Pamela Lewis Dolan
Articles by Pamela Lewis Dolan
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Reactions mixed to CMS decision to release payment data
Tuesday, April 22, 2014For the first time since Jimmy Carter was president, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has posted physician fee-for-service payment data to its website for public review and analysis. While researchers and number crunchers applaud the move, some in organized medicine are issuing warnings that the data should be used with caution as it can be misleading when taken out of context.
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The price of the ICD-10 delay
Thursday, April 17, 2014As the debate took place over whether the transfer to the ICD-10 code set should be delayed or go on as scheduled, one statistic was often repeated: a one-year delay would cost the healthcare system between $1 billion and $6.6 billion. So where did the numbers originate and on what are they based?
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In surprise move, CMS announces Medicare Advantage pay increase
Friday, April 11, 2014After proposing in February a 1.9 percent cut in reimbursement to insurers in the Medicare Advantage program, Medicare made a surprise announcement and said there would, instead, be a 0.4 percent increase.
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Study: Meaningful use email criteria challenging for specialists
Tuesday, April 08, 2014As the meaningful use incentive program moves into its second stage, there have been concerns among physicians over their ability to meet the patient engagement requirements. Satisfying the Stage 2 criteria will rely not only on physicians adopting the right technology, but also on their patients' willingness to use it.
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Exchange enrollment exceeds expectations, but too early to determine impact
Friday, April 04, 2014The Obama administration's last-ditch efforts to get people to sign up for insurance through the insurance exchanges paid off as the total enrollment numbers exceeded 7 million by the March 31 open enrollment deadline. But while proponents of the Affordable Care Act had reason to celebrate, there are still many unknowns that will determine the long-term success of the law.
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Good news and bad news for proponents of ICD-10 delay
Wednesday, April 02, 2014With the passing of H.R. 4302, known as the Protecting Access to Medicare Act, on March 31, Congress delayed a permanent fix to the sustainable growth rate (SGR) payment formula for a 17th time. And ICD-10 was delayed for a fourth time. The only step needed to make both delays a reality is a signature from President Barack Obama.
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As health system complexities rise, a new industry emerges
Friday, March 28, 2014If you want to learn about the complexities of the modern healthcare delivery system, there's no better person to ask than a physician. Their familiarity with the bureaucracy and tough patient choices associated with medical care is driving many out of clinical practice. And now it's causing some to look into a developing industry that has emerged.
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Mobile health market poised for growth, despite obstacles
Thursday, March 27, 2014The biggest challenges to widespread mobile health adoption in the U.S. are reimbursement and lack of regulatory clarification. But despite these challenges, the mobile health industry is expected to experience tremendous growth over the next few years and address many of the disparities plaguing healthcare in the U.S.
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Affordable Care Act may actually lead to fewer clinical visits
Tuesday, March 25, 2014With an estimated 30 million people expected to gain insurance coverage through the Affordable Care Act, there has been much speculation about where those patients will go for care. Many physician offices are already filled to capacity, and a looming shortage of primary care physicians has been well-documented.
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Progress made in patient privacy, but criminal attacks increasing
Friday, March 21, 2014The number of data breaches has declined slightly over the past year. But the state of patient privacy and data protection is not good, according to the Fourth Annual Benchmark Study on Patient Privacy and Data Security.
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Rating sites becoming an important tool for patients
Wednesday, March 12, 2014Despite physicians' dislike of online rating sites, a survey finds patients are increasingly relying on them when shopping for a new doctor. A survey conducted by researchers at the University of Michigan Medical School found that when choosing a doctor, physician rating sites weren't ranked as high as other factors such as word of mouth from family and friends or whether a physician accepts the patient's insurance.
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CMS says no to additional meaningful use and ICD-10 delays
Thursday, March 06, 2014Despite pleas from organized medicine, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) says there will be no delays to Stage 2 of the meaningful use incentive program. In addition, implementation of ICD-10 will also go on as scheduled.
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Insurers invoking all-product clauses to fill exchange plan networks
Monday, March 03, 2014Some physicians are experiencing confusion and surprise by learning they are contracted to accept patients covered by insurance exchange plans despite the fact they rejected offers to participate in those plans. Plans are invoking what is known as an “all-product clause.” This is a provision many physicians may not be aware are present in their contracts, but essentially force physicians contracted in a particular payer plan to participate in all of the plans offered by that payer in the state, including those offered through the exchanges.
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Rule-making process has begun for Stage 3 of meaningful use
Thursday, February 27, 2014Despite Stage 3 of the meaningful use incentive program being delayed until 2017, rule-making for the program is under way. And the Meaningful Use Workgroup of the Health IT Policy Committee, which advises federal officials on the program, recently released its first set of draft recommendations.
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Solo practices still lagging in EHR adoption
Friday, February 21, 2014The meaningful use incentive program has spurred a lot of growth in health IT use. But a digital divide still exists between solo practices and their larger counterparts, and between independent practices and those that belong to an integrated health delivery system.
