MN e-Health Update

Minnesota e-Health Update for the Week of April 2, 2012

 

Minnesota

Minnesota Certifies Two Health Data Intermediaries (HDI)

The Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) is pleased to announce the Commissioner of Health signed Orders on March 22, 2012, granting Certificates of Authority to ApeniMED and Surescripts authorizing both organizations to operate as Health Data Intermediaries (HDI), in Minnesota in accordance with the Minnesota Health Information Exchange Oversight Law, Minnesota Statutes sections 62J.498 – 62J.4982.

 

MDH appreciates all of the hard work and analysis provided by Minnesota’s Health Information Exchange (HIE) Oversight Review Panel as part of the review process and thanks the members of the public that offered comments during the review period. To review ApeniMED’s or Surescript’s applications to operate as a Health Information Exchange Service Provider visit http://www.health.state.mn.us/divs/hpsc/ohit/certified.html.

 

Free Webinar from REACH on Meaningful Use Stage 2 Proposed Requirements
The Regional Extension Assistance Center for HIT for Minnesota and North Dakota, REACH, will host a live webinar on Meaningful Use Stage 2 Proposed Requirements. Paul Kleeberg, MD, Clinical Director, will present the most important proposed changes and briefly describe some of the major concerns or issues that have been raised as providers and policy makers have been reviewing the NPRM.

Objectives
Participants will be able to:

•	Understand the proposed changes to Stage 1 that will occur starting in 2013, as well as the proposals for what Stage 2 will require.
•	Discover the timeline for the changes and how they will affect your organization.
•	Identify opportunities to have your voice heard in the national discussion around Stage 2 of the EHR incentive program.

 

When: Tuesday, April 17 at 12:00 pm CDT.

Register

Cost: The webinar is free for REACH clients and $50 for non-REACH clients.

Did you know…

For nursing homes in Minnesota with EHRs, the primary use of the EHR is for documentation including MDS assessment (99%), resident demographics (98%), etc. but at least 30% of nursing homes planned to start using the EHR for eMAR, CPOE for medications and CPOE for physician orders.

Source: MN e-Health Report: Nursing Homes, 2011, MN EHR Nursing Home Survey 

 

National

National eHealth Collaborative Releases “Health Information Exchange Roadmap: The Landscape and a Path Forward”
This Roadmap offers stakeholders a clear picture of efforts being undertaken by both the public and private sectors to create and implement the building blocks for widespread deployment of interoperable HIE. It also provides an understanding of how these diverse approaches fit together into a cohesive strategy for nationwide HIE and suggests a four phase roadmap to help HIE initiatives make progress and become sustainable.

*Minnesota note: Check out the new HIE Guidance resource for health and health care providers to find more specific information about the HIE landscape in Minnesota, http://www.health.state.mn.us/divs/hpsc/ohit/hieguidance/index.html. This resource will continue to be added to and updated throughout early 2012.

Study: Health Data Access Leads to Fewer Lab Test Orders
In a new study in the Archives of Internal Medicine, Doctors at Brigham and Women's and Massachusetts General hospitals cut their lab test orders by up to 53% after establishing a health information exchange that allowed each facility to access patient EMRs. The new data in this study contradict the findings of a recent Health Affairs study suggesting imaging and lab test orders were higher for office-based doctors with electronic access to test results, although researchers point out there are some key differences in the two studies that may explain the different results. 

Free Webinar: Connecting Healthcare Communities: Health IT for ACOs - Information for Analytics

The session will begin with a review of the analytic functions and data required by ACOs, followed by a focus on analyzing quality of care in a multi-institutional setting, and concluding with a look at the possibilities and challenges of mixing healthcare and claims data in an ACO. 

When: Thursday, April 5, 2012 from 2:00 - 3:30 pm CT

Register

Free Webinar: The Use of Natural Language Processing (NLP) to Improve Quality Measurement
The Department of Health and Human Service’s Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality will host a webinar to illustrate how new methods of analyzing free text data stored in electronic health records (EHRs) can impact quality measurement.  Participants will learn about the principles of NLP design and implementation; how NLP is used to operationalize the assessment of quality measurement in asthma care and how NLP is used in monitoring intensification of treatment for patients with diabetes.

When: April 11 from 1-2:30 p.m. CT
Register
For assistance: Contact Jennifer Webb at jrwebb@rti.org or (919) 541-6746. 

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This weekly update is intended to provide health related professionals with a Minnesota perspective on the e-health related news, and highlight some things you may want to think about now.

 

We welcome any feedback or suggestions you would like to offer on how we can improve our communications in the future. Please send any comments you have to MN.eHealth@state.mn.us.

 

The Minnesota e-Health Initiative is a public-private collaborative whose vision is to accelerate the adoption and use of electronic health records and other health information technology in order to improve health care quality, increase patient safety, reduce health care costs and improve public health. It is guided by a statewide advisory committee with 25 representatives from interested and affected stakeholders in health information technology.