News 6/1/11

Top News

 

HHS issues a proposed rule requiring healthcare providers, health plans, and their business associates to maintain an access report detailing all disclosures of patient information within an EHR or accounting system. Providers must also record every EHR chart access, including details on who opened the patient chart, the date, and the time. The access report must be made available at the request of patients.

Cerner announces a two-for-one stock split, with a June 24 distribution date. Shares closed Tuesday at $120.10, valuing the company at just over $10 billion. Neal Patterson holds $512 million worth. Above is the one-year CERN share price (blue) compared to the S&P 500 (green).

Reader Comments

From All Hat No Cattle: “Re: HHS’s HIT certification. Seems like another needless scam.” ONC announces availability of six Health Information Technology Professionals examinations: (a) clinician / practitioner consultant; (b) implementation manager; (c) implementation support specialist; (d) practice workflow and information management redesign specialist; (e) technical / software support staff; and (f) trainer. ONC is offering vouchers to qualified applicants; otherwise, it’s $299 for the first exam and $199 for each additional. ONC pre-nicknamed the exams HIT PRO, which is trademarked for some reason. I’m not entirely sure what the point is – in the “Why Take the HIT Pro” explanation, they talk about a shortage of qualified HIT workers, implying that passing the test makes someone qualified. There are no educational or occupational prerequisites for taking the 125-question tests, although the target audience is the folks who have finished one of those short, ONC-funded HIT programs that community colleges offer.

From MadCow: “Re: Loma Linda University Medical Center. Pulling an EMR swap, from Cerner to Epic.” Verified. LLUMC’s board approved Epic last week, which will be rolled out through their entire system. Epic will replace Cerner for inpatient and ambulatory clinicals, GE for faculty practice management, and a homegrown registration and billing system. LLUMC will keep their Cerner lab apps because Epic’s Beaker is a few years away from having the capabilities needed for an organization of that size.

From HITuser: “Re: Meditech 6.0. Have they implement any sites running multiple facilities?” A good question, which I will open up to those HIStalk readers who surely know. I’d have to guess yes.

HIStalk Announcements and Requests

A reader asked if I could interview someone from St. John’s in Joplin about their emergency preparedness lessons learned once things settle down there. If anyone is reading from there and would be willing at some point, let me know.

Watching: Life on Mars, a quirky one-season sci fi/cop show in which the lead character is sent back in time to 1973. Harvey Keitel is excellent in it, former Cosby kid Lisa Bonet has a role, and the pop culture (hair, clothes, music, etc.) are cool. Lots of Bowie tunes. It’s the American remake, predictably inferior to the original British version, they say, so I’m hoping the original hits Netflix streaming.

Welcome to new HIStalk Platinum Sponsor Impact Advisors of Naperville, IL. The company’s service offerings include strategic advisory (IT performance assessment, strategy, system selection, contracting, ROI, HITECH readiness, governance, and facilities planning) and strategic implementation (planning, readiness, project leadership, staff augmentation, project oversight, interim management). Impact Advisors has won several awards,including Best in KLAS for Planning and Assessment for three straight years. They’ve also bagged some “Best Places to Work” recognition in case you’re looking for opportunities (I see they need implementation specialists for Epic and Cerner at the moment, as well as HIT strategy folks). Founders Andrew and Peter Smith are HIT long-timers and have boatloads of experience working with hospitals and physician groups and are on the speed dial of quite a few big-name CEOs and CIOs as their trusted advisors. Former FCG President Steve Heck is a VP there, so you can catch up with him when you contact the company. Many thanks to Impact Advisors for supporting HIStalk.

It’s a quiet week by all appearances, which is a relief since I’m trying to catch up after a few days of being semi-off. It seems like about half of the 7,359 HIStalk e-mail subscribers are kicking back an “out of the office” reply this week, so good for everybody who is getting away a bit for the unofficial beginning of summer. It’s a great time to send in your news, rumors, guest articles, or whatever goodies you have that might interest others.

Acquisitions, Funding, Business, and Stock

A London newspaper says that Sage is reviewing its healthcare business and will likely sell it, although it did not provide details or sources.

A Chicago Tribune story on excessive executive pay speculates that McKesson shareholders may push back on the compensation of CEO John Hammergren at this summer’s annual meeting. He’s California’s third-highest-paid CEO at $54.6 million for the year ended last March (the company hasn’t released his FY2011 take).

