HIT Week and Review of my 2015 HIT Predictions

Happy HIT week! I have been busy talking HIT to a rural network for the last couple of days, and it is exciting to see how we have progressed in the last few years. As a way to check on our progress, I would like to see how I am doing so far on my 2015 predictions I made earlier in the year. I think I am doing a little better than I did last year!

ICD-10

I was right! It did happen on October 1. So far all seems fine, but let’s see what happens when the bills drop.

Meaningful Use Reporting Period in 2015 will be 90 Days

Right again! The BRAND NEW Meaningful Use final rule came out last night and, as most people thought, the reporting period for 2015 is 90 days. No big surprise…

2015 Will be the Year of the Engaged Patient

Hmmm. This one is subjective, and I think I was wrong (again). We are talking more about engaging patients and we are talking less about why patients won’t engage, which is a start. We are building some momentum, and certainly focus on care coordination and other population health management methods will encourage patient engagement, but the groundswell has not occurred yet.

Stage 3 Will Hammer on Quality Measures and Interoperability

See my blog post tomorrow, where I will discuss the Stage 3 final rule. I will discuss this and other areas more, but I don’t think the clinical quality measure and interoperability requirements will be any greater than they are in Stage 2.

mHealth Killer App

I was hoping that an mHealth app or device would emerge that would drive patient engagement and wellness. I was thinking that perhaps the Apple Watch or the Apple Health Toolkit would take off, but so far I really don’t see this as happening this year. I love my Apple Watch, and it makes me more aware of my daily activity, but it just has not taken off yet.

So I got 2/5 correct. Not good, but for a batting average it is awesome! What do you think will happen the rest of the year?