The September 29, 2009 edition of NJAMHA Newswire reports on a trend appearing strongly in New Jersey and in many other states: attempts to provide primary care treatment at the behavioral health setting or alternatively, to integrate behavioral health treatment into the primary care setting. In fact, the National Council, the major membership organization of community behavioral health care providers, has [...]
Last week I attended a webinar hosted by Healthcare Informatics about the transition to ICD-10. The webinar was sponsored by Cognizant Technology Solutions and was presented by Janice W. Young from Health Industry Insights and David Hamilton of the Healthcare & Life Science Practice at Cognizant. I am fond of the webinars hosted by Healthcare Informatics. They allow [...]
I was all set to write an article on various health disorders and their cost. Then I got frustrated. You see, I started reading the original articles upon which the news/opinion articles I was using as reference were based. I found very rapidly that the figures being used in the articles were comparing different things…some [...]
Those of you who read this blog regularly might remember that in July I decided to take a more active role in addressing the neck and back pain that is a regular part of my life. I started taking a yoga class. In August, I added a second one. I was all set last week to [...]
I have been avoiding writing about the second draft of the Meaningful Use of Electronic Medical Records (EMRs) definition released by the federal Health IT Policy Committee on July 16. I had been hoping I would hear something that would make me believe the definition would in some significant way benefit our customers. I am [...]
A couple of weeks ago I wrote about my experience of incapacitating back pain while on vacation. Today, I woke up feeling great. My visit to my chiropractor and massage therapist was unusually positive; my muscles were not in spasm and my spinal alignment was pretty good. It is clear that the things I have been [...]
This is my second day back in the office after vacation. Yesterday and this morning were filled with catching up. That will take most of the rest of the week to complete. I decided to share an experience and some reflections before I get too removed from them. While on vacation, my back went out. [...]
The deaths of the past week have set me to thinking. The mother of a friend passed away early in the week followed by the wife of a family friend. Then, news of the death of cultural icon, Michael Jackson, was everywhere. I come from a family and culture (New Orleans-based) where death is an intrinsic part of [...]
Our book group had the pleasure of reading and having a visit with the author of The Rise of Homo Sapiens: The evolution of modern thinking, by Frederick L. Coolidge and Thomas Wynn. Fred has been a friend and colleague for the past 35+ years and is Seth’s long distance bicycling buddy. He is currently experiencing the [...]
A question on one of the psychology listservs I follow got me thinking, yet again, about data security…and backup. The writer asked about the proper procedures to follow when patient psychotherapy treatment records are permanently lost. The question pertained to how the counselor in question should respond to the loss of all of their patient [...]
We invite your comments on this and all of our blog entries. To participate in the conversation, click on the title of this article and enter your thoughts in the box at the bottom of the page. We spent the holiday weekend at the Georgia Tandem Rally, our favorite organized bicycling event. This year, 102 [...]
We just returned from bicycling 125 miles over the course of a weekend to raise money for the Central Florida chapter of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. Seth has been doing this ride or one for the North Florida Chapter since 2001 and I have joined him for all or part of the weekend of riding on four [...]
One of the largest challenges for the small employer (like us) is providing health insurance coverage for our employees. While wages are our largest single expense, we spend an additional 11% of that amount to purchase health insurance for our employees. The costs of that coverage have increased every year that we have offered it. As a basis of comparison, we have [...]
Red Flags Rule Revisited The Federal Trade Commission has announced a delay in implementation of the Red Flags Rule until August 1, 2009. Don’t be fooled by this delay. If you are defined as a creditor under the rule, you must still comply. I hope you will take the time to visit the FTC web [...]
Have you had your credit card stolen? Or maybe new checks were taken from your mailbox after they were delivered to your home. Perhaps you received a call from a zealous credit card company asking about suspicious charges on one of your credit card accounts. If you have had this happen, you well know that [...]
I’m getting ready for a week of vacation in my hometown–New Orleans. As some of you who know me well may remember, my 89-year-old mother has been with us in Florida since Katrina-breached levees filled her New Orleans home with 8 feet of water. Our last visit was almost 22 months ago; it is definitely [...]
For the past week the health IT news world (NYTimes; Chicago Sun Times; MSN; ) and blogosphere (FierceHealthIT; Healthcare Informatics) have been abuzz with Wal-Mart’s announcement that they will begin selling electronic health record (EHR) software to doctor’s offices starting this Spring. They will do so in partnership with eClinicalWorks and Dell through their Sam’s Club [...]
I was all set to write an article Monday morning on the expanded privacy and security requirements in the American Recovery & Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) when I remembered that I was registered for a webinar presented by FairWarning (a privacy surveillance company) Monday afternoon on just that subject. I am really glad I waited to write, because [...]
Running a mental health practice or community organization is a demanding endeavor and probably gets in the way of reading some of the huge volumes of info out there. I just thought I would share some quick bits and pieces of information you might find useful. 1. ICD-10 Update: Last October 31, I posted information about an October 2011 [...]
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) contains provisions for spending approximately $19 billion in health IT infrastructure and Medicare and Medicaid incentives to press providers to use health IT, according the NJAMHA Newswire , a publication of the NJ Association of Mental Health Associations. The National eHealth Collaborative, the replacement for AHIC (the [...]
