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Hiring 2 Salesman Great, Show Me The Money?
CMS: Providers Scheduled for MU2 Can Attest Again to MU1 in 2014
A proposed rule published Tuesday would give providers more flexibility in attesting to meaningful use during the 2014 reporting period.
Under the proposed rule, providers that were not able to fully implement 2014 Edition certified EHR technology in time to successfully attest to meaningful use would be able to use 2011 Edition CEHRT a combination of 2011 and 2014 Edition to attest to either stage 1 or stage 2. Providers would also be able to attest to meaningful use under the 2013 reporting year definition and use 2013's clinical quality measures.
"Increasing the adoption of EHRs is key to improving the nation's healthcare system and the steps we are taking today will give new options to those who, through no fault of their own, have been unable to get the new 2014 Edition technology, including those at high risk, such as smaller providers and rural hospitals," said Karen DeSalvo, MD, the national coordinator for health IT, in a statement.
For the 2015 reporting period, all providers would have to use 2014 Edition CEHRT.
Many industry organizations have called on CMS and ONC to increase the flexibility of the meaningful use program, calls that increased after CMS announced just four hospitals had attested to stage 2 during the first half of the 2014 reporting period. Concerns about vendor readiness and delays in the delivery of 2014 Edition CEHRT were often cited as significant barriers to successful attestation.
The proposed rule would also formalize the previously announced extension of meaningful use stage 2 through 2016.
"We have seen tremendous participation in the EHR incentive programs since they began," said CMS Administrator Marilyn Tavenner in a statement. "By extending stage 2, we are being receptive to stakeholder feedback to ensure providers can continue to meet meaningful use and keep momentum moving forward."
http://www.beckershospitalreview.com/healthcare-information-technology/cms-providers-can-use-2011-edition-ehrs-in-2014.html
you got it
The lawsuit is his personal business. It does not concern or involve the company, MMRF, MMRGlobal, Inc. or MYMedicalRecords in any way, shape or form.
Once again misleading post & information here.
Thanks Mick, but I & I'm sure like many out here don't read charts. Please tell us what the chart is saying to you? Thanks.
Yes it is, the reason for the current lawsuit is based on this.
The USDA matter started in 2008, ended in 2012/13 and now BL is suing for his damages. The judge ruled 3 times in BL's favor and now its time to recoup damages, Litigation takes time.
But what does that have to do with MMRF? If anything it shows he is not only a winner but he will come to claim what is his.
I like it, go BL & MMRF!
Boyardee's, have a wonderful & safe holiday weekend.
Morning BJ77, if you thought the AOL story was nice.... I recently came across this on U-Tube.
Bob Lorsch & Bella the Rescue Dog
In May 2001 Bella was diagnosed with Cancer. The Los Angeles Fire Department could not pay to treat her.
http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=youtube%2c+lorsch+wayst&FORM=VIRE1#view=detail&mid=08D674551F82BA74263C08D674551F82BA74263C
I'd like to see the reply if you don't mind?
Here is a link to the results of the lawsuit case being mentioned out here.
Please note from the beginning the judge quote's
I further find that Robert H. Lorsch, while an agent of a regulated party for limited purposes, did not commit, on his own behalf, or as an agent, any violations of the Animal Welfare Act.
The Shifting Patient and Provider Dynamic: Evolution of Patient Care – Breakaway Thinking
The following is a guest blog post by Carrie Yasemin Paykoc, Senior Instructional Designer at The Breakaway Group (A Xerox Company). Check out all of the blog posts in the Breakaway Thinking series.
The relationship dynamic between patient and provider is shifting. Providers are no longer viewed as the sole investigator and lone decision maker. This societal shift is a result of changing social and regulatory pressures: increased self-empowerment, government regulations and incentives aimed at patient-centric care, access to care through the Affordable Care Act, and access to internet and application-based self-diagnostic tools. For many patients, being able to access their own information and results is now an expectation and in some cases a necessity to save lives. There are many applications, search engines, and patient portals that allow patients to quickly evaluate symptoms, learn about possible causes, and find appropriate medical facilities. For a patient with heart attack or stroke symptoms, these tools can reduce complications and potentially save his or her life.
With access to this type of medical information, providers are no longer seen as veiled mystical healers; they need to commiserate with their patients to achieve the best clinical outcomes. Physician leaders are also echoing this sentiment. CT Lin, MD CMIO at the University of Colorado Hospital & Health Sciences Center presented “The Man Behind the Curtain” at the 2013 Breakaway Group’s Healthcare Forum. This event brought together 100 influential healthcare executives for discussions and presentations around optimizing healthcare IT adoption. During CT Lin’s presentation he expressed the importance of sharing real-time results with patients. By sharing health data CT Lin found a direct correlation between improved patient engagement and clinical outcomes.
At the University of Colorado Hospital, CT Lin conducted his own research initiative to demystify the man behind the curtain with a program called, “We Make Mouse Calls.” The study was modeled after a similar research project at Yale University and evaluated patient communication and perception of overall care. Over the course of six months, 300 patients utilized an online messaging system for prescription refills, specialist referrals, and appointments. After six months, patients were surveyed about their experience. Patient satisfaction with providers dramatically improved amongst this group- 86 percent of patients expressed improvement in communication and care. Patients felt very satisfied and empowered with direct access to their providers. In contrast, a control group of patients who were not privy to the online messaging system expressed marginal satisfaction with their provider before and after the six-month period.
