Harvard partners with Dossia = Indivo and Dossia

This system uses XML as its framework. I look forward to seeing discussion between Dossia and the current group of CCHIT EHRs. SV

On September 17th, 2007, the Children's Hospital Informatics Program and the Dossia Consortium announced that they would be partnering to make the Indivo PCHR the core of the anticipated Dossia Personally Controlled Health Record system. Dossia will provide resources to extend the core Indivo functionality and server architecture, which will remain open source and freely available. CHIP will also serve as an industry adviser to Dossia as the consortium pursues development of a national PCHR ecosystem.

Distinguishing Features of Indivo

The Indivo personally controlled health record differs from other PHR efforts in important ways:

Indivo places a strict emphasis on patient control and ownership of medical information and offers the detailed technical infrastructure to provide this control. Hence we use the term "personally controlled health record" to describe Indivo.

Indivo is an actual medical record, not a portal. (Portals, often provided by healthcare institutions, are windows through which patients can view, but not own or control, a portion of their health data stored at that institution.)

Indivo stores fully detailed clinical encounter records, taken from either electronic systems, paper reports or patient entry. Indivo's XML-based storage allows for a flexible data model and Indivo developers are working closely with the HITSP process to ensure broad interoperability.

Indivo's multi-level security model provides strong data security. Each record is encrypted, protecting against unauthorized access to servers or backup tapes.

Source code for Indivo is open and freely available to all developers, enabling straightforward local customization of Indivo, as well as interoperability between Indivo and other vendor products.

Indivo record owners can subscribe to data updates from hospital information systems, practices, and regional health information organizations (RHIOs) also known as subnetwork organizations (SNOs). Indivo records can also be registered with regional record locator services making their data available to institutions within the RHIOs/SNOs.

Indivo

Senators Kerry, Ensign Introduce E-Prescribing Bill to Modernize Medicine and Save Lives

I saw one source say the one time grant could be as high as $2000.00.
Similar incentives are being proposed by others for Medicaid and the Commercial plans.
Waivers are in place for hardship cases, though the time line for completion is shorter than many would find reasonable.
Contact your local Senator let them know what you think about e-Prescribing and the time line.
Thank you Senators Kerry and Ensign. SV

Specifically, the bill would:

1. Provide permanent Medicare funding for one-time grants to physicians to help offset the start-up costs to physicians of acquiring and implementing e-prescribing technology.

2. Provide permanent Medicare funding for payment bonuses to physicians for use of e-prescribing. For every Medicare prescription that is written electronically, physicians will be paid an extra 1% bonus.

3. Starting on Jan 1, 2011, physicians will be required to write their Medicare outpatient prescriptions electronically. Physicians that continue to write prescriptions by hand will face a per-claim financial penalty.

4. The Secretary of HHS will be given authority to grant one- or two-year hardship waivers for physicians who face particular difficulties in acquiring and implementing e-prescribing – especially those from rural areas or very small (or solo) practices

5. GAO and CMS will be directed to report within two years on the status of e-prescribing adoption within Medicare

Kerry

Network Magic and Carbonite back up

I've used Network Magic for two years and have been impressed with the ease of use.
It especially comes in handy when a I bring home a new wireless toy or Uncle Billy comes to visit with his laptop.
For a limited time, you can get a one year subscription to Carbonite unlimited backup, a $49 value. SV

Network Magic
Carbonite

Health Level Seven, America’s Health Insurance Plans, and the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association Sign MOU to Collaborate on Portability Standards for Personal Health Records

This collaboration will help promote standards across the Insurance Company based PHRs and will benefit people who may need to migrate between plans. SV

ANN ARBOR, Mich., – December 4, 2007 -- Health Level Seven, Inc. (HL7), America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP), and the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association (BCBSA), today announced they have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to create a collaborative process for the maintenance of portability standards for personal health records (PHR).
This MOU expands the number of stakeholders involved in the standards development process to help facilitate data portability between health insurance plans to give plan members the ability to move their personal health data when their health coverage changes.
Charles Jaffe, MD, PhD, and CEO of HL7 said, “We applaud AHIP and BCBSA for investing in the early development efforts of the PHR data portability standards and for entrusting HL7 to maintain the standards. PHR’s will give consumers the power to integrate and manage their personal healthcare information and it provides a framework for standards-based interoperability between the consumer and the provider.”
Health insurance plan-based PHRs contain claims encounter and administrative data drawn from health insurance plan data sources as well as individuals’ self-entered information.

HL7

NORMAN PHYSICIAN HOSPITAL ORGANIZATION SELECTS eCLINICALWORKS UNIFIED EMR/PM SOLUTION

WESTBOROUGH, Mass.—November 28, 2007— eClinicalWorksTM, a market leader in ambulatory clinical systems, today announced that Norman Physician Hospital Organization (NPHO) has purchased licenses of eClinicalWorks electronic medical record (EMR) software to streamline practice operations for more than 100 providers in 31 affiliated practices. E-prescribing along with an interface between eClinicalWorks and Meditech, Norman Regional Health System’s laboratory component, will further automate physicians in their efforts to foster better, more efficient care in both the inpatient and ambulatory settings.

“NPHO’s long-term goal is to create a community health record for its patients,” said Gary Clinton, executive director of Norman Physician Hospital Organization (NPHO). “Implementing a clinical integration system is a major step in achieving this goal. NPHO selected eClinicalWorks for its superior track record in customer satisfaction and its commitment to ensuring its solutions work well with our current systems, including interfacing with Meditech.”

“I am very excited about this development. It is a critical first step towards improving health care and innovation in Norman for the next decade,” said Stephen Connery, MD, NPHO president.

NPHO is implementing eClinicalWorks unified EMR/PM system to streamline the clinical processes between practice locations and promote patient safety while reducing costs. eClinicalWorks is working with the Norman Regional Health System to create an interface with Meditech to streamline the sending and receiving of lab work. NPHO is also utilizing e-prescribing, providing a direct link between the practice and the computer at the pharmacy (not the fax machine), establishing a two-way electronic connection. eClinicalWorks Electronic Health eXchange (eEHX) may be added at a later date to create a community health record.

eClinicalWorks