Australian Health Information Technology: Report Watch

Saturday, July 25, 2009

Report Watch – Week of 20, July, 2009

Just an occasional post when I come upon a few interesting reports that are worth a download or browse. This week we have a few.

First we have:

Monday, July 13, 2009

Health Care Stimulus Funding Process Picking Up Speed

by Helen Pfister and Karyn Bell, Manatt Health Solutions

Since the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act was signed in February, the federal government has been moving relatively rapidly to get balls rolling on multiple fronts. In health care, the process is picking up speed in several areas as a result of recent efforts, including:

The release of the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT implementation plan for health IT;

The release of CMS' implementation plan (including guidance on Medicare and Medicaid electronic health record incentive payments);
The development of a definition of "meaningful use" as it pertains to stimulus payments; and
Broadband access.

Full article here :

http://www.ihealthbeat.org/Features/2009/Health-Care-Stimulus-Funding-Process-Picking-Up-Speed.aspx

Clearly after the legislation was passed things are happening. The following documents show where things are up to at present:

Second we have:

Rand report focuses on RFID in health

Tags: European Commission RFID

15 Jul 2009

A major new research report commissioned by the European Commission has detailed the opportunities for, and barriers to, the deployment of auto-tracking technology in European healthcare systems.

The report, which focuses on Radio Frequency Identification (RFID), says that despite being a useful tool in logistics and operational management it is so far “less successful in patient care and quality of care improvement.”

The report states: “Compared to logistics, patient care delivery applications face greater implementation problems. Interference of RFID and other wireless equipment with electronic equipment remains the single biggest obstacle to RFID roll-out in healthcare.”

The study titled: “Requirements and options for Radio Frequency Identification application in healthcare,” was conducted by RAND Europe, the US-based policy research organisation.

The report includes an assessment of expert views from the healthcare industry and seven case studies from healthcare organisations in Italy, the Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland, America and the UK in order to establish the cost benefits of existing RFID applications.

It stresses that RFID is not unique in many of its functionalities and that other more consolidated auto tracking technologies, such as bar coding and DataMatrix [2-D bar coding], provide similar capabilities, often for a lesser cost.

....

The report concludes that the benefits of RFID depend largely on organisational, financial and technical considerations and that, in particular, strong commitment of senior management and direct engagement of all relevant interests are essential.

More here:

http://www.ehealtheurope.net/news/5032/rand_report_focuses_on_rfid_in_health

Report Link

Study on the requirements and options for Radio Frequency Identification application in healthcare

Interesting indeed! Not surprisingly, the report points out you have to choose the application to get the benefits – and also review alternatives!

Third we have:

Calif. P4P program sees IT improvements: report

By Rebecca Vesely / HITS staff writer

Posted: July 17, 2009 - 11:00 am EDT

The largest private pay-for-performance program in the country has had major successes, including health information technology adoption, but has overall "fallen short of expectations," according to a retrospective report.

The Integrated Healthcare Association's California Pay for Performance program, now in its seventh year, today includes eight health plans, 35,000 physicians and 11.5 million HMO members.

In a report looking at its achievements since 2006, Oakland, Calif.-based IHA concludes that patient experience gains have been marginal and costs should have been a consideration earlier on.

Although average clinical performance has steadily improved, there are significant regional variations across the state, according to the report.

On a brighter note, IT to support better care has substantially improved. In 2007, two-thirds of physician groups participating showed some IT capability for measuring pay-for-performance, about double since 2003. And one-third have robust care-management processes, according to the report.

More here:

http://www.modernhealthcare.com/article/20090717/REG/307179991

This is an interesting report – again highlighting the need to measure what you are doing if you are to know if you are getting anywhere!

Fourth we have: