While Monday's Consumer Health IT Summit in Washington, D.C., helped to kick off this year's National Health IT Week with a bang, and the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services' launch of its Meaningful Consent site brought increased attention to the issue of patient engagement, several other announcements and events helped to shape the week, as well.
Among some of the other more notable news items that occurred this week:
Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) reintroduces mental health legislation: Whitehouse (pictured right), who spoke adamantly about the need a robust national health information system at Wednesday's NHIT Week press conference on Capitol Hill, also re-introduced his Behavioral Health Information Technology Act to congress this week. The legislation--previously introduced in March 2011--seeks to include behavioral health providers in the Meaningful Use incentive program.
CMS publishes ICD-10 resource to aid providers: The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services this week published an ICD-10 implementation guide geared toward aiding providers in making the switch from ICD-9. The online guide includes an overview of ICD-10, in addition to information about how to transition for providers of all sizes. Despite several calls for a delay, outgoing National Coordinator for Health IT Farzad Mostashari has repeatedly insisted that the ICD-10 deadline of Oct. 1, 2014, will hold.
Health Story Project now a part of HIMSS: Health Story Project, an alliance of healthcare vendors, providers and associations pushing for the development of standards for "a comprehensive electronic record" aimed at improving care via collaboration, was acquired by HIMSS on Wednesday. According to HIMSS Executive VP Carla Smith, the move "advance[s] our cause by improving the completeness and interoperability" of EHRs.
GenieMD wins Blue Button Co-Design Challenge: The Silicon Valley-based mobile healthcare solutions provider developed an app to help users diagnose symptoms and find providers. The tool also enables users to learn more about medical conditions and healthy living, and allows users to create their own health summaries.
CHIME recognizes Virginia hospital CIO for public policy leadership: The College of Healthcare Information Management Executives on Wednesday presented Geoffrey Brown, senior vice president and CIO at Falls Church, Va.-based Inova, with its fifth annual state public policy award for CIO leadership.
University of California-Davis Medical Center collects 2013 Enterprise HIMSS Davies Award: The Sacramento, Calif.-based facility earned the honor for its use of EHRs for improving the delivery of healthcare and patient safety while simultaneously demonstrating a return on investment.
To learn more:
- here's Whitehouse's announcement
- check out the ICD-10 guide resources
- here's the Health Story Project announcement
- read the GenieMD announcement
- check out the CHIME announcement
- here's the HIMSS announcement