Save the Date: Consumer Health IT Summit on 9/10/12

Save the Date: September 10, 2012 – Consumer Health IT Summit
Expanding Access to Health Information

Are you working to advance consumer access to health information? Last year 1,400 people tuned in to the Consumer Health IT Summit to hear about new public and private sector efforts to make health information more easily available to consumers and to engage them in using their data to improve their care and well being. This year we are celebrating the progress we've made together and preparing to take it to the next level with the 2012 Consumer Health IT Summit. Look for:

• Announcements about new policies and federal initiatives
• Examples of trailblazing companies that are enabling widespread consumer access to health information
• Compelling consumer tools that help people to make use of their data
• Creative approaches to motivate and support consumer engagement in health
• Exciting developments related to the "Blue Button"

The 2012 Consumer Health IT Summit will bring together federal leaders including: Todd Park, U.S. Chief Technology Officer and Farzad Mostashari, National Coordinator, Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, and inspiring leaders from the private and non-profit sectors. ONC’s Pledge Program has grown more than ten-fold since last year—the 2012 Consumer Health IT Summit is a chance to learn from and share your experiences with others who are leading the charge to empower consumers to be better partners in their health.

Details:
Monday, September 10, 2012
10:00AM – 3:30PM EDT
Hubert H. Humphrey Building
200 Independence Avenue S.W.
Washington, D.C., 20201

FNIH Announces New President

Dr. Maria Freire has been appointed as the President of the Foundation for the National Institutes of Health. Dr. Freire will begin her tenure on November 1, 2012.

Dr. Freire comes to the FNIH from the Albert and Mary Lasker Foundation, where she served as President since 2008. Prior to joining the Lasker Foundation, Dr. Freire served as President and CEO of the Global Alliance for TB Drug Development from 2001 to 2008, Director of the Office of Technology Transfer at the National Institutes of Health from 1995 to 2001, and led the Office of Technology Development at the University of Maryland at Baltimore and the University of Maryland Baltimore County from 1989 to 1995.

The recipient of numerous awards, including the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary's Award for Distinguished Service, The Arthur S. Flemming Award and The Bayh-Dole Award, Dr. Freire was also awarded a Fulbright Fellowship as well as two U.S. Congressional Science Fellowships.

Dr. Freire received her Bachelor of Science degree at the Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia in Lima, Peru and her PhD in Biophysics from the University of Virginia. She has also completed post-graduate work in immunology and virology at the University of Virginia and the University of Tennessee, respectively.

Hospital Ratings by Consumer Reports

Hospital ratings are now available through the popular Consumer Reports organization (that produces the same Consumer Reports Magazine). Hospital Ratings are based on survey responses from millions of patients, plus data on infections and readmissions. Take a look here and see what you think. The federal government provides patient experience and readmissions data on its Hospital Compare website.

Care Innovations Summit: Twitter Hashtag #cisummit

Leading voices in health care innovation will join CMS leadership at a unique event: The Care Innovations Summit in Washington D.C.

This event brings together representatives of health professions, the insurance industry, patient advocates, finance, and government to discuss ways they can collaborate to drive action towards better care and better health at lower cost through continuous improvement.

Registration to attend the event in person is now closed, but you don’t have to be there in person to engage the care innovations community.

Care Innovations Summit 2012

The Center for Medicare & Medicaid Innovation is co-hosting the first ever Care Innovations Summit, an HCI-DC event, on January 26, 2012, in Washington, DC in collaboration with the Office of the National Coordinator at HHS, The West Wireless Health Institute, and Health Affairs to facilitate dialogue and drive action towards the three-part aim.

When: January 2012
Where: Washington, DC
Twitter Hashtag: #cisummit

The Co-hosts

• Center for Medicare & Medicaid Innovation
• Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT
• The West Wireless Health Institute
• Health Affairs

Learn more about Care Innovations Summit 2012 here.

