Information Age Health Care: Aetna now reimburses for iRhythm’s ZIO Patch

Aetna will now reimburse for iRhythm’s ZIO Patch, a continuous long-term heart monitor worn on an adhesive patch. The insurer recently updated its Clinical Policy Bulletin on cardiac event monitors, upgrading the ZIO Patch from “experimental and investigational” to “medically necessary” for certain conditions.
Dr. Eric Topol at the Scripps Translational Science Institute published research just this month that compared the ZIO Patch to traditional Holter monitors. Topol found that the devices performed comparably and the ZIO patch was preferred by patients and doctors. More

Ethics and HIT

Challenges...
http://jamia.bmj.com/site/icons/amiajnl8946.pdf

patient safety should trump all other values; corporate concerns about liability and intellectual property ownership may be valid but should not over-ride all other considerations;
transparency and a commitment to patient safety should govern vendor contracts;
institutions are duty-bound to provide ethics education to purchasers and users, and should commit publicly to standards of corporate conduct; and
vendors, system purchasers, and users should encourage and assist in each others’ efforts to adopt best practices.

Meaningful Use (MU) & Nursing

Nurses are central to ensuring Meaningful Use ...

http://www.himss.org/ASP/topics_FocusDynamic.asp?faid=395

Bowles, K. (October, 2010). Achieving Meaningful Use with Information Technology: Telehealth Research. Online Journal of Nursing Informatics (OJNI),14 (3). Available at http://ojni.org/14_3/Bowles.pdf

Bowles, K.,(February, 2011) ONJNI....Achieving Meaningful Use With Decision Support Research http://tinyurl.com/4ol9r6p

CMS & MU:

Meeting the Requirements for Meaningful Use: Attestation Calculator

HIMMS:

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Meet Meaningful Use proposed Stage 2 certification criteria and standards
Receive Medicare and Medicaid incentive funding and avoid penalties
Implement Meaningful Use specifications practically and successfully
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Information Age Health Care

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Aetna now reimburses for iRhythm’s ZIO Patch

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