> ----------
> From: Trauma-EMS Librarian[SMTP:trauma-l@trauma-ems.org]
> Reply To: Trauma-EMS Librarian
> Sent: Monday, March 24, 2003 3:44 AM
> To: Trauma-EMS Listserv
> Subject: HHS News Releases
>
> Date: Fri, 21 Mar 2003 11:26:40 -0500
> From: "Henneghan, Martha (HHS/OS)"
> <MARTHA.HENNEGHAN@HHS.GOV>
> Subject: HHS RELEASE--PERSONAL DIGITAL ASSISTANTS
>
> Date: March 21, 2003
> For Release: Immediately
> Contact: AHRQ Public Affairs
> Farah Englert, (301) 594-6372
> fenglert@ahrq.gov
> Karen Migdail, (301) 594-6120
> kmigdail@ahrq.gov
>
> Headline: HHS TO TEST USE OF HANDHELD DEVICE
> NETWORK FOR TRANSMITTING URGENT INFORMATION
> ABOUT BIOLOGICAL AGENTS TO CLINICIANS
>
> HHS Secretary Tommy G. Thompson today announced that HHS
> will begin testing a system using handheld personal digital
> assistants (PDAs) for transmitting urgent information about
> biological agents to clinicians. The three-month pilot test of the
> PDA network is designed to gauge the best ways for federal
> officials to communicate effectively with front-line clinicians in the
> event of a bioterrorist attack. The project will evaluate how and
> when clinicians download this urgent information and whether they
> find it useful to receive it via their PDAs.
>
> "This important new project will allow us to harness the power of
> technology to communicate with many of the doctors, nurses, and
> other clinicians who will be called on to diagnose and treat patients
> quickly in the event of a bioterrorist attack," Secretary Thompson
> said. "This will literally allow them to have critical information at
> their fingertips when they need it most."
>
> The project will evaluate the use of a system created by ePocrates,
> the nation's largest physicians' handheld network, for sending an
> urgent "Doc Alert" message to more than 700,000 front-line
> clinicians, including more than 250,000 physicians -- more than 40
> percent of the practicing physicians in the United States. The test
> message will contain a special memo on the highest threat
> (category A) biological diseases/agents, which include anthrax,
> botulism, plague, smallpox, tularemia and viral hemorrhagic fevers,
> including Ebola. The message will also include Web links for
> clinicians to go to for additional information about diagnosing and
> treating the conditions caused by the biological agents. Clinicians
> will be able to save this information to their PDAs for future
> reference.
>
> The pilot project will be managed by HHS' Agency for Healthcare
> Research and Quality (AHRQ) and is designed to complement the
> Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's existing Health Alert
> Network, which was created in 1998 and is used by the
> Department to communicate directly with more than 25,000 public
> health officials in the 50 states, eight U.S. territories and seven
> large cities.
>
> The ePocrates pilot project is being conducted under the auspices
> of the Council on Private Sector Initiatives to Improve the Security,
> Safety, and Quality of Health Care (http://www.cpsi.ahrq.gov),
> which was established in 2002 to ensure that HHS responds
> systematically and consistently to technological products or ideas
> proposed by private organizations or individuals that could improve
> public health/bioterrorism preparedness. This project is the first one
> to have been accepted and funded through this new initiative. The
> Council is staffed by AHRQ. ###
>
> Note: All HHS press releases, fact sheets and other press
> materials are available at www.hhs.gov/news
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Date: Fri, 21 Mar 2003 11:44:16 -0500
> From: "Henneghan, Martha (HHS/OS)"
> <MARTHA.HENNEGHAN@HHS.GOV>
> Subject: HHS RELEASE--eGov
>
> Date: March 21, 2003
> For Release: Immediately
> Contact: CMS Public Affairs
> (202) 690-6145
>
> Headline: FEDERAL GOVERNMENT ANNOUNCES FIRST
> FEDERAL eGOV HEALTH INFORMATION EXCHANGE
> STANDARDS
>
> The Departments of Health and Human Services (HHS), Defense
> (DoD) and Veterans Affairs (VA) today announced the first set of
> uniform standards for the electronic exchange of clinical health
> information to be adopted across the federal government.
