New This Week on HealthIT.gov

In This Issue

• New Emergency Preparedness Video
• ONC at Health Datapalooza
• QDM 4.0 Update
• Join an ONC Advisory Committee
• Week of June 2 Advisory Committee Schedule
• LTPAC HIT Summit
• New Health IT Courses
• Listening session on privacy of drug/alcohol patient data
• Primary Care Symposium on Aging

New Emergency Preparedness Video

With everything you're doing it may have escaped you that this was Hurricane Preparedness Week (fear not, you still have Shark Week to look forward to in August). Anyway, we have released a new video and resources webpage. Dr. Karen DeSalvo explains the importance for health care providers to make sure patient information is available in an emergency. Whether it is a tornado, flood, hurricane or power outage, when a disaster strikes it's critical to be prepared.

In an emergency, every minute counts. Preparing for an emergency is part of providing patient care and will give both providers and patients piece of mind. Check out the video and the other resources that are available across HHS.

ONC at Health Datapalooza

If you are planning on attending the Health Datapalooza June 1st, 2nd and 3rd in Washington, D.C., make sure you stop by the ONC Booth (Booth #615). ONC's own Dr. DeSalvo and Dr. Reider, along with a whole host of other ONC folks, will be participating throughout the conference. Make sure you stop by and say "hey!"

QDM 4.0 Update

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, in conjunction with ONC, released the Quality Data Model (QDM) 4.0 earlier this month.

The QDM describes clinical concepts in a standardized format to enable electronic clinical quality measurement. The model is the backbone for representing criteria used in quality measures that are currently used by stakeholders involved in electronic quality measurement development and reporting.

QDM 4.0 updates the December 2013 Version and provides enhanced methods for measure developers to build eClinical Quality Measures (eCQMs) in preparation for Meaningful Use Stage 3. Specifically, QDM 4.0 features a restructured document layout, re-introduction of operator definitions, and new operators, listed below. Support for these features is expected in the next release of the Measure Authoring Tool (MAT).

Visit http://www.healthit.gov/quality-data-model for more information. For questions, please contact qdm@mitre.org .

Join an ONC Advisory Committee

Want to make a difference in Health IT? Sign up for one of our Health IT Policy or Standards Committees' workgroups. Read how you can get involved and share your expertise to help shape health IT policy! Read our latest blog post!

Federal Advisory Committee Schedule Week of June 2

• Tuesday
  The Health IT Policy Committee's Quality Measures Workgroup holds a meeting at 12:30 p.m. (all times are EDT). Watch for the agenda and meeting materials.
• Friday The HITPC's Certification/Adoption Workforce subgroup meets at 1 p.m.

LTPAC HIT Summit

Join the LTPAC Health IT Collaborative from June 22-24th, 2014 for their 10th Annual LTPAC Health IT Summit at the Hyatt Regency in Baltimore, MD. Our very own Dr. David Hunt, medical director for Health IT Adoption & Patient Safety, will be providing the keynote on where the Long-Term and Post-Acute Care (LTPAC) community can find opportunities to advance continuity of care and help to reduce hospital readmissions through the use of health IT.

New Health IT online courses!

We have a number of courses to help health care providers and their office staff use and optimize the health IT tools they are using in their offices. The Health Informatics 101 course will help to enhance competencies in health information technology, particularly for the design, configuration, use, and maintenance of informatics interventions that can improve health care delivery.

The Health IT Foundations for IT Professionals Certificate Program is composed of three courses, each 11-12 weeks long. They include Healthcare Fundamentals, Health IT Data Standards, and Health IT Application.

The Health IT Foundations for Physician Practices program is designed to equip physician practices to help them meet Meaningful Use criteria and to increase staff capacity for the design, configuration, use, and maintenance of electronic health records systems.

Listening session on privacy of drug/alcohol patient data

To get your take on potential changes to the confidentiality of Alcohol and Drug Abuse Patient Records Regulations (42 CFR Part 2.) the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration (SAMHSA) announced a public listening session which will be held in Rockville, Maryland on Wednesday, June 11, 9:30 am to 4:30 pm, EDT. If you can't make it Rockville, the listening session will also be webcast.

Read more in the Federal Register about SAMHSA's efforts. Questions? E-mailPrivacyRegulations@SAMHSA.hhs.gov

Primary Care Symposium on Aging

The theme for this year's symposium on aging, sponsored by the National Center for Health and the Aging and featuring our own Fadesola Adetosoye, is "Cornerstones for Improving Senior Health Outcomes: Outreach, Enrollment and Community Partnership."Sign up for the event, which kicks off June 9 in Alexandria, Virginia.