2009 Archive
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A Meaningful Use Defining Moment
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued its draft definition for the “meaningful use” of electronic health records (EHRs) today as part of its notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM). The NPRM describes the proposed implementation of incentives to providers for the adoption and meaningful use of certified EHRs. This NPRM from CMS kicks off a 60-day public comment period to help inform its development of the final 2011 meaningful use criteria.
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ONC’s Work to Stimulate Innovation and Diffuse EHR Best Practices
A recent New Yorker article by Atul Gawande skillfully draws an analogy between today’s health care crisis and the food crisis our country faced a century ago. Whereas the heath care system currently consumes about 17% of the U.S. economy, Americans spent more than 40% of their income on food at the turn of the last century. Like our current health care system, there existed a huge chasm between what science suggested could be achieved in improved quality and productivity and how farmers dispersed throughout the country were actually practicing.
Gawande describes how the federal government developed the agricultural extension program to bring the latest science to real-world practice. By finding practicing leaders in the community, developing pilot projects, providing implementation expertise and technical assistance, and continuously building on what was learned, these regional extension centers developed best practices that ultimately became embedded into U.S. farming practice. A century later, food consumes just 8% of household income.
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Expanding and Strengthening the Health IT Workforce
Today the administration announced two additional programs to support the development of the skilled workforce needed to support broad adoption and use of health IT. Awards totaling $32 million to establish or expand university-based health IT training programs and $6 million dollars to develop a health IT competency testing program will complement the previously announced workforce development program grants established through the Recovery Act.