Joseph Conn

Number of providers facing Stage 2 EHR hurdle puts billions at stake

Billions of dollars in federal electronic health-record incentive payments appear to be in jeopardy as hospitals, physicians and other eligible professionals who got an early start on the payment program face a more stringent set of criteria for 2014.

So far, only a tiny fraction of participants have met the benchmarks.

Allscripts, Netsmart collaborate on EHR interoperability

As the island that once was behavioral health is drawn closer to the mainland of the United States healthcare system, thanks to healthcare payment reform, health information technology companies that serve both types of providers are also coming together in a variety of ways.

This collaboration between Netsmart, an electronic health records developer that specializes in behavioral health, and Allscripts, an EHR developer for inpatient and ambulatory care providers, is the latest example of the trend.

Health data privacy helped fuel Supreme Court cellphone ruling

The possible presence of healthcare data on cellphones helped put the devices in a legal class worthy of heightened constitutional protections from warrantless searches by police, the US Supreme Court ruled. That unanimous decision, while narrowly focused on balancing the privacy rights of individuals and the “legitimate government interests” needed to enforce the law at the time of a person's arrest, could have broader healthcare implications, healthcare privacy specialists contend.

The decision could be used as a reference point, highlighting the special nature of healthcare information, as the healthcare industry wrestles to find a similar balance between patients' consent rights over disclosure of their medical records and the interests of healthcare providers, researchers and other commercial entities in getting less-fettered access to those records.

“I certainly didn't see any immediate potential impact for the healthcare industry, but I did find it interesting in demonstrating the court's continuing commitment to health information privacy,” said Adam Greene, a privacy lawyer with Davis Wright Tremaine in Washington. “It sets up precedent in the government having a very strong stake in protecting patient privacy above other interests.”