Electronic Medical Records come to NYS

whynot_31

We may want to write these estimates down, so we can see how much higher the actual costs turn out to be:


Crain’s Health Pulse; 9/8/2014

At long last, the state Department of Health has issued draft rules for the Statewide Health Information Network of New York, or SHIN-NY, which will allow information-sharing across electronic health records throughout the state. The rules would allow the New York eHealth Collaborative, the nonprofit that has been developing the SHIN-NY, to now operate it. Publicly regulated health care providers and private practitioners using certified electronic health records will be required to connect to the SHIN-NY. That task will cost $75,000 apiece for hospitals, $5,000 to $10,000 for private practices and somewhere in between for nursing homes and home care agencies, DOH estimates. The SHIN-NY itself will cost $70 million a year to maintain. Entities that connect to the SHIN-NY will have to meet interoperability and other standards. They also will be able to disseminate patient information among different health care providers without getting that patient’s consent, as long as they follow HIPAA and other federal laws, according to the draft rules. The new rules are open for public comment until Oct. 20, although no hearings are planned. GNYHA and HANYS each said they support the broad intent of the regulations, although HANYS will press DOH on the “sustainability and practicality” of the technical requirements and financial regulations for the network, according to a spokeswoman.

http://www.crainsnewyork.com/article/20140908/PULSE/140909887/health-care-s-nonlobbying-lobbyists

pragmaticguy

I can only imagine the furor that will be created as soon as this database gets hacked for the first time.

whynot_31

At present, large scale databases with sensitive information exist in NYC and NYS, but they mostly contain the info of poor people.

http://www.ocfs.state.ny.us/connect/

https://www.omh.ny.gov/omhweb/statistics/

https://www.health.ny.gov/statistics/sparcs/

On occasion, these databases get hacked, but there isn't a lot of excitement when it happens.

This database will be different in that it will contain lots of info on -um- "non-poor people". The incentive to hack such a database is certainly much larger.

If it only costs as much as planned and works as planned, the database will save lots of money.

Let's do a follow up article in 2020.

pragmaticguy

May not save that much money. If it costs my doctor's office money he's going to have to build that into his fees which will be passed along to the insurance company which will be passed along to me in higher premiums and that's how things spiral out of control.

whynot_31

Such requirements force health providers to join networks, because they really don't have a way to effectively pass the costs on to patients.

pragmaticguy

I don't need every health provider able to look up my records. Wonder if anyone who works at a doctor's office with a phone book with be able to just punch in someone's name and get info. If I want to look up someone's insurance and I'm not the broker of record on the policy I can't get into the system to see it. Hopefully there will be some checks and balances here.

whynot_31

No patient wants their records freely shared.

That is why insurance companies make receiving insurance contingent upon sharing, and why providers have to agree to share in order to be paid for services.

Cost savings is the primary goal. Improving the quality of care may happen, but isn't a requisite of this database's success.