Western Pennsylvania Healthcare News

Covering healthcare news in the Pittsburgh region and beyond.

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U.S. Physician Practices Spend Four Times As Much As Payer Administrative Money As Canadian Counterparts

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Mike Cassidy

A commonwealth fund supported studies reported some key findings:

1. Physician practices in the United States spent $82,975.00 per physician per year interacting with payers compared with $22,205.00 in Canada.

  • If U.S. physicians had similar administrative costs to their Canadian counterparts, the total annual savings would be $27.6 billion dollars.
  • U.S. nurses and medical assistants spent 20.6 hours per week on administrative tasks related to health plans, which is nearly 10 times the 2.5 hours spent by Canadian nursing staff.

I have attached a link with a scan of the highlights of the study.

ONC Announces Open Public Comment Period on the Federal Health IT Strategic Plan: 2011-2015

by

Mike Cassidy

By Mike Cassidy

Several days ago, I posted an article about health reform and it’s Top Ten Issues. Just this week, CMS and ONC have launched massive projects along those line, i.e. the combined regs from CMS, FTC, OIG and the IRS regarding Accountable Care Organizations, and the 2011-2015 Heath IT Strategic Plan. Links to all material are available at www.medlawblog.com, and we’ll be addressing those issues here in the near future.

The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) today announced an open public comment period on the Federal Health IT Strategic Plan: 2011-2015 (“the Plan”). The Plan reflects ONC’s strategy, developed in collaboration with other federal partners, over the next five years for realizing Congress and the Administration’s health IT agenda.

Despite evidence of the benefits of the use of health IT, today only 25-percent of physician offices and 15-percent of hospitals take advantage of electronic health records (EHRs). Two major pieces of legislation, enacted over the past two years, are dramatically changing the health IT landscape and providing an opportunity to modernize the way care is delivered and improve the health of all Americans – the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act and theAffordable Care Act.  The Plan, originally published in 2008, is being updated to reflect the significant impact of these two pieces of legislation.

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Artists Among Us—Lee Kim Translates Her World Through Creative Words and Eyes

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Lee Kim....Photo by Stan Franzos

By Christopher Cussat

Some people are born artists and others realize their creative spirit along life’s journey. Lee Kim nicely fits both of these profiles. This gifted lawyer, poet, and photographer continues to find and redefine herself as a person and artist while she moves through the world with inspired eyes that lovingly acknowledge the past, imaginatively capture the present, and with hopefulness, look toward the future.

Lee is currently an attorney with Tucker Arensberg, P.C. and is licensed to practice in Pennsylvania and Washington, D.C. She is also registered to practice before the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) as a patent attorney. Prior to her law school education, Lee worked in radiology informatics within the health information technology (HIT) field.

© 2010 Lee Kim

In relation to the healthcare industry, Lee acts as outside legal counsel for the Pennsylvania Regional Extension & Assistance Center for HIT, East/PA REACH EAST and Pennsylvania Regional Extension & Assistance Center for HIT, West/PA REACH WEST—through the Pittsburgh Regional Health Initiative to offer Certified Electronic Health Record (EHR) solutions to health care providers. “I am also a member of the Health Information Management Systems Society (HIMSS) and the American Bar Association (ABA) Health Law Section,” she adds. In addition, Lee assists clients with HIPAA compliance, intellectual property protection, and software/technology related agreements.

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