Morning Headlines 6/19/15

Health and social care leaders set out next steps to transform NHS services and improve health outcomes using technology and data

In England, the NHS announces that patients will be given real-time access to their entire digital health records by 2018. UK citizens are already able to book appointments, request prescription renewals, and view medical record summaries online.

New NHS e-Referral service ‘unavailable until further notice’

Also in England, the NHS’s new online appointment scheduling system has been taken offline until further notice after going live on Monday. The service, whose predecessor was used by 40,000 patients per day to schedule appointments until last week, launched despite 33 known issues, including missing functionality and slow loading times.

Making appropriations for the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education

A draft budget created by the House Appropriations Committee reduces ONC’s requested $75 million budget to $60.4 million, and provides no funding for its proposed ONC Patient Safety Center.

National Medicare Fraud Takedown Results in Charges Against 243 Individuals for Approximately $712 Million in False Billing

The Department of Justice announces that it has arrested 243 individuals, including 46 doctors, in connection with a Medicare fraud scheme that netted $712 million through false billing. The arrests were the largest coordinated takedown in the history of the DOJ’s Strike Force.