News From Around the Web
> Inovalon, Inc., a data-driven healthcare solutions provider, and the drugstore chain Walgreens, today announced that they have entered into a multi-year agreement to provide Inovalon's data-driven encounter support platform, Electronic Patient Assessment Solution Suite (ePASS®) within Healthcare Clinic at select Walgreens to "support improvements in managed care quality and performance." Announcement
> Researchers from the University of Notre Dame have developed a voice analyzing, question-and-answer mobile app to test football players for concussions, according to an article in MIT Technology Review. "The issue is omnipresent, but when it actually happens, it's not uncommon for parents or coaches to get confused about what they should really be looking for," Gerry Gioia, M.D., says in the article. Article
Provider News
> Despite confusion over healthcare reform, at least one group is taking advantage of the opportunities it brings. Real estate firms are investing in the medical office building market, Dallas/Fort Worth Health Daily reports. According to the article, 124 medical office building properties were sold in the first half of 2013, in deals that totaled nearly $2 billion. Article
> The GOP this week unveiled an alternative plan to President Barack Obama's healthcare reform law amid a threat from a minority of Republicans to defund the law before the Oct. 1 implementation date and shutdown the government. Article
EMR News
> Vendors are slowly but surely moving to 2014 certification criteria for Stage 2 of Meaningful Use, according to a recent blog post published by officials at the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT. Steven Posnack, director of ONC's federal policy division, and Dustin Charles, a public health analyst at ONC, explained that currently, two out of three providers who have previously attested to Meaningful Use have a 2014 edition certification EHR product available from their 2011 edition vendor. Article
And Finally... Cancel that order of Q-Tips for these whales. Article