Training Tools of EHRs for Beginners

New techniques of Electronic Health Records are to make the process of health care solution smoothly.

Training Tools of EHRs for Beginners

Implementation of Electronic Health Records involves to putting in place of EHR software in your system. The implementation of EHR system must be scheduled and planned. It is associated with the different kind of activities like pilot testing and trainings.

Training is essential to recognize the full potential of your Electronic health record software. You can use different kinds of tips, educational opportunities and materials to get yourself ensured that your organization is ready to implement an EHR.

How to get a training material?

·        The website of Health IT Workforce Curriculum Components and other health IT websites offer different kinds of materials. You just have to sign up your profile and you can access the material for the implementation of your EHR system’s training program for your office and staff.

·        The Service Administration and Health Resources offer you different factors, you must consider while developing materials for EHR implementation.

Tips for the Training

·        If you are new in market, you must follow the different essential tips; to achieve and get best trainings for the implementation of your Electronic health record software. At first, you have to train your staff for better services.

·        Best option for getting the perfect one is to train your employee on the area on which he is going to work. This will help him to work accordingly, without confusion and properly in his field.

Instructive Opportunities

·        The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology reserves the Health IT Workforce Development Program. This program comprises of post-graduate training and community college with wide chances of different knowledge.

·        The Service administration and Health Resources offers information about different Health IT Training Opportunities and Requirements.

Help of Regional Extension Centre

We all know that regional extension center (REC) is located in some of the main regions of the country. This is to help health care industries, their selections, implementations and to become top-notch and meaningful users of EHR. REC provides different online programs for EHR.

Steps for essential tools to implement EHR software

There are different essential tools for the implementation of the Electronic health record system. Following are the key points of training tools to implement of EHR software.

Step I: Getting your practice Inclination

The first step for the implementation of EHR software is to get an evaluation of your present practice and its needs, goals, and technical and financial inclination. With a correct opinion of your level of preparation, your practice can plan an implementation for the specific demands of your practice.

Step II: Design your Method

Designing on the knowledge conducted during the assessment. This is about to give rough idea about the EHR practice implementation program.

Step III: Training Conduction

Now this is the important step for the implementation of EHR software. Before experiencing practically an EHR system, training must be done. This helps to work properly, accurately and smoothly.

Training Strategies for the Beginners

Before getting perfect electronic medical record system in your office, you must know about the strategies you are going to follow. The different training strategies for the beginners are;

·        Role-Based

Training can be well-organized when it follows the function. On the other hand, trainees can be more attentive and responsive when it is according to their work they are doing. The reason that it is personalized to the specific EHR meanings that end-users will be acting on a daily basis.

·        Process-Based

No doubt role-based training is important to learning the new methods; the need for process-based training is important also because learning about the usage of the new system can increase problems of workflow. This process-based training helps to standardized and upgrades the procedures and policies to know about the new responsibilities.

Procedures can be changed and grow as end-users learn to participate the EHR more intensely into daily actions.

Electronic health records software meant to help the practitioners, physicians, doctors and clinicians. Its mission is to provide the best health care solutions to its clients. Before starting practically on EHR system, training process matters. The training processes have an influence on many features. EHR Software helps to improve the quality of patient care as well as the way care is delivered. The strategic methods of training can convert the alterations into opportunities for the improvement.

Non Invasive Device in Clinical Trials AUM Cardiovascular System Detects Coronary Artery Disease

This has not been approved by the FDA, but it is in clinical trials.  This is a pretty amazing device.  CADence is the name of the device.  For the trials what they are looking for are patients that already have issues to use the device to check for accuracy.

The device hums and works from sound waves and is able to identify blockages in the coronary arteries and there’s no radiation, and of course we like that.  The device is to be used in an office setting and compared to the tests we do today who wouldn’t prefer this test and device.  BD 

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Sounds associated with turbulent blood flow through partially blocked or restricted arteries are used in several common clinical practices. The first is the measurement of blood pressure where the brachial artery in the arm is restricted by a pressure cuff; the sounds generated are called Korotoff sounds and are used to determine the onset and cessation of blood flow and the related systolic and diastolic pressure. Blockages in the carotid arteries in the neck can be detected by the sounds they produce. Similarly, coronary arteries produce a sound associated with blockage.

