Meaningful Use: 15 Things Your Practice Can–and Should–Do Now
In this “Curbside Consult” on the popular HIS Talk blog, Dr. Jayne shares some tips and tricks for clinicians on the practice side to help prepare for Meaningful Use.
Hospitals Getting Doctors to Use Electronic Health Records
Hospitals are using different approaches to teach doctors and hospital staff to use EHRs so they can qualify for the federal health IT incentives worth $22 billion for healthcare providers who can demonstrate meaningful use of electronic health records.
Medicare Declines Payment Changes on Anemia Drugs
Medicare officials signaled Wednesday that they will not change a payment policy for biotech drugs made by Amgen and Johnson & Johnson when they are used to treat anemia in kidney disease patients, despite data suggesting heart risks for those patients.
Newer Doesn’t Mean Better When It Comes to Type 2 Diabetes Drugs
Johns Hopkins researchers find that an inexpensive type 2 diabetes drug that has been around for more than 15 years works just as well and has fewer side effects than the newer and more expensive classes of medication used to control the chronic disease.
Evidence Poor for Tight Mineral Targets in Chronic Kidney Disease
Guidelines for treating abnormal mineral metabolism in patients with chronic kidney disease are not well founded, according to a meta-analysis posted online today by the Journal of the American Medical Association.
Study Questions Tests Used to Spot Heart Risks in Kidney Patients
Researchers found little evidence to support the notion that commonly used “biomarkers” can diagnose or prevent potential heart trouble, especially in the case of calcium and parathyroid hormone. The analysis did confirm an association between high levels of phosphorus in the blood and mortality in people with kidney disease.
Whether Chronic Diseases Are Diagnosed May Depend on Where You Live
A new study finds that the likelihood of Medicare patients being diagnosed with a chronic disease may depend on geography. The reasons why are unclear but the disparity makes it more difficult to assess the quality of care patients receive.
CDC Reports on HIV Transmission from Organ Donor in New York
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is recommending that transplant centers nationwide screen living donors for HIV no longer than seven days before their organs are recovered and transplanted, following a report from the New York state health department that a transplant recipient contracted the virus that causes AIDS from a kidney donor in an unnamed New York City hospital.
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