Electronic Health Records (EHR, EMR)

The vendor said that the latest changes are driven by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services new Oncology Care Model.

The Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT said it can harness data it already has to help providers make better electronic health record purchasing decisions.

Centra Health announced on Thursday that it will deploy Cerner Millennium on both the clinical and business sides, including revenue cycle and patient health management. Centra will also implement HealtheIntent, Cerner’s population health management platform. In addition, Cerner will support Centra’s growing health plan, which covers more than 45,000 individuals. With five hospitals and 50 ambulatory and long-term facilities, the Centra is one of the largest healthcare systems in central Virginia.   [Also: How satisfied are you with your EHR? Satisfaction Survey results] “As one of the leading care providers in our area of the country, it is essential that Centra continues to influence the health of not only our patients, but also our community as a whole,” CEO E.W. Tibbs Jr., said in a statement. Financial terms of the deal were not revealed. Twitter: @Bernie_HITN Email the writer: bernie.monegain@himssmedia.com Like Healthcare IT News on Facebook and LinkedIn

Greenway Health CEO Tee Green revealed on Wednesday that he is handing the chief executive role at the EHR company he co-founded over to Scott Zimmerman. Green will continue full-time as executive chairman, according to the company, including a focus on innovation as the company is working to transform itself from an electronic health record and practice management vendor into a population health and revenue cycle specialist. Before taking the helm of Greenway, Zimmerman was president of Televox, which provides patient engagement communications tools. Zimmerman also has worked at Boston Scientific, GE Healthcare and Merck during his career. “It’s a privilege to be working alongside the Greenway Health team to support caregivers in this time of change,” Zimmerman said in a statement. “It’s exciting to be a part of an organization working to deliver the technology, people and processes that can impact the clinical excellence and financial success of our customers. I am looking forward to doing everything I can to help further that mission.” Zimmerman’s appointment marks the second C-level announcement in recent months. In December 2015, Greenway named Robert Ellis as its new chief financial officer. Ellis came from Vista Equity Partners, where he was a managing director. Twitter: @SullyHIT Email the writer: tom.sullivan@himssmedia.com Like Healthcare IT News on Facebook and LinkedIn

U.S. Senators and Representatives introduced a bill on Wednesday that would reduce the meaningful use reporting period from a full year to 90 days – and do so in 2016, a move pressed by healthcare organizations across the country. Sens. Rob Portman and Michael Bennet and Reps. Renee Ellmers, Tom Price, Bobby Rush and Ron Kind introduced bipartisan legislation. CHIME, the Medical Group Management Association, the National Rural Health Association, the Federation of American Hospitals and physician groups, not only support the bill, but have also pressed lawmakers for it. Many of the organizations wrote CMS on March 15, asking for a 90-day reporting period for 2016. [Also: Healthcare providers press CMS for 90-day meaningful use reporting] “A preliminary yet critical step to facilitate increased provider success, we respectfully request CMS adopt for the 2016 reporting year the same 90-day reporting period policy for participants in the Meaningful Use program that was offered in 2015,” they wrote to CMS Acting Administrator Andy Slavitt. CMS required a full year reporting period last year, but later reduced the requirement to 90 days in a rule that also reduced the number of meaningful use, Stage 2 requirements. Twitter: @Bernie_HITN Email the writer: bernie.monegain@himssmedia.com Like Healthcare IT News on Facebook and LinkedIn

The Act to Prevent Opiate Abuse by Strengthening the Controlled Substance Prescription Monitoring Program also sets a cap on number of days for opioid prescriptions and requires doctors to undergo addiction treatment every two years.