A simple "meaningful use" table that outlines and defines the core and menu set measures for EPs

When you search on the CMS website for information about the meaningful use of electronic health records (EHRs), you'll get bombarded by a ton of links (some which don't work) and 276 pages describing the meaningful use rules. When you look for consolidated information summarizing all the meaningful use requirements, you may quickly get frustrated. If you keep digging around, you may eventually find this PDF titled, "Eligible Professional Meaningful Use Table of Contents Core and Menu Set Measures."

This PDF includes hyperlinks that take you to specific definitions of terms. So, if you're confused about the definition of "clinical quality measures" or "clinical decision support rule," you'll find those definitions quickly and easily by using this PDF.

There are 15 core measures and 10 menu set measures for eligible professionals (EPs). Are you achieving meaningful use?

Are these cigarette warnings (proposed by the FDA) too graphic?

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) would like to use some graphic images to deter smoking. I think this is a great idea! Are these images too graphic? Will they deter people from smoking? What do you think?

Online health insurance finder tool

HeathCare.gov now offers an insurance finder tool that can help you get coverage. You can explore your coverage options and search your state for the best health plan that will suit your needs.

Find out which private insurance plans, public programs and community services are available to you. To access this insurance finder tool, visit: http://finder.healthcare.gov/

This tool will help you find the health insurance best suited to your needs, whether it's private insurance for individuals, families, and small businesses, or public programs that may work for you. It was created to help consumers under the health insurance reform law, the Affordable Care Act.

Under the new law, people who have been denied coverage due to a pre-existing condition and who have been uninsured for at least six months may qualify to buy insurance. Learn more about the plan.

My Family Health Portrait

My Family Health Portrait was originally developed in collaboration between the Office of the Surgeon General and the National Human Genome Research Institute, a part of the National Institutes of Health, Department of Health and Human Services.

Using My Family Health Portrait you can:

• Enter your family health history.
• Print your family health history to share with family or your health care worker.
• Save your family health history so you can update it over time.

As patients spend more time tracking their family medical history, the trends and patterns of genetic diseases will emerge and this will help scientists with the field of medical genomics (or genomic medicine). Speaking of genomic medicine, the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) has an article titled, "Genomic Medicine — An Updated Primer."

Live HHS webcast tonight about health care reform

This is from the AMA:

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act—health system reform legislation signed into law by President Obama on March 23—contains a number of key provisions for you and your patients. Some provisions may have an immediate impact on your practice and patients, while others will not take effect for some time.

Given the new direction for the nation's health system, the AMA has developed Health System Reform Insight to help you understand the new law and how it will affect you, when certain provisions are scheduled to take effect, how you can be ready when the regulations go into effect and what your patients need to know. The first two issues of the series explained how health system reform will affect physician practices and your patients (PDF). Today's issue contains details about an opportunity to get your questions answered directly about the implementation of the new health reform law. Tonight at 7 p.m. Eastern, you can participate in the first of a series of live weekly Web chats at www.hhs.gov/live, hosted by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), to gain a better understanding of the new health reform law.

You're invited: Online question-and-answer session tonight with HHS on health reform

All Americans have been invited to join top leaders from the HHS and across government tonight at 7 p.m. Eastern for the first in a series of weekly webcasts and discussions on the new health reform law. Broadcast live at www.hhs.gov/live, tonight's Web chat will center around the latest news on health insurance reform implementation and how it impacts your life. Small Business Administration Administrator Karen Mill will join HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius to talk about immediate benefits from the new law and answer any questions on health system reform.

Visit http://www.hhs.gov/live/ at 7 pm Eastern to participate in this live webcast.

FDA and FSIS to improve food safety

FDA NEWS RELEASE:

For Immediate Release: Nov. 5, 2009

Media Inquiries:
Michael Herndon, 301-796-4673, michael.herndon@fda.hhs.gov
Neil Gaffney, 202-720-9113, neil.gaffney@fsis.usda.gov
Consumer Inquiries: 888-INFO-FDA

FDA and FSIS Collaborate To Improve Tracing of Unsafe Food Products
The Goal is to Prevent or Mitigate Foodborne Illness

A joint public meeting focused on improving the system for tracing of food products and ingredients that are causing illness outbreaks or presenting other risks to the health of consumers was announced today by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).

