Healthcare IT made Easy

A Clinician’s Guide to Electronic Prescribing

Healthcare IT Leaders Kick Off Government’s e-Prescribing Drive

By Bernie Monegain, Editor 10/07/08
Healthcare IT News

ith the first phase of Medicare’s mandate for e-prescribing rolling out in January, healthcare IT leaders, led by Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt, gathered Tuesday in Boston to jumpstart the initiative.

“One of the beauties of the system is that it will reduce the number of medical mistakes … and tragic results,” Leavitt said at the National E-prescribing Conference.

We know it saves lives, we know it saves money, and it’s time to implement it.”

Leavitt tied the nation’s current economic crisis to the rising costs of healthcare and noted that going electronic with prescriptions helps provide cost-savings for patients, doctors and the entire healthcare system.

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MedPage Today

Physician Payments May Take Hit as Medicaid Enrollment Swells in Declining Economy

By Emily P. Walker, Washington Correspondent, MedPage Today
Published: September 29, 2008

ASHINGTON, Sept. 29 — Medicaid payments to physicians may be trimmed next year as states seek to offset the cost of growing enrollment in the programs, according to the authors of a Kaiser Family Foundation Survey.

The survey found that Medicaid enrollment rates rose by 2.1% in 2008, after declining slightly in 2007. The survey attributed the rise in enrollment to patients losing their jobs and their employer-based coverage, which drove them into Medicaid.

“We’re just beginning to see the impact of the economic slowdown, as growing Medicaid enrollment and shrinking revenues pose new threats for health coverage,” said Diane Rowland, executive vice- president of the Kaiser Family Foundation. (more…)

CAQH INITIATIVE CREATES FIRST-TIME NATIONAL PROVIDER ACCESS TO CONSISTENT PATIENT DEDUCTIBLE DATA, MOVES INDUSTRY CLOSER TO ELECTRONIC CONNECTIVITY STANDARD

Nearly 30 Leading Healthcare Organizations Commit to Using
Newly-Released CORE Phase II Rules

Washington, D.C. (Sept. 15, 2008) – CAQH announced today that for the first-time providers will be able to receive consistent electronic information about patient deductible balances from potentially any health plan at the point of care.

This achievement is the result of voluntary business rules developed during the second phase of activities conducted by the CAQH Committee on Operating Rules for Information Exchange (CORE), a collaborative healthcare industry initiative. (more…)