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Medical identity theft a growing concern
Wednesday, February 19, 2014For the first time since The Identity Theft Resource Center started tracking data breaches in 2005, healthcare has topped the list of industries responsible for the largest percentage of data breaches. Of the 614 breaches the ITRC tracked across all sectors and industries last year, healthcare accounted for 43.6 percent.
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Majority of physicians use mobile devices, but not mobile EHRs
Monday, February 10, 2014Among physicians, mobile devices have become as ubiquitous as lab coats and stethoscopes. Mobile connectivity is becoming increasingly important as physicians find new ways to incorporate the use of mobile devices into their daily lives. One area of medicine that mobile technology hasn't completely infiltrated, however, is electronic health record systems.
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ONC aims to expand Blue Button reach
Friday, February 07, 2014An initiative aimed at getting more patients to access, download and share their patient data is expected to go live later this month. The Blue Button Connector, a website launching by the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT, was initially scheduled to go live Jan. 15. The launch has been delayed, reportedly to give the ONC time to improve the user experience and build momentum surrounding the Blue Button movement. It is banking on the Blue Button to become the gold standard of patient data access.
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Study: EHR beliefs tied to gender, personality
Monday, February 03, 2014It's an established fact that for technology implementation to be successful, there needs to be some flexibility in order to meet the individual needs of those learning the new systems. A recent study finds those individual needs may be determined by gender and personality.
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Attracting young adults to insurance exchanges proves difficult
Friday, January 31, 2014After a slow and rocky start, the state and federal health insurance exchanges seem to finally be taking off. By the end of December, enrollment surpassed the 3 million mark for state and federal marketplaces combined. But young adults — who many claim are key to the success of the Affordable Care Act — haven't been as eager as their older counterparts to enroll.
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The impact of FDA’s social media guidance for pharmaceutical companies
Monday, January 27, 2014The Food and Drug Administration took a significant step forward in clarifying the responsibilities pharmaceutical companies have concerning social media activity in the recent release of a draft guidance document. But, as uncertainties still remain, the impact this guidance will have on pharmaceutical companies embracing this new venue of communication is unclear.
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Stage 2 meaningful use readiness a growing concern
Friday, January 24, 2014A survey recently released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found there has been tremendous growth in electronic health record use in the U.S. over the past several years, thanks in part to the meaningful use incentive program. But there may be a speed bump in the road to a connected healthcare system as the meaningful use program enters its second stage.
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New contractor for insurance exchange website faces quite a challenge
Thursday, January 16, 2014After its three-year contract to build the federal health insurance exchange website culminated in a launch full of glitches and bad press, CGI Federal did not receive a contract renewal. Instead, the federal government is putting its faith — and more than $45 million — in Arlington, Va.-based Accenture Federal Services to oversee the HealthCare.gov website.
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Survey: ICD-10 preparedness lacking
Thursday, January 16, 2014As the deadline for switching to ICD-10 code sets inches closer, concern is growing that neither healthcare organizations nor insurers will be ready to go live by October. A survey by KPMG, a New York-based healthcare advisory firm, found the majority of health plans and providers have allocated budgets toward ICD-10 readiness and had completed impact assessments. But most had not yet conducted testing on their systems or determined how the conversion would impact revenue cycle and cash flow.
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Patient-generated data likely to grow as meaningful use moves forward
Thursday, January 09, 2014Stage 3 of the meaningful use incentive program will almost certainly expand the collection and use of patient-generated data, which could give a boost to technology such as home-monitoring devices and patient portals.
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Health spending growth low for 4th consecutive year
Tuesday, January 07, 2014For the fourth consecutive year, growth in healthcare spending remained historically low. But the likelihood this trend will continue, and how the Affordable Care Act will impact it, is still in question. From 2009 to 2012, the U.S. saw the slowest growth in healthcare spending since the government started tracking these trends in the 1960s, according to data released by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
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Health app certification program halted
Tuesday, December 17, 2013Just days after the first class of certified mobile apps was announced by an organization that promised to take the guesswork out of app recommendations for physicians, the certification program was halted after it was found to be significantly flawed.
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Meaningful use shows promise in cutting adverse drug events
Monday, December 16, 2013The launch of the meaningful use incentive program was accompanied by many promises of improved patient safety and reduced costs. A new study finds one way in which those promises are holding true. Hospitals that adopted electronic health record systems featuring all five of the meaningful use program's stage 1 medication management functions had fewer adverse drug events compared with hospitals that have not yet implemented those features, according to a study published online Nov. 22 by the American Journal of Managed Care.
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Reactions mixed to announced meaningful use changes
Thursday, December 12, 2013A new proposed timeline for the meaningful use incentive program for electronic health record use was announced by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT. The change came with mixed reaction from many healthcare member organizations advocating for more flexibility in the incentive program. It was also met with some initial confusion over what the revised timeline means.