Announcements and Implementations

IBM announces the expansion of its Dallas-based Health Analytics Solution Center, including the addition of new technology and the doubling of its solution architects and technology specialists. Mobile technologies, remote patient monitoring, and analytics are some of the areas IBM says the Center is addressing.

Health information network provider Availity earns EHNAC recognition for achieving the requirements for the 5010 Readiness Assessment program.

MIM Software introduces the VueMe App for iPad, iPhone, and iTouch. The app allows patients to view diagnostic images that have been sent them from their doctors, or to share those images with a specialist.

Government and Politics

Your tax dollars at work: as of May 19th, the Medicare EHR incentive program had paid providers $75 million; the 15 state Medicaid programs paid an additional $38 million. Including HIT training programs and RECs, HHS says it has doled out a total of $1.7 billion to promote EHR adoption. ONC coordinator Farzad Mostashari also notes that EHR use among primary care physicians increased from 20% in 2009 to 30% in 2010.

ONC publishes a proposed rule that addresses how the agency can remove an approved accreditor of the permanent EHR certification program. The ruling establishes a process to deal with situations where the ONC-AA engages in misconduct or does not perform its responsibilities.

Weird News Andy notes that the Feds are cracking down on healthcare fraud by threatening to file criminal charges against corporate executives whose companies are caught in wrongdoing, even if the executive had no direct knowledge of the illegal activities. Instead of just accepting a fraud settlement from big companies who treat it as a cost of doing business, Uncle is pulling out previous precedents that it says allow it to hold executives personally responsible, noting that several Fortune 500 companies have bought their way out of Medicare fraud several times (can I get an amen?) A quote from HHS’s chief counsel for the inspector general:

To our way of thinking, the men and women in the corporate suite aren’t getting it. If writing a check for $200 million isn’t enough to have a company change its ways, then maybe we have got to have the individuals who are responsible for this held accountable. The behavior of a company starts at the top.

Maybe the government should have cracked down on this guy: a man who used patient information to charge phony narcotics prescriptions to a federal employee insurance plan gets off with a six-year sentence and a fine. He had pleaded guilty to charges of healthcare fraud, HIPAA violations, and identity theft in obtaining the drugs to sell.

In the UK, a member of Parliament says NHS should fire CSC from its $5 billion NPfIT contract since it has implemented only three hospitals in nine years. MP Richard Bacon, always a great source for quotes, says NHS CIO Christine Connelly’s assertion that it would cost more to fire CSC than to let them finish the work is “incredible,” saying if that’s true then everybody involved with Connecting for Health should be fired. Tony Collins reports on a leaked memo that says CSC is proposing to cut the number of trusts it will implement from 220 to 80, but at a rate per trust that’s double what the current contract specifies.

Other

Bizarre: 53% of surveyed teens say they would rather lose their sense of smell than their personal technology, while 47% say they want to be remembered for their social network connections.

 Sponsor Updates

• Carlos A. Labrador, MD (FL) is named as one of 15 eClinicalWorks clients to receive EHR incentive checks from CMS.
• Dell InSite One is managing over four billion diagnostic imaging objects and associated reports with its managed cloud enterprise archive.
• Fujitsu names Perceptive Software its Central Region Premier Partner of the year.
• T-System partners with Isabel Healthcare to integrate its T-SystemEV EDIS with Isabel’s diagnosis decision support content.
• Lawson Healthcare recognizes five provider organizations with its 2011 Customer of the Year Awards.
• maxIT Healthcare will provide consulting services for Meditech Magic users who are implementing the OrderEase software from Iatric Systems .
• Twenty Meditech hospitals have selected Imprivata OneSign in the last six months, bringing Imprivata’s Meditech client base to 150.
• HMS DIRECT, HMS’s remote hosting service division, expands it data center capacity to accommodate the growth of the company’s ASP business.
• Molina Healthcare picks GE Centricity Practice Solution as its primary EMR/PM platform.
• A Gateway EDI/LarsonAllen study finds that physician practices that have adopted RCM tools have higher revenues and collect more patient payments at the time of service.
• NCR is holding a June 16 Webinar called Revenue Cycle: Why Self-Service is Key, featuring Elmhurst Memorial Hospital.

Contacts

Mr. H, Inga, Dr. Jayne, Dr. Gregg.