The first time sound was described in conjunction with coronary artery disease was in a 1967 American Journal of Medicine article written by Dock W, and Zoneraich S. They detailed a high frequency diastolic/continuous murmur that was found along the left parasternal area at the 2nd, 3rd, or 4th intercostal spaces. This sound was correlated with moderate to severe proximal left anterior descending coronary artery stenosis. It was named “Dock’s Murmur.”

http://aumcardio.com/faq-for-clinicians/

CMS Says No More Delay on ICD-10, Why Doesn’t CMS Wait and Complete More Testing First Before Announcing Such

Here we go again with digital illits at the top of the helm making statements as such and anyone in technology knows there could be all kinds of glitches and issues unplanned that could pop up.  It would make more sense to me that such a statement be held off until testing is done.  They were not even going to test at first and again there’s the digital illit thinking again coming forward.  After the Healthcare.Gov roll out “trust me” doesn’t mean much at all.  Nobody in their right mind wants to sit back and delay for the sake of delaying it but you have to be a realist and take things a step at a time. 

Nobody wants a roll out of ICD10 like Healthcare.gov do they?  Billing companies and clearinghouses still need to do more testing as well.  There’s money involved here as well as planning for additional time for rejected claims and extra time needed for reimbursement.  Anyone who doesn’t think delays with payments won’t happen, better have their head examined.  The AMA is still on their crusade to stall the implementation date as well.  The US is the only country with such an intricate billing system with layers of complexities when you look at what other countries do. 

ICD10 The Sleeping Monster In The US Health IT System, Other Countries Using New Codes For A Better Clinical Diagnosis While US Tends To Focus On Coding Better Payments

But wait…if there’s a problem…well don’t hold your breath…much of the software is being sold with a “hold harmless” clause too…so spin the roulette wheel..you’re not going back on the developers for any malfunctions here. 

ICD10 Software Being Sold With “Hold Harmless” Clauses–Sign of the Software Development Times?

One hospital had to go out and try to get a line of credit to plan for ICD10 as they are that close to where two months of delayed payments would shut the hospital down as they have almost no reserves.  If there’s major glitches with payment it’s going to be a war out there for sure and for good reason. 

Hospital In Wyoming Says They Are Too Poor To Handle ICD Coding Changes Next Year–Don’t Have A Big Enough Bankroll To Cover Transition Period With Reimbursements–Would Need To Get A Bigger Line of Credit If They Can

Again I think such a statement would be better off made after some testing has been done, again it’s the anticipated delay with reimbursements that is the issue more so than just the software expense.   BD 

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The message that we want you to take back with you is that ICD-10 will go forward," said Denesecia Green, lead for the enterprise e-health operations and governance administrative simplification group in the CMS Office of E-Health Standards and Services. "What we need to do as a health care industry--payers, clearinghouses, vendors, and the like--is to really come together around this initiative. If we can come together, we can make this successful and also reap the benefits of ICD-10." At a CMS Town Hall session earlier in the week, Robert Tagalicod, director of the Office of E-Health Standards and Services, emphatically stated that the October 1 ICD-10 date "is a firm one."

According to the announcement, providers that "represent a broad cross-section of provider types, claims types and submitter types" will submit test claims to CMS with ICD-10 codes and receive remittance advice explaining the adjudication of the claims. In addition, from March 3-7, CMS will offer ICD-10 acknowledgement testing. This front-end testing will allow all providers, billing companies, and clearinghouses the opportunity to determine whether CMS will be able to accept their claims with ICD-10 codes.

http://www.healthdatamanagement.com/news/CMS-holds-firm-on-ICD10-compliance-date-47313-1.html

Oracle Pulls 100 Programmers From Cover Oregon Insurance Exchange - Remember They Were the Only Contractor That “Did Not” Withdraw Their Bid When the State Upped The Anny With Additional Social Services Coding Added

Here we go again as the matter of complexities comes back around again.  I have been writing about this for a while but we still have way too many out there counting on those “algorithm fairies” and have not landed on earth yet to at least get an understanding on how complex systems are today.  Covered California was down for several days and just came back up Monday.  I call it the “Sebelius Syndrome” since she was so public in so many statements that technologists knew were just pulled out of the sky with her perceptions.  The Feds now have a former Microsoft Executive working on Healthcare.Gov.

White House Names Former Microsoft Executive To Head Up Fixing “The Sebelius Syndrome” Plaguing What Ended Up On Healthcare.Gov

One does also begin to wonder what the data looks like too at this point and how much corruption has to be taken out and that’s a given that has to be done with any data bases, need to be prepared and cleaned as no matter how good the software could be and with minimal flaws, corrupt data won’t run through it.  Data gets corrupt just by being used and nobody’s at fault, just is what it is.

