The US Is Still Steaming Along With E-Health initiatives. Real Progress It Seems.

The following appeared a little while ago

Monday, May 06, 2013

Federal Health IT Activity Continues in Q1 2013

by Helen R. Pfister, Susan R. Ingargiola and Christine D. Chang, Manatt Health Solutions

The federal government continued to implement the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act, enacted as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, during the first quarter of 2013.

Highlights

The first quarter of 2013 saw a number of important developments:

• CMS Releases Interoperability and Health Information Exchange Request for Information. On March 7, CMS released a request for information on ways to accelerate electronic health information exchange within the health care industry. The RFI seeks input on potential policy and programmatic changes to further advance interoperable HIE beyond what is currently being done through the Office of the National Coordinator and the Electronic Health Record Incentive Programs. Comments are due April 22.
• ONC Announces Consumer Engagement Plan. In February, Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT published a perspective piece in Health Affairs, titled, "A National Action Plan to Support Consumer Engagement Via E-Health." In the piece, ONC reviewed current consumer e-health activity and described the federal strategy to increase consumer e-health, including leveraging meaningful use objectives. In March, ONC requested public feedback on its consumer e-health strategy.  Members of the public may submit feedback through May 9.
• CMS Launches eHealth Initiative. At the annual Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society conference, CMS announced its eHealth Initiative, which will organize CMS' health IT programs under one initiative. The Initiative is designed to help health care providers simplify their administrative and billing responsibilities by unifying CMS' electronic standards and health IT programs. Moving forward in the next few months, CMS' Office of E-Health Standards and Services will work with health care providers to identify ways to meet the challenges that providers face when participating in CMS' various e-health programs. Also at HIMSS, acting CMS Administrator Marilyn Tavenner announced CMS' meaningful use goals for 2013 and stated that the notice of proposed rulemaking for meaningful use Stage 3 will not be issued during 2013.

Lots more details here:

http://www.ihealthbeat.org/features/2013/federal-health-it-activity-continues-in-q1-2013.aspx

The full article is well worth a read to see just how much is going on in the US.

David.