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Better connectivity needed to improve prescription drug monitoring programs
Friday, November 22, 2013Among the most powerful tools healthcare providers have to combat the growing prescription drug abuse problem are prescription drug monitoring databases. Even though physicians and PAs in most states have access to a drug monitoring database, few actually use them. Efforts are underway to change that.
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Private website touted as interim alternative to HealthCare.gov
Wednesday, November 20, 2013Despite doubts from many, including people within his own administration, President Barack Obama remains confident that the technical glitches that overshadowed the launch of the federal health insurance exchange in October will be fixed by Nov. 30. Those working on the site are feeling pressure after a Nov. 13 report from the Department of Health and Human Services found that the technical glitches had the effect the administration feared — people visiting the site got frustrated and left as opposed to buying a plan. Just 108,185 plans had been sold.
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Efforts underway to help physicians find best apps to recommend
Thursday, November 14, 2013As patient engagement becomes an increasingly important aspect of a reformed healthcare system, mobile health applications are often thought to hold great potential for getting patients more involved in their healthcare. With more than 43,000 health-related apps available on the iTunes store alone, and new apps being introduced every day, there is no shortage when it comes to available tools. But due to sheer volume, the ability for doctors to assess and analyze these tools for their safety and efficacy is lacking.
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Blue Button gets boost from AHIMA
Wednesday, November 06, 2013During its annual meeting Oct. 28 in Atlanta, the American Health Information Management Association launched an initiative aimed at expanding use of Blue Button technology. Blue Button was launched in 2010 by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs as a way of making health information more accessible to veterans. Soon after, the concept was embraced by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and the Department of Defense and quickly became the gold standard in patient engagement.
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Study: Hospital CEO pay and performance not related
Thursday, October 31, 2013As physician payment shifts toward outcome and value-based models, a study finds no correlation between quality and hospital CEO pay. A study published online Oct. 14 by JAMA Internal Medicine examined hospital CEO pay and its correlation to various hospital characteristics including technology adoption, quality metrics, financial performance and community benefits.
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Online physician reviews mostly positive, but reliability questioned
Thursday, October 24, 2013A new survey finds a large number of doctors regularly monitor reviews written about them online. But that may not equate to an overwhelming endorsement of physician review websites.
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Exchange glitches hint at problems with sustainability of Affordable Care Act
Wednesday, October 23, 2013The launch of the online health insurance marketplace, considered to be the cornerstone of the Affordable Care Act, was marred with reports of long delays, websites crashing and consumers being unable to complete their insurance-purchasing transactions. But the true impact of the problems could go well beyond people simply being upset by having a less-than-user-friendly experience.
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Efforts to reduce waste in healthcare lead to job loss for many
Friday, October 18, 2013Job reports indicate hospitals and health systems are laying people off in quantities not seen since 2009. But the news should not be viewed as a cut in services. Rather, an effort to improve efficiencies and reduce waste, industry insiders say.
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Experiment reveals the ugly side of open-source journal industry
Friday, October 11, 2013Over the past 10 months, Harvard researcher John Bohannon, Ph.D., has created more than 300 versions of a phony research paper describing the anticancer property of a chemical extracted from a lichen. Each paper was authored by a different made-up researcher who came from academic facilities that don’t exist. Despite Bohannon’s efforts to make the papers flawed and unpublishable, nearly 160 medical journal publishers accepted the paper for publishing, despite each one claiming to have a peer review process.
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FDA issues final mobile medical app guidance
Friday, October 04, 2013The U.S. Food and Drug Administration recently issued its final guidance on mobile health apps, ending a two-year wait for developers. The FDA, which issued a draft guidance in July 2011, said it intends to exercise its enforcement discretion and not regulate apps except for those that present a risk to patients if they do not work as intended.
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How the government shutdown affects healthcare
Wednesday, October 02, 2013The Affordable Care Act, known as Obamacare, is at the center of the budget debate that has resulted in a government shutdown. But one of the ironies of the situation is that the program will remain funded. It even reached a major milestone — the launch of the insurance exchanges — on Oct. 1, the same day other areas of government were forced to place employees on furlough.
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Anonymity often leads to physician bullying online
Friday, September 27, 2013Discussions that used to take place around water coolers and in doctor’s lounges have moved to online message boards, blogs and social media sites. But the Internet has also given some physicians an outlet to unleash vitriolic commentary many would never consider unleashing on a colleague in person.
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Workgroup recommends limited health IT regulation by FDA
Friday, September 20, 2013As a general rule, health information technology should not be subject to premarket regulation by the Food and Drug Administration. But there should be exceptions for high-risk products and situations. This is according to the final recommendations for a risk-based regulatory framework for health IT adopted by the Health IT Policy Committee, a group of industry stakeholders convened to advise federal officials on a nationwide health IT infrastructure.
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Doctors are an untapped resource in understanding ACA
Friday, September 13, 2013Doctors and nurses, who are among the most trusted sources of information about the Affordable Care Act in many patients' opinions, could play a valuable role in helping the public understand the law. But they are among the least used sources from which most people have actually received information.