HIMSS New England: It's time to shine for health IT professionals
NORWOOD, Mass. –“This is a fabulous time to be in healthcare IT,” said Scott MacLean, CPHIMS, FHIMSS, a national HIMSS Board of Directors Elect and CIO at Newton-Wellesley Hospital. MacLean made his remarks Wednesday during the New England HIMSS annual Public Policy Forum.
The IT implications of meaningful use, certification standards and transaction standards—along with proposed DEA rules for electronic prescription of Class 2 substances and the FDA’s interest in EHR safety—are sinking in, and healthcare providers are grasping "the enormity of what’s going on,” he said.
Healthcare costs $2.5 trillion annually and represents 17 percent of U.S. economic activity, said MacLean, who acknowledged the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT for its "vision of comprehensive, secure, interoperable systems," medical records that can improve population health and improve healthcare as exemplified in the HITECH Act. “Our role in healthcare IT is a big part of national economy,” he said.
Rules and regulations are needed in three areas: meaningful use, certification and standards. With regard to meaningful use, ONC has received more than 3,000 comments, including 60 pages from HIMSS, MacLean said.
The final rules will be out late this spring. States have received $2 billion in Health IT incentives and state health information exchange (HIE) initiatives in more than 40 states have received ARRA funding. There has been strong interest in the Beacon communities program, which addresses community health concerns using interoperable health IT.
Further, Strategic Health IT Advance Research Projects (SHARP) grants will fund research focused on achieving breakthrough advances to overcome obstacles to adoption of HIT, such as privacy and security issues, making EHRs usable by physicians. SHARP funds will also be used for new networks for applications and platforms as technology improves, and secondary use of data, said MacLean.
While ONC is using the stimulus funds to roll out EHR technology, "the FDA is asking serious questions about the ethics," said MacLean. The FDA may have three options for engagement: It may ask vendors to register with them and voluntarily report adverse drug events. It could also require vendors to register and report, he said. The third option, which would be good for the public but challenging for us and vendors would be treating them as medical devices. It can be very challenging to have pre-market approval. "Stay tuned for what's happening there," he said.
Although some have compared the federal healthcare reform effort to a fiscal swamp, MacLean likened it to the Panama Canal: An unprecedented project that cost a staggering amount of money, required immense sacrifices to complete, and one that has economic value to this day, nearly 100 years after completion.
“It’s our time. We have an opportunity to do something great. This is an amazing effort, and the legislation and executive orders are already in place to be able to make health IT something that can change healthcare to make people’s lives better. Remember, the act is entitled Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health,” he said.
The IT implications of meaningful use, certification standards and transaction standards—along with proposed DEA rules for electronic prescription of Class 2 substances and the FDA’s interest in EHR safety—are sinking in, and healthcare providers are grasping "the enormity of what’s going on,” he said.
Healthcare costs $2.5 trillion annually and represents 17 percent of U.S. economic activity, said MacLean, who acknowledged the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT for its "vision of comprehensive, secure, interoperable systems," medical records that can improve population health and improve healthcare as exemplified in the HITECH Act. “Our role in healthcare IT is a big part of national economy,” he said.
Rules and regulations are needed in three areas: meaningful use, certification and standards. With regard to meaningful use, ONC has received more than 3,000 comments, including 60 pages from HIMSS, MacLean said.
The final rules will be out late this spring. States have received $2 billion in Health IT incentives and state health information exchange (HIE) initiatives in more than 40 states have received ARRA funding. There has been strong interest in the Beacon communities program, which addresses community health concerns using interoperable health IT.
Further, Strategic Health IT Advance Research Projects (SHARP) grants will fund research focused on achieving breakthrough advances to overcome obstacles to adoption of HIT, such as privacy and security issues, making EHRs usable by physicians. SHARP funds will also be used for new networks for applications and platforms as technology improves, and secondary use of data, said MacLean.
While ONC is using the stimulus funds to roll out EHR technology, "the FDA is asking serious questions about the ethics," said MacLean. The FDA may have three options for engagement: It may ask vendors to register with them and voluntarily report adverse drug events. It could also require vendors to register and report, he said. The third option, which would be good for the public but challenging for us and vendors would be treating them as medical devices. It can be very challenging to have pre-market approval. "Stay tuned for what's happening there," he said.
Although some have compared the federal healthcare reform effort to a fiscal swamp, MacLean likened it to the Panama Canal: An unprecedented project that cost a staggering amount of money, required immense sacrifices to complete, and one that has economic value to this day, nearly 100 years after completion.
“It’s our time. We have an opportunity to do something great. This is an amazing effort, and the legislation and executive orders are already in place to be able to make health IT something that can change healthcare to make people’s lives better. Remember, the act is entitled Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health,” he said.