Years later, CT Lin took his research a step further by releasing real-time results to patients using the Hospital’s online platform. Patients were provided some guidance on what results would be available and the normal parameters for these results. The implications of this study were quite profound. By sharing real-time results with their patients, they noted increased patient trust and empowerment, increased understanding of their condition(s), and an increased adherence to their treatment. With the curtain pulled back and the data revealed providers were able to directly improve clinical outcomes.
Healthcare providers must embrace the shifting dynamic of patient care. Access to clinical data is no longer a privilege of earning an esteemed medical degree. It is now a requirement of providing and receiving care in a patient-centric model. Providers and patients that do not adapt may continue to experience lower clinical outcomes than those that evolve. At the risk of becoming extinct, providers have no other option than to adapt this this model.
To view CT Lin’s presentation from the 2013 Healthcare Forum click the following link: http://vimeo.com/67149315.
Xerox is a sponsor of the Breakaway Thinking series of blog posts.
http://www.hospitalemrandehr.com/2014/05/21/the-shifting-patient-and-provider-dynamic-evolution-of-patient-care-breakaway-thinking/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+HospitalEMRandEHR+%28Hospital+EMR+and+EHR%29
Walgreens, Cerner & others would not be joining up with MMRF unless it was reputable.
I am not wrong. People will purchase a PHR subscription from a reputable corporation.
No I didn't know anything about it, have to check it out. Signing off here anything else I'll email you & the guys.
I have a strong sneaking idea RiteAid will be 1 of the next 2 signed settlements.
Oh your wrong. People pay now for App's they use on their phones & computers they do not actually hold & touch. And that's what MMRF is.
Pharmacy Chains Continue to Blur the Line
Anyone questioning whether retail pharmacies want to become big players in the healthcare game should take a look at their recent clinical and technological moves. Since the beginning of 2014:
• The two largest retail pharmacy companies in the nation, Walgreen Co. and CVS Caremark, joined with three former U.S. senators, five telehealth companies, plus Verizon Communications, health insurance giant WellPoint, medical device-maker Welch Allyn and medical supplier Cardinal Health to form the Alliance for Connected Care. This group, as Health Data Management has reported, will promote telehealth and remote patient monitoring by advocating for federal and state policy changes.
• CVS, Walgreens, Kroger Co., Rite Aid and Safeway all endorsed the Blue Button initiative as an easy way for pharmacy customers an easy way to download and share their prescription records via a Web portal or mobile app. They were joined by the National Association of Chain Drug Stores, the National Alliance of State Pharmacy Associations and the Pharmacy Health IT Collaborative, which represents nine national professional pharmacy associations. The five retail chains have pledged to collaborate on "standardizing patient prescription information to fuel the growth of private-sector applications and services that can add value to this basic health information," according to a White House statement.
• Walgreens signed a deal with Bowie, Md.-based healthcare analytics company Inovalon to offer an automated patient assessment system for the more than 400 Walgreens Healthcare Clinic locations across the company.
• CVS started a pilot of telehealth services at 28 MinuteClinic locations in Southern California so offsite nurse practitioners can assist licensed vocational nurses serving patients in person. The Woonsocket, R.I.-based chain expects to bring the pilot to an unspecified second state later this year.
• CVS contracted with electronic health records vendor Epic Systems to replace the home-grown EHR currently serving the more than 800 MinuteClinic sites in 28 states and the District of Columbia.
• Interestingly, CVS Caremark also joined the CommonWell Health Alliance, a coalition of health IT vendors committed to interoperability of health data. Allscripts, athenahealth, Cerner, Greenway Health and McKesson started CommonWell in 2013, largely as a response to the perception that Epic was reluctant to connect to other vendors' systems.
• Rite Aid launched the Rite Aid Health Alliance, a series of partnerships among traditional healthcare providers and care management service company Health Dialog to improve the health of people with multiple chronic diseases. Pharmacists as well as Health Dialog coaches in Rite Aid stores will work with patients and their physicians to manage conditions such as congestive heart failure, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, high cholesterol and diabetes. This program is starting in Buffalo, N.Y., Greensboro-High Point, N.C., and the Los Angeles area.
• The CEO of Wegmans Food Markets, an upscale supermarket chain in the Northeast that also operates a national online pharmacy, wrote to New York state legislators urging them heed Gov. Andrew Cuomo's request to appropriate $65 million to the Statewide Health Information Exchange, known as SHIN-NY. "As a large, self-insured employer, Wegmans benefits from lower healthcare costs. The use of the SHIN-NY which allows for swift and confidential transferring of electronic health records, has been shown to lower healtcaare costs in our region and throughout the state," said Danny Wegman.
• Higi, a startup company supported by hip-hop artist Lupe Fiasco, announced plans to put 4,100 kiosks in Rite Aid stores by early 2015, offering, basic self-service health screening. Chicago-based Higi already has contracts with several regional supermarket chains, while competitor SoloHealth has screening kiosks in 2,500 Walmart locations.