Recognizing the need to increase the speed and accuracy of traceback investigations and traceforward operations, both agencies are building on existing efforts by seeking public input that would help identify elements of effective food product tracing systems, identify current gaps in food product tracing, and suggest specific mechanisms for improvements.

The meeting is also intended to improve the ability of FDA and FSIS to use the information in such systems to respond to outbreaks more quickly by rapidly identifying the source of contamination during outbreaks of foodborne illness, and improving the ability of all persons in the supply chain to more quickly identify food that is (or potentially is) contaminated and remove it from the market during traceforward operations.

“This public meeting provides an opportunity for FDA to collaborate more closely with FSIS as well as with members of the food industry, many of whom have been making important innovations in food safety practices and technology, and all of whom bear primary responsibility for producing and marketing safe food,” said Michael R. Taylor, senior advisor to FDA’s Commissioner Margaret Hamburg, M.D.

“The Food Safety and Inspection Service is eager to work with FDA, public health officials, consumer advocates, and the food industry to improve our ability to trace products that may cause illness outbreaks,” said Jerold R. Mande, USDA’s Deputy Under Secretary for Food Safety. “The public can provide valuable input to strengthen our prevention, surveillance and response and recovery efforts, as outlined by the Administration’s Food Safety Working Group (http://www.foodsafetyworkinggroup.gov/).” In March 2009, President Obama announced the formation of the Food Safety Working Group, and in July, President Obama released Key Findings, which highlight steps that FSIS, FDA, and other Federal Agencies are taking to improve food safety.

Food can become contaminated at many different steps in the supply chain. Experience in conducting foodborne disease outbreak investigations suggests that improved product tracing abilities could help identify products associated with disease more quickly, get risky products off the market faster, and reduce the number of sicknesses associated with foodborne illness outbreaks.

The FDA and FSIS share authority for helping to ensure the safety of the nation’s food supply. Each agency investigates foodborne illness outbreaks and other foodborne risks associated with the products they regulate. These investigations, conducted in close cooperation with the U.S. Centers of Disease Control and Prevention and state and local health and agriculture departments, often involve tracing backward or forward in the supply chain the distribution of food products and ingredients associated with risk to consumer health.

A traceback investigation is an investigation to determine and document the distribution and production chain, and the source(s), of contaminated (and potentially contaminated) food, often in the context of an outbreak of foodborne illness. A traceforward operation is an operation to determine the distribution of contaminated (and potentially contaminated) food.

The meeting will be held Dec. 9 and 10 in Washington at the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s South Building in the Jefferson Auditorium, 1400 Independence Avenue, SW, Washington, D.C., 20250.

Those interested in attending the public meeting can pre-register online at: http://www.fsis.usda.gov/News_&_Events/Meetings_&_Events/index.asp. Online pre-registration is preferred, but pre-registration can also be done by faxing registration information (including name, title, firm name, address, telephone number, e-mail address and fax number) to 1-877-366-3322 by Dec. 2. Pre-registration is strongly encouraged for all persons who wish to attend the meeting, regardless of whether they also wish to request an opportunity to make oral comments at the meeting on issues and questions described in the Federal Register notice.

For more information on food safety visit: www.foodsafety.gov

What does this national "H1N1 emergency" really mean?

President Obama declared a national H1N1 emergency because of the public health burden caused by the H1N1 pandemic. According to CNN:

"The 2009 H1N1 pandemic continues to evolve. The rates of illness continue to rise rapidly within many communities across the nation, and the potential exists for the pandemic to overburden health care resources in some localities," Obama said in a statement.

Are we as a national really prepared to deal with this outbreak? According to that same CNN story:

Obama's action allows Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius "to temporarily waive or modify certain requirements" to help health care facilities enact emergency plans to deal with the pandemic.

