a 30-days public comment period, is also located here.

http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/2009/E9-12023.htm

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About MyFax.com

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A New Internet Enabled SaaS Business Communication Tool

[By Staff Reporters]

stk321042rknMyFax is the fastest-growing Internet fax service used by individuals, small, medium and large businesses to send and receive faxes using existing email accounts or the web. MyFax offers services in North America and Europe, including the United Kingdom, to industries recognized among the fastest-growing adopters of Internet fax including finance, insurance, real estate, healthcare, transportation and government.

Customer Base

More than 15,000 new customers subscribe to MyFax each month. MyFax is part of a total Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) business communications offered by Protus that also includes my1voice feature-rich virtual PBX service and Campaigner, an email marketing service enabling organizations to have highly personalized one-to-one email dialogues with their customers.

Assessment

Additional information is available at www.campaigner.com , www.my1voice.com  or www.myfax.com .

Contacts:

Sue Rutherford, Protus

(613) 733-0000 x 519 or srutherford@protus.com

Tracy Shryer, Tech Image

847-279-0022 x230 or tracy.shryer@techimage.com

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