>
> These standards are part of the foundation of the National Health
> Information Infrastructure that will serve consumers, patients,
> health care providers and public health professionals. Standardized
> information exchange, with privacy and security protections, makes
> it easier for health care providers to share relevant patient
> information and for public health professionals to identify emerging
> public health threats. Standardized information exchange also
> makes portable electronic medical records more likely and easily
> achievable.
>
> The three federal departments that deliver health care services are
> coordinating with numerous other federal agencies to standardize
> across federal clinical health information as part of the
> Consolidated Health Informatics initiative (CHI). CHI is the health
> care component of President Bush's eGov Initiatives, created under
> the President's Management Agenda, to make it easier for citizens
> and businesses to interact with the government, save taxpayer
> dollars and streamline citizen-to-government transactions.
>
> "It's important for the federal government to lead by example by
> selecting and adopting these standards," HHS Secretary Tommy
> G. Thompson said. "With appropriate privacy protections for
> personal health information, consumers and patients will benefit
> when their health information is available to their doctors and other
> health care providers when it is needed, such as in the emergency
> room. But we cannot do it alone. The private sector will be crucial
> to the widespread diffusion of these standards."
>
> The new standards will help improve the quality of care by ensuring
> federal entities use a common coding system that will make it
> easier to coordinate care and exchange needed information.
> Currently, federal entities use different coding systems that make it
> difficult to maintain up-to-date information needed for quality care.
>
> "VA has long advocated national standards for computerized
> patient records and has joined with HHS, DoD and others in the
> aggressive, collaborative pursuit of the adoption of national
> standards by all health care providers, payers and regulators,"
> Department of Veterans Affairs Secretary Anthony J. Principi said.
> "National health information standards, already adopted by VA, will
> improve health outcomes, increase patient safety and help achieve
> optimal use of scarce resources."
>
> "Benefits from using common health care standards include
> improved patient safety and a reduction in the cost of health care,"
> said Dr. William Winkenwerder, assistant secretary of defense for
> health affairs. "I am delighted with our federal partnership in this
> initiative and with our leadership role in adopting these standards.
> We hope that this action will provide the momentum for the
> adoption of these standards across the health care sector."
>
> "E-Gov is focused on simplifying bureaucracy, and the CHI work in
> health data standards is an excellent example of how simplification
> can improve quality and reduce healthcare costs in America," said
> Mark Forman, associate director for information technology and
> electronic government, Office Of Management and Budget.
>
> The members of the CHI are also participating in a number of
> projects -- individually and as part of the Consolidated Health
> Informatics group -- looking to establish widespread use of
> electronic health data systems and programs including electronic
> health records.
>
> Under today's announcement, as part of new systems development
> efforts, all federal agencies will:
>
> · Adopt Health Level 7 (HL7) messaging standards to ensure
> that each federal agency can share information that will improve
> coordinated care for patients such as entries of orders, scheduling
> appointments and tests and better coordination of the admittance,
> discharge and transfer of patients.
>
> · Adopt certain National Council on Prescription Drug
> Programs (NCDCP) standards for ordering drugs from retail
> pharmacies to standardize information between health care
> providers and the pharmacies. These standards already have been
> adopted under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability
> Act (HIPAA) of 1996, and today's announcement will make sure
> that parts of the three federal departments that aren't covered by
> HIPAA will also use the same standards. .
>
> · Adopt the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
> 1073 (IEEE1073) series of standards that allow for health care
> providers to plug medical devices into information and computer
> systems that allow health care providers to monitor information
> from an ICU or through telehealth services on Indian reservations,
> and in other circumstances.
>
> · Adopt Digital Imaging Communications in Medicine (DICOM)
> standards that enable images and associated diagnostic
> information to be retrieved and transferred from various
> manufacturers' devices as well as medical staff workstations.
>
> · Adopt laboratory Logical Observation Identifier Name Codes
> (LOINC) to standardize the electronic exchange of clinical
> laboratory results.
>
> For more information on each of the President's eGov Initiatives,
> please visit http://www.egov.gov. ###
>
> Note: All HHS press releases, fact sheets and other press
> materials are available at www.hhs.gov/news
>
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