http://www.hin.com Healthcare Business News en mmatthews@hin.com (Melanie Matthews)Thu, 2 Jul 2009 10:00:00 ESTThu, 2 Jul 2009 10:00:00 EST http://www.hin.com/sw/Hindustry_MC70609_medical_home_funding_care_coordination.htmlExperts on medical home models of care share their experiences in funding medical home transitions and care coordination fees. According to Dr. George Rust, family practice physician for Physicians in Practice, head of the National Center for Primary Care at Morehouse School of Medicine, there are lots of different options for health plans in funding the transition to a more chronic care medical home model. Capitate payments can sometimes offer the opportunity to have a more multidisciplinary team involved in care. If you're in a purely fee-for-service (FFS) environment, broaden your teams so that nurse practitioners (NP), mental health professionals and behavioral healthcare specialists are all part of the team. http://www.hin.com/sw/hospital_HSmanagement70609_hospital_improvement_access_health_care_disability.htmlIn collaboration with Boston's disability community and the Boston Center for Independent Living (BCIL), Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH) and Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) have begun a comprehensive and landmark effort to improve access and care for people with disabilities. The initiative includes an ongoing assessment by the MGH, BWH and the BCIL of the degree to which the hospitals are addressing the needs of people with disabilities and what steps need to be taken to further improve care. http://www.hin.com/sw/behavioral_health70609_psychiatric_facilities_improvement_services.htmlMental health services could be improved by planting trained consumers pretending to be patients, or "mystery patients," to identify problems, according to a commentary in the July 2009 issue of "Psychiatric Services," a journal of the American Psychiatric Association. The concept is similar to the long-standing practice of using "mystery shoppers" in retail stores for market research. Pseudo-patients have also been used for some time in general medicine to improve services. http://www.hin.com/sw/long_term_care70609_CCHIT_long_term_care_EHR_acute.htmlA special task force created by the Certification Commission for Healthcare Information Technology (CCHIT) to provide strategic guidance on development for certification for long-term and post acute care electronic health records (EHRs) has completed its work, recommending a strong focus on the EHR technology requirements of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). http://www.hin.com/sw/healthLaw_regulation70609_patient_centered_research_HHS.htmlRecommendations for how HHS will spend $400 million for patient-centered research, also known as comparative effectiveness research, were released by Federal Coordinating Council for Comparative Effectiveness Research (CER). The report is designed to help the HHS secretary and lawmakers improve the quality of care for patients and provide patients and doctors the best information possible to make decisions about healthcare.