So now Oracle has pulled back on some of the programmers and 65 are left…ok did you guys get this 165 guys writing code for this project.  Keep that in mind as it’s a big job and when the state decided to add more too it, that’s when the other contractors withdrew their bids and probably about now Oracle might be wishing they had too:)  We had Rocky King resign and you know what, with the amount of pressure it’s enough to make anyone sick.

Rocky King of Cover Oregon Resigns From Position Citing Medical Problems–The Exchange That Only Oracle Wanted As All Other Contractors Withdrew Their Bids Due to Extreme Complexities And Short Time To Do It

Let’s go back and once more again revisit a post I made several months ago…consumers and government are getting one real cold hard lesson here on complexities.  It’s not like the good old days when things were in silos when you could yank and pull and migrate servers as everything is connected today.  This is a big reason why I don’t want to write code anymore for any big projects..the geeks are always the losers, they can’t get it right fast enough and then you have the politicians with their perceptions of algorithms fairies too and they think they can control this, they can’t. 

US Consumers and Government Are Learning a Cold Hard Reality Lesson About IT Infrastructure Complexities With Models and Algorithms Thanks to Health Insurance Exchanges

We have the stories of Massachusetts, Maryland and Minnesota out there too, so do you need anything else to hit you over the head to understand the complexities we have today and come to realize there are no “algorithm fairies” to wave a magic wand?  The state of Oregon threw the monkey wrench into this one with adding part of their social services to the project which required 9 additional months of custom code. 

I’m still rolling on this one (line below) with the Office of the Inspector General to audit and find out what went wrong on Healthcare.Gov.  How many Oracle, MarkLogic, JBoss, Red Hat, etc. expert do they have to complete the audit?  OIG just got dumped on for that one sadly.  I don’t know why Sebelius just doesn’t keep quiet when she doesn’t know and uses her off the wall perceptions to keep sticking her foot in her mouth. 

Yup that was another Sebelius “thingy” with shifting some attention over there.

Sebelius Asks Inspector General To Review Healthcare.Gov, How Many JBoss, Red Hat, Linux, Oracle, MarkLogic And Other Experts Does OIG Have? Time Elements of Baking A Cake From Scratch With Writing Custom Code Was Just Not There..

If Oregon would have just built an exchange without all the other stuff added on, could have been different but that’s hind site now.  The Sebelius Syndrome I’m sure lives at many levels with the state government  in Oregon, otherwise they would have just built an exchange “only”.  If Oracle leaves all together the next best thing is to start paying all over again with an “Oracle” gold partner and some new programmers as you still need code writers that can write to an Oracle system.  BD 

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Oracle Corp., the giant technology company at the center of the Cover Oregon controversy, has significantly downsized its army of software developers trying to salvage Oregon’s health insurance exchange website.  What that means for the Oregon exchange -- which has been plagued by bugs and remains largely unfinished -- is an open question.

Exchange acting director Bruce Goldberg did not respond to a request for comment Wednesday afternoon.
In the past week about 100 Oracle employees have peeled off the Cover Oregon project, leaving approximately 65 in place. State officials have repeatedly blamed its failed health exchange website on Oracle’s shoddy work and missed deadlines.

Cover Oregon emerged this fall as a political and business disaster, both for state of Oregon and Oracle. The exchange stopped paying Oracle in September after it became clear it could not deliver the promised functional health care exchange on time. The firm had already been paid more than $90 million.

http://www.oregonlive.com/health/index.ssf/2014/02/oracle_pulls_100_programmers_f.html

Dr. Halamka At HIMSS - Providers Are Getting to the Breaking Point Trying To Figure Out How To Survive..He Gets A Lot of Emails…

He gets emails and lots of them.  Providers are getting to the breaking point he says.  Mostly what he is getting are people trying to figure out how to survive he says, IT Professionals are on the receiving end of the frustration.  He’s the eternal optimist telling all they will survive.  I would say not being there at HIMSS, this is probably the best and most realistic information you can hear.  I don’t think folks outside of the industry realize how large and complex everything is and I guess you could say that HHS learned a hard lesson with Healthcare.Gov come to think of it. 

She asks him how he manages everything he does.  As an example we know ICD10 is not going to be on schedule and are waiting for the next announcement as right now those providers trying to get past the breaking point might break without relief here. 

