Weekly roundup: From medical heist to found money
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Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) in Boston announced that, in May, a thief made off with a laptop assigned to a BIDMC physician. The hospital said it had contacted nearly 4,000 patients to inform them of the potential for invasion of their medical privacy. Police arrested a suspect but have not been able to track down the computer. The hospital said it hired a national expert in computer forensics to watch for signs of data compromise, adding that no red flags have arisen so far.
The Electronic Healthcare Network Accreditation Commission (EHNAC) detailed its constructive criticism of the request for information on governance of the Nationwide Health Information Network (NwHIN). EHNAC’s main beefs, made after the RFI was published in the Federal Register by the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT, are that the proposal included in the request for information is too vague and that a proposed validation mechanism may thwart rather than facilitate NwHIN implementation.
HHS’ Office of Inspector General released a report revealing a shocking underreporting of adverse events even in states with specialized systems for capturing such information. The report showed that hospitals treating a sample group of 780 Medicare patients in October 2008 reported only 1 percent of events, concluding that the problem owed primarily to staff failing to recognize reportable events as such. Six serious situations resulted in patient death.
Also this past week, patient engagement emerged as a top HIE priority in a nationwide survey, panelists at a major conference argued that FDA regulations on mHealth tools hamper product development and the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) projected that the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act as passed by the Supreme Court in June will save taxpayers $84 billion over 11 years.
Dave Pearson
Contributing Editor
dpearson@trimedmedia.com
Dave P. has worked in journalism, marketing and public relations for more than 30 years, frequently concentrating on hospitals, healthcare technology and Catholic communications. He has also specialized in fundraising communications, ghostwriting for CEOs of local, national and global charities, nonprofits and foundations.