StateWatch: July 16, 2010

Gaining Momentum: States Moving Forward on Health IT


Missouri has completed the strategic and operational plans for its Health Information Exchange. This was done after almost a year of discussions with providers, insurers, legislators and privacy experts. Missouri Statewide Health Information Organization (HIO) is the non-profit that will govern the state HIE. To implement its plan, the state is receiving $13.8 million from the ONC. Washington state also submitted its HIT Plans to the Office of National Coordinator last week. The state hopes that the plans will be approved by the ONC before September 30, 2010.
Kansas already announced two weeks ago that it is implementing its HIE. Four organizations in Kansas - Kansas Hospital Association, Kansas Medical Society, the Kansas City Bi-State Health Information Exchange and Wichita Health Information Exchange--will work with the Kansas Department of Health and Environment to develop the state HIE. The focus is going to be on improving quality of healthcare, while reducing costs and protecting patient privacy.
Georgia Department of Community Health is collaborating with the Morehouse School of Medicine to help doctors in low income areas adopt EHRs. They expect to assist over 5,000 hospitals, doctors, and providers in selecting and using new EMR systems. While they will not pay for the EMR systems, funds will cover training of health information technology professionals.

Medical Students Give Importance to EHRs

Indiana. A partnership has formed between the Michiana Health Information Network and the Indiana University School of Medicine at South Bend. This ensures that the medical students graduating from this school will not only have a deep understanding of health information exchange, but also proficient knowledge regarding electronic health records. The first two years at the medical school will include introductions, demonstration and case studies of the systems. The students will then work with these systems during their clinical clerkships in their final two years.

Use of Cell Phones in Diabetes Treatment

Washington, DC. Dr. Richard Katz of George Washington University Hospital in Washington DC is developing a method by which cellphones can be used to treat chronic conditions, such as diabetes. The project is being conducted in collaboration with Howard University Hospital’s diabetes clinic and the patient population of inner city diabetics. Patients can enter their blood sugar measurements directly from their internet enabled cell phones to their online personal health record. In this way, their condition is monitored daily. Patients can also receive immediate text instructions via their phone, if the measurements deviate from the normal levels. This method of diabetes treatment provides a “two-way” interaction between patient and provider, and removes any geographical barriers to healthcare access. Dr. Katz and his team are currently researching ways to make this provision more personalized and user friendly and enable a larger patient population to take advantage of it.