ICD10 The Sleeping Monster In The US Health IT System, Other Countries Using New Codes For A Better Clinical Diagnosis While US Tends To Focus On Coding Better Payments

He gets a lot of Meaningful Use questions.  He says some of the emails are group therapy.  The doctor said he would make a brief appearance at HIMSS to hand out his book which is as I understand his entire blog put together in book form.  Security he discusses with risk assessments and the fact that it will never be perfect.  He has 14 different work streams.  You can rad what he had to say about HIMSS at his blog here.

His book was available at the HIMSS bookstore.  If there’s anyone who understands and can talk realistically about Health IT, it’s him and we don’t have to worry about any “algorithms fairies” or perceptual madness here at all when he speaks.  BD  

http://www.healthcareitnews.com/video/john-halamka-himss14

Big Data In Farming, Back to the Data Selling Business Once Again With Concerns of Where the Data is Sold and Who Uses It To Profit, Paying for IP With the Food We Eat Today

One thing for sure is that we all need food to survive and if you read here often enough then you know I focus on the use and abuse of data, for profit and when it is used out of context and for profit.  Well the same thing we see in healthcare also exists with farming.  Sure we want good food and better products and big data lurks over there too with “prescriptive planting”.   You can read the entire article at the link at the bottom of the post but here we go again, same thing with data for profit.  Look at how DuPont is filing lawsuits against farmers who saved “seeds”.  Come on if seeds are there and can be used, plant them and don’t put a 75 year old farmer out of business for goodness sakes.

Look what happened in the UK with the NHS selling medical records to an insurance company.  Sure I’m all for technology to help farmers by all means but the group makes some good points as far as their data they contribute being sold to commodities traders and that is a valid concern.  Sure it is helping with production and the results have been mixed and we all want healthy food to eat but what's it going to cost us?  Are we now paying for intellectual property on the food we eat too to support big corporations?  All the planting information gets beamed to big servers. 

The farmers also worry about competition amongst themselves too with the data and the same thing we have with housing, renting farm land next.  Monsanto and DuPont so far said they have not sold the data and Deere shares the data with consent from the farmers.  Farming by the algorithms…and the farmers all worry about the long term affect here with the data…just like we have seen with medical records moving from valuable clinical information as the number one priority to “data selling for profit”…with the old double swing to the pitch on some of it, the old bait and switch.  If we want healthy food it looks like we are going to somewhere along line be paying for the intellectual properties of the seeds and the food it creates as well.  BD 

FTC Tries to Bring Strong Case for Consumer Protections With Use of Data–But Nothing About Creating IT Infrastructure Path to Allow Regulation–Gov Can’t or Won’t Model?

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Big agricultural companies say the next revolution on the farm will come from feeding data gathered by tractors and other machinery into computers that tell farmers how to increase their output of crops like corn and soybeans.

Monsanto Co. MON -0.17% , DuPont Co. DD +0.48% and other companies are racing to roll out "prescriptive planting" technology to farmers across the U.S. who know from years of experience that tiny adjustments in planting depth or the distance between crop rows can make a big difference in revenue at harvest time.

Some farmers are leery about the new technology. They worry their data might be sold to commodities traders, wind up in the hands of rival farmers or give more leverage to giant seed companies that are among the most enthusiastic sellers of data-driven planting advice. The companies vow not to misuse the information.

"There's a lot of value to that information," says Brooks Hurst, 46 years old, who works 6,000 acres with his father and brothers near Tarkio, Mo. "I'm afraid, as farmers, we are not going to be the ones reaping the benefit."

Many tractors and combines already are guided by Global Positioning System satellites that plant ever-straighter rows while farmers, freed from steering, monitor progress on iPads and other tablet computers now common in tractor cabs.

In 2012, DuPont hired Agro Protection USA Inc., an intellectual-property-protection firm staffed largely by retired law-enforcement officers, to watch for signs of farmers who are saving second-generation seeds. Saving the seeds violates licensing agreements farmers sign when they buy seeds.

Monsanto has filed lawsuits against nearly 150 U.S. farmers since 1997 for replanting seeds that contain the company's proprietary characteristics. Last year, the company won a U.S. Supreme Court victory in a case against an Indiana farmer who was 75 years old at the time.

