House Votes to Repeal Health Reform

The House voted to repeal the healthcare reform act by a vote of 245 to 189 on Wednesday. Three Democrats joined all Republican representatives in voting to repeal the act, which was a campaign promise by many Republicans in the past election.

The Senate, which is still controlled by the Democrats, intends to block any attempts to repeal healthcare reform. House Republicans acknowledged that their vote may merely be a symbolic one. However, they intend to "chip away" at healthcare reform by blocking funding and introducing bills to unravel certain provisions.

To read the full article, click here:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/20/health/policy/20cong.html?emc=eta1


Source: The New York Times

Congress Determines Red Flags Rule Does Not Apply to Physicians

Both the House and Senate have passed the Red Flag Program Clarification Act of 2010, which provides additional information on who is determined a "creditor" under the rules.

The rule clarifies the definition to state that a "creditor" does not include an entity that "advances funds on behalf of a person for expenses incidental to a service provided by the creditor to that person." This means that physicians and healthcare institutions are no longer held subject to the red flags rule.

The red flags rule would have required these entities to take precautionary measures to prevent identity theft. Groups such as the American Medical Association fought enforcement of the rule on healthcare providers, stating that the rule would be burdensome and redundant if enforced along with HIPAA protections.

The red flags rule is scheduled to go into effect on December 31, 2010.

To read more, click here:
http://www.outpatientsurgery.net/news/2010/12/14


Source: outpatientsurgery.net

President's Advisory Council Releases Report on Health IT

The President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology has released a report titled, "Realizing the Full Potential of Health Information Technology to Improve Healthcare for Americans: The Path Forward." The report includes an assessment of the current health IT landscape as well as six major conclusions, which are:

• HHS’s vigorous efforts have laid a foundation for progress in the adoption of electronic health records, including through projects launched by ONC, and through the issuance of the 2011 “meaningful use” rules under HITECH.
  
  
• In analyzing the path forward, we conclude that achievement of the President’s goals requires significantly accelerated progress toward the robust exchange of health information.
  
  
• National decisions can and should be made soon to establish a “universal exchange language” that enables health IT data to be shared across institutions; and also to create the infrastructure that allows physicians and patients to assemble a patient’s data across institutional boundaries, subject to strong, persistent, privacy safeguards and consistent with applicable patient privacy preferences. Federal leadership is needed to create this infrastructure.
  
  
• Creating the required capabilities is technically feasible, as demonstrated by technology frameworks with demonstrated success in other sectors of the economy.
  
  
• ONC should move rapidly to ensure the development of these capabilities; and ONC and CMS should focus meaningful use guidelines for 2013 and 2015 on the more comprehensive ability to exchange healthcare information.
  
  
• Finally, as CMS leadership already understands, CMS will require major modernization and restructuring of its IT platforms and staff expertise to be able to engage in sophisticated exchange of health information and to drive major progress in health IT.
  

To read the full report, click here:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/microsites/ostp/pcast-health-it-report.pdf

Article Highlights Legal Challenges to Health Care Law

The New York Times features an article on Ian Gershengorn, the Justice Department attorney in charge of defending the health reform law against states that are challenging it as unconstitutional. These states claim that Congress is overstepping its powers under the Commerce Clause of the Constitution, which allows Congress to regulate matters related to interstate trade and commerce.

To read the full article, click here:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/10/health/policy/10lawyer.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&emc=eta1

NAHAM Joins HIMSS Patient Identity Integrity Work Group

NAHAM is pleased to announce that it has joined the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society’s (HIMSS) Patient Identity Integrity (PII) Work Group.

The Work Group’s goal for 2011 is to call on the members of Congress to pursue a study for an informed patient identity solution. The Work Group will educate lawmakers using a whitepaper that identifies the complex issues that surround accurate identification of an individual’s information within and across systems, as well as the business processes that must be in place to support and maintain data integrity for quality of care.

By joining the coalition, NAHAM joins other leading organizations in the healthcare information field including HIMSS, the American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA), Health IT Now! Coalition, Association of Medical Directors of Information Systems (AMDIS), and the College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (CHIME).

NAHAM will keep you updated on the PII Work Group's activities. For more information on HIMSS, visit: http://www.himss.org/ASP/index.asp

What Could the GOP Win Mean for Health IT?

Following the Republican takeover of the House of Representatives and many states on November 2nd, many began to wonder what effect it will have on health reform. A recent article in InformationWeek addresses this question.

Despite campaign talk from the GOP, the author of the article believes that health reform will not be repealed; however, it may be hindered. She believes that health IT will be one area that might suffer. Healthcare providers are just beginning to implement health IT as part of accountable care organizations (ACOs) and state health insurance exchanges. If healthcare reform, or at least provisions of it, appear to be in jeopardy, the author believes that hospital CIOs and CFOs will be more hesitant to continue investing in health IT.

During this lame-duck session, it will be interesting to see what actions the Democrats will take to preserve health reform as is, before they lose control of the House. Meanwhile, many will be watching to see if the Republicans truly take an aggressive approach at overhauling the plan once they are sworn in. NAHAM Government Relations will continue to monitor developments in Washington and report them to you. In the meantime, share your thoughts and comments on the election results in the comment field and in the poll on the NAHAM News homepage.

Source: InformationWeek

http://www.informationweek.com/news/healthcare/leadership/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=228200087

State Insurance Commissioners Vote to Approve More Stringent Rules

The National Association of Insurance Commissioners voted unanimously to endorse standards requiring that "80 percent of premium revenue be spent on medical care and 'activities that improve health care quality' for patients." This requirement was set in place by health reform legislation.

The standards set limits on what revenue spending is defined as improvements to health care quality, and what is considered to be compensation or administrative spending. The goal of the standards is to make insurance companies function more as providers of healthcare and less as for-profit companies.

Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius is expected to take the recommended standards and propose them as a new regulation for insurance companies. Opponents of the recommendations argue that they will negatively disrupt the insurance industry by forcing companies out of business and reducing consumer choice.


Source: The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/22/health/policy/22insure.html?_r=4&emc=tnt&tntemail0=y