Great selections and additions. These leaders should prove to be great choices for the health IT and specifically, the EHR industry.

HHS Announces Members of Committees That Will Advise on Implementation of Health IT

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: HHS Press Office
Friday, May 8, 2009
(202) 690-6343

HHS Announces Members of Committees That Will Advise on Implementation
of Health IT
Policy and Standards Committees Will Meet Next Week

The Department of Health and Human Services today announced the
appointment of three members to the Health Information Technology (HIT)
Policy Committee as well as members of the HIT Standards Committee. The
two new federal advisory committees were established by the American
Recovery & Reinvestment Act of 2009. The first meeting of the Health IT
Policy Committee will be held on Monday, May 11 in Washington, D. C.

"The Policy and Standards committees bring together a wide diversity of
key stakeholders to help guide the advancement of health IT as an
integral part of health reform," stated Dr. David Blumenthal, National
Coordinator for Health Information Technology at HHS and Chairman of the
Policy Committee. "It is an honor to lead one of these committees, and
I am confident that these committees will provide valuable insight to
help develop important health IT policy in the next few years."

The HIT Policy Committee will make recommendations to the National
Coordinator for Health Information Technology on a policy framework for
the development and adoption of a nationwide interoperable health
information infrastructure, including standards for the secure and
private exchange of patient medical information.

The HHS appointees to the Policy Committee are:

David Blumenthal, MD, MPP,
National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, U.S. Department
of Health and Human Services.

Michael J. Klag, MD, MPH
Dean, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

Deven C. McGraw, JD, MPH, Director
Health Privacy Project, Center for Democracy & Technology.

An additional 13 members were appointed by the Acting Comptroller
General of the United States, and four members appointed by the Majority
and Minority Leaders of the Senate and the Speaker and Minority Leader
of the House of Representatives. A complete list of the Policy Committee
members and information about the May 11th meeting can be found at
http://healthit.hhs.gov/. The Presidential appointments from relevant
federal agencies are expected to be announced prior to the HIT Policy
Committee's second meeting in June.

In addition, appointments were made to the HIT Standards Committee, also
a federal advisory body, which is charged with making recommendations to
the National Coordinator on standards, implementation specifications,
and certification criteria for the electronic exchange and use of health
information. The first meeting of this committee is scheduled for
Friday, May 15, 2009.

Members appointed by HHS are:

Jonathan Perlin, MD, Chair
Healthcare Corporation of America

John Halamka, MD. Co-Chair
Harvard Medical School

Dixie Baker, PhD
Science Applications International Corporation

Anne Castro
BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina

Christopher Chute, MD
Mayo Clinic College of Medicine

Janet Corrigan, PhD
National Quality Forum

John Derr, R.Ph.
Golden Living, LLC

Linda Dillman
Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.

James Ferguson
Kaiser Permanente

Steven Findlay, MPH
Consumers Union

Douglas Fridsma, MD, PhD
Arizona Biomedical Collaborataive 1

C. Martin Harris, MD, MBA
Cleveland Clinic Foundation

Stanley M. Huff, MD
Intermountain Healthcare

Kevin Hutchinson
Prematics, Inc.

Elizabeth O. Johnson, RN
Tenet Health

John Klimek, R.Ph.
National Council for Prescription Drug Programs

David McCallie, Jr., MD
Cerner Corporation

Judy Murphy, RN
Aurora Health Care

J. Marc Overhage, MD, PhD
Regenstrief Institute

Gina Perez, MPA
Delaware Health Information Network

Wes Rishel
Gartner, Inc.

Sharon Terry, MA
Genetic Alliance

James Walker, MD
Geisinger Health System

Representatives from relevant federal agencies will be named separately.
For more information about these committees, meeting dates andpreliminary agendas please visit http://healthit.hhs.gov

Key ARRA Milestones

Please click on image to see full-size.

CERTIFICATION COMMISSION EXPERIENCES SURGE IN APPLICATIONS

Recently announced on the CCHIT website:

CERTIFICATION COMMISSION EXPERIENCES SURGE IN APPLICATIONS;

Solid interest from EHR vendors parallel new federal incentives. An unprecedented rush of applications to meet a deadline for applying for the '08 cycle of certification testing brought to 64 the number of ambulatory electronic health record (EHR) products seeking to become CCHIT Certified® under the most rigorous criteria to date for functionality, security and, especially, interoperability. To date, 25 ambulatory EHR products have been 08 certified, including Greenway Medical Technologies, NextGen and Allscripts.

~This may reflect the impetus from the HITECH Act of the ARRA requiring "meaningful use" of “certified” solutions.

Congressional Health Hearings on Capitol Hill This Week (Mar-30)

1. The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee chaired by Senator Ted Kennedy (D-MA) will host a nomination hearing on Tuesday for Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius to be the next Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary, followed by a nomination hearing by the Senate Finance Committee on Thursday. While both Senate committees have jurisdiction over federal healthcare issues, the Senate Finance Committee has ultimate jurisdiction over approving the HHS Secretary nomination and following the Thursday hearing will vote to send the nomination to the full Senate for a vote. Once passed by the full Senate, the nominee is then considered confirmed by the Senate. It is anticipated that Governor Sebelius will assume the office of Secretary of HHS following Senate confirmation as soon as President Obama returns home from overseas and swears Governor Sebelius into office.

