HHS Releases Report on Nationwide Health Information Exchange

HHS issued a press release announcing its report on nationwide health information exchange. The report issued on June 3, 2005, is titled Summary of Nationwide Health Information Network Request for Information Responses.



The report is a summary of over 500 responses from health care providers and private industry responding to HHS's issuance of a request for information that sought input from the public on how to move forward with a coordinated nationwide health information exchange.



The full report is available here.



Also, HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt announced on June 6, 2005, the formation of a national collaboration called the "American Health Information Community" (AHIC) which will be given the task of developing common standards for electronic health records and make recommendations to HHS on how best to make health records digital and interoperable, while maintaining privacy and security. HHS will solicit nominations for people to serve on the AHIC and Secretary Leavitt will serve as the chairperson.



Four requests for proposals will be issued by HHS to advance the goal of having a nationwide digital health information system within the next 10 years. The RFPs will focus on creating processes for setting data standards, certifications and architecture for an Internet-based nationwide health information exchange. A fact sheet on the RFPs can be found here. Links to the RFP solicitation documents and information on how to participate in the preproposal conference calls can be found here.



Those involved in West Virginia's efforts to create an interoperable health information system bringing together both public and private sector should plan to study the findings in the report and utilize the information in structuring and moving forward with a coordinated statewide project.

Pennsylvania Health Care Blog

I want to thank another health law blog for adding me to their list of "fellow bloggers." Just north and across the Mason-Dixon Line from West Virginia, the Pennsylvania Health Care Blog focuses on the laws and news that affect the delivery of health care in Pennsylvania. The blog is produced by the law firm of McNees Wallace and Nurick LLC and was created using LexBlog.

I've tracked this blog for months via Bloglines and enjoy the content published. Also, the blog is a great example of law firms starting to recognize the value of blogs, especially in the area of promoting specialized practice group areas such as health care law.

If you are interested in the use of blogs by law firms and lawyers for serving clients and marketing purposes you should also check out and add to your RSS reader Real Lawyers Have Blogs written by Kevin O'Keefe, founder and owner of LexBlog. To see some good examples of law blogs on a variety of topics check out LexBlog's portfolio.

Exploding Toilet Is A Real Sh#@#! Case to Defend in West Virginia

One of my favorite legal blawgers, Craig Williams at May It Please the Court reports on a recent lawsuit filed in Monongalia County Circuit Court involving an exploding porta-john. I saw a number of news items on this unique lawsuit and just hadn't gotten around to posting on the lawsuit. I am sure this West Virginia case will make the rounds on Letterman, Leno and Conan.

It reminds me of a portable toilet company from my days of visiting my mother's relatives in Bannock, Ohio and Flushing, Ohio. There was a local porta-john company named "John's Johns". The side of the modern day outhouses said "John's Johns of Flushing, Ohio". If that ain't great advertising I don't know what is.

Following is Mr. Williams post:

WLF May it Please the Court Law Weblog of legal news and observations, including a quote of the day and daily updates: "The Dangers Of Smoking
For some reason the headline 'Man Sues Over Exploding Toilet' sounds much too much like a Monty Python skit or a headline from the onion.com.

Not being a smoker, I am not sure if it is commonplace to sit down and light up or not. If it is, just imagine the additional warning labels that are going to have to be placed on packs of smokes. If words can’t get the message across, perhaps a picture (see photo) would do. This may be the best way to keep kids from every picking up the habit. "

Brian Peterson's West Virginia Legal Weblog also recently posted on this new lawsuit. Brian points out in a followup post that the case might not be as "unique" as first thought. See Supreme Court Tom Rodd's comment citing West Virginia precedent for the case. Dowler v. Citizens' Gas & Oil Co., 71 W.Va. 417, 76 S.E. 845 (1912).

Health Care Blogs: The Health Care Blog Aggregator

I want to thank Elyse Nielsen for adding my blog to her Health Care Blogs, a blog of blogs that aggregates approximatly 124 blog feeds covering a variety of health care related topics. Elyse Nielsen also blogs as Anticlue giving her perspective as an IT analyst with experience in health care institutions.

Bethany College's Equestrian Center: Riding Through College

I participate in Bethlink, a listserv for alumni of Bethany College. Last Friday there was a post about a West Virginia Public Radio news feature about Bethany College's new Equine Studies major, the development and construction of the Peace Point Equestrian Center, the future of the program and other spin off developments (including, the development of fox hunting and a large animal veterinarian school).

You can listen to the WVPR broadcast by going to the West Virginia Morning News section of WVPR. The feature is titled "Riding Through College" - 6/02 By Keri Brown and contains the following summary:
"YouÂ’re supposed to develop a little horse sense when you go to school, but at Bethany College the term has a literal meaning. The school not only has an equestrian team, but also offers a major in Equine Management with a 3,000-acre classroom.

The radio piece mentions that Bethany's Equestrian Team finished 8th out of 22 colleges in its division this year and the college plans to have about double the number of Equinemanagementt majors next year. Also the Equestrian Center has developed a strategic alliance with the United States Pony Club.

The Equestrian Center is the brainchild of a 1972 graduate of Bethany College, Gene Valentine. Mr. Valentine background includes being the Chief Executive Officer of Financial West Investment Group, Inc. Mr. Valentine is the founder and benefactor of the project and has donated up to $10M as seed money to start the equestrian program and strategically move it forward to help Bethany College and the Bethany Community. In conjunction with the Equestrian Center, he has the vision of creating a retirement community including an assisted living facility.

Personally, I can't wait to retire and return to Bethany to float down the old Buffalo in my tube starting with a quart at the "new" Em's, eat chicken hoagies and go to Beat the Clock night at Bubba's Bison Inn, play golf at nearby Oglebay Park, walk to the falls, write and blog from Peace Point, and otherwise enjoy life with short weekend trips into Pittsburgh, Wheeling, New Martinsville, etc.

Since we are on "horse" topics I thought I would mention the horse boarding and training offered by the daughter of two other Bethanians, Terry Coffield and Pamela Gray Coffield. Terry is my cousin who now lives in Bennington, Vermont. His daughter, Jessica Coffield, is the head instructor and trainer, at Northshire Farm in Winhall, Vermont.

TaxGuru Looks at S vs. C Corporation Tax Issues

I am regularly involved in various corporate and transactional matters for small business clients, including health care providers, and am always watching for practical tax related information for small business clients. I enjoy following the TaxGuru blog written by Kerry M. Kersteller, CPA and recommend it to anyone who has an interest in this area.

I saw a recent blog post by Mr. Kerstellar that referred to an earlier blog post that does a great job of summarizing and discussing the advantages and disadvantages of the S vs. C corporation tax issues.

Googles and oodles of Privacy Concerns

An interesting Reuters article on Google's tracking, collecting and storage of search engine information. This will be an interesting story for privacy experts to follow.