• In perhaps the biggest news of the year so far from drug stores, CVS said it would stop selling tobacco products in all its stores by Oct. 1, even though it would cost the company $2 billion in annual revenue.
"Pharmacies are becoming more involved in chronic disease management to help patients with high blood pressure, high cholesterol and diabetes. All of these conditions are exacerbated by smoking. When we thought about where we expect to be in five years as a healthcare company, it was clear that removing tobacco products from our stores was the right thing to do," CVS Caremark explains in an e-mailed statement attributed to Chief Medical Officer Troyen Brennan, M.D. (Major pharmacy chains were reluctant to give spoken interviews for this story, but some provided written answers to Health Data Management's questions.)
"CVS Caremark's purpose is helping people on their path to better health and every action that we take and decision we make is viewed through the filter of this purpose. It guides everything we do," Brennan adds.
The CVS decision on cigarettes drew immediate praise from the wellness community. "I think it sets a new bar for retail pharmacy in redefining the pharmacy's role in health and in the community," says health economist Jane Sarasohn-Kahn, a strong advocate of applying technology to help people navigate the healthcare system and live healthier lives.
It also has put pressure on competitors. Target gave up selling cigarettes years ago, but smokes remain at the front of tens of thousands of stores that also have pharmacies.
For its part, Walgreens is playing up its role in helping people quit smoking. Deerfield, Ill.-based Walgreens said in January it would work with pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline on an online smoking cessation program called Sponsorship to Quit. GSK markets Nicorette nicotine gum and NicoDerm CQ transdermal patches in the U.S.
"Over the past year alone, Walgreens has conducted innovative, broad-based, in-store smoking cessation campaigns, including the free, online quit-smoking program (http://www.sponsorshiptoquit.com/) launched earlier this year that incorporates social engagement as a support lever and allows tobacco users to personalize their program with customized tools. We will continue to seek additional ways to help people quit for good," Walgreens says in a statement.
Since 2011, the chain has been calling its customer experience "Well at Walgreens." Since then, Walgreens has rebranded some of its private-label medications and health products with the same name and is starting to feature the tagline around its pharmacy counters and walk-in clinics.
The company has pledged to donate $100 million through January 2015 to prevention of heart disease, cancer, diabetes and other common ailments, an initiative called the Walgreens Way to Well Commitment.
Walgreens spokeswoman Markeisha Marshall provided a list of why the company says "well" is "more than a tagline element":
• Pharmacists offer medication review and medication therapy management services to help customers stay on their drug regimens and improve health outcomes;
• Walgreens claims to be the largest retail provider of flu shots in the U.S., and offers 17 different immunizations to consumers in 40 states;
• Basic testing of cholesterol, blood glucose and body composition;
• Disease management for hypertension, diabetes and other common chronic ailments;
• The more than 400 Walgreens Healthcare Clinic locations, while half the number that CVS has, is the second largest network of convenience clinics in the country.
Marshall highlights the new "Well Experience" in new and redesigned stores—now numbering about 500 but growing by the month—that is "tailored to meet healthcare needs of the community by creating greater access to pharmacists and more patient consultations to help improve medication adherence and outcomes." She also says that Walgreens is the only major pharmacy chain to form accountable care organizations with physician practices, hospitals and health systems, though the new Rite Aid Health Alliance program, announced March 10, should change that.
As Walgreens renovates its stores to feature this Well Experience, fresh foods, including fruits and vegetables, are starting to appear closer to the entrance and to the checkout counters. This is an important move, according to Sarasohn-Kahn. "I think Walgreens has been ahead of CVS in developing a strong health and wellness presence," she says.
Many of the other recent moves illustrate how retail pharmacies are linking with other healthcare entities through IT and data exchange. As with hospitals and physicians striving for meaningful use of EHRs, pharmacies are at different stages of progress, illustrated by their embrace of Blue Button and Blue Button Plus standards as well as their own EHR projects.
"Rite Aid, through its MyPharmacy online portal, currently provides its customers with electronic access to their own prescription history, tools to better manage their prescriptions and medication management reminders via phone, email or text message," says an e-mailed statement from spokeswoman Kristin Kellum. "Rite Aid has committed to improving patient engagement and empowerment through expanded access to their own health data and an evolving set of online service capabilities." That is the exact wording shared by the White House on behalf of Rite Aid.
CVS also deferred to the White House statement on Blue Button, which is a protocol developed at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, then offered to the public via the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology. Blue Button Plus includes an application programming interface so software developers can add structure to the plain text of the VA's version. Customers of CVS retail locations and Caremark's mail-order pharmacy can download medication lists and prescription histories and refill prescriptions through secure Web portals, the company says.
Walgreens has Blue Button on its online pharmacy portal and soon will add Blue Button Plus capabilities that include data sharing with other healthcare providers and caregivers, including through third-party applications.
Kroger, headquartered in Cincinnati, is still catching up, as only about half its customers currently can see their pharmacy records online. Some of its locally branded stores, including Smiths and Fry's, do not yet have portals. The company still is "developing new functionality that will enable all of its customers to download a copy of their records, and is exploring plans to provide customers with a machine-readable copy of their records that can be shared and uploaded into third-party applications and services," according to the release.