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304450904579369283869192124?mg=reno64-wsj&url=http%3A%2F%2Fonline.wsj.com%2Farticle%2FSB10001424052702304450904579369283869192124.html

Walgreens and UC San Francisco Trying New Pharmacy Model With Pharmacists Being More Involved With Patient Care and Paying More Attention to Prescriptions

This is an effort to try and help keep down re-admissions for one and the pharmacy is located on the hospital campus.  It is not one of the retail clinics that Walgreens has all over the country but rather a unique drug store.  As you can read pharmacists by law were given more authority with patient care.  A while back, the medical records system used by Walgreens retail clinics is now made available to all drug stores too so no world if the pharmacists are going to create a medical record for the patient as used at the retail clinics, although the article does say the pharmacists will be putting together medication information the patients can take to their doctors.  Greenway is the EMR used at the retail clinics. 

Walgreens Expands Take Care EHR Medical Records to be Available at All Drug Store Locations for Reference–Not For Me I’d Rather Use My PHR And Choose What I Want To Share…

We all know too that Walgreens makes between $1 to $2 billion a year selling data, so there’s the other side of this.  I make sure I turn my location service on my phone off anymore when visiting either a Walgreens or CVS store.  I don’t want their ads and don’t want to give away anymore profile data than I have to. 

Not To Be Outdone by Walgreens In the Data Selling Business, CVS Pushing a New “My Weekly Ad”, Former White House Healthcare Czar Nancy DeParle Now Sits On Their Board, Discloses Award of 562 Shares..

Walgreens Cashing in Big In the Data Selling Epidemic Arena–Incentives Connected to Apps and Devices That Sell, Re-Query and Re-Sell Our Data And Data Profiles

Must not be enough potential business though to put a full on retail clinic here perhaps?  In addition we have this predictive model worked by United Healthcare with some Walgreen locations that want to predict when you are going to become a diabetic or are on the borderline…this provides pay for performance benefits for Walgreen pharmacists.  BD

United Healthcare Expanding Diabetes Prevention & Predictive Algorithm Program With Walgreens And Pay for Performance Incentives In Atlanta

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Newswise — UC San Francisco and Walgreens (NYSE: WAG) (Nasdaq: WAG) have opened a unique Walgreens store today on the UCSF campus that aims to improve medication safety, decrease health care costs and help patients use medicines more effectively by offering pharmacist-based patient care and expanded health and wellness services to the community. A joint effort among Walgreens, the UCSF School of Pharmacy and UCSF Medical Center, “Walgreens at UCSF” will also explore new models for improving overall patient care.

“Walgreens at UCSF is an ideal environment for our pharmacists to work with UCSF Medical Center and School of Pharmacy faculty to further innovate in health care while providing greater access to services for the surrounding community,” said Joel Wright, Walgreens divisional vice president, specialty solutions group. “At Walgreens, we are very pleased to share and develop best practices with UCSF pharmacists and pharmacy students, which further our commitment to help people get, stay and live well.” Walgreens at UCSF, located across the street from UCSF Medical Center, is one of Walgreens “Well Experience” stores, which offer expanded health services and are designed to foster increased patient-pharmacist interaction. With an expanded pharmacy including multiple areas for private consultations, Walgreens and UCSF pharmacists and UCSF pharmacy students are more accessible to community members and patients.

Core clinical health services include medication counseling by a pharmacist as the standard of care and comprehensive medication reviews for customers who receive prescriptions. Pharmacists will work with patients to create and update accurate, portable medication lists to take to their appointments with medical providers. This approach can help decrease drug-drug interactions and encourage patient medication adherence.

The new pharmacy model also comes on the heels of the California provider status law based on Senate Bill 493, which took effect Jan. 1, 2014, expanding the role of pharmacists on the patient care team. Under the new bill, pharmacists can perform additional healthcare responsibilities within the realm of their expertise, such as furnishing certain medicines, monitoring patient health and adjusting prescriptions, as needed.

http://www.newswise.com/articles/view/614218/?sc=rsla&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+NewswiseLatestNews+%28Newswise%3A+Latest+News%29

Major Insurance Company in the UK Bought 47 Million Medical Records From the NHS

The Staple Inn Actuarial Society – a major organization for UK insurers created the report on how it was able to use NHS data from a time from of 1997 to 2010 to track medical histories of patients using a DOB and post code.  What do you hear about re-matching record, sure it happens all the time and here’s a prime example.  Read further how it went to credit agencies next to use to increase premiums.  This is why it will be a while before any patient matching algorithms will do the job in the US. 

