This Week's News on HealthIT.gov

This Week's News on HealthIT.gov

Good afternoon! If you went to Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society conference in New Orleans, welcome back to your day job – or to your weekend.
A few of the hot items from the week included a pair of new ONC data briefs on hospital adoption of health information technology. One deals with acute-care hospital adoption rates to meet meaningful use and the other on overall adoption rates of these hospitals.
One table that was widely discussed shows the percentage of non-federal acute care hospitals with computerized capabilities to meet selected Meaningful Use objectives, five of which passed 80 percent in 2012:

• Active Medication Lists (87%),
• Clinical Decision Support Rule (87%),
• Drug Interaction Checks (85%),
• Clinical Summaries (81%) and
• Advanced Directives (80%).

The sixth data point, by the way, was to Maintain Medication Lists, and it missed the 80 percent benchmark by a smidge: 78%.

The second databrief was also widely talked about and focused on overall adoption rates. One interesting nugget: the percent of hospitals possessing a certified EHR jumped by 18 percent between 2011 and 2012 – that is from 72% to 85%.
Health IT Success Stories

Learn more about Health IT for Critical Access Hospitals (CAHs) and other small rural hospitals on HealthIT.gov.

• What are the benefits of Health IT in rural settings?
• See how HHS and its Federal and private sector partners and grantees are helping CAHs, rural hospitals and other rural health care providers overcome barriers to Health IT adoption.
• Information and quick links about CAHs and rural health under the CMS EHR incentive program.

Consumer Innovation Challenge results

If you are interested in “ground-breaking approaches to consumer engagement via health IT” we have something for you: the final report on the Consumer Innovation Challenge.
This week, ONC published a 23-page report by the HIE co-op programs in Georgia, Indiana, Montana, and Nebraska to highlight what patient engagement strategies are working via health information technology.
Soup to nuts, the report includes details about the “implementation and approach, dissemination strategy, and future plans for each of the Consumer Innovation Challenge projects.”
Join the Vanguard Program & Get On the Map!
Those of you who act as vanguards or champions in your local community are formally invited to become Meaningful Use Vanguards (MUVers) – that is providers, office staff, and/or administrators who strive to make Meaningful Use meaningful in your organizations and act as local champions of Health IT.

If you are already acting in your community to champion the use of HIT to achieve better health, better healthcare and to help control costs, why not help us spread the word?

“We want all providers to be empowered to be an active voice in their communities, which not only can shed light onto how they are making Meaningful Use meaningful, but also give tangible tips that can apply in other practices. By working together locally, we hope to accelerate meaningful use achievement on a national level and continuously build upon meaningful use—this can include care coordination, practice transformation, and many other initiatives which help providers deliver better care, better health, and, ultimately, control cost,” Lisa-Nicole Danehy, who is coordinating the Vanguard program for ONC, said.

The first class of Health IT Vanguards will be announced in Spring 2013, so stay tuned. In the meantime, Tell Your Story today and Get On the Map!

Infographic

Just another quick plug for our new infographic, which helps tell a little bit of the story about how health-care providers are using electronic health records. One highlight: 40 percent of all primary care providers are working with Regional Extension Centers to achieve Meaningful Use. This is just one of the data points, so just check out our new infographic at healthIT.gov for the complete picture.