Healthcare IT News - November 2008 - (Page 4)

Healthcare IT News ■ November 2008 industry news www.HealthcareITNews.com spoke at a meeting of the Maine Healthcare Finance Management years, HealthInfoNet is poised to Association and the New England exchange lab results, radiology Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society results and encounter history. Maine’s statewide health infor- in South Portland, Maine, last mation exchange is slated to month. Assuming the first phase of go live at the end of November, HealthInfoNet Executive Director exchange goes well, clinician exchange will begin in May 2009, Devore Culver said. Culver, who called his work “a he said. This second phase, he said, Emdeon Healthcare IT News_HFN Ad_Nov08:Layout 1 adverse reactions quixotic management project,” would include 10/1/08 11:08 By BerNIe MoNegaIN, Editor SOUTH PORTLAND, ME – After three Maine to test statewide health data exchange Waterville, as well as and allergies, medication Martin’s Point Health Care, history, diagnoses, condiwith community clinics and tions and problems. offices in southern Maine, “It all gets tested in the and the Maine Centers for real world,” Culver said. Disease Control. Participating in the ini“The opportunities that tiative are Maine Medical this program offers through Center in Portland, Eastern Devore culver Maine Medical Center in Bangor, the electronic sharing of standardCentral Maine Medical Center ized, complete and accurate cliniin Lewiston and MaineGeneral cal and laboratory information will AM Page 1 Medical Centers in Augusta and contribute substantially to the pro- tection and promotion of Maine’s public health,” said Don Ward, director of public health systems for the Maine CDC. Culver said the organization has moved past a critical barrier. Not once have the participating entities said they didn’t want their data being seen by another, he said. “Patient data is not seen as competitive tools.” Under discussion, Culver said, is “what portion of the cost should the state of Maine bear for the public good.” “This raises a very interesting question of public utility vs. proprietary,” said David Howes, MD, president and CEO of Martin’s Point Health Care. “A public utility could have tremendous community value.” ■ More at HealthcareITNews.com e Connect: MaINe 1108 ● MaNos Continued from page 3 Taking care of the little things makes all the difference. We connect more providers to more payers than anyone else. But what really sets us apart is all the little things we do for both that make the business of claims and payments so much more efficient. Discover how Emdeon is changing the business of healthcare. Visit www.emdeon.com today. Simplifying the Business of Healthcare stakeholders who question AHIC’s record. Gary Dickinson, a consultant for CentriHealth and a member of several technical workgroups for the Healthcare Information Technology Standards Panel (HITSP), says AHIC has helped HITSP achieve interoperability only “point-to-point, comprising no more than the few milliseconds of interchange between sender and receiver. But in the end, we will need “robust end-to-end interoperability.” Other stakeholders say AHIC made a big mistake when it failed to include pharmacists and nurses on AHIC 2.0’s new board. John Glaser, CIO of Partners HealthCare in Boston and chairman of the AHIC 2.0 sustainability planning workgroup, said the idea was to “get the best people we could find,” not necessarily an even representation. Yet, Glaser said, “We have an ending slate representing a good variety.” Glaser said AHIC 2.0 is “packing a strong business case” to ensure its future. “We have done as much homework as we can up front to help move adoption forward,” he said. No one can predict the real fate of AHIC 2.0 under the next administration. As I write this column, we still don’t know who the next president will be. As many have said, it would be a shame and a waste to start over with another panel. With all the election promises to reduce government waste, it would fly in the face of the next administration. It wouldn’t, however, be a surprise to see change forced upon AHIC – as change was another battle cry strongly made by both candidates. ■ More at HealthcareITNews.com e Connect: MaNoS 1108 Patient Access Management • Claim Management • Remittance & Payment Distribution • Patient Billing & Payment e ● Connect: eMdeoN 1108 ● http://www.HealthcareITNews.com http://www.HealthcareITNews.com http://www.healthcareitnews.com/story.cms?id=10362 http://www.emdeon.com http://www.emdeon.com http://www.HealthcareITNews.com http://www.healthcareitnews.com/story.cms?id=10286 http://www.healthcareitnews.com/eConnect.cms?id=10310

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Healthcare IT News - November 2008

Healthcare IT News - November 2008 Contents $700M Strong PHR Power Stepping It Up Geo IT EMRs Go Rural HiMSS Insider: Making a Difference Home for the Blues Merge Amnesty Management Solutions: Outsourcing Appeal Clinical Toolkit: Enterprise PACS

Healthcare IT News - November 2008

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