CAP TODAY Pathology/Laboratory Medicine/Laboratory Management
Raymond D. Aller, MD, and Hal Weiner
CMS to alter reporting period for meaningful use
Sunquest’s parent company buys Data Innovations
BBCS blood bank application incorporates labeling feature
ONC offers $28 million in HIE program grants
Psyche system meets EHR certification criteria
Royal Philips adds image analysis to digital solution
Cerner contributes to UAE health care portal
CMS to alter reporting period for meaningful use
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has announced that it intends to engage in rulemaking to shorten the reporting period for stage two meaningful use attestation this year from 365 to 90 days under the EHR incentive programs.
“The new rule, expected this spring, would be intended to be responsive to provider concerns about software implementation, information exchange readiness, and other related concerns in 2015,” said CMS deputy administrator and chief medical officer Patrick Conway, MD, in a blog post. It would also reduce the reporting burden on health care providers yet support the goals of the incentive program, Dr. Conway noted.
CMS is also considering proposals to realign hospital EHR reporting periods to the calendar year to give eligible hospitals additional time to incorporate 2014 edition software into their workflows and better align with other CMS quality programs. The agency too may modify select aspects of the incentive program to reduce complexity and lessen providers’ reporting burdens.
Sunquest’s parent company buys Data Innovations
Roper Industries, the owner of Sunquest Information Systems, has entered a definitive agreement to acquire middleware systems provider Data Innovations. Under the arrangement, Data Innovations will operate as a business unit of Sunquest.
“Sunquest and Data Innovations are completely aligned in creating solutions that are innovative, improve interoperability, and empower providers to diagnose their patients faster and more cost-effectively,” says Matthew J. Hawkins, president of Sunquest.
With more than 4,500 clients in 83 countries, “Data Innovations will enhance the product offerings and geographic reach of Sunquest while retaining its market-leading brand and independent position providing services to its clients and partners,” Sunquest reports.
Data Innovations will remain headquartered in Burlington, Vt.
Sunquest Information Systems, 520-570-2000
BBCS blood bank application incorporates labeling feature
Blood Bank Computer Systems has announced that its new ABO Wheels blood collection management software will include a feature from Digi-Trax that allows on-demand printing of SkiniDIN ISBT-128 unit identification labels.
Digi-Trax’s SkiniDIN technology allows users to generate a lower cost label and print on demand throughout the blood collection and manufacturing process. “The inclusion of the SkiniDIN labeling system in ABO Wheels is another example where waste can be removed from the process to reduce cost,” says BBCS vice president Brian Forbis.
ABO Wheels, which is a part of BBCS’ ABO Suite of blood bank applications, received FDA 510(k) clearance in December.
BBCS, 888-738-2227
ONC offers $28 million in HIE program grants
The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology plans to invest $28 million to increase the adoption and use of interoperable health information technology tools and services that support the exchange of health information.
The ONC will make 10 to 12 awards in the form of cooperative agreements with states, territories, or state-designated entities to continue work under its State Health Information Exchange program, according to the Department of Health and Human Services.
“Through this funding opportunity, grantees will continue to leverage the investments and lessons learned from the earlier health information exchange programs to advance the standardized, secure, and interoperable movement of health information across organizations, vendors, and geographic boundaries,” said national coordinator for health IT Karen DeSalvo, MD, in a blog post. Grantees will focus on interoperability workflow challenges, technical issues, and the meaningful use of clinical data from external sources. The undertaking will engage providers from across the care continuum, including those who are not eligible for the Medicare and Medicaid EHR incentive programs, such as long-term care facilities.
“A variety of use cases could fall into this definition, including a long-term care provider’s ability to access lab results or radiological films after a patient was discharged from a hospital, as is the case in Colorado, or by linking the state’s Prescription Drug Monitoring Plan, as has been done in Maryland,” Dr. DeSalvo reported.
HHS announced the funding opportunity following the release earlier this year of its draft document “Connecting Health and Care for the Nation: A Shared Nationwide Interoperability Roadmap Version 1.0.”
Psyche system meets EHR certification criteria
Psyche Systems’ WindoPath version 8 anatomic pathology system has achieved Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology 2014 Edition Modular EHR Certification. This designates that the software can help eligible hospitals and other providers meet stages one and two meaningful use measures required to qualify for funding under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
The AP system was certified by ICSA Labs, an independent division of Verizon and an Office of the National Coordinator-Authorized Certification Body.
Psyche Systems, 800-345-1514
Royal Philips adds image analysis to digital solution
Royal Philips has reported that it will offer advanced image-analysis algorithms from Indica Labs as part of its digital pathology offering. The collaboration is intended to allow pathology researchers to apply intelligent algorithms to digitized pathology slides to enhance their ability to detect, process, and extract information from tissue samples.
Combining Philips’ digital pathology solution and Indica’s Halo image-analysis platform will allow researchers to “extract more thorough information from tissue samples, enabling more insightful analysis than possible today—all while generating those results in a matter of hours or even minutes versus days,” the companies said in a joint statement.
Philips is offering Halo as an option with its digital pathology solution for research use only.
Royal Philips, 888-744-5477
Cerner contributes to UAE health care portal
Cerner Middle East has worked with the United Arab Emirates’ ministry of health to roll out a health care portal.
The portal is a standalone, bilingual English and Arabic language website that is integrated with individuals’ health records to allow residents of Dubai and Northern Emirates to communicate directly with the ministry’s hospitals and clinics. Members’ clinical information is stored in Cerner’s Millennium platform and can be securely accessed through the portal via a browser or smartphone.
“Cerner provides back-end support, hosting, a bilingual help desk, and a managed service that offers the UAE Ministry of Health new, secure channels to interact with their members,” the company reports. “It provides transparency to the member with access to appointments, lab tests, and prescription history, in addition to portability of the member’s record.”
Cerner, 816-221-1024
[hr]Dr. Aller is director of informatics and clinical professor in the Department of Pathology, University of Southern California, Los Angeles. He can be reached at raller@usc.edu. Hal Weiner is president of Weiner Consulting Services, LLC, Eugene, Ore. He can be reached at hal@weinerconsulting.com.