Morning Headlines 7/11/14

HIT Policy Committee DRAFT Summary of the June 10, 2014 Virtual Meeting

During Tuesday’s HIT Policy Committee meeting, CMS reported that only 972 providers and 10 hospitals have attested for Stage 2 of Meaningful Use.

Cerner ups campus cost to $4.45B, will seek $110M TIF bump

Cerner increases the budget on its new Kansas City campus by $160 million, to $4.45 billion, and is asking the local and state government to cover $110 million of that through tax breaks.

The Experience of Young Adults on HealthCare.gov: Suggestions for Improvement

A study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine concludes that Healthcare.gov’s user interface was perceived as confusing and unintuitive by millennials.

Moody’s Assigns AA3 To Providence Health & Services Series 2014B Bonds; Outlook Stable

Moody’s gives Providence Health’s bonds a strong, stable Aa3 rating, something that is not always the case for health systems in the midst of an Epic implementation. The rating notes, “PHS has nearly completed its system-wide implementation of the Epic electronic medical record (EMR) system. Implementation has spanned many years, and has occupied a significant portion of the system’s capital budget. Outsized operating expenses related to Epic have suppressed margins but are now expected to reach a steady state going forward.”