Government & Policy
The man with a bullish attachment to ACOs -- Jonathan Blum -- is stepping down from his position at CMS, announced Marilyn Tavenner today in an internal email.
If the U.S. is going to get a handle on healthcare spending, providers and healthcare organizations are going to have to get serious about accountable care organizations, says one expert.
The GAO recently called three government agencies to task over the Meaningful Use EHR Incentive Program, saying it lacked sorely needed strategy.
It should be no news to anyone: The Office for Civil Rights is poised to beef up, "ramp up" and shake up its HIPAA audit program.
Sure, the EHR Incentive Program, with its $22 billion plus paid out thus far to meaningful users, might have helped bring the healthcare sector out of the Dark Ages and into the 21st Century, technologically speaking, but do these systems really improve the quality of patient care? A new study out says: for the most part, no.
Is it wrong to be skeptical about the integrity of quality measures in meaningful use, particularly in the wake of what one quality improvement expert called "patient safety's first scandal"? Those at the forefront of healthcare quality and patient safety movements say, "no," but also believe any problems have been contained.
At a Capitol Hill event on Thursday, National Coordinator Karen DeSalvo shared thoughts about ONC's history, its plans for the future and the promise of big data.
Reports indicate that President Obama will nominate Sylvia Mathews Burwell, head of the Office of Management and Budget, to replace Kathleen Sebelius.
HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius seemed to have weathered the maelstrom surrounding the botched rollout of the government's health insurance exchanges back in October and come through the other side where more than 7 million people signed up for health insurance through the exchanges. But on Thursday, after five years at the HHS helm, Sebelius resigned.
ONC chief Karen DeSalvo, MD, envisions an agency with new workgroups and a less siloed approach, with consumer and privacy advocates participating across all the groups.