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Superstorm Sandy's Effects on Public Health Are Far From Over

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Superstorm Sandy’s effects may linger longer than expected, from a public health perspective. According to a November 8th article on Accuweather.com, Sandy may have long-term impacts on public health.

The article cites Patrick Kinney of the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University, who states that threats may still emerge – even though the storm is long gone. “This particular storm, I think we’re still learning what the health impacts specifically were,” he states.

Kinney cites patterns similar to previous storms – most initial deaths were from flooding. This was followed by fatalities that occurred due to debris removal, fire, or electrical damage. “From a longer-term perspective, you start looking at things like the effects of the power outage: What does that mean for the spoilage of food? For the contamination of the water supply? You also worry about access to routine medical care,” according to Kinney.

The article also addresses issues such as an inability to access medication in the storm’s aftermath – leading to illness and increased visits to hospital emergency rooms.

Read the complete article here. And check back to read about what we learned by analyzing the community health surveillance data collected by EpiCenter during and after the storm.

 

Frankenstorm Emphasizes the Value of Community Health Surveillance

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Weather forecasters are predicting that the remnants of Hurricane Sandy will hit the east coast hard this week—a one/two punch of a winter weather system and weakening hurricane. Utilizing Community Health Surveillance during this time will help public health departments to prepare, monitor, investigate, and respond to any threats.

In the fall of 2011, New Jersey faced a similarly daunting weather emergency when Hurricane Irene came barreling up the coast. New Jersey utilized the EpiCenter Community Health Surveillance system, and its custom classifiers functionality, to learn more about a specific after-effect of the hurricane—an increase in carbon monoxide poisoning due to the use of portable gas-powered generators.

Teresa Hamby, MSPH, Data Analyst in the Communicable Disease Service of the New Jersey Department of Health & Senior Services, presented the findings of the carbon monoxide/hurricane connection at the CSTE conference in Omaha this year—and discussed how the findings will be used in an article this past summer.

Analysts Forecast EHR Systems Market Will Continue to Grow

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According to EMR Daily News, market research company TechNavio prepared a report stating that analysts believe that the EHR Systems market in North America will see an annual growth rate of 7.85% through 2015.

“One of the key factors contributing to this market growth is the increase in government support,” according to the article.

The findings were presented following an in-depth market analysis with input from industry experts. EMR Daily News states that issues addressed in the report include key market trends, challenges to market growth, key vendors in the market space, and strengths/weaknesses of those key vendors.

Read more at EMR Daily News or download the complete report.

Just Say No to Meaningful Use Fraud

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It’s been nearly 40 years since Nancy Reagan encouraged Americans to “just say no” to misuse of drugs. But the Obama administration has recently issued a new “just say no” statement—stating it will not tolerate cheating when it comes to Medicaid Meaningful Use reimbursements.

The Election and IT Funding

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The next month could be the start of some big changes in healthcare IT. As public health professionals know, politics plays a major role in healthcare IT funding—and depending on which candidate is elected, things could continue down the same path or move in a new direction.

Meaningful Use: Perspectives from A Health System’s CIO

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EHR Intelligence recently published an interview with Lee Roath, System CIO of Benefis Health Systems. The interview provides insight into the struggles that health systems face when implementing Meaningful Use requirements. While Roath believes that meaningful use has “ensured greater safety” for the population his hospital represents, implementation costs have limited his organization’s ability to […]

The Politics of Health IT

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With the presidential election quickly approaching, healthcare professionals may have a new reason to closely follow the results. Politics has played a major role in Health IT funding over the past 8 years—starting in 2004 when President George W. Bush doubled funding for federal demonstration projects on healthcare.

According to Healthcare IT news, Bush also recommended the adoption of EHRs within 10 years and created the sub-Cabinet position of National Coordinator for Health Information Technology—to make these goals a reality.

In 2009 President Obama signed the “American Recovery and Reinvestment Act”. This Act is estimated to top $800 Billion in stimulus spending over 10 years and has been the primary funding source for CMS’s EHR Meaningful Use reimbursements which have totaled over $7 billion to date.

View the Healthcare IT News slideshows “Health IT Held Hostage to Politics” for a review of the past eight years’ ups and downs in funding—as well as the recent call to halt the EHR incentive program.

Survey: Physicians looking for meaningful information – not more data!

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At a recent Bipartisan Policy Center briefing, former Senator Bill Frist, MD, discussed the results of physician surveys regarding HIEs. The center released two reports: “Clinician Perspectives on Electronic Health Information Sharing for Transitions of Care” and “Accelerating Electronic Sharing to Improve Quality and Reduce Costs in Health Care.”

The survey asked physicians what type of information they would want access to via an HIE. According to Healthcare IT News, “relevant lab and imaging tests ranked high among all physicians as the type of information they want across the board.” They also wanted to see data on discharge summary reason and summary of care provided.

Interestingly, most physicians did not want more data—just access to the most essential data. They wanted to selectively choose the information that would be placed in a patient’s electronic health record.

See the full article at Healthcare IT News.

Meaningful Use: No Fraud Allowed

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If you’re visiting our blog, there’s a good chance that you see the value in Meaningful Use and Syndromic Surveillance. While EHR compliance is providing insight and information that is incredibly valuable—it’s also enabling providers to receive incentive payments.

The federal government wants to make it very clear that it will not tolerate any cheating by those receiving the payments.

A recent posting on EHR Intelligence focuses on what the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services calls an unwelcomed trend. “There are troubling indications that some providers are using this technology to game the system, possibly to obtain payments to which they are not entitled. False documentation of care is not just bad patient care; it’s illegal,” according to the article.

Learn more about the Obama administration’s warning to hospitals by reading the full New York Times article on the topic.