Becker's Hospital Review

61 CIO / HEALTH IT across the U.S. to gain insight into which regulations they are most burdened by. CMS also rolled out meaningful measures as a way to reduce the regulatory hurdles when reporting quality data, and it most recent- ly renamed meaningful use to "promoting interoperability" in an attempt to show its commitment to removing outdated and re- dundant rules. HHS' ONC — the agency President Bush created — admits that computers have made physicians' lives more challenging, a stark contrast from most other industries, ONC chief Don Rucker, MD, said in June 2017. Dr. Rucker has hinted at an interoperability pol- icy, but the agency has yet to establish one. Instead, in January it released a dra Trusted Exchange Framework, which addressed ways of achieving interoperability. Other groups, like the American College of Physicians, have launched initiatives aimed at alleviating clinician burnout through cre- ating a culture of wellness, improving prac- tice efficiencies, enhancing individual physi- cian well-being and reducing administrative burdens. Despite these efforts, most healthcare lead- ers (60 percent) expect burnout to worsen at their organizations in the next two to three years — only 15 percent think it will get bet- ter, according to an April survey published in the New England Journal of Medicine. e No.1 method for reducing clinician burnout? Minimizing clerical tasks, accord- ing to respondents to that study, in which 54 percent cited the need to off-load those tasks to scribes and other workers as a solution and 46 percent supported improvements to the EHR. n 7k patients file HIPAA violations in the past 5 years: 5 things to know By Julie Spitzer T here have been almost 7,100 patient and employee complaints of HIPAA violations in the past five years, which have forced organizations to change their operations and pay substantial fines, according to an analy- sis by Health Information Privacy/Security Alert. Health Information Privacy/Security Alert re- viewed HHS Office for Civil Rights reported and enforcement actions from Jan. 1, 2013, through Dec. 31, 2017 for its analysis. Here are five things to know: 1. Approximately 3,467 complaints were filed with OCR in 2013 that resulted in organizational changes. 2. In 2014,1,288 complaints were reported, fol- lowed by 733 in 2015, 727 in 2016 and 863 in 2017. 3. Six resolution agreements were made, result- ing in thousands of dollars of fines for various organizations. 4. Not included in the Health Information Priva- cy/Security Alert analysis were the tens of thou- sands of actions taken to address Health Infor- mation Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act breach reporting. 5. "Patient complaints under HIPAA matter and have resulted in serious fines," said Dennis Melamed, editor and publisher of Health Infor- mation Privacy/Security Alert. "About a dozen resolution agreements in the last five years orig- inated with complaints and resulted in meaning- ful fines." n Sanford Health to offer genetic tests in primary care clinics By Julie Spitzer S ioux Falls, S.D.-based Sanford Health will soon offer a new type of laboratory test at its primary care clinics, according to The Bismarck Tribune. Using a small blood sample, the tests will reveal a patient's genetic susceptibility for nearly 60 diseases and 30 drug-gene interactions. The hospital is planning a "mid-year" rollout of the tests, which will cost $49 and will not be billed through insurance, in hopes patients will view the offering as an affordable way to enhance their care. Sanford wants the tests to become a routine practice at primary care clinics to help physicians guide more personalized treatment. "Nobody else in the world is doing this," said Nate White, exec- utive vice president of Sanford Health Fargo (N.D.), referring to the routine use of genetic screening in primary care clinics, ac- cording to The Bismarck Tribune. "What we're after is the primary care setting." Some of the conditions screened for by the test — which is based on guidance from the American College of Medical Genetics — in- clude aortic aneurysms; hereditary