Can Medical Medication Information be Re-Identified – Sure It Can Just Run the Queries and if Those Don’t Work, Write New Ones

Below is an image on how all our prescription data is bought and sold by two of the biggest, United Healthcare and Intelliscript in the US.  This in the UK should be a huge warning for the US as we know anyone who gets a hold of some data will query it and with what other data we don’t know and what type of analytics get created, we don’t know

States Reviewing Selling de-identified Medical Record Procedures–The Data Selling Epidemic

Looks like the UK could also use some licensing on their data selling, just like I keep proposing here.  Record sharing for research can be helpful but there’s always the other side that uses data for profit. 

United Healthcare already has a strong foot in place with prescribing software in the UK, ScriptSwitch .  In addition, Tony Blair’s old advisor who has been with United Healthcare in the US for a number of years is to be the new chief of the NHS April 1st.   After this news…kind of makes one go hmmmm…who’s in charge, the NHS or the insurers? 

United Healthcare Executive to Leave the US and Run the NHS in England-Big Data Math Models and Algorithmic Business Intelligence Formulas On the Move…All About Money…

“ScriptSwitch is installed in more than 7,500 GP practices, across over 160 NHS Clinical Commissioning Groups, NHS local health boards and NHS health boards throughout the United Kingdom.”

FTC Tries to Bring Strong Case for Consumer Protections With Use of Data–But Nothing About Creating IT Infrastructure Path to Allow Regulation–Gov Can’t or Won’t Model?

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Less than a week after the NHS was forced to postpone its huge GP and hospital record-sharing plan, it has emerged that a major insurance body bought more than a decade's worth of hospital data covering 47 million patients which, it was claimed, is to be used to help insurers refine their premiums.

The Staple Inn Actuarial Society said that data covering all hospital in-patient stays between 1997 and 2010 was used to track patients' medical histories, identified by date of birth and postcode, according to the Daily Telegraph.

The details were then reportedly combined with information from credit ratings agencies and used to advise insurance companies, resulting in increased premiums for most customers below the age of 50.

The news comes at a time of heightened sensitivity about patient record confidentiality after the postponement of the NHS's massive care.data scheme. The project, which would be the first time that the entire medical history of the nation had been digitised and stored in one place, has been put on hold for six months.

http://www.theguardian.com/society/2014/feb/24/hospital-records-nhs-patients-insurance

White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) and MIT Co-hosting Public Workshop - Big Data Privacy-Not Possible Unless We License and Excise Tax The Sellers, The Corporate Profit Epidemic Continues to Spread

You can’t really talk about privacy without addressing the “epidemic” we have of data selling. You can’t regulate it without knowing who all the players are and as citizens of the US, we are given no clue at all other than reading the news and that only scrapes the surface.  Little data figures in here as well as far as privacy as both lead to security breaches.  Look what happened about a week ago in the UK with a bank, Barclays selling all kinds of personal client information…they had everything, income, health data, etc. and it was rolling around from one broker to another. 

Barclays Brokers Caught Selling Confidential Data of Thousand of Clients–Whistleblower Exposes The Largest Detailed Information Bank Data Breach On Record, Information Included Health Information, Mortgages, Earnings and So On…Kind of Reads Like An Inside Job…

Senator Rockefeller recently sent letters to a number of data brokers. 

Senator Rockefeller Puts the Data Sellers on Notice–We Need to Index and License All Data Sellers to Include Banks, Insurers And Other Companies In Addition to the Data Brokers..

We have absolutely nothing as consumers with the exception of HIPAA for medical records in the US.  We have lawyers that work on the legal verbiage of laws while code and data run “hog ass wild” and banks and companies are racking in the billions selling data.  We can’t have any privacy without an index of who everyone is and a license would do that plus raise a little tax money as it’s only fair as we also are the “free labor” who has to fix flawed data as we are denied access to something and those selling our data know it and could care less about a lot of accuracy.

ANY PRIVACY LAWS THAT DO NOT INCORPORATE DATA SELLING IT INFRASTRUCTURES FOR REGUALTION ARE LAWS WITH NO BALLS AND DO NOTHING FOR CONSUMERS AND THAT’S ALL THAT WE HAVE SEEN.

FTC efforts so far…totally useless.

