The Rundown by inforMD | Week of 2.24.2020

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New Strategy for Reducing Administrative Burden for Physicians

The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology released a guide addressing “specific sources of clinician burden” with “types of electronic health record (EHR) and health information technology” and strategies the Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) could use to address them. The Office’s proposed reporting strategies cover clinical documentation, health IT usability, EHR reporting technology, and public health reporting.

>>Read more: Strategy on Reducing Regulatory and Administrative Burden Relating to the Use of Health ITs and EHRs

Hospitals Now Required to Disclose Sales Negotiations With Accrediting Organizations

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) proposed a new rule that will require Medicare accrediting organizations (AO) to disclose when it is “contemplating undergoing or negotiating a change of ownership” and will allow CMS “the ability to review the AO’s capability to perform its task after a change of ownership has occurred, in order to insure the ongoing effectiveness of the approved accreditation program(s) and to minimize risk to patient safety.” This proposed rule will apply to “Medicare-certified providers and suppliers,” who must “demonstrate compliance with the applicable health and safety requirements through accreditation by a CMS-approved accreditation as part of a national accrediting body.”

>>Read more: Proposed Rule. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.

Internationally-Trained Nurses Linked to Stronger Workforce

A study by researchers at New York University, published in Nursing Economics, shows that internationally educated nurses (IENs), which the study defined as nurses who received “primary RN education outside of the United States,” “can contribute to a more educated and stable nursing workforce in patient care units” and that “hospitals that serve a highly diverse patient population may also benefit from IENs’ additional language skills and knowledge of other cultures.”

>>Read more: Unit Utilization of Internationally Educated Nurses and Collaboration in U.S. Hospitals

Study Finds That Healthcare Breaches Are Getting Worse

A new study conducted by Verizon shows that “38 percent” of healthcare organizations were compromised in a security breach compared to “25 percent in 2019.” Some of these breaches come from healthcare organization’s use of “mobile to empower employees and deliver better patient outcomes.” The study says that “despite the benefits of mobile, healthcare organizations are worried. Eighty-eight percent said they are concerned that the highly confidential nature of patient data makes them a target for cybercriminals.”

>>Read more: Mobile Security Index 2020 Report

Study: Soda Tax Has Minimal to No Impact on Soda Consumption

A new study from the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health says that Philadelphia, Pennsylvania’s “1.5-cents-per-ounce ‘soda tax’…had minimal to no influence” on sugary beverage consumption in Philadelphia. The study, which consisted of a “random phone study of 515 adult residents of Philadelphia and neighboring cities of Camden and Trenton, New Jersey and Wilmington, Delaware” showed that only “39% of Philadelphians” and “34% of those in surrounding cities” reported consuming fewer sugary beverages per month. Of those who reported, the adults only drank “three fewer sugary beverages” each month.

>>Read more: ‘Soda Tax’ Has Minimal to No Influence on Sugary-Beverage Consumption, Study Finds

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