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1. AHRQ Announces Funds for Health IT
The Agency for Healthcare
Research and Quality announced the availability of funds to
support the development of health IT to assist clinicians,
practices, and systems to measure the quality and safety of
care in ambulatory care settings. This funding opportunity
announcement solicits R18 grant applications from applicant
organizations that propose to:
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Determine data elements
necessary across settings and transitions in care to
create safety and quality measures for high prevalence
priority conditions
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Develop next-generation
electronic data systems, with an emphasis on the role of
electronic health records that include the capacity for
export of measures of patient safety and quality
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Demonstrate the ability
of interoperable electronic data systems to provide data
for measures of quality and safety of care for episodes
of care across settings
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Demonstrate health
information exchange as means of supplying data for and
public reporting of patient safety and quality measures
and emerging transparency initiatives
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Support practice-based
demonstrations of the feedback of electronic quality and
safety measures to clinicians and practices to improve
care
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Measure the efficiency
of the routine measurement of ambulatory quality and
safety through the use of electronic health information
systems
Applicants are expected to
describe an intervention to be studied (or measure to be
developed), place the intervention (or new measure) in
context and discuss how it is expected or known to improve
quality and measurement, provide a detailed implementation
plan with appropriate methods, describe a robust analysis
and evaluation plan, and for intervention projects include
measures for assessing patient-, office-, and health
system-level outcomes of the intervention, and include a
dissemination plan. The total amount to be awarded is $6.8
million. AHRQ intends to fund between 12 to 24 new grants.
For more information, visit
http://grants1.nih.gov/grants/guide/rfa-files/RFA-HS-07-002.html.
2. CMS Publishes
Quarterly Listing
The Centers for Medicare and
Medicaid Services (CMS) published its quarterly listing of
program issuances for the third calendar quarter, July
through September 2006 (71FR77202). The notice includes CMS
manual instructions, substantive and interpretive
regulations, and other
Federal Register notices that were published
from July through September 2006 relating to the Medicare
and Medicaid programs. This notice also provides information
on national coverage determinations. The notice can be found
in the December 22, 2006,
Federal Register
at
http://www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/fedreg/a061222c.html.
3. CMS Announces First
Biannual Ambulatory Payment Classification Panel Meeting
CMS has announced that the
first 2007 meeting of the Advisory Panel on Ambulatory
Payment Classification Groups will be held March 7–9, 2007,
at CMS headquarters in Baltimore, MD. The agenda will
include reconfiguration of APCs and HCPCS, evaluation of APC
weights, packaging device and drug costs into APCs, removing
procedures from the inpatient list for payment under the
outpatient prospective payment system, single and multiple
procedure claims data, and other APC structure technical
issues. The panel includes three HIM professionals: Hazel
Kimmel, RN, CCS, Sandra Metzler, MBA, RHIA, CPHQ, and Lou
Ann Schraffenberger, MBA, RHIA, CCS-P. Registration for
presenters or attendees is required by February.
Additional information can be found in the December 22,
2006, Federal Register
notice at:
http://www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/fedreg/a061222c.html
and on the panel Web site at
http://www.cms.hhs.gov/ FACA/05_AdvisoryPanelonAmbulatory
PaymentClassificationGroups.asp#TOPOfPage.
4. Third NHIN Forum to
Be Held January 25–26
The Third Nationwide Health
Information Network forum will be held January 25–26 in
Washington, DC. It will showcase the work of the four NHIN
consortia by providing an opportunity to see actual
demonstrations of health information exchange prototypes.
The forum will also include presentations and discussion on
different approaches to business models that target
establishing self-sustaining health information service
providers and exchange. The forum will include plenary
presentations, demonstrations sessions, and panel
presentations with discussion. The NHIN forum will be open
to the public and include participants in key processes
supported by the Office for the National Coordinator for
Health Information Technology including the four consortia
developing prototype NHIN architectures, key representatives
from other public, private, and nonprofit health information
technology stakeholders. For more information or to
register, go to
http://www.hhs.gov/healthit/NHIN_Forum.
5. Bylaws Amendments
Pass House of Delegates
In December, two bylaws
amendments were voted on electronically by the House of
Delegates (HOD). They cleaned up language in the current
AHIMA Bylaws. The amendments were:
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The proposed bylaws
amendment to strike Parliamentary Authority from the
bylaws and insert in HOD Standing Rules.
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The proposed bylaws
amendment to strike Societies/Sections from the bylaws
due to the transition to Communities of Practice.