Safeway is new to Blue Button, but promises to give customers online access to and the ability to share their pharmacy records.
Meanwhile, the nation's two largest drugstore chains are pushing interoperability at all levels of their healthcare operations and among other providers.
"Walgreens is committed to meeting HITECH requirements around use of certified EMRs, documentation of transitions in care, as well as further promoting e-prescribing," Marshall writes. She notes that the company belongs to the National Council for Prescription Drug Programs (NCPDP), the eHealth Initiative (eHI) and the DirectTrust for secure healthcare messaging.
"To communicate with primary care physicians, for example, Walgreens integrates with Direct-compatible delivery networks such as Surescripts," Marshall says. She notes that Walgreens sends electronic physician notification letters—an initiative among pharmacies to notify doctors that their patients have received immunizations—directly to physician EHRs. "Additionally, we are advancing the delivery of immunization reporting to state [registries] and currently deliver electronic messages to more than 40 states," Marshall adds.
The CVS decision to switch MinuteClinic records to an Epic EHR signals that MinuteClinic is a true healthcare provider, according to Sarasohn-Kahn. "When I saw CVS doing Epic, that's not trivial," she says. "They're making a huge bet that they're an integral part of the healthcare delivery system," Sarasohn-Kahn says.
"As a healthcare provider, MinuteClinic is focused on delivering high-quality, accessible care for common illnesses. We are committed to continuity of care, fully support the patient-centered medical home model and believe that MinuteClinic can play a complementary role with primary care practices," CVS's Brennan says.
Brennan adds that CVS has affiliated with 30 major healthcare organization across the country "that provide collaborating physicians, electronic medical record (EMR) integration and opportunities for joint clinical programs." He says that the switch to Epic will "further enhance collaboration."
Walgreens, which has been using a commercial EHR from Greenway Medical Systems not only at its retail clinics, but also in its traditional pharmacies, since 2012, is adding clinical decision support and enhancing care management by virtue of its link-up with Inovalon.
Inovalon's Electronic Patient Assessment Solution Suite (ePASS) CDS platform helps identify gaps in care, quality, accuracy of risk scores and utilization. According to Inovalon Chairman, President and CEO Keith Dunleavy, a poorly calculated risk score can lower insurance reimbursement by 5-8 percent.
"We will be doing outreach to identify patients who would best benefit from a face-to-face encounter [with a nurse practitioner] at Walgreens," Dunleavy says.
During the encounter, ePASS can alert the NP if a patient is past due for a test or vaccination, for example, following Medicare payment and National Committee for Quality Assurance guidelines, Dunleavy says. The system creates a complete SOAP (subjective, objective, assessment, plan) encounter note for the EHR, then can send the information to the patient's primary care physician.
http://www.healthdatamanagement.com/news/Pharmacy-Chains-Continue-to-Blur-the-Line-48096-1.html?zkPrintable=1&nopagination=1
I don't think anyone was making a mountain out of a mole hill. I have been watching this stock for a couple of years thinking of getting in. Glad I didn't with the R/S.
I'm still waiting to hear about the Navy yard deal? Did it die? What's going on with it?
As you all can see I'm still watching this company & wonder why they haven't brought their product out here to the Midwest.
I hope the slow bleeding stops for all of you & I'll get in. Are there any deals on the real near horizon? Thanks.
Everyone stay safe!
Hey BJ77 hope all is well. I am about done posting anything on that board not to mention blocking them so I do not have to read the $hiz.
No it doesn't, if it did why didn't you put it in your post as a quote?
I spoke to BL last night 12:30am CST
When I spoke to BL last night it was around 12:30am CST (my time) 10:30pm PST.
I asked BL if Ted Ward was still representing MMRF & was he still with Liner.
Mr. Ward still represent MMRF & can be reached at his new office at MMR where he now spends his time managing Liner and 3 other law firms. He may be reached at (310) 476-7002.
Ted Ward works endlessly on MMRF & because MMRF is bringing so many cases he needed to make sure he had no conflicts by staying with Liner.
(Apparently the Liner Law Firm represents some of the companies MMRF is bring lawsuits against, MY WORDS)
Regarding John Goodhue
The patent attorney, John Goodhue, signed the Walgreens agreement, which I thought was very bizarre. I also believe I saw a release the Ted had left the Liner firm to go off on his own.
I spoke to BL last night 12:30am CST
When I spoke to BL last night it was around 12:30am CST (my time) 10:30pm PST.
I asked BL if Ted Ward was still representing MMRF & was he still with Liner.
Mr. Ward still represent MMRF & can be reached at his new office at MMR where he now spends his time managing Liner and 3 other law firms. He may be reached at (310) 476-7002.
Ted Ward works endlessly on MMRF & because MMRF is bringing so many cases he needed to make sure he had no conflicts by staying with Liner.
(Apparently the Liner Law Firm represents some of the companies MMRF is bring lawsuits against, MY WORDS)
Regarding John Goodhue
The patent attorney, John Goodhue, signed the Walgreens agreement, which I thought was very bizarre. I also believe I saw a release the Ted had left the Liner firm to go off on his own.
Hey & morning, you are saving this info aren't you? If not EZ you should.
