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May 2006 News ArchivesMay 25, 2006 22 States Join National Health Information Privacy and Security Collaboration Twenty-two states have signed agreements to join a national collaborative effort to address the privacy, security, and exchange of health information between states and US territories. Twelve additional states and US territories are expected to sign agreements within two weeks. The privacy and security project is a component of the Department of Health and Human Services' (HHS) strategy to identify variations in privacy and security practices and laws affecting electronic clinical health information exchange, develop best practices and propose solutions to address identified challenges, and increase expertise about health information privacy and security protection in communities. May 25, 2006 House Subcommittee Approves HIT Bill The House Ways and Means Health subcommittee on Wednesday voted 8 to 5 along party lines to approve legislation that would promote healthcare IT adoption, improving chances that a healthcare IT bill could pass in the House, reports Healthcare IT News. The bill (HR 4157), sponsored by subcommittee Chair Nancy Johnson (R-CT), will now move to the full House Ways and Means Committee for a vote. The Senate late last year passed S 1418, a bipartisan bill aimed at encouraging healthcare IT adoption. Any House bill that passes would have to be reconciled with the Senate version to pass. House Democrats on the subcommittee all opposed HR 4157, saying the bill does not set a date for standards adoption, adequately fund providers' healthcare IT purchases or go far enough to protect patient privacy. May 25, 2006 AHA, Healthcare Groups Call for Adoption of ICD-10 The American Hospital Association (AHA) and four other healthcare associations yesterday issued a statement endorsing the adoption of the ICD-10 coding system by October 2009, saying the updated system is necessary to accurately track, identify and analyze new medical services, technologies and emerging public health threats, reports AHA News. The groups urged Congress to move quickly toward the adoption of ICD-10, which is being considered by the House under HR 4157, the Health Information Technology Promotion Act of 2005. Their statement outlines the benefits and readiness of ICD-10 and addresses several claims regarding perceived implementation obstacles and fraud implications. The groups said October 2009 deadline set forth in HR 4157 "reflects a realistic compromise between the demand for better data and the time needed to complete the transition." May 17, 2006 AHIC Approves Recommendations for Advancing Health IT Priorities The American Health Information Community (AHIC) yesterday approved a set of recommendations for achieving widespread adoption of electronic health records and portable personal health records, as well as use of IT to improve chronic care and public health, reports AHA News. Developed by the panel's four work groups, the recommendations identify areas where standards are needed, such as where the federal government can advance the adoption of standards through its own health programs and contracts, and where new or modified policies are needed, for example, to address aspects of HIPAA. May 12, 2006 Group Backs ID Standards Work The Healthcare Administrative Simplification Coalition has endorsed efforts to implement patient ID card standards, reports Health Data Management. The coalition of more than 20 industry stakeholders is supporting an initiative of the Workgroup for Electronic Data Interchange (WEDI) to develop guidelines for implementing ID card standards developed by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI). The Healthcare Administrative Simplification Coalition was formed by the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP), American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA) and Medical Group Management Association (MGMA). May 9, 2006 Nine States to Participate in RHIO Project Nine states will participate in a Department of Health and Human Services-sponsored project to identify best practices for state-level regional health information organizations (RHIOs), reports Federal Computer Week. The nine states are California, Colorado, Florida, Indiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Tennessee and Utah, the Foundation of Research and Education of the American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA) announced yesterday. May 4, 2006 AHA Releases Health IT Resource for Hospitals A report released last week by the American Hospital Association (AHA) explores the risks, benefits and lessons learned by hospitals and health systems that have started or implemented health information exchange initiatives in their communities, reports AHA News. Based on the lessons learned by early innovators, the report offers guidance to executives as they contemplate whether to join a health information exchange effort and how to maximize the benefits of participation. May 4, 2006 IT Security Checklist Focuses on Consequences of Breaches A small office of the the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has released a draft cybersecurity checklist intended to help enterprises focus on the real-world consequences of security breaches, reports Government Computer News. The US Cyber Consequences Unit (USCCU) was created by DHS to provide analysis of economic and strategic consequences of cyberattacks on critical infrastructure and to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of countermeasures. The problem is that existing best practices are static lists based on outdated data. The new USCCU list shifts the focus from perimeter security to monitoring and maintaining internal systems. May 4, 2006 AHIMA Survey Shows Need for Renewed Focus on Privacy Efforts The number of hospitals and health systems achieving significant compliance with HIPAA privacy regulations has dropped slightly in the last year, to 85 percent in 2006 from 91 percent in 2005, according to a survey released last month by the American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA). The majority of respondents – 55 percent – cited a lack of sufficient resources as the most significant barrier to full privacy compliance. May 3, 2006 NIST Releases Standards for Security Logs The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) released technical guidelines on how federal agencies, which must comply with a growing number of legislative requirements such as HIPAA, should manage security logs, reports Federal Computer Week. The guidelines cover log generation, transmission, storage, analysis and disposal. The guidelines include suggestions for creating a log management policy, prioritizing log files and creating a centralized log management infrastructure to include all hardware, software, networks and media. View NIST Special Publication 800-92: "Guide to Computer Security Log Management" (PDF). May 3, 2006 BCBS Leaders Call for EHR Databases Leaders of local BlueCross BlueShield (BCBS) health plans at a meeting in Washington, DC, on Monday called for the creation of uniform electronic health record (EHR) databases to improve communication between doctors and patients, reports iHealthBeat. BCBS plans in Louisiana, New Jersey and Alabama already have begun efforts to establish EHRs, panelists said. But despite their support for a national EHR system, BCBS Association officials have expressed concerns about some efforts in Congress to encourage the use of health information technology. For example, BCBSA and other organizations do not agree with one bill (HR 4167) proposing an October 1, 2009, deadline to transition all payers and providers to a new billing code system to ensure security. May 3, 2006 CMS Begins Batch Processing of NPIs Beginning May 1, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announces the capability for health industry organizations to submit healthcare providers' applications for National Provider Identifiers (NPIs) to the National Plan and Provider Enumeration System (NPPES) via electronic file interchange (EFI). With EFI, a CMS-approved health industry organization can submit a healthcare provider's NPI application data, along with the application data of many other healthcare providers, in a single electronic file in a CMS-specified format. EFI is an alternative to healthcare providers having to apply for their NPIs via the web-based or paper application process. After the NPPES processes a file, it makes available to the organization a downloadable file containing the NPIs of the enumerated healthcare providers. Interested health industry organizations should view the EFI materials available from the CMS NPI page May 1, 2006 ID Law Stirs Passionate Protest in NH The New Hampshire state legislature is poised to formally reject the Real ID Act, a new federal plan to overhaul the issuing of driver's licenses, which is aimed at screening out terrorists and illegal immigrants, but has been criticized as a logistical nightmare and the beginning of a national ID card, reports the Washington Post. As a political circus has unfolded in Concord, everyone has been paying attention. "Everybody's watching," said Jim Harper at the Cato Institute in Washington, who objects to the new rules as a federal intrusion into personal privacy.
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