FTC “Reclaim Your Name Campaign” Not Good Enough–No Path for Regulation Identified–All Data Sellers Including Banks, Insurers, Etc. Should Be Required to Buy a License

Hope they accomplish something as time’s running out for the consumer and the data selling epidemic that substantiates lack of privacy continues to grow with nobody watching the show at all.  BD 

Data Dealer Game…

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The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) and MIT are co-hosting a public workshop entitled “Big Data Privacy: Advancing the State of the Art in Technology and Practice” on March 3, 2014. This event is part of a series of workshops on big data and privacy organized by the MIT Big Data Initiative at CSAIL and the MIT Information Policy Project.

This workshop is also the first in a series of events being held across the country in response to President Obama’s call for a review of privacy issues in the context of increased digital information and the computing power to process it.

The workshop will convene key stakeholders and thought leaders from across academia, government, industry, and civil society for a thoughtful dialogue on the future role of technology in protecting and managing privacy. We will concentrate on core technical challenges associated with big data applications and provide a theoretical grounding for privacy considerations in large-scale information systems. We will explore the state of the art in privacy-protecting technologies and discuss how they can be applied to a diversity of big data applications

http://web.mit.edu/bigdata-priv/

Samsung Galaxy S5 - Contains Heart Rate Hardware/Software

There’s not a lot that needs to be added here for comments..and this phone has Heart Monitor that you use your finger to get your rate. 

They also introduced a new watch…but will we wear it? 

It really is kind of funny to see the watch make another go at it as it’s been out before but consumers didn’t buy. 

The new phone is due out in April.  BD 

Samsung S5 Galaxy

 

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The things we are really into, so far...

• Display is a 5.1 Super Amoled screen with full HD
• 16 megapixel camera with real-time HDR
• Heart-rate monitor
• 12 hours of video playback
• It's water-resistant (NOT waterproof)

BIG CON: We have to wait six weeks for this thing. The Galaxy S5 won't hit stores until April 11 in nearly 150 countries.

http://mashable.com/2014/02/24/live-samsung-galaxy-s5/

LabCorp Buys Covance’s High Complexity Genomic Laboratory In Seattle

LabCorp did not buy the company, just the lab to be clear.  The services of the lab will continue to be of service to clients, so no change there.  In addition Covance was stopping work on it’s non finished site in Virginia and another location in Switzerland.  Seattle is the location of the lab purchased by LabCorp. 

LabCorp also purchased Medlab Indiana   facilities for a little over $10 Million as it was bankrupt and filed for re-organization with over $40 million in debt.  Cuts related to the Affordable Care Act were cited as part of the reasons that lead to bankruptcy with Medlab.  BD

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NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) – Laboratory Corporation of America Holdings has acquired Covance's high-complexity genomic laboratory for an undisclosed amount.

Additionally, the companies have entered into a five-year services agreement under which Covance and LabCorp will collaborate to continue offering the Seattle-based laboratory's services to clients.

LabCorp said in its LabCorp Clinical Trials Newsletter that the genomic analysis services offered by the Covance lab include gene expression studies, translational biomarker projects, and next-generation sequencing applications to support drug development work. Covance said it will provide other genomics services to its clients through its central laboratories.

http://www.genomeweb.com/clinical-genomics/labcorp-acquires-covances-high-complexity-genomic-laboratory

Tenet Faces Fraud Investigation from the DOJ And Posts Loss For 4th Quarter Related to Purchase of Vanguard Health System

Buying Vanguard was a big expenditure and they bought a big chunk of debt as well.  This is what accounts for the 4th quarter loss.  During the first quarter in 2013 Tenet lost $88 million, so they have been up and down. 

Tenet Healthcare Buys Vanguard Health for $1.8 Billion Cash and Assumes $2.5 Billion in Debt

Now we have the suit filed here, the result of a whistle blower for referral payments.  Admissions were down the 4th quarter as well they were pretty much across the US. 

In addition we have the CommonWell news that the hospital system will use their system to exchange records and will work with CommonWell on the next phase of “patient matching”…that one requires some real ass kicking algorithms so the group will be working on that for a few years.  The document query and retrieval services will show up long before the matching I believe.  A couple years ago Community Hospital System was trying to take over Tenet.  Tenet also has a couple of technology subsidiary companies. 