I spoke with BL some time back.
HOW do YOU know MMRF "provides a secure documentation of health records"???? Do you know for a fact its secure? Or that it even functions? Or exists??
This could be good news for MMRF.
Medfusion files suit against Allscripts
Seeks $4.5M in payment defaults, more in damages
Barely three weeks after ceasing its working partnership with Allscripts, patient portal developer Medfusion is now suing the EHR giant for breach of contract.
Cary, N.C.-based Medfusion first teamed up with Allscripts five years ago to integrate its portal technology with the latter's EHRs. But it terminated its contract on April 24, after a string of payment disputes stemming from backlogged implementations.
"Allscripts had ample notice and opportunity before termination to resolve its payment defaults but chose not to," wrote Medfusion President Vern Davenport in a letter to its 30,000 Allscripts customers.
"Allscripts no longer has the right to bill you for our portal and/or website services," he added. "We are not billing them, so we don’t understand how they can be billing you."?
Another contentious issue was Allscripts' acquisition, first announced at HIMSS13 in New Orleans, of Jardogs, another patient portal company.
"By solidifying our open connectivity strategy and strengthening our patient engagement offerings, we will accelerate information sharing and population health management, enabling better care," said Paul M. Black, president and CEO of Allscripts, at the time.
This came as a surprise to Medfusion, the suit alleges, which was at the trade show prepared to jointly market its products with Allscripts, only to see a competitor's wares touted.
The Jardogs acquisition came while there was still a year and a half to go on Medfusion's contract with Allscripts, which was set to expire this July, according to the lawsuit.
"We were contracted as their only preferred portal vendor to be included by default in every sale," Medfusion CEO Steve Malik told the Raleigh News & Observer. "Virtually every customer should have been ours. Instead, they were marketing a competing product."
Medfusion at first sought $5.5 million worth of outstanding invoices, according to the suit. Allscripts has paid a bit less than $1 million since then, but disputes the rest.
In addition, Malik tells the Triangle Business Journal that the firm will "absolutely" seeking damages in the suit; Allscripts spokesperson Concetta Di Franco told the paper that the vendor doesn't comment on outstanding litigation.
It didn't have to be this way, Malik told Healthcare IT News' Erin McCann back in April.
"We tried to resolve some differences with (Allscripts) for quite some time and weren't able to do that," he said.
http://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/medfusion-files-suit-against-allscripts
Ted is getting ready to celebrate his 2 year anniversary with Liner. Check out his LinkedIn page.
https://www.linkedin.com/profile/view?id=174648744&trk=contacts-touch-contact_name-0&sl=NPU_A%3Bec0f309e5cae42cbe8e3abfe016fc391%3B-1%3Bactivity%3A5870221180333473792%3B
Just announced... CC will be permitted to wear a nasal strip.
Kind of like... Seabiscuit vs War Admiral:
the horse race that stopped the nation
2014 Health Privacy Summit June 4-5, 2014
The 4th International Summit on the Future of Health Privacy
Controlling Your Personal Health Information: Now Is the Time
Event Location
Georgetown Law Center
Hart Auditorium, McDonough Hall
Georgetown Law Center
Washington, DC 20001
http://org2.salsalabs.com/o/6402/p/salsa/event/common/public/?event_KEY=69793
U.S. Mines Personal Health Data to Find the Vulnerable in Emergencies
The ventilator that helps René Brunét Jr. breathe did not work during a recent power failure in New Orleans. “I was frightened to death when I was without oxygen for so long,” said the 92-year-old owner of New Orleans’ oldest operating movie theater.
The phone calls were part Big Brother, part benevolent parent. When a rare ice storm threatened New Orleans in January, some residents heard from a city official who had gained access to their private medical information. Kidney dialysis patients were advised to seek early treatment because clinics would be closing. Others who rely on breathing machines at home were told how to find help if the power went out.
Those warnings resulted from vast volumes of government data. For the first time, federal officials scoured Medicare health insurance claims to identify potentially vulnerable people and share their names with local public health authorities for outreach during emergencies and disaster drills.
The program is just one of a growing number of public and corporate efforts to take health information far beyond the doctor’s office, offering the promise of better care but also raising concerns about patient privacy.
In some cities, text messages remind parents to get their children vaccinated. Elsewhere, emergency medical services sift records to identify — sometimes to law enforcement officials — “frequent fliers” who take repeated, costly ambulance trips. In New Orleans, a health care information exchange notifies primary care physicians when their patients are admitted to hospitals, offers insurers the ability to sift the data for “high-cost users” and permits authorized individuals to “break the glass” in emergencies — viewing records of patients who have not previously given permission and cannot speak for themselves. And a federal program allows data sharing with public health officials to monitor “mental health conditions” and other illnesses in hazardous situations, like the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.
The idea for the program arose after a tornado hit Tuscaloosa, Ala., in 2011. Credit Chang W. Lee/The New York Times
“There are a lot of sensitivities involved here,” said Kristen Finne, a senior policy analyst at the Department of Health and Human Services. “When we started this idea,” she said, referring to using Medicare data for disaster assistance, “there was a lot of ‘are you crazy?’ ”
Ms. Finne noted that the program was painstakingly designed to comply with privacy laws.
