The Role of Standards in Preventing & Mitigating Health IT Patient Safety Risks

PARCA eNews – July 20, 2016 – ONC and National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)  are hosting a health IT community technical workshop on September 7, 2016. 

Health IT standards are part of the foundation needed to deliver high quality, patient-centric care. The industry continues to gain a better understanding of the relationship between managing risk and providing quality care through the safe use of Health IT.

Measuring Interoperability: Listening and Learning

PARCA eNews – July 1, 2016 – Following feedback from the Health IT community, the Office of the National Coordinator has pledged to simplify measurements for interoperability.

Writing in the HealthITBuzz blog, Seth Pazinski / Director, Office of Planning, Evaluation, and Analysis, and Talisha Searcy / Director of Research and Evaluation, Office of Planning, Evaluation and Analysis, ONC outlined their efforts to listen to stakeholders in Health IT in developing metrics for measuring interoperability.

Belgium-based Agfa HealthCare joins IBM Watson Health collaborative

PARCA eNews – July 18, 2016 – Agfa HealthCare has signed on with IBM’s Watson Health medical imaging collaborative, which includes 15 leading health systems, academic medical centers, radiology providers and imaging technology companies. 

In it’s June 22, 2016 announcement, Agfa said the effort aims to bring cognitive imaging into clinical practice by aiding doctors treating patients with breast, lung and other cancers, as well as diabetes, heart disease, stroke and other diseases.

Interoperability remains challenging as HIE approaches 20

Seonho Kim, VP of Information,
Exchange, CIOX Health

 Seonho Kim is vice president of Information Exchange and HIT at CIOX Health. CIOX Health facilitates and manages the movement of health information with the industry’s broadest provider network and capabilities in release of information, record retrieval, and health information management. Seonho’s expertise is specialized in designing/developing distributed systems, patient security and privacy, federated identity management, clinical data transactions, administrative transactions (X12 transactions) and compliance with interoperability standards including HL7, Health Information Technology Specification Panel (HITSP), Integrating the Healthcare Enterprise (IHE), and Nationwide Health Information Network (NHIN – HHS/ONC Initiative) Exchange and Direct. 

News Roundup

Will 3D printing be added to radiology services?

PARCA eNews – May 20, 2016 – At the American College of Radiology ACR 2016 annual meeting held May 15-19 in Washington, D.C., radiologists from New York and Pennsylvania provided a guide for radiologists interested in adding 3D printing to their practices. They presented a step-by-step workflow from acquisition of CT image data to consultation with referring clinicians using a 3D printed bone model. 

Why would radiologists want to add 3D printing to their imaging services? Many

Kansas Heart Hospital hit by ransomware attack

Security News

Paying a ransom resulted additional demands from attackers.

Image used under license: Gleb Shabashnyi

PARCA eNews – May 24, 2016 – As reported in HIPAA Journal, the Kansas Heart Hospital was hit with a ransomware attack May 18 with critical files locked. The amount of the demand was not disclosed, but paying the ransom resulted in some files being unlocked and an additional demand for the remaining files. The hospital refused the second demand.

Healthcare organizations prioritizing compliance over data breach prevention

Image used by license Copyright : Alex Millos

PARCA eNews – APRIL 15, 2016 – A recent survey conducted by 451 Research on behalf of security firm Vormetric indicates 96% of IT managers expect their organizations to be attacked by cybercriminals.

The survey involved 1,100 IT managers including over 100 working in healthcare organizations. Results showed that 20 percent of organizations have experienced a data breach in the past 12 months, while 63 percent of respondents said they have experienced a data breach in the past.

HHS announces proposed rule to support the reliability, transparency, and safety of certified health IT

ONC program to enhance oversight and accountability 

PARCA eNews – May 22, 2016 – The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) in March proposed a new rule aimed at modifying the ONC Health IT Certification Program to reflect the widespread adoption of certified electronic health records and the rapid pace of innovation in the health IT market.

Interoperability & Standards Webinar

Addressing the challenges to achieve secure interoperable exchange of patient data

Register Now!

June 14, 2016 12:00 pm – 1:00 pm Eastern Time

If you missed the HIMSS16 Interoperability & Standards Breakfast Panel at the HiMSS Conference in February, you can sign up for a Webinar presentation of the session, and learn about this topic from the comfort of your own home or office. The session will be held June 14, 2016 from 12 noon to 1 pm, EST.

2016 ONC Annual Meeting set

PARCA eNews – May 31, 2016 – The 2016 ONC Annual Meeting: “Committed to Better Care through Health IT” is being held this week in Washington, DC. The ONC Annual Meeting is an opportunity for a wide array of public and private sector partners to discuss ways to leverage health IT to achieve better care, smarter spending, and healthier people.