A Major Milestone on the Path to Health Care Information Technology?

Saying it has reached a major milestone in the effort to harness the vaunted power of health information technology, a public–private advisory group announced an agreement on standards for maintaining personal health data, transmitting clinical lab results, and managing disease outbreaks. Read more »

Hospitals Praise But Cardiologists Pan CMS Regs

Hospitals gave a big smooch to the final version of outpatient payment provisions announced by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), but otherwise industry reaction to regulations released by the agency was strongly critical. Read more »

Lessons from Abroad: Advanced IT Doesn't Always Hinge on Government Funding

One reason U.S. primary care physicians trail their counterparts abroad in the use of information technology (IT) is they need help paying for it, health care analysts say. Yet government funding for IT is a factor explaining high use rates in only five of the 10 nations whose IT use exceeds that of the United States and Canada, according to study results released at an international health care conference on Capitol Hill. Read more »

Study Finds Facilities Hard-Hit by Proposed Medicaid Cuts

Texas, Louisiana, and California would be among the hardest hit states if the Bush administration implements its proposal to cut $12.2 billion in Medicaid funding over the next five years, according to a new report. Read more »

Study Predicts Medicare Drug Plan Gap Harder to Fill in 2007

Coverage to close the Medicare drug benefit's "doughnut hole" will be harder to find and cost more in 2007, according to a Families USA report that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) labeled "a distorted and incomplete picture" of coverage choices offered to beneficiaries. Read more »

U.S. Primary Care Underdeveloped in Some Respects

Whatever the disadvantages of health systems abroad, a lack of health information technology among primary care physicians does not appear to be among them. Neither does a lack of access to primary doctors outside of normal working hours nor the use of teams of physicians to better coordinate the care of patients with chronic diseases. Those are among the findings of a Commonwealth Fund survey that assesses how primary care in the U.S. stacks up against six other nations: the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Germany, and the Netherlands. Read more »