Aspects of the Medicare program were tested in New Orleans; in Broome County, N.Y., which includes Binghamton; and in Arizona. The program was presented to state and local public health officials last month. “We are now moving to scale this really across the country,” said Dr. Nicole Lurie, the assistant health secretary for preparedness and response.
The health officials’ intention was to be more proactive in finding vulnerable people like those who suffered and died in disasters such as Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Sandy. When government teams knocked on doors last year to verify the data and gauge reactions, nearly all the residents allowed them in. Only those who asked how they were found were told.
About a dozen advocates for people with disabilities who were briefed by officials generally expressed support and appreciation of the concern for their community’s needs in emergencies.
Others find the program troubling, however well intentioned. “I think it’s invasive to use their information in this way,” said Christy Dunaway, who works on emergency planning for the National Council on Independent Living, which supports disabled people living at home.
She and others said they were worried that identified individuals could be forced to evacuate to shelters that cannot accommodate people with disabilities, or that incomplete data could provide false assurances of government rescue.
Continue reading the main story
For now, at least, federal officials have resolved not to identify people in “stigmatized groups” who might need help in emergencies, such as those with mental illnesses or intellectual disabilities, or those who are obese.
Dr. Karen DeSalvo, a former New Orleans health director who helped develop the Medicare pilot program and now leads the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, said that the program protected patient privacy and that its benefits outweighed its risks. “This is the next chapter of what good data can do for good purposes,” she said. The federal government has spent more than $22 billion for the digitizing of health records.
“We are all going to have to, I’m hoping, come to some consensus with how we’re balancing privacy and security with the need to save somebody’s life,” Dr. DeSalvo said.
The idea for the program began in Tuscaloosa, Ala., after a tornado struck in April 2011. An ambulance rolled up to one of the houses left standing to take a woman to the hospital because she had run out of oxygen. “That’s kind of crazy, why can’t somebody bring her an oxygen tank?” Dr. Lurie recalled thinking after watching the scene.
Dr. Nicole Lurie, assistant health secretary for preparedness and response at Health and Human Services. Credit Gabriella Demczuk/The New York Times
She witnessed a similar phenomenon in New York after Hurricane Sandy. Patients who relied on medical equipment needed a place to plug it in before draining the batteries. Many crowded into emergency rooms, stressing the health care system. Others had no way to call for help. Eventually, emergency teams knocked on every door of darkened high-rises, because officials did not know where the people who needed assistance were.
“All of these people just came out of the woodwork,” Dr. Lurie said one public health official told her after a disaster in New England.
“I started to seethe,” Dr. Lurie said. “It’s your job to know who lives in your community.” And if local officials did not, she added, it was the federal government’s responsibility to help.
Respecting the importance of federal and state laws that restrict the disclosure of medical data, the officials found a legal route for Medicare to transfer data on patients’ bills for medical equipment to public health authorities who have systems in place to protect patient privacy. They published a description of it in the Federal Register.
“Now every Medicare beneficiary, at least theoretically, is on notice that their information could be shared in this way,” said Kevin Horahan, a policy analyst with Dr. Lurie’s office.
New Orleans was the first test site. One day last June, with a pretend hurricane bearing down on the city, local officials received 611 names and addresses of residents who depended on oxygen equipment and ventilators. The next day, they sent police, fire and emergency services personnel, along with public health officials and credentialed citizen volunteers, to visit about a third of the homes and see how reliable the information was.
Ms. Finne, the Health Department official, joined a team canvassing one of the poorest sections of New Orleans. “We went and knocked on doors and asked, ‘Does Mrs. Smith live here and have an oxygen concentrator?’ ” she said. Revelations of surveillance on American citizens by the National Security Agency had hit the news five days earlier. “It was one of those situations that you’re like, how are these people going to respond to us showing up?” she said. “Why is government showing up at my doorstep?”
A few residents refused to open their doors, but a vast majority were grateful, Ms. Finne said. The information was both accurate and revealing. In one neighborhood, not a single person with an electronic breathing device had a backup battery in case of a power failure. More than half of those asked said they would need assistance in the event of a hurricane. However, only 15 of the 611 had enrolled in the city’s special needs registry, for those requiring assistance in an emergency. Results of the survey were posted online on Thursday and set to be published in the July issue of the American Journal of Public Health.
A recent power failure affected René Brunét Jr., the 92-year-old owner of New Orleans’ oldest operating movie theater, the Prytania. He uses a ventilator to support his breathing. “I was frightened to death when I was without oxygen for so long,” he said in an interview.
During the drill last June, he was not among those visited by the public health teams. “Believe me, we would have welcomed it,” said his wife, Muriel S. Brunét, 70.
Dr. Lurie’s office is developing a device that can alert family members or rescuers when batteries on medical equipment are low. The Department of Health and Human Services also plans to release an interactive online map this year indicating how many Medicare beneficiaries have wheelchairs and other medical equipment in various ZIP codes, in part to help health officials think about where to place shelters, stockpile supplies, and inform hospitals and power companies about potential needs.
“Even that information is light-years ahead of what they have currently,” Ms. Finne said.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/16/us/us-mines-personal-health-data-to-aid-emergency-response.html?_r=1
EZ right about the bla, bla, bla on the other board. I'm tired of hearing BL sucks every day as well.