2. The U.S. House has two committees with jurisdiction over healthcare issues. Subcommittees of the House Energy and Commerce Committee chaired by Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA) will hold three healthcare hearings this week. On Tuesday, the Health Subcommittee of the House Energy and Commerce Committee will examine public health in the context of overhauling the nation's healthcare system, and the Commerce, Trade and Consumer Protection Subcommittee of the House Energy and Commerce Committee will examine legislation that would prohibit brand-name pharmaceutical companies from paying generic drug makers to delay selling their low-cost versions. The Health Subcommittee of the House Energy and Commerce Committee will hold another hearing this Thursday on a healthcare overhaul that examines ways to save money in the system and improve safety.

3. Finally, the House Ways and Means Committee chaired by Rep. Charles Rangel (D-NY) will hold a hearing this Wednesday on modernizing the healthcare delivery system, with a focus on care coordination and improving quality of care.

Immediate HITECH Timeline

Within 45 days of enactment (April 3, 2009):
• Appointment of HIT Policy Committee members - Section 3002(b)

After 45 days from date of enactment (April 3, 2009), but prior to 90 days (May 18, 2009):
• HIT Policy Committee makes recommendations to ONC on areas in which standards, implementation specifications, and certification criteria are needed including those to protect privacy, ensure security, account for disclosures, encrypt information and use EHRs for quality improvement (Section 3002)

Within 90 days of enactment (May 18, 2009):
• HIT Standards Committee will develop a schedule for assessment of the policy recommendations developed by the HIT Policy Committee (Section 3003)
• NIST to conduct pilot testing of standards and implementation (Section 3003 and Section 13201)
• Draft description of program for establishing regional centers for HIT Implementation Assistance (Section 3012)Not later than 45 days after the HIT Standards Committee delivers recommendations to ONC
• ONC makes a determination whether to endorse each standard, implementation specification, and certification criterion for the electronic exchange and use of health information that is recommended by the HIT Standards Committee and delivers recommendations to HHS Secretary (Section 3001)

By December 31, 2009:
• HHS Secretary (in consultation with other Federal Agencies) will determine what standards should be adopted from those endorsed by ONC, and adopt them through rulemaking processes (Section 3004)
• Secretary will adopt an initial set of standards, implementation specifications and certification criteria through release of Interim Final Regulations (Section 3004)

ROI

A few great case studies:

There are numerous studies showing that EHR has a significant ROI: http://content.healthaffairs.org/cgi/content/full/hlthaff.w5.10/DC1 http://content.healthaffairs.org/cgi/content/full/24/5/1103
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12714130
http://www.jamia.org/cgi/content/full/13/3/261
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez
http://www.greenwaymedical.com/dynamic/pdf/roi/roi_nine_doctor_obgyn.pdf
http://www.greenwaymedical.com/dynamic/pdf/casestudies/testimonial_oswego_greenway_sept2004.pdf http://www.greenwaymedical.com/dynamic/pdf/roi/post%20deployment%20roi%20-%20oswego%20obgyn.pdf.

For example, a detailed case study of the cost and quality benefits of EHR at Family Care of Concord, NH found net benefits per clinician per year of $30,324 https://www.acponline.org/atpro/timssnet/products/tnt_products.cfm?action=long&primary_id=330371070.

Another study of hospital-based provider order entry identified net savings of $1.7 million per year from drug dosing guidance, nursing time utilization, and error prevention http://www.jamia.org/cgi/content/full/13/3/261.

Studies show that there is benefit for health conditions like diabetes and heart disease from EHR http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?tool=pubmed&pubmedid=15802479, http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18373141, and http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/abstract/330/7494/765.

EHRs increase overall patient safety. Children's Hospital of Seattle, following best practices for implementation, have experienced a trend toward a lower mortality rate http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/cgi/content/abstract/118/1/290.

The level of medication error reduction with computerization of prescribing seen in multiple studies is over 80%
http://www.jamia.org/cgi/content/full/6/4/313; http://archinte.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/full/163/12/1409.

NEW ONC DIRECTOR ~ David Blumenthal, M.D., M.P.P.

David Blumenthal, M.D., M.P.P., is director of the Institute for Health Policy at Massachusetts General Hospital and Samuel O. Their Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. Previously, he held posts as senior vice president at Boston's Brigham and Women's Hospital and executive director of the Center for Health Policy and Management at Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government. During the late 1970s, he was a professional staff member on Senator Edward Kennedy's Senate Subcommittee on Health and Scientific Research. Dr. Blumenthal is the founding chairman of AcademyHealth, the national organization of health services researchers; national correspondent for the New England Journal of Medicine; and a trustee of the University of Pennsylvania Health System