The Readmore 2014

Last year Paul Levy, Matthew Holt and Alexandra Drane asked me to participate in the Engage With Grace Thanksgiving Blog Rally. My post last year describes the Engage with Grace project and tells my personal story of why end of life care is important for all of us to discuss with...

Today the West Virginia Health Information Network released a Request for Proposal (RFP) for a statewide Health Information Exchange. More information, including the deadlines, bidder worksheets and a full copy of the RFP are available on the WVHIN website.Following are sections from the RFP that provide a general overview of the proposed West Virginia...

The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) has launched a second blog called the Health IT Buzz Blog.Just a few weeks ago ONC announced the new Federal Advisory Committee Blog (FACA Blog).The initial post by Dr. David Blumenthal, MD, MPP, National...

Today I participated in the first call of the American Health Lawyers Association's Task Force on Electronic Health Records and Legal Liability.The task force will focus its efforts on the legal liabilities associated with Electronic Health Records (EHR), Health Information Exchanges (HIE) and Personal Health Records (PHR).The group is being led by...

I was recently in my hometown of New Martinsville visiting my dad, a retired family physician. When I arrived he had waiting for me a copy of one of my grandfather's medical records from the 1930s. My grandfather, Dr. Albert Coffield, practiced rural medicine in Wetzel County, West...

Below is a visual of the top 500 words used in HR 3962: Affordable Health Care for America Act. Since most people (including many of our representatives in Washington) haven't read all 1,990 pages of the Health Care Reform Bill, I thought a visual aid might be helpful.I had been...

The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONCHIT) has launched a new blog called the Federal Advisory Committee Blog (FACA Blog).The initial post by Judy Sparrow discusses that the FACA Blog will be uses in a spirit of transparency and collaboration...

The West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources (DHHR) unveiled a website for sharing information and updates specific to West Virginia about the H1N1 Flu also known as Swine Flu. The website has information for prevention, schools, businesses, parents and providers.The new West Virginia H1N1 (Swine) Flu Resource Center can be found at...

On October 30, 2009, the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) issued the HIPAA Administrative Simplification: Enforcement Interim Final Rule, 45 CFR Part 160 (74 Federal Register 56123, October 30, 2009).This new rule was developed and adopted by HHS to conform the enforcement regulations under HIPAA to the revisions made...