New This Week on HealthIT.gov

In This Issue

New National Coordinator

We were delighted to welcome our new National Coordinator, Karen DeSalvo, as she formally took the reins of ONC on Monday, January 13. You may have heard that ONC traded a charismatic epidemiologist with earned street cred helping providers adopt and meaningfully use health IT in the Big Apple (and across the country), for a charismatic professor of medicine, NOLA health commish and National Health Service Corps alum who helped rebuild the delivery system and HIT infrastructure in the Big Easy literally from the ground up. Read more about the new National Coordinator, Dr. Karen DeSalvo in our newsroom.

Hitting the ground running, Dr. DeSalvo will bring some good news going into our Annual Meeting next week regarding physician adoption of EHRs. She penned her first blog post as the new National Coordinator reporting new findings in the latest report card on the EHR Incentive program.

New NAMCS Survey

The latest data from the CDC's National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey show that nearly 80% of office-based physicians used some type of EHR in 2013. Another survey found that almost exactly that many physicians polled found that EHRs "overall, enhanced patient care." These data are encouraging, but there is much more work to do. Please read the blog post about the new survey!

Annual Meeting

Speaking of the annual meeting, be sure to hear from Acting Surgeon General Boris Lushniak and Dr. DeSalvo and other surprise guests next week at the ONC Annual Meeting! Follow all the action on Twitter @ #ONC2014 or attend in person! Check out the agenda and we're looking forward to seeing you.

SAFER Guides

To advance our work on patient safety, ONC on Wednesday released the Safety Assurance Factors for EHR Resilience (SAFER) Guides. "There are nine SAFER Guides and each is designed to help care delivery organizations of all shapes and sizes conduct self-assessments of recommended practices in those areas we know are important to the safety and safe use of health information technology," Jacob Reider, MD, director of the Office of the Chief Medical Officer writes on the Buzz blog post.

Making Health IT Safer

In an effort to help organizations, providers and hospitals identify potential health IT hazards, we sponsored a webinar "How to Identify and Address Unsafe Conditions Associated with Health IT" Jan. 10. If you missed it, take some time to review the materials (your patients will thank you!).

Designated Test EHR Program

The CMS Designated Test EHR program launched, formally, earlier this week. The two pilot participants, McKesson and Meditech now are designated as “Test EHRs” and are available to providers for performing cross-vendor exchange to attest to Meaningful Use. We hope this is a good resource for you as you try and move toward interoperability.

Medication Adherence

ONC's Office of Policy and Planning released an issue brief providing an overview of medication adherence and how innovations in health IT can increase adherence rates to improve overall population health. This brief outlines activities supported by ONC and identifies opportunities for the expansion of consumer-based tools that encourage patient and caregiver participation in medication management and adherence.

Education & Outreach Case Study

Regional Extension Centers (REC), located in every region of the country, serve as a support and resource center to assist providers in EHR implementation and their Health IT needs.

Read more about how RECs are helping providers develop medical homes in thisMeaningful Use and Medical Homes Case Study. Meaningful Use of Health IT is a pivotal component of building a medical home because it helps providers coordinate care, provide more efficient health care, and improve patient outcomes. In this case study, four RECs – Wisconsin Health Information Technology Extension Center, Rhode Island REC, Oregon Health Information Technology Extension Center and Tri-State REC – share their experiences helping providers develop medical homes.

Learn more about REC Support for New Care & Delivery Models.