From the ASTP Desk ONC Seeks Comment on the Federal Health IT Strategic Plan 2011-2015
Dr. David Blumenthal | March 25, 2011
Providing strategic leadership to public and private sector efforts to improve health and health care through the use of information and technology is a key responsibility of the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC). The Federal Health IT Strategic Plan (“the Plan”) [PDF – 1 MB] is an important tool for guiding national efforts and investments in health IT over the next several years.
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Community College Consortia, From the ASTP Desk Getting to Know Your Community College Consortium: Part 1, Region A
Patricia Dombrowski | March 23, 2011
Providers will need an increased workforce of skilled health IT specialists as they transition to electronic health records (EHRs).
That’s why the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) created the Community College Consortia to Educate Health Information Professionals Program, which is a part of ONC’s Health IT Workforce Development Program.
From the ASTP Desk, Meaningful Use Direct Project Adoption Could Positively Impact Care Coordination Soon
Dr. Doug Fridsma | March 21, 2011
As an internal medicine physician, I know how hard it was to coordinate patient care across diverse health care systems. Primary care providers struggle to keep up with the flow of information coming in and going out of their offices on faxes, couriered documents, and hand carried patient notes. The Direct Project was created to address this problem head-on by creating a simple, secure way to send this information electronically, so that providers can concentrate on what counts: excellent patient care.
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EHR Case Studies, Regional Extension Centers Finding a Personal Meaning in Meaningful Use
Theresa Walunas | March 16, 2011
At the Chicago Health Information Technology Regional Extension Center (CHITREC) we’ve had many discussions about what Meaningful Use means. We’ve discussed core sets, menu sets, quality measurements, numerators, denominators, eligibility thresholds, attestation, electronic health record (EHR) certification and reporting tools. On the surface, Meaningful Use looks to be a very complicated thing. Why else would we need 62 Regional Extension Centers, a national outreach program, and a small army of talented clinical and technical people across the country to help our health care providers achieve it?
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Beacon Communities, EHR Case Studies An Innovative, Community-based Approach to Smoking Cessation
Jason Kunzman | March 10, 2011
One of the criteria set forth in Stage One Meaningful Use guidelines pertains to capturing information at the point of care about patients’ smoking status, and as relevant, offering counseling to help patients quit smoking. While attending the Rhode Island Statewide Patient Centered Medical Home Learning Collaborative on February 5, we learned about the kinds of innovations that this aspect of meaningful use may inspire and make more widespread in the future.
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