New York's Mount Sinai Health System is joining other high-profile health systems across the nation in embracing OpenNotes, an initiative that gives patients access to their care provider's notes in their medical records. The notes are available for the first time in the health system's online electronic health record portal, called MyMountSinaiChart. Users can now read details of their office visit from the convenience of their personal computer, tablet or smartphone. MyMountSinaiChart, launched in 2012, also enables patients to communicate with their doctor, access test results, request prescription refills and manage appointments. The goal of OpenNotes is to improve transparency, communication and trust between patients and physicians – and it's working, Mount Sinai officials say. [Also: OpenNotes: 'This is not a software package, this is a movement'] "When patients can access their physicians' notes, they can better understand their medical issues and treatment plan as active partners in their care," said Sandra Myerson, chief patient experience officer at the Joseph F. Cullman, Jr. Institute for Patient Experience at Mount Sinai. "This can ultimately lead to improved patient engagement, patient empowerment, and communication between patient and physician." "Patients expect and deserve to have full access to their medical records and the Mount Sinai Health System is committed to meeting this expectation," Jeremy Boal, MD, chief medical officer at Mount Sinai Health Systems, said in a statement. Four Mount Sinai physicians in various clinical practices conducted the initial OpenNotes pilot beginning in December 2015. Twitter: @Bernie_HITN Email the writer: bernie.monegain@himssmedia.com Like Healthcare IT News on Facebook and LinkedIn

Claiming that it was "startled" by VA officials' recent testimony, the committee put strict conditions on full funding that a Senate committee already approved.

National Coordinator Karen DeSalvo, MD, is stepping away from the co-chair role on the ONC Health IT Policy Committee. Kathleen Blake, MD, vice president of performance improvement at the American Medical Association, will replace DeSalvo, according to Politico, which reported the announcement was made Tuesday at the joint meeting of the Health IT Policy and Standards Committees. Blake will serve alongside DeSalvo's current co-chair, Paul Tang, MD, chief innovation and technology officer at the Palo Alto Medical Foundation. Tang is also the head of ONC's meaningful use workgroup.  [Also: How satisfied are you with your EHR? Satisfaction Survey results]  DeSalvo currently serves as both National Coordinator for Health IT and Acting Assistant Secretary of Health and Human Services. She's been with ONC since January 2014. Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell brought DeSalvo to HHS in October 2014 to help coordinate the federal government respond to the Ebola outbreak – touting her public health qualifications after having served as New Orleans Health Commissioner in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. In May 2015, President Barack Obama appointed DeSalvo HHS Acting Assistant Secretary for Health. If she gets a Senate confirmation hearing and is approved, she would step down from the National Coordinator post at ONC.   Twitter: SullyHIT Email the writer: tom.sullivan@himssmedia.com Like Healthcare IT News on Facebook and LinkedIn

Healthcare analytics company Decision Resources Group is growing its healthcare data trove in a big way, adding claims and electronic health record data for its new Real World Evidence repository, or RWE. DRG touts the fact that RWE, meant to offering its clients better patient insights and help them do longitudinal analytics, covers 90 percent of the U.S. healthcare system The company did not release the cost of the data acquired. Brigham Hyde, senior vice president of analytics and chief data officer at DRG, said the amount of data it now has available for licensing to its clients – all of it de-identified – far surpasses that offered by Truven and other data companies. "We have four times as many patients as Truven has and six times as many claims, and we have EHR detail," Hyde said. IBM announced February 18 it would purchase analytics company Truven, adding a massive repository of data to its Watson Health Cloud. [Also: IBM Watson buying Truven Health Analytics for $2.6 billion] DRG is expanding its expertise to offer its clients more complete and dynamic analyses in the following areas: health economics and outcomes research, epidemiology validation, patient-level forecasting and market sizing, patient-level compliance and real-time network influence. The RWE data asset comes from multiple data providers in the U.S. and includes patient, healthcare professional and payer-level analysis. "As healthcare continues its shift from volume to value, DRG's RWE repository enables academic grade analysis of the cost centers of healthcare in the U.S., as well as the behaviors and outcomes of treatment and coverage decisions," Hyde said. The repository covers 240 million unique U.S. patients with more than five years of historical data, and has 3.2 billion medical and pharmacy claims, enabling closer analysis of cost and outcomes data, according to DRG. Hyde said DRG would leverage its nearly 400 analysts worldwide to provide customers with disease specific insights. For example, the repository has strong coverage of Type 2 diabetes, along with payment details, lab values and clinical progress of patients. DRG also is using the RWE repository to make available custom and interactive analytic dashboards and analytics to enable clients to answer important business questions quickly. In a separate announcement today, DRG said the board of directors appointed Jonathan Sandler CEO. Sandler also serves as DRG chairman of the board.