Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Future Of Health Care Data Likely To Share Reins With Patients, Shake Off Old Restraints
Modern Healthcare: Patients Pave The Way For Interoperability
The new interoperability is upon us. Healthcare data, once confined to a single hospital or system, are increasingly moving more freely outside the constraints of an electronic health record system, giving patients added control over their care and arming providers with the information they need to close gaps in care. The data are moving more easily thanks to interoperability driven not by EHR technology but by the standards supporting the systems. This new type of data exchange looks different from that of the past. It's more comprehensive, with data traveling as discrete elements, rather than in clunky PDFs. (Arndt, 4/28)
In other health IT news —
Kaiser Health News: Telemedicine Opening Doors To Specialty Care For Inmates
When an inmate needs to see a medical specialist, getting that care can be complicated. Prisons are often located in rural areas far from medical centers that have experts in cancer, heart and other disease treatments. Even if the visit just involves a trip to a hospital across town, the inmate must be transported under guard, often in shackles.The whole process is expensive for the correctional facility and time-consuming for the patient. (Andrews, 5/1)
KCUR: Telemedicine OK Passes Kansas Legislature With Anti-Abortion Clause
Kansas lawmakers gave the go-ahead Monday to expand telemedicine services after reaching agreement on abortion language that had threatened to scuttle the move. The bill cleared the state Senate and House by large margins, but only after eleventh-hour brinksmanship that gave anti-abortion forces the assurances they demanded. Kansans for Life, the state’s largest anti-abortion organization, fought for weeks to maintain a clause in the legislation designed to discourage a court challenge over its ban on drug-induced abortions. (McLean, 4/30)
