CMS HIPAA Administrative Simplification Infomation

I received this notice and reminder from the CMS HIPAA outreach listserve today:



Reminder--Under the National Provider Identifier Regulation (that was published in the Federal Register on January 23, 2004), a health care provider who is a covered entity, as defined at 45 C.F.R. & 160.103, is required to obtain a National Provider Identifier (NPI) by May 23, 2007. To apply online go here.



Announcing the new CMS web page dedicated to providing all the latest NPI news for Fee-For-Service (FFS) Medicare providers! Visit on the web. While this page is dedicated to the FFS community, it contains helpful information and links that may benefit all health care providers.

What three blogs do you go to first?

While scanning the growing number of blog/RSS feeds that sit in my RSS reader I came across a blog post by The Greatest American Lawyer that made me stop and think.

The question, "What three blogs do I you go to first?"

Hmmmm. . . Sometimes it depends on my mood or whether I am at work or play. However, right now these blogs are in cycle. For the sake of interest and experimentation I'd be interested to see the top 3 of other bloggers. Please add a post to your blog highlighting your top three.

Here are my top three (in no particular order):
Scobliezer
Hospital Impact
Bag & Baggage

I also find it interesting to see what others have in there "my feeds" section of bloglines if you use the public feature. I have found some great blogs to follow by seeing what other bloggers are monitoring. For those of you who use bloglines you can view feeds for a particular person by clicking on the "___ subscribers" button at the top of the page when viewing a particular blog thru bloglines. You can then click on a particular subscriber to pull up their "my feeds" list.

Who is Supreme Court Nominee, Samuel A. Alito, Jr.?

For background information on Supreme Court nominee,
Samual Alito, be sure to check out the evolving article on Wikipedia. Wikipedia is one of my favorite resources for new and old information.

If you are not familiar with Wikipedia -- it is a living, breathing, real time encylopedia and dictionary. It has live links and allows the reader constantly edit/change the content. Look here if you want to know more about how Wikipedia works.

Blawg Review #30: Denise Howell'in at the Moon has manyTricks & Treats

One of my favorite law blogs, hosted by Denise Howell, has let the Blawg Review black cat out of the bag and baggage.

More on Patient Blogging

An interesting item came across my desk the other day highlighting the use of blogs by patients to keep family and friends informed about their status. I happened to email this information out to a colleague and thought it would also make an interesting post. I previously mentioned hospital sponsored patient blogs in a previous post.

The Charleston Gazette's Statehouse Beat written by Phil Kabler had a blog related item. The Statehouse Beat covers state government and legislative happenings. The news items was about the daughter of a state legislator whose child was diagnosed with CHARGE syndrome and is being treated in Oregon. The reason the daughter started the blog was to keep family and friends informed about the progress of her child. The legislator kept getting questions all the time about the status of his grandson, so he decided to let the political beat column writer know about the blog.

Here is the an excerpt from the article:
For readers wondering how Maxwell McKinley, who was born in June with CHARGE Syndrome is getting along, grandfather David McKinley sends along this blog from Amy McKinley: www.maxupdate.blogspot.com
With the blog, he says, his daughter can keep friends apprised of Maxwell's s progress without having to continually experience the rollercoaster of emotions with each call. Suffice to say, it's an extremely touching account of how young Maxwell fights for life each day with an indomitable spirit that puts the rest of us to shame.

After having read some of the blog posts I also found the blog very touching and it really shows the love of a parent for her child. It also documents the emotional story that most patients and their families face when having to deal with a severe medical condition.

The creative use of blogs in the health care industry is wide open for innovators. Some the ideas and questions that come to mind. Patients and families sharing information about caretreatmentement, especially in the case where there is distance between family members. Patients using blogs to document their own medical history and care. Patients sharing disease specific information. Doctors sharing diagnosis and treatment related information that can be used by other providers. Hospital sponsored blogs for external and internal use. The interplay with privacy issues and the list goes on. Exciting time for the health care industry.

For more on hospital sponsored patient blogs you might want to check out BeSpecific's post and an article in ComputerWorld. Also check out this WSJ article which mentions the some other patient blogs:

Amy Tenderich/ Diabetesmine.com
News, comment and information about dealing with diabetes; links to diabetes-information sites and other diabetes blogs.

Mary Blocksma/Mary's Breast Cancer Blog beaverislandarts.com
Personal musings on breast-cancer treatment, recovery, and emotional and physical issues.

Don Cooley/ prostate-help.blogs.com/prostatehelp
Prostate-cancer survivor's Web log of news and information for prostate-cancer survivors.

High Point Regional Health System www.highpointregional.com/blogs
First-name-only patient blogs on various topics, posted on hospital Web site.

The Cancer Blog http://www.thecancerblog.com/
Information on cancer treatment and recovery from several perspectives, including an ovarian-cancer patient.

Which US Court? Ask Court Links!

A great new map resource called "courtlinks" showing you Circuit by Circuit the U.S. District Court System.



Thanks to Brian Peterson for sharing this resource.

Grand Rounds 2.05

Definitely check out Ground Rounds 2.05 over at Hospital Impact. Great job Tony.

Pig in a Python

Interesting Yahoo News item from USA Today asking the question of "who will take care of an older population?" I once heard the baby boomer population (1946-66) referred to as a pig in a python.

As a result of a the aging baby boomers the health care system and health care funding will have to change. One only has to look at the impact that the baby boomer generation had on higher education to see some of the trends. Most of the discussion today is how we will provide and pay for health care as this group ages. One additional question that is further on the horizon will be once we expand health care to deal with the demand what will happen on the downslope.

For another interesting perspective.

Halloween Treats: But How Much?

Halloween is closely approaching. Some timely advice on how much candy to allow your little goblin to have.