The case for leapfrogging ICD-10 and holding out for ICD-11 just got a lot more curious. And though it’s not here yet, when ICD-11 is ready, it will be something ICD-10 cannot: A 21st Century classification system.

Now that HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius has thrown her department’s hat in the ring, saying late Wednesday that HHS intends to delay ICD-10, the most pertinent question is how long will HHS push back compliance?

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Healthcare providers should double down on developing capabilities to coordinate care, engage with their patients, and electronically capture the data needed for quality reporting. They are likely to be required in the proposed rule for stage 2 of meaningful use, expected later this month.

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Healthcare fraud is costing American taxpayers up to $234 billion annually, based on estimates from the FBI. It’s no wonder that a stolen medical identity has a $50 street value, according to the World Privacy Forum – whereas a stolen social security number, on the other hand, only sells for $1.

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Just as the seceding South Carolinians firing on the Union Ship “Star of the West” became recognized as the first shot in the Civil War, the American Medical Association’s delegates voting to vigorously oppose ICD-10 may one day been seen as the salvo that set a conflict over coding sets in motion. 

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Healthcare reform is arguably the hot-button political issue of our time. And with the Supreme Court locked and loaded to decide the fate of the Affordable Care Act this summer, it's a safe bet the controversial two-year-old legislation will have a huge impact on the 2012 election and beyond.

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The Peace Corps plans to acquire a comprehensive electronic health records system to serve its volunteers stationed in 77 developing countries.

The agency wants to develop a proof of concept electronic health record (EHR) and test it in a limited pilot by September and deploy it in fiscal 2013.

[See also: How politics and politicians are distorting Americans' perception of health reform.]

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WASHINGTON--Sen. Tom Udall (D-Utah) anticipates introducing a bill this spring to make it easier for physicians to practice telemedicine in many states instead of applying for a separate license for each state.

The bill, which is still being drafted, would streamline licensure portability across state lines, according to Fern Goodhart, Udall’s legislative assistant.

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Minnesota is home to the Mayo Clinic – a world-renowned institution for medical care, research and education, employing more than 3,700 of the smartest physicians and scientists and scientists in the world and caring for patients from across the globe.

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Information governance is the formulation of policy to optimize, secure, and leverage information as an enterprise asset by aligning the objectives of multiple functions. In our experience, information governance practitioners face critical challenges in explaining the value to the business.

This article details the five best practices imperative to selling the value of information governance within healthcare:

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You’ve heard the litany of twisted health reform clichés at backyard BBQs, cocktail parties, and family functions. Indeed, boiling more than 2,000 pages of legislation and legalese into phrases like “socialized medicine” and “death panels” or from the opposing camp “lower care costs” and even “jobs for Americans” is bound to obscure more than a few facts.

And politicians from both parties spitting one-sentence soundbites like so many propaganda slogans only makes things more chaotic.

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