Majority Of Health Insurers Claim To Be Ready For ICD-10, Survey

UnitedHealthcare, Aetna, BlueCross BlueShield and Human, and various other national commercial health insurers say they are ready for ICD-10’s October 1 implementation deadline

According to a survey by the American Academy of Family Physicians, most of the major health insurance carriers say they ready for the code change.

AAFP survey results said, “It is important that the nation’s largest private payers including UnitedHealthcare, Aetna, BlueCross BlueShield and Humana, are ready for the transition so payments to physicians are not delayed.” [@HealthITplus]

Global Mobile Health Market Will Reach $21.5B In 2018

According to a new research from BCC Research, the mobile health (mhealth) industry revenue growth will reach a staggering $21.5 billion in 2018. The mHealth industry is expected to grow at an impressive compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 54.9%. Europe is coming up as a strong market in the mHealth division and is expected to outdo the current leader, North America, by 2018. [@HealthITplus]

Global EHR Market Estimated To Reach $22.3B by End of 2015, Report

During the HIMSS14 conference, Accenture released its report containing forecast for the global EHR market through the year 2015. According to the report, the worldwide EHR industry is expected to reach $22.3 billion by the end of 2015

By the end of next year, the global EHR market report hints at peaking over $22 billion, according to Accenture. Undoubtedly, U.S. is expected to grab an estimated $10.1 billion (or 47 percent) of the market. The survey was conducted in the following 10 countries:

• Australia;
• Brazil;
• Canada;
• France;
• Germany;
• Japan;
• The Nordics;
• Spain;
• The United Kingdom; and
• The U.S. ———-> Read more [@HealthITplus]

The Impact of Meaningful Use on the Mobile App Market [Infographic]

The mobile app market is expected to grow 500 percent by the end of 2014, primarily due to the government’s Meaningful Use incentive program.

Less Than 10 Percent Physicians ICD-10 Ready

A research released by Medical Group Management Association (MGMA) throws light on the overall readiness of healthcare industry to meet the Oct. 1 ICD-10 deadline, finding it “continues to be slow.” The MGMA research corroborates the findings of another recent survey conducted by QualiTest which showed providers were far from ready for the October deadline.

Also see: ICD-10 Implementation: Half Of U.S. Healthcare Providers 25% Or Less Done, Study

MGMA wrote, “The greatest concern is the lack of communication and critical coordination between physician practices and their essential trading partners (such as claims clearinghouses, electronic health record (EHR) vendors and practice management system vendors) regarding software updates and testing, which has not yet occurred. Only 4.8% of practices reported that they have made significant progress when rating their overall readiness for ICD-10 implementation.” [@HealthITplus]

ICD-10 Implementation: Half Of U.S. Healthcare Providers 25% Or Less Done, Study

According to a study conducted by Aloft Group, an international brand strategy and marketing execution firm, less than half of U.S. healthcare providers are 25 percent or even lesser done on their ICD-10 implementation process.

Also see: ONC Released 2014 Edition EHR Certification’s Transparency Criteria

The survey included over 200 healthcare providers – 75 percent of which were community hospitals. The study also revealed that 35.4 percent of the providers were 25 percent done with the conversion, while 15.3 percent haven’t even started the process yet. A year ago in 2013, 40.8 percent of those surveyed said they were 25 percent done, and 33.8 percent hadn’t gotten started. [@HealthITplus]

Interoperability a ‘Top Priority’ for 2014, Says Health IT Chief DeSalvo

National Coordinator for Health IT Karen DeSalvo said at the fourth annual Health Care Innovation Day on Thursday that interoperability will be the “top priority for 2014,” as far as the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT is concerned.

During the occasion, DeSalvo also pointed out five other ONC priorities in order to augment patient care experience, improve population health and reduce costs:

• Increasing health IT adoption
• Establishing standards to enable interoperability
• Providing incentives to help facilitate interoperability
• Ensuring the privacy and security of personal health information
• Providing health IT governance and structure

“Interoperability will enable the promise of health information technology in the clinical interface for the health systems and the population and community at large to come to fruition,” DeSalvo stated. [@HealthITplus]

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ONC Released 2014 Edition EHR Certification’s Transparency Criteria

The Office of the National Coordinator of Health IT released two new transparency requirements included in the 2014 electronic health record certification criteria in the EHR Intelligence reports. The new requirements were released on Tuesday.

Background

As per 2009 federal economic stimulus package, Medicaid and Medicare incentive payments were available for healthcare providers who would demonstrate meaningful use of certified electronic heath record (HER) systems.

Also see: Delivering Better Patient Experience With Digital Tools – Infographic

In its 2014 Edition EHR Certification Criteria, ONC outlined the requirements that EHR systems must meet in order for providers to be able to qualify for incentive payments.

An Apple (iWatch) A Day Keeps The Doctors Away

Just when you thought Apple was working on a bigger iPad and iPhone, its top executives met with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to discuss on “mobile medical applications.” The story was also covered last week in the Friday edition of the New York Times. Much of the speculations are around developing applications for the iWatch, which is expected to be launched by end of this year.

Also see: The Current State Of mHealth Apps And Where It’s Heading Now

The meeting included top of the line executives from Apple including Senior Vice President of Operations Jeff Williams, Vice President of Software Technology Bud Tribble and Michael O’Reilly (who recently joined Apple from the medical monitoring company Masimo). From thr FDA’s panel, Jeff Shuren, director of the FDA’s Center for Devices and Radiological Health, and Bakul Patel, who helped draft the FDA’s guidance on mobile medical applications, had attended the meeting, reports Times. [@HealthITplus]

Large Practices Lead The Trend In EHR Adoption, Study Finds

According to a study report by Commonwealth Fund, adoption of electronic health record systems (EHRs) has increased significantly from 2009 to 2012. The study also finds that larger organizations have reported higher adoption rate than smaller settings. Also, there has been a considerable lag in interoperability between providers’ systems and patients.

Between 2009 and 2012, the EHR adoption rate jumped from 46% to 69%, as did their use of certain health IT functions such as electronic prescription transmissions to pharmacies, 34% to 66%; and electronic lab ordering, 38% to 54%.

Also see: Patients Still Not Fully Informed About EHRs

But the report also highlighted that only half of physicians in solo practices were using EHRs in 2012 vs. 90% of docs in groups of 20 or more. Also in 2012, just 1 in 3 primary-care physicians could swap clinical summaries with a physician colleague and only 35% could share lab results outside their practices. [@HealthITplus]