Now, what exactly does this mean? How much latitude do we have here? I suppose much of that will ultimately depend on the severity of the outbreaks. We're in a terrible situation here. We don't have any H1N1 vaccines. Many people still aren't immunized against the seasonal flu. H1N1 continues to spread and we recognize that we can't effectively stop that spread. Healthy people are getting very ill. Young children and teenagers are dying from H1N1. OK, it's really not that bad (yet), but it's only October!

My major concern is that so many people don't seem to recognize the serious nature of this public health emergency. There are many who are healthy and who have never experienced the flu. They can't imagine that a simple virus like the flu could be fatal.

Health Care Fraud Prevention and Enforcement Action Team (HEAT)

In a continuing effort to fight Medicare fraud, the Health Care Fraud Prevention and Enforcement Action Team (HEAT) was formed last year. The team costs of U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) officials. By leveraging advanced data analysis technology, HEAT has been identifying and prosecuting many types of Medicare fraud cases. I'm glad to see that the government is working hard to

The mission of TEAM is:

• To marshal significant resources across government to prevent waste, fraud and abuse in the Medicare and Medicaid programs and crack down on the fraud perpetrators who are abusing the system and costing us all billions of dollars.
• To reduce skyrocketing health care costs and improve the quality of care by ridding the system of perpetrators who are preying on Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries.
• To highlight best practices by providers and public sector employees who are dedicated to ending waste, fraud and abuse in Medicare.
• To build upon existing partnerships that already exist between the Department of Justice and the Department of Health and Human Services like our Medicare Fraud Strike Forces to reduce fraud and recover taxpayer dollars.
  

To learn more, visit: http://www.stopmedicarefraud.gov

Archived webcast: Preventing Medical Identity Theft and Medicare Fraud

If you missed the webcast last week (Preventing Medical Identity Theft and Medicare Fraud), you can view the archived webcast on your schedule. The weekend is always a nice time to catch  up on these types of things.

Medical identity theft and Medicare fraud are very important topics and it's great to see the government investing some resources into fighting these problems. If you're not sure how you can protect yourself or do your part to protect others, then you should view this webcast.

To access the HHS (U.S. Department of Health & Human Services) webcast, visit: http://www.hhs.gov/live/

Preventing Medical Identity Theft and Medicare Fraud

Did you catch the free webcast titled, "Preventing Medical Identity Theft and Medicare Fraud."

Medical identity theft occurs when someone steals your personal information (like your name, Social Security number, or Medicare number) to obtain medical care, buy drugs, or submit fake billings to Medicare in your name.

The HHS is fighting back and they had a live webcast today. They also have a free PDF brochure (click here to download) to help you fight medical identity theft and Medicare fraud. I'm glad to see that the government is investing some resources to inform consumers and healthcare professionals about this significant problem.

Report Fraud to the Inspector General.
email: HHSTips@oig.hhs.gov
Call: 1-800-HHS-TIPS / (1-800-447-8477) TTY: 1-800-377-4950

http://www.stopmedicarefraud.gov

New Food Safety Consumer Web Site

HHS and USDA Unveil New Food Safety Consumer Web Site at www.foodsafety.gov

Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Tom Vilsack, the co-chairs of the Obama Administration’s Food Safety Working Group, unveiled a new consumer Web site today at www.foodsafety.gov. The site is designed to help consumers and families get all the latest information on food safety and food recalls in one convenient place.

The new site will feature information from all the agencies across the federal government that deal with critical food and food safety information, including preventive tips about how to handle food safely, alerts on life-saving food recalls, and the latest news from the key agencies...

To read the entire press release, click here.

This is what happens if your health data gets breached

If your health data gets breached, do you know what could happen? So many patient records are becoming digitized as more providers and hospitals rely on electronic health records (EHRs) instead of paper medical charts. Recently, the Department of Health and Human Services issued new regulations regarding the notification of patients if their electronic health information gets breached. The FTC (Federal Trade Commission) also issued final rules about how consumers ought to be notified when electronic personal health record (PHR) information gets compromised.

