Economic stimulus updates, educational sessions offered at ATA 2009
The arrival of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) and the more than $2 billion allocated for health information technology and telemedicine grants means there is a lot of potential funding for industry businesses – but only if companies are aggressive in pursuing the money. The American Telemedicine Association’s Annual Meeting in Las Vegas on April 26-28 will feature several opportunities for attendees to gain a better understanding of the advantages of ARRA. ATA 2009 includes a special stimulus information session offered three times on April 27. Show attendees can also visit the ATA 2009 Federal Center on all three conference days to pick up educational materials and speak with federal staff from various agencies. And, ATA has created a members-only Web site resource, Telemedicine Stimulus Package Central, with information on telemedicine-specific funding mandates, grant opportunities and agency contacts. http://www.americantelemed.org/i4a/...

FTC approves proposed breach notification rule for electronic health information
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has approved a proposed rule that requires personal health record vendors and other groups to notify customers if their electronic health information has been breached. According to the FTC, ARRA “recognizes that there are new types of Web-based entities that collect or handle consumers’ sensitive health information...these innovations have the potential to provide numerous benefits for consumers, which can only be realized if they have confidence that the security and confidentiality of their health information will be maintained.” The proposed rule, made in compliance with the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), must be made final by August. FTC is accepting public comment on the rule through June 1, after which the agency will develop the interim final rule. By February 2010, FTC and the Department of Health and Human Services must also conduct a study and report on potential privacy, security and breach notification requirements for vendors of health records and related entities. http://ftc.gov/opa/2009/04/healthbreach.shtm

Lost reimbursements, not incentives may drive EHR implementation in hospitals
Implementation of electronic health record (EHR) systems by hospitals could be a case of avoiding financial penalties rather than receiving incentives, according to a new PricewaterhouseCoopers Health Research Institute report. “Rock and a Hard Place: An Analysis of the $36 Billion Impact from Health IT Stimulus Funding” notes that the federal government expects to offer $33 billion in incentive payments to healthcare providers who implement meaningful EHR systems by 2015. But although the funding will not adequately compensate hospitals for the cost of implementing the systems, hospitals will still try to implement the systems by that date to avoid losing millions in Medicare reimbursements, because that is a stronger motivator. “The stimulus funding for health IT is a small carrot compared to the amount of resources it will take to deploy this technology over the next five years,” the report notes. “Providers will feel a big stick of financial penalties if they fail to use government-certified EHRs in a government-certified manner beginning in 2015.” http://www.pwc.com/extweb/pwcpublications.nsf/...

FCC approves $46 million for new broadband telehealth networks in 10 states
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is allocating $46 million in funding for five broadband telehealth networks that will link hundreds of hospitals in nine states, and help design a telehealth network in a tenth state. The funding, earmarked under the federal Rural Health Care Pilot Program (RHCPP), will apply to hospitals in Iowa, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Carolina, South Dakota, Wisconsin and Wyoming, according to acting FCC Chairperson Michael J. Copps. Funding has also been approved to design a telehealth project in Alaska. The FCC established the $417 million RHCPP to increase patient access to care via telemedicine and support the transfer of electronic medical records. Nationwide, 67 projects are eligible to receive RHCPP funding for telehealth networks serving 6,000 healthcare facilities in 42 states and three U.S. territories. Thus far, 29 projects have developed or posted requests for proposals to select vendors to build out their rural broadband networks. http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-290141A1.pdf

DEA strengthens rules on distribution of prescription medications over the Internet
The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) has begun implementing a regulation aimed at preventing illegal distribution of controlled substances through the Internet. The Ryan Haight Act, named for an 18-year-old La Mesa, CA resident who died in 2001 of a drug overdose from Vicodin he procured over the Internet, requires at least one face-to-face medical evaluation before a patient receives a prescription for a controlled substance through the Web. It also redefines what an online pharmacy is, and what it means to deliver, distribute or dispense medication over the Internet. And, it expands regulatory requirements to online pharmaceutical sales and establishes prescription reporting requirements for online pharmacies. Public comment on the Interim Final Rule is being accepted by DEA through mid-July. http://www.govtech.com/gt/639985?topic=117677

Interest in EHRs and online tools continues to rise among U.S. consumers
Consumer demand for electronic health records (EHRs), and online tools and services has “never been stronger,” according to a new survey from the Deloitte Center for Health Solutions. The survey of 4,000 U.S. consumers age 18 or older shows that 42 percent of participants want access to an online personal health record connected to their doctor’s office. Sixty-five percent want home monitoring devices that enable them to check their condition and send the results to the doctor. Forty-seven percent favor technology that can facilitate consumer transactions with providers and health plans, such as integrated billing systems to speed up bill payments. And 55 percent want to be able to communicate with their doctor via e-mail to exchange health information and receive answers to questions.  http://www.deloitte.com/dtt/article/0%2C1002%2...

