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July 2006 News ArchivesJuly 27, 2006 E-Prescription Provider Breach Exposes Hospital Patient Data Georgetown University Hospital suspended a trial program with an electronic prescription-writing firm last week after a computer consultant stumbled upon an online cache of data belonging to thousands of patients, reports Wired News. The leaked information included patients' names, addresses, Social Security numbers and dates of birth, but not medical data or the drugs the patients were prescribed. The hospital had securely transmitted the patient data to e-prescription provider InstantDx. But an Indiana-based consultant accidentally discovered the data on InstantDx's computers while working to install medical software for a client. The breach highlights the liabilities of sharing private medical records with third parties as the industry crawls toward electronic record keeping. Read Wired News' article, "E-Health Gaffe Exposes Hospital." Read Computerworld's blog, "Electronic Prescription Security Breach." July 26, 2006 Report: E-Prescribing Could Reduce Drug Errors In a report released July 20, the Institute of Medicine found that illegible handwriting on prescriptions and the medication errors it causes injure at least 1.5 million annually. The Institute, which advises the government on health issues, recommends that all health providers and pharmacies install electronic prescribing systems by 2010. According to Health Data Management, observers say the Institute's call for all prescribers and pharmacies to be using electronic prescription software by 2010 isn't likely to happen. Read the San Francisco Chronicle's article, "Report: Drug Errors Injure More Than 1.5M." Read USA Today's editorial, "Rx for medication errors?" Read Health Data Management's article, "Experts: E-Script Goal Unrealistic." July 25, 2006 CMS to Test Feasibility of E-Personal Health Records The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) is seeking proposals for a feasibility test to transport Medicare claims data information into personal electronic health records (EHRs) for its beneficiaries, reports Government Computer News. The feasibility test is a first step toward letting Medicare beneficiaries engage directly in their medical care through easy access to their medical information, CMS said in its request for proposals. Besides testing functionality, CMS also wants to know about the business and operational aspects of data exchanges, including procedures for access, authorization for disclosures, authentication and reporting. July 25, 2006 CMS to End HIPAA Contingency Plan for Remittance Advice A year after ending its contingency plan for HIPAA Transactions and Code Sets (TCS) non-compliant inbound claims (transaction 837), the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) will terminate its contingency plan for non-compliant electronic remittance advice (transaction 835), reports AIS Health. After October 1, all electronic transactions must be in American National Standards Institute (ANSI) X12 format to be considered HIPAA-compliant. CMS announced the end to the contingency plan for remittance advice in a June 29 MLN Matters article (SE0646). July 21, 2006 EMR Products Get Government Approval & Mixed Reaction The first electronic medical records (EMR) products to win government approval were announced this week, a step toward encouraging doctors to switch Read USA Today's article, "Medical Record E-Devices Get Government Approval." Read Health Data Management's article, "Certification: Good Step or Fluff?" July 17, 2006 Federal ID Mandate Tests Health Insurers Ten years after HIPAA became a federal law, health insurers are scrambling to make changes to their IT systems in order to comply with one of its last major requirements: the ability to process claims and other electronic transactions using standardized ID numbers for doctors and hospitals. But insurers' efforts to ready their systems are being hampered by the sluggish pace at which many health care providers are adopting the new numbers, IT executives at more than a half-dozen Blue Cross and Blue Shield health plans said last week, reports Computerworld. July 17, 2006 SHARP & CMS Offer Free Teleconferences on NPI, E-Prescribing & EHRs The Southern Healthcare Administrative Regional Process (SHARP) and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Regions IV and VI are sponsoring the following free teleconferences. Please call 877-203-0044 fifteen minutes prior to conference start time and provide the conference ID number.
July 11, 2006 NCVHS Observes 10 Years of HIPAA Lessons Learned The National Committee on Vital and Health Statistics (NCVHS), an advisory body to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), recently sent a letter to Secretary Leavitt on lessons learned from HIPAA in the 10 years since the landmark legislation was passed. The letter provides some preliminary observations and recommendations on the implementation and impact of HIPAA. Additional information and recommendations on HIPAA implementation will be included in NCVHS' annual HIPAA report, due later in the year.
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