We hear so many stories about hospitals, clinics, and health plans having problems with data security. Highly experienced can probably break into most hospitals and health plans and compromise health data.

Under the HITECH provisions within ARRA, the Department of Health and Human Services has to perform research on privacy, security and breach-notification requirements for PHR vendors. Let's see what happens with Google Health and Microsoft Health Vault. If you keep your personal health information online, do you feel confident that it's safe and secure?

Public health insurance option: not the essential element

A public health insurance option offered by the U.S. government is not the essential element in this healthcare reform debate. Both President Obama and Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius seem to be on the same page on this issue. However, Former Democratic Party Chairman Howard Dean, a physician and a former presidential candidate, argues that "A public option is the only way to guarantee health care for all Americans and its inclusion is non-negotiable." He has a petition here: http://standwithdrdean.com/

My gut tells me that we will eventually see a public insurance option here in the U.S.A. It's inevitable. I think that a public insurance plan will reflect many of the good and bad elements seen in Medicare and Medicaid. Sadly, I also think that many U.S. physicians will choose not to accept this new government-sponsored public health insurance option. Therefore, its real value may be in hospital admissions, ER visits, etc. I really hope I'm wrong and that most physicians choose to accept the public insurance option so that patients can receive medical care. Otherwise, the "in network" provider list will be awfully short.

If we really have the best health insurance in the world, what good is that fact if so many people don't have access to it? To view the CNN story that covers this issue, click here.

How can social media improve public health?

If I were back in school getting my MPH, I think I'd do my thesis on the topic of how social media can improve public health. I admit that I'm an early adopter and I love technology. As I see how consumers are embracing various social media outlets, I see a tremendous potential to improve public health through these different channels. The combination of health IT plus social media may revolutionize the world of healthcare if we recognize the potential and map out an appropriate strategy that utilizes all the major resources.

For instance, we know that consumers love to read blogs. Certain healthcare professionals also like to follow blogs. Blogs can be used to deliver key public health messages to the public.

In addition to blogs, we have tools like Twitter. Many bloggers use Twitter as a broadcast medium and I often wonder if Twitter will evolve and eventually replace traditional RSS feeds. Tweets that get retweeted can spread like a virus and circle around the planet faster than a viral email campaign. Did you know that the FDA, CDC, NIH, HHS, and WHO all have Twitter accounts?

Finally, we have social networking sites like Facebook, LinkedIn, Plaxo, and others. These social networking sites can be powerfully leveraged to communicate important public health messages.

So, whether you're talking about a swine flu pandemic alert, an FDA drug recall, a food alert, a drug safety alert, or any other type of public health alert, the use of social media combined with health IT resources will be an effective way to improve public health if the right people jump onboard and plan things appropriately.

Health IT and Social Media

Have you had a chance to explore Ozmosis yet? Like Sermo, Ozmosis is an online community of U.S. physicians.

Ozmosis is co-hosting a Symposium on Thursday, July 16th entitled, "Driving Health IT Through Innovations in Social Media." They have a group of speakers from the CDC, FDA, HHS, NIH and the private sector who will demonstrate the success of and lessons learned from existing social media programs in the federal, state and private health sectors. Here are the details:

Thursday, July 16, 2009 (8:00am - 11:45 am)

Amplify Public Affairs
919 18th Street, NW
10th Floor
Washington, DC

This event is hosted by these groups:

• Amplify Public Affairs is the next generation in public affairs, leading the way in the integration of new media and traditional communications strategies.
• Clinovations is an organization dedicated to providing advisory services and management consulting to healthcare delivery systems, national associations and government organizations.
• Ozmosis, the Trusted Physician's Network, is the professional application of a social network that enables verified, U.S. licensed physicians to exchange medical knowledge.

Visit: http://www.socialmediahit.com