Government & Policy
Dan Diamond ran a triage unit in New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina, and was in-country immediately after the earthquake struck Haiti. The difference between available mobile technologies for each disaster was like night and day, but there are still some apps and tools he said would be really helpful.
Much like learning how to ride a bike, the early experience with electronic health records involves falls and scrapes. And as the industry turns its focus toward more usable EHRs, we should look beyond just making health IT systems simpler.
Hundreds of thousands of Medicare beneficiaries in almost 100 counties across the United States and its territories will be losing coverage for telehealth services because they no longer live in federally designated rural areas. As a result of the 2010 Census, 97 counties in 36 states and territories are being redefined as metropolitan, rather than rural.
The HIPAA Privacy and Security final rule -- also known as the HIPAA Omnibus Rule -- became effective March 26. One expert predicts enforcers will have a heyday with expanded ability to crack down on providers and their business associates.
Pulse8 CEO John Criswell sees plenty of opportunity to harness the information that HIXs and HIEs will have as a means for both bending the cost curve and bettering care quality.
Saying the U.S. is "on the cusp of a crisis," a statement announcing the Training Tomorrow's Doctors Today Act explained that the proposed legislation would work toward eliminating the workforce shortage by 2025.
Three subcommittees of the House Energy and Commerce Committee just concluded three hearings on mobile health March 18-21, looking for "the sweet spot and that fine line," between patient safety regulations and freedom of innovation, as it was described by Communications and Technology Subcommittee Chairman Greg Walden (R-Ore.) at the opening of the hearings.
There's little question that the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, or ACA, has demonstrable benefits already -- even if, as a Kaiser Poll found this week, Americans still don't understand them. What's less clear is how the ACA will fare long-term given today's tumultuous political environment.
While Karl Rove maintains that the ACA's future is unsettled, healthcare experts are predicting slow but consistent progress. Does the Obama administration have time enough to guarantee the law long-term?
Several witnesses from the health IT and mobile health industries are set to testify March 19 before the Subcommittee on Communications and Technology of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce. The hearing will focus on medical devices and mobile app markets.