Minnesota e-Health Update for the Week of March 11, 2013

Minnesota
Update: 2012 Minnesota e-Health Connectivity Grant Program for HIE
As of March 11, 2013, applications received and under review exceed the amount of grant funds available. See the 2012 HIE Grant webpage for the list of current grantees, new grantee information will be added as grants are approved.
                               
UP-HI Hosting Career Fair, Offering Free Exhibit Space to Health Organizations Recruiting Informatics Professionals
The University Partnership for Health Informatics (UP-HI) will host an HIT Career Fair on Friday, April 12, 2013 at the University of Minnesota - Twin Cities Campus, McNamara Alumni Center. The event is free for health organizations to exhibit/recruit health informatics professionals and free for students to attend. The deadline to request free exhibit space is April 3, 2013. Additional details are forthcoming. For more information, contact Daniel Chan by email at chan0876@umn.edu.  

Broadband Survey
Connect Minnesota, the state’s designated entity for mapping broadband capacity, is surveying health care facilities, as “Community Anchor Institutions” (CAI), on the types and speeds of broadband service they use. Access the survey and learn more on the Connect Minnesota website.

Interoperability going gangbusters
The Interoperability Showcase saw brisk business March 4-6 at HIMSS13, drawing crowds for tours of 18 kiosks, each demonstrating unique interoperability use cases, while across the way speakers were scheduled every half hour to talk about interoperability. Minnesota had two demonstrations as part of the showcase, the e-Vital Records Project, the Southeast Minnesota Beacon Program and SHARPn.

Reminder: Minnesota e-Health Workgroup Activity: Adoption and Effective Use Workgroup Meeting
When: March 13, 2013, 1:00-4:00p.m.
Where: Minnesota Department of Health, Freeman Building, Room B-145, St. Paul, MN *Note the location*

All workgroup meetings are open to the public. All comments and questions regarding the Adoption and Use workgroup, including for a phone-in option, should be directed to Karen Soderberg at Karen.soderberg@state.mn.us or 651-201-3576.

Reminder: REACH Webinar: “The New Privacy and Security Rules:  Understanding the 2013 Omnibus Rule”
The Regional Extension Assistance Center for HIT for Minnesota and North Dakota (REACH) is offering a webinar that will focus on the final rules from the Omnibus Act of 2013 regarding privacy and security. Objectives include:

  • Understand the changes to the privacy and security regulations defined by the final rule
  • Discover how the new regulations change the current practices of privacy and security in health care
  • Identify the next steps for your organization to take to start planning and making changes to the privacy and security program

When: March 19, 2013
Cost: Free for REACH clients, $50 for non-REACH participants
Register online

Reminder: REACH Boot Camp: Understanding the Changes in the EHR Incentive Program
The Regional Extension Assistance Center for HIT for Minnesota and North Dakota (REACH) will offer a half-day boot camp to help staff from clinics and hospitals understand Stage 2 Meaningful Use and its implications. Objectives include:

  • Understand the new EHR Incentive program requirements
  • Know what to do to prepare your facility to meet the new requirements
  • Understand what impact this will have on your EHR technology, your staff and your workflow 

When: March 27, 2013
Where: Grand Forks, ND, School of Medicine and Health Sciences
Cost: $20 for hospitals and clinics with signed agreements with REACH, $185 for non-REACH facilities
Register

Did you know…
The ONC has launched the first of five Interoperability Training Modules for Meaningful Use Stage 2 The Basics course employs real-life use cases to guide users through basic lessons that will lay the foundation for future releases on Transitions of Care, Labs, Patient Engagement (View, Download, Transmit) and Public Health. Designed for providers, practice managers and other HIE stakeholders, the Basics course helps provide a framework for planning approaches to and implementing requirements to achieve Meaningful Use Stage 2.

National
Review Finds Economic Evaluations of Health IT Systems Mostly Positive
A report published in the Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association reviews 33 economic evaluations of health IT systems. According to the report, 23 papers reported positive findings after comparing the cost and value of health IT systems. The report also found that eight papers’ findings were inconclusive and two papers reported negative findings. Overall, the papers analyzed several types of health IT systems, including: clinical documentation systems; computerized provider order entry systems; disease management systems; a health data exchange network; immunization information systems; institutional information systems; medication management systems, and primary care electronic health records.

Updated Friday, 12-Apr-2013 15:35:54 CDT