Articles and Blogs

The Federal Communication Commission (“FCC”) released rules governing how it will distribute $150 million annually out of the Healthcare Connect Fund to qualifying health care providers to support the provision of health care services to the rural population.  The Healthcare Connect Fund grows on the experience and lessons learned by the FCC through its... READ MORE

On December 12, 2012 the FCC approved a report and order expanding the scope of the Universal Service Fund (“USF”).  The $400 million annual fund exists to bring telecommunication services to health care providers for the benefit of persons who reside in rural areas.  The FCC acted to revise the existing USF program by: READ MORE

The American Medical Association (“AMA”) recently posted a policy titled “Professionalism in the Use of Social Media” (“Policy”). The Policy is intended for use by physicians, noting that the Internet has the ability to allow medical students and physicians to communicate and share information quickly and distribute such information to millions of people easily.... READ MORE

I recently conducted a webinar with Teramedica on Establishing an Effective Records Management and Data Retention Program: Health Care Industry Considerations. This one-hour webinar helps health care organizations gain tactical insight into the essential legal and business requirements of establishing an effective records management and data retention program. Patient data storage and data access... READ MORE

Several southeastern states (Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas) collaborated under the direction of ONC to analyze the country’s ability to respond to disasters through the use of Health Information Exchange (HIE).  This initiative, called the Southeast Regional HIT-HIE Collaboration (SERCH) project,  focused on the development of a strategic plan for sharing health information among states... READ MORE

As reported by the Post-Tribune, Methodist Hospitals has settled a dispute with Medical Information Technology (MEDITECH), FTI Cambio and HealthNET related to the failed implementation of an electronic health record (EHR) sytem.  If you are experiencing challenges with an EHR implementation, please see our prior post 4 Action Items When Facing an EHR Software Implementation Failure or... READ MORE

Yesterday (10/4/2012), in a letter from House Republican leaders to HHS, House Republican leaders expressed serious concern regarding the Stage 2 Meaningful Use program and requested HHS to take the following action: Immediately suspend the distribution of incentive payments until universal interoperable standards are promulgated by HHS; Increase what is expected of Meangingful Users... READ MORE

On September 24, the mHealth Task Force, released its recommendations to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) which recommends greater FCC involvement in mobile health and greater coordination with the FDA, ONC, HHS and other federal agencies. READ MORE

On September 7, 2012, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit rejected a defendant’s attempt to enforce an arbitration clause contained in and presented to the plaintiffs only in unsolicited emails following the plaintiffs’ alleged online enrollment in the defendant’s service.  (HYPERLINK TO OPINION)  The defendant argued that the plaintiffs assented to... READ MORE

The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (“ONC”) released this week a report , “The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (“ONC”) released this week a report summarizing the discussion and key findings from the Behavioral Health Roundtable held on July 24 about the adoption of health information technologies among... READ MORE