Issue #1 | Monday, August 9, 2010
+ What's This?
As you know, NCHN keeps a close eye on healthcare news, legislation, and funding. In an effort to bring you information in a timely, efficient manner, we have decided to add a weekly news digest. This will help us to keep the monthly electronic newsletter small and also reduce the number of emails we send you each week while continuing to bring you news we think you may find relevant for your Network. We hope you find this helpful. As always, you can unsubscribe by clicking the Unsubscribe link at the bottom of this email. Unsubscribing will remove you only from the Weekly Digest, not from the e-News Monthly.
+ Accelerating Electronic Health Records Adoption and Meaningful Use
WASHINGTON, D.C. – The following joint statement, by the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, David Blumenthal, M.D., M.P.P., and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ Principal Deputy Administrator Marilyn Tavenner, was issued today at a forum, “Accelerating Electronic Health Records Adoption and Meaningful Use.” The forum was sponsored by the Health Industry Forum at Brandeis University and Health Affairs:
Continue reading... (Source: U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, News Release, August 5, 2010)
+ Medicaid Program; Request for Comments on Legislative Changes To Provide Quality of Care to Children
SUMMARY: This notice requests comments from the public for our consideration in developing the Secretary's recommendations for legislative changes to improve the quality of care provided to children under Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program, including recommendations for quality reporting by the States.
Continue reading... (Source: Department of Health and Human Services, Federal Register: July 30, 2010)
+ HHS Awards $159.1 Million to Support Health Care Workforce Training
Funds will Support Programs to Train Nurses, Geriatric Specialists and Improve the Performance and Recruitment of Underrepresented Minority Students HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius today will announce $159.1 million in grants to health care workforce training programs. These grants build on the multimillion dollar investments made under the Affordable Care Act and Recovery Act to strengthen and grow our primary care workforce. The grants will target three types of programs: Nursing Workforce Development programs; interdisciplinary geriatric education and training programs; and Centers of Excellence programs for underrepresented minority students.
Continue reading... (Source: U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, News Release, August 5, 2010)
+ Healthcare Reform Law to Benefit Tens of Millions of Women Over Next Decade, Report Finds
Thirty million women will benefit from the new healthcare reform law over the next decade, through new or strengthened insurance coverage, a new issue brief from the Commonwealth Fund finds. The first in a series of reports examining how healthcare reform is expected to affect various populations, the brief, Realizing Health Reform's Potential: Women and the Affordable Care Act of 2010 (18 pages, PDF), found that the law will stabilize and reverse the growing exposure to health costs that women now experience, thanks to insurance industry standards that assess them as higher risk than men, and policies that do not cover pregnancy.
Continue reading... (Source: Philanthropy News Digest, August 4, 2010)
+ Electronic Health Record (EHR) Incentive Programs: Tip Sheets for Medicare Eligible Professionals, Hospitals and Critical Access
Now available on the CMS EHR Incentive Programs website: Get up-to-date and accurate information about the Medicare and Medicaid EHR incentive programs from CMS at http://www.cms.gov/EHRIncentiveprograms/. Visit the website to get specifics about the program and download our new tip sheets, including Medicare EHR Incentive Payments for Eligible Professionals, Medicare EHR Incentive Program, PQRI and E-Prescribing Comparison, EHR Incentive Program for Medicare Hospitals, EHR Incentive Program for Critical Access Hospitals.
Visit the EHR Incentive Program Web Site (Source: Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services - Official Web Site for the Medicare and Medicard EHR Incentive Programs)