Both bylaws amendments were
approved. The voting results are available under the
Resources section of the State Leaders and HOD Community of
Practice under the Category HOD Voting Results/Final
Reports. To access the State Leaders and HOD CoP, go to
http://www.ahima.org. Log in using your AHIMA ID number
and password in
myAHIMA on the right side. Click on
Communities of Practice in myAHIMA.
6. Connecting for
Health Releases White Paper on Networked Personal Health
Information
Connecting for Health
released a new white paper titled “Connecting Americans to
Their Health Care: A Common Framework for Networked Personal
Health Information.” The paper describes a vision of
networked personal records, which would allow consumers to
establish secure electronic connections with multiple
entities that hold personal health information about them.
It discusses how consumer participation in networked
environments has transformed other sectors, such as travel
and finance, and concludes that the healthcare sector would
benefit greatly from a properly designed secure network that
enables greater consumer engagement.
To read the full paper, go to:
http://www.connectingforhealth.org/
commonframework/docs/P9_NetworkedPHRs.pdf.
7. Survey: Consumers Concerned about the Privacy and
Protection of Their Medical Records
A recent survey commissioned by
EpicTide and conducted by The Benchmarking Company found
only 40 percent of consumers feel confident that their
healthcare providers are able to secure their medical
records. The survey results revealed that nearly half of
consumers had never heard of medical identity theft.
Consumers were also largely unaware of the grave
consequences associated with medical identity theft such as
loss of life or risk to health, loss of confidentiality of
medical records, and financial hardship. However, when asked
to rank which consequences of medical identity theft were of
the most concern, potential risk to their life/health, the
loss of privacy and confidentiality of their medical
records, and someone changing their medical records were top
fears. Only 30 percent of respondents believe hospitals are
diligent about informing potential victims of suspected
breaches and unauthorized access to patient records.
To request a copy of the survey report, visit:
http://www.epictide.com/documents/MIT-receive-more.html.
8. Call for Abstracts for the 2007 AOE Symposium
The 2007 Assembly on
Education Summer Symposium is now accepting abstracts for
the Chicago, IL, conference to be held July 30–August 1. A
list of recommended topics is available on the abstract Web
site at:
http://www.ahima.org/abstracts/submission. For
additional questions or comment, please contact Patt
Peterson at
patt.peterson@ahima.org.
9. Submit Your
Nominations for 2007
The 2007 nomination process
is under way, and we need your help to identify those
members who will assume office in January 2008. We encourage
you to seek one of the elected positions or assist the
nominating committee by identifying members who will provide
strong leadership for AHIMA in the years ahead. Consider
nominating yourself or your colleagues who are fellow
members and who have made leadership contributions at the
AHIMA component state association or national level or
through their work with our commission, committees, task
forces, Communities of Practice, or other organizations. We
encourage you to nominate those deserving individuals for
service in one of the open positions. With your help, we can
continue the tradition by nominating highly qualified and
experienced members for service on the Board, Commission,
and Council positions.
The timetable for the 2007
nomination process is available in the Resources section of
the AHIMA Community of Practice under the “Call for
Volunteers—2007.” To learn more about the available
positions, please access the “Call to Nomination Guide” and
the “Call for Nomination Forms.” We look forward to
receiving your nomination no later than close of business on
Wednesday, January
31. Please note that all nominations must be
submitted electronically. Thank you for your time and
commitment to AHIMA.
10. Attend HIMSS 07 in
New Orleans
The HIMSS 07 Annual
Conference and Exhibition is February 25–March 1 in New
Orleans. AHIMA members, when you register, you pay the
co-sponsorship rate. Visit
http://www.himss07.org/ for details. Plan to attend the
AHIMA member reception on Tuesday, February 27 from 4–5:30
p.m., sponsored by ChartOne.
11. Save the Dates for
2007 Winter Team Talks Meetings
Save the dates for the 2007
Winter Team Talks meetings. The dates and locations are:
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March 10 at the Hilton
Sacramento Arden West Hotel in Sacramento, CA
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March 15 at the Hilton
New Orleans Riverside Hotel in New Orleans, LA
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March 21 (Hill Day) at
the Hilton Alexandria Mark Center Hotel in Arlington, VA
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March 22 at the Hilton
Alexandria Mark Center in Arlington, VA (in conjunction
with 2007 Hill Day)
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March 29 Virtual Winter
Team Talks
All members are welcome to
attend these informative meetings. Continuing education
credit is given for the day. Registration information for
these meetings will be available
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