What do you all think about the latest FB post on Quest Diagnostics?
Me, I'm head out to join EZ on the cocktail hour. Inviting my Canadians friends down to join a couple of us hear to burn this Friday night away.
See you all tomorrow or Monday. Everyone have a safe weekend.
EZ, I'm glad because just like BSB I just asked someone if you were okay today. You drinking why you watch them horses run? lol...
MMRGlobal to Report Record Revenues From Personal Health Record Business
LOS ANGELES, CA -- (Marketwired) -- 05/15/14 -- MMRGlobal, Inc. (OTCQB: MMRF) ("MMR" or the "Company"), a leading provider of Personal Health Records, MyEsafeDepositBox storage solutions and electronic document management systems for consumers and healthcare professionals, today announced that it will report a nearly 300% increase in revenues for the first quarter of 2014 as compared to the first quarter of 2013 driven by earnings directly attributable to sales of MMR's Health IT products and services and the Company's licensing activities. Details about the Company's quarterly financial performance is included in the Company's quarterly report on Form 10-Q for the period ended March 31, 2014, which will be filed with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission today.
Excluding biotech revenues, this quarter is the largest quarter for revenue ever reported by the Company for its core Health IT line of business. The Company generated revenues of $485,494 for the first quarter of 2014 as compared to $122,028 for the same period in 2013, representing an increase of $363,466, or approximately 300%. Much of the revenue growth is as a result of the Company's patent licensing activities, but do not reflect significant additional revenues that the Company believes will continue to arise from such agreements in the future. In addition, the Company expects to receive an additional $500,000 in licensing fees this calendar year and more than an additional $10 million prior to the end of CY 2016 based on existing signed agreements relating to the licensing of its biotech assets.
According to MMRGlobal Chairman and CEO Robert H. Lorsch, "We expect this quarter to be the start of a trend for increasing revenue. Consumer awareness of the importance of having a PHR is being driven by hundreds of millions of dollars in advertising for HealthCare.gov. In addition, patients are being sent to eligible healthcare professionals who are required to offer Personal Health Records to at least 50% of their patients. These providers are mandated to give patients timely online access to their personal health information such as in the form of a Personal Health Record in order to receive full incentive payments under the HITECH Act's Meaningful Use requirements. We also foresee generating recurring revenue from sales through major national pharmacy retailers and other big box retailers. Additionally, we are seeing increased results from our direct-to-consumer advertising. At the same time, we are beginning to see significant interest in our MMRPro Plus document imaging and management systems for healthcare professionals."
Cash Flow and Non-Cash Expenses
During the first quarter of 2014, gross profit increased by $291,208, or approximately 304% over the same period in 2013. The Company's G&A expenses increased by $540,418, or approximately 61% in the same period primarily due to expenses attributable to legal fees necessary to enforce the Company's patents and obtain its licensing agreements.
Non-cash adjustments in operating activities increased by $256,304 or approximately 75%, which is mainly attributable to expenditures from the application of accounting principles to expense equity, imputed interest in the sale of convertible notes, and options, warrants and common stock issued for services, among other similar types of expenses. However, the Company's net cash used in operating activities decreased by $324,943 or 42%. The Company reported current assets as of March 31, 2014 of approximately $409,000, including approximately $104,000 in cash, which represents the Company's best cash-on-hand position since the quarter ended June 30, 2012.
Research and Development Efforts; IP Portfolio Expansion
The Company also continues to strengthen, expand, and reinforce its patent portfolio. Through its wholly owned subsidiary, MyMedicalRecords, Inc., the Company announced receipt of a Notice of Allowance in March for its 11th U.S. Health IT patent from the United States Patent and Trademark Office. This most recent NOA from the USPTO as Patent Application Serial Number 12/204,498 has the potential to expand MMR's health information technology IP into accessing, collecting and managing legal records in addition to health records. The Company already owns 10 U.S. healthcare IT patents: U.S. Patent Nos. 8,121,855; 8,117,045; 8,117,646; 8,301,466; 8,321,240; 8,352,287; 8,352,288; 8,498,883; 8,626,532 and 8,645,161. These patents collectively include over 250 issued claims, along with additional applications and continuation applications pending. The Company has also received issued patents and has pending applications in 11 other countries or regional authorities of commercial interest including Australia, Canada, Singapore, New Zealand, Mexico, Hong Kong, China, Japan, South Korea, Israel, and Europe.
Although the Company's main focus is as a provider and licensor of health IT products and services, it also has a growing list of patents related to cancer-fighting anti-CD20 monoclonal antibodies under the title, "Antibodies and Methods For Making and Using Them," issued in the U.S., Mexico, Australia and South Korea with patents pending in the U.S., Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Hong Kong, India, Europe, Japan and Korea. The Company also holds additional patents pertaining to its B-cell idiotype vaccine worldwide.
http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=178404&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=1931302&highlight=
I'm glad I got out a couple of months ago. Only made a couple hundred $$$ but considering the time I was in this stock I'd say I lost.
I was just noticing.... When I hit the LIKE button on MMRGlobal’s Facebook page about a year or so ago... I believe there was just under 5000 LIKES...
