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Author Archives: glaffel
Physicians, Nurses and the Coming Transformation of our Healthcare System
Last week, we highlighted an unintended consequence of the Affordable Care Act: it will dramatically worsen an already gaping mismatch between the demand for and the supply of physician services in the US. Put simply, there aren’t enough white coats out there to care for 32 million Americans who will obtain health insurance coverage for the first time as a result of the new law. It’s not even close. We also speculated that the recommendations made by the American Association… read more >
Health Reform and the Physician Shortage
The Affordable Care Act is the most important piece of federal health care legislation since the Social Security Act established the Medicare program in 1965. It assures that 32 million Americans will gain access to health insurance for the first time. But who will care for these people? Our health care system had been plagued by a severe and worsening physician shortage even before the new law was passed. In fact, a 2008 study by the Health Resources and Services… read more >
Posted in Certified EMR, Health Policy
Tagged CCHIT, certification, EHR adoption, ONCHIT
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ObamaCare and Death Panels For Granny
Last summer, some opponents of President Obama’s health reform bill set off a firestorm with claims that the proposed overhaul would include government-run death panels that would “pull the plug on Granny” if she ever came to require costly, end-of-life care. Collateral damage from the scurrilous attacks included the jettisoning of proposed legislation that would have covered physician consultations for Medicare beneficiaries about end-of-life issues like hospice benefits, living wills and so forth. Remarkably, some of the misperceptions created during… read more >
What are the RECs Thinking?
The HITECH Act authorized the Office of the National Coordinator (ONC) to establish and fund a network of Regional Extension Centers (RECs) whose job it is to help providers become meaningful users of electronic health records. The ONC subsequently awarded $643 million in grants to 60 RECs and charged each one to assist at least 1,000 primary care providers, especially those who work in solo or small group practices. HITECH also mandated the formation of a Health Information Technology Research… read more >
ONC Appoints Two EMR Certification Bodies
This Monday, the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) announced that it had designated two organizations, Drummond Group, Inc., and the Certification Commission for Health Information Technology (CCHIT) to serve as Authorized Testing and Certification Bodies (ONC-ATCBs). The announcement effectively ended CCHIT’s longstanding monopoly on the EMR certification process. It created a market for certification services in which these two organizations, and perhaps others to be designated later, compete on price and service. With the announcement,… read more >
Posted in EHR Adoption, Health Topics, Meaningful EMR Use, Public Health
Tagged Public Health
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