Tenet Subsidiary Conifer Health Solutions Buys MediHealth Outsourcing-Even Hospitals Are Becoming Software Factories Today Purchasing More Algorithmic Formulas–Subsidiary Watch

MED3OOO (Company with Tenet Analytics Joint Venture Solution) Acquires Insurance Solutions Group - Subsidiary Watch

In addition Tenet signed a new 2 year agreement with Aetna which also covers those with Coventry, which is also owned by Aetna.  The original lawsuit was filed in 2009 and Claims Florida Health management Associates entered into contracts that referred pregnant women in the US to hospitals operated by HMA and Tenet for kickbacks from Medicaid claims that were fraudulent in nature.  Four Tenet hospitals are involved along with one HMA hospital.  HMA recently by the way had to send money back to CMS as 11 of their hospitals did not meet Meaningful Use criteria.  A lot of Tenet news all at once.  BD

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A federal investigation into kickbacks allegedly paid by Tenet Healthcare Corp. marks the latest fraud inquiry involving the Dallas-based hospital giant over the last decade.

The disclosure this week comes as Tenet has tried to reshape its image and operations since 2006, when it reached a $900 million settlement, one of the largest ever, with the U.S. Justice Department to resolve fraud accusations.

The new investigation alleges that four Tenet hospitals in Georgia and South Carolina made improper payments in return for patient referrals. Both investigations also were triggered by whistle-blower lawsuits filed under the U.S. False Claims Act, leading federal authorities to intervene as plaintiffs.

The FBI said in its release that the hospitals paid kickbacks to obstetric clinics serving “undocumented Hispanic women.’’ The money was in exchange for providing labor and delivery services to the patients. The hospitals then falsely billed Medicaid for reimbursements tied to the procedures, the statement said.

http://www.dallasnews.com/business/health-care/20140220-federal-probe-latest-fraud-inquiry-involving-tenet.ece

Medical Billing Provides Best Practices.

Health information technology has verified itself to be the greatest support to physicians in taking full advantage of their proceeds.

Medical Billing Provides Best Practices

The beginning of medical billing services has considerably improved the achievement rate of claims by providers. Currently, approximately 95% of all claims give in to electronically be transformed into payments for providers.

Medical specialists have faced lots of problems like rejection of insurance payments and lower turnover challenged by physicians because of human made errors in the paper record system. This dilemma becomes more with the coding system and evolving billing. Medical billing consumes a bulk of energies and resources of practitioners who try to increase compensations. 

Practitioners must have a good set of practices for their highest return;

Front desk checking and exact entrances

An inaccuracy in the demographic information including age, gender, address, date of birth etc. of the patient can be the reason for rejection of payments. Now this is necessary to train your front desk officer to complete the compulsory fields carefully and always check the status of current insurance on the patients, perform pre-authorization and covered services.

Work on the reports of submission

Reports of submission can be used to authenticate about the claims plus the proof that they were submitted and received by customers. The reports also display about the claims if they were rejected and the reason behind the rejection. Go through these reports will empower you to encourage possible rejections as claims can be modified and resubmitted instantly. Any claims that do not belong to the payer can be examined and errors can be corrected as well.

Obey the principles

Bring up to date yourself with the latest improvements by staying on websites of health policy, keep in contact with your vendor and keep using your blogs to make sure that your system is fully accommodating with the modern advancements. Authenticate with your vendor of software as well as your insurance companies concerning about which form they are using and handle accordingly.

Real-time updates on returns

Unified health care technologies which include EMR, EHR and patient portal have delivered progressive ways of losing revenue cycle. These applications are influential in restructuring exact billing, coding, and processing of claims across systems by connecting facilities of health care with insurance companies, government agencies and patients.

 On the successful settlements, workers are informed and EHR applications update full operation history in suitable fields. If there is any payment remaining which is not enclosed by insurance, the physician’s practice can notify the patient through request payments and patient portal.

Audits on a quarterly basis

Examine the system after every 90 days and evaluate the ratio of bills which are rejected. The denials and rejections should be investigated to find a reason behind it. A plan should be invented to avoid refusals in the coming future such as a management strategy for denials. The claims should be monitored and resubmitted after setting. Search the areas which need to improve and then teach your billing staff.

Medical Billing Administrator

These roles reviews and if needs, so generate also the reports for giving the support to the medical billing workflow. This kind of report includes, daily, weekly, monthly and yearly tasks. The administrator is also responsible for the daily routine operations of the medical billing.

These are the basic rules which are followed by the medical service billing process which is ongoing and continuous. Medical billing services give different benefits as well as helping in different aspects to the physicians which includes;

•         Paid more and faster.

•        It gives benefits for the payer rules.

•        It provides time consuming work

•        It gains full authority to make better decisions according to the demand.