I was just out there.... there are now over 10,000 LIKES.... I think that’s great.... Good job to the team.
93% of Adult Patients Want E-mail Communication With Physicians
Written by Akanksha Jayanthi | May 13, 2014
The vast majority of patients — 93 percent — are likely to select a physician who offers communication via e-mail, according to Catalyst Healthcare Research.
CHR conducted a national online survey to determine patient preferences and expectations regarding online and traditional communication with healthcare providers.
Of the 93 percent of patients indicating they would likely choose a physician offering e-mail communication, approximately 25 percent said they would still choose that physician if there was a $25 fee per episode, according to CHR.
"It's not surprising that consumers want digital access to things like test results and making a doctor's appointment," said Dan Prince, founder and president of CHR, in a news release. "The Internet is quick and convenient, and it's in the best interest of health systems, hospitals and physician practices to embrace online options for their patients' healthcare needs. As healthcare changes, it's crucial that providers stay relevant."
http://www.beckershospitalreview.com/healthcare-information-technology/93-of-adult-patients-want-e-mail-communication-with-physicians.html
Personal health connectivity will pervade by 2025: report
By Joseph Conn
Posted: May 14, 2014 - 2:30 pm ET
Connections between people and interoperable computerized devices such as home and personal-health monitors will become so ubiquitous that, in little more than a decade, we'll scarcely know the devices and networks are there, according to a report based on canvassing of more than 1,600 technology experts on the future of the Internet, released by the Pew Research Center Internet Project.
A majority of respondents believed that by 2025, there will be a “global, immersive, invisible, ambient networked computing environment built through the continued proliferation of smart sensors, cameras, software, databases, and massive data centers in a world-spanning information fabric,” the Pew authors of “ The Internet of Things Will Thrive by 2025,” said.
That network will be known as the Internet of Things or the Cloud of Things, the report posited.
Many parts of that network are already here—mobile application-controlled home thermostats, for example—according to the report, which was not limited to healthcare, but included home and personal-health monitors among the networked devices predicted to be in widespread use by that date.
Survey respondent Patrick Tucker, author of “The Naked Future: What Happens In a World That Anticipates Your Every Move?” said that, in 2008, the number of Internet-connected devices outnumbered the human population for the first time and by 2013, their numbers expanded to 13 billion. He added that the IT firm Cisco projected that by 2020 there will be 50 billion Internet-connected devices, including “phones, chips, sensors, implants, and devices of which we have not yet conceived,” Tucker said.
He added, “One positive effect of ‘ubiquitous computing,’ as it used to be called, will be much faster, more convenient, and lower-cost medical diagnostics. This will be essential if we are to meet the healthcare needs of a rapidly aging Baby Boomer generation.”
Many people will wear devices that will let them connect to the Internet and receive feedback on their activities, health and fitness. They also will monitor others (their children or employees, for instance) who are also wearing sensors, or moving in and out of places that have sensors.
“Everything will become a node on a network,” predicted survey respondent J.P. Rangaswami, chief scientist for Salesforce.com, whose vision was quoted at length in the report.
“This will affect the food you buy and cook and eat; the fuel you use to power yourself, your devices, and your vehicles; the time you take to do things; and, as you learn to live longer, the burden of care will reduce as a result of far better monitoring of, and response to, your physical and emotional state, in terms of healthcare,” he said.
“People will engage with information using all of their senses: touch and feel, sight, sound, smell, and taste—using them in combination, more often than not. Wearable, connected devices will become embedded more and more in our bodies, more like implants, as in the [Google] Glass becoming more like contact lenses,” Rangaswami said. “As that happens, our ability to use nerve impulses to engage with information will expand dramatically. We will see today’s connected devices become smaller and smaller and slowly merge into the part of the body from where the particular sense related to that device operates.”
http://www.modernhealthcare.com/article/20140514/NEWS/305149943?AllowView=VDl3UXk1TzhDL0NCbkJiYkY0M3hlMGFvaTBVZER1VT0=&utm_source=link-20140514-NEWS-305149943&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=hits&utm_name=bottom
Anyone know anything about this? I posted on SKTO board today, aren't they the cannabis company mmrf partnered with?
SK3 Group Inc. (SKTO)
I-Glow
Monday, 05/12/14 12:46:36 PM
Re: tbone1360 post# 136520
Post # of 136536
Sorry, that deal is dead - there isn't any partnership agreement between SKTO and MMRGlobal.
IG
SKTO partnered with MMRGlobal, Inc. www.MyMedicalRecords.com
Today from "The Wall Street Journal"
MMRGlobal Announces Significant Increases in Monthly Signups of Personal Health Record Accounts
http://online.wsj.com/article/PR-CO-20140512-906509.html
Amen to that EZ. BJ77 at the zoo don't you feed any of those fools.
PS: make sure to check out the email I just sent you all.
Karen DeSalvo: Health IT needs to ‘get real for people’
bcove.me/7cbgvtpr
DeSalvo being interviewed on Politico
http://www.politico.com/story/2014/05/desalvo-health-it-needs-to-get-real-for-people-106384.html?hp=r15
BJ77 easy now I like him & his dummies. What the other board needs is a Walter.