Process for Meaningful Use Payments Begins
The wait is over for physicians who have gone through the process of becoming meaningful users of EMRs. Starting April 18, physicians can show CMS that they have met the requirements for Medicare incentive payments.
CIOs Less Confident on Early Meaningful-Use Targets
Results from the most recent CHIME survey, conducted in March, show that 7.5% of 200 CHIME members queried expected to meet meaningful-use requirements and qualify for federal electronic health-record system subsidy payments by April 1, 2011. That’s down from 15% in November 2010 and 28% last August.
More States Launch Medicaid EHR Incentive Program
Alabama and Missouri have begun participating in the Medicaid Electronic Health Record Incentive Program, bringing to 13 the number of states that have launched their initiatives.
Partnership for Patients: Better Care, Lower Costs
A new public-private partnership launched by the Obama Administration aims to help improve the quality, safety, and affordability of health care for all Americans. If the Partnership for Patients is successful in decreasing hospital-acquired infections and reducing hospital readmissions, HHS predicts $50 billion in Medicare savings over the next ten years.
Cholesterol-Lowering Drug Could Protect Kidneys After Surgery
A new study suggests that taking the cholesterol-lowering drug statin before having major elective surgery could potentially reduce serious kidney complications.
Roche’s Diet Drug Tied to Kidney Damage
In another blow to diet drugs, Canadian researchers are reporting a link between Roche’s Xenical and an increase in kidney injuries.
Deloitte: ACOs May Spur EHR Use
Analysts at the Deloitte Center for Health Solutions, Washington, find that health care providers that want to participate in the new Medicare accountable care organization (ACO) program will need to move toward being “meaningful users” of electronic health records (EHR).
Scottish Scientists Grow Kidneys in a Laboratory
Scientists in Scotland have grown kidneys in a laboratory – in a breakthrough that could solve the problem of organ donor shortages. Edinburgh University researchers created the kidneys from stem cells taken from human amniotic fluid and animal foetuses.
Japan Paves Way for First Child Organ Transplant
Japan prepared on Tuesday to undertake its first organ transplant from the body of a child aged under 15, made possible by a legal amendment aiming to save the lives of many children.
Edith Helm, 76, First Woman to Receive Kidney Transplant
Edith Helm who died Wednesday was the first woman to undergo a kidney transplant operation. She was the world’s longest-surviving transplant recipient and the first kidney transplant patient to give birth.
Leave a Reply