Australian healthcare reform blueprint fails to include health IT issues
Plans for healthcare reform in Australia apparently do not include information technology, according to several of the nation’s leading medical and consumer groups. In December 2008, the National Health and Hospitals Reform Commission (NHHRC) released an interim report on the agency’s forthcoming reform blueprint. The plan failed to address how health IT was to be approached, according to health IT clinician David More. This triggered a storm of concern from various groups, including the Business Council of Australia and the Australian Healthcare and Hospitals Association. Critics of the plan also note that it lacks much coverage of security and privacy concerns involving e-health record systems. Government officials note they are reviewing concerns and additional submissions as they prepare NHHRC’s final report, which is due in June. http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/...

Health IT systems, e-prescriptions are tools of choice for Rhode Island doctors
Two reports from the Rhode Island Department of Health (HEALTH) indicate that nearly 4 in 10 state physicians use electronic clinical information systems to help treat patients, and another 1 in 4 transmit prescriptions electronically. The studies reflect a three-year effort to encourage physician reporting in Rhode Island, according to HEALTH Public Reporting Program Director Samara Viner-Brown, MS. “One of the State’s healthcare priorities is to use [health IT] to increase the efficient delivery of patient care,” Viner-Brown said. “These data help us to see how many physicians are actually using [health IT].” Rhode Island is the first state in the U.S. to take such a measurement of health IT use, Viner-Brown added. http://www.ri.gov/press/view/8585 and http://www.health.ri.gov/chic/...

Maryland receives $951,000 in federal funds for EHR systems at health centers
Eight community health centers in Maryland will share $951,000 in federal funding designed to help the facilities convert to electronic patient health record systems, according to Congressman C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger (D-MD). The eight centers are part of the state’s Community Health Integrated Partnership (CHIP) and serve more than 110,000 people statewide, according to Ruppersberger. “This electronic patient record system is the future of healthcare by improving overall patient care while at the same time reducing costs,” he said. “My life was saved at the University of Maryland’s Shock Trauma Center after a terrible car accident in the 1970s. I believe our healthcare workers need all the tools available to do their jobs well and help save lives.” http://www.house.gov/apps/list/press/md02...

Citing duplication with Recovery Act, CMS drops phase II of EHR pilot program
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has cancelled the second phase of its electronic health record (EHR) subsidy pilot program due to overlap with provisions in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009. According to CMS, the agency will modify its planned EHR demonstration by aligning its program to “support the Recovery Act objectives,” and will conduct the demonstration “in a manner that avoids paying for similar EHR functions twice.” The EHR pilot program was launched in October 2007 and was the government’s first attempt to move toward a subsidization strategy similar to those used in Australia, Canada and Europe. The goal was to enroll 1,200 physicians in 12 healthcare markets nationwide and provide Medicare reimbursement payments averaging $58,000 per physician over a five-year period. The recently enacted federal stimulus package offers Medicare payments of $44,000 to $48,400 to most participating physicians through 2015. Physicians who signed up for phase I of the CMS program may continue with that program, the agency notes.  http://www.cms.hhs.gov/DemoProjects...

Blumenthal takes reigns as head of Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT
David Blumenthal, director of the Institute for Health Policy at Massachusetts General Hospital, has assumed the role of National Coordinator for Health Information Technology as of Monday, according to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Blumenthal, a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, will help determine how to spend a $2 billion discretionary funding budget provided for health IT in the federal stimulus package. He will also help develop rules and policies to implement other health IT provisions in the package, Medicare and Medicaid health IT incentive programs, enhanced privacy and security requirements; and develop a national health information network. Under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the position of the national coordinator for health IT is now permanent; Blumenthal, appointed by Pres. Barack Obama on March 20, succeeds Robert Kolodner, who had served as health IT coordinator since September 2006. http://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/...

NuPhysicia offers high-tech way to ‘bring back the company doctor’
Houston-based telemedicine services provider NuPhysicia LLC has unveiled a cost-effective medical benefits program designed to help “bring back the company doctor,” according to NuPhysicia officials. The Medicine at Work™ program delivers innovative medical instruments, telecommunications equipment, and, through its retained physicians, professional healthcare services directly to employees at their place of work, according to Melody Reid, NuPhysicia’s Executive Director for Employee Health Services. Through two-way video, the doctor providing services to Medicine at Work conducts real-time examinations with the assistance of a specially trained on-site paramedic. Employees may also visit Medicine at Work clinics at the work site for doctor visits, prescriptions, one-on-one wellness coaching, and other healthcare needs without the usual time off from work or the expense of seeing a doctor, Reid said. http://www.24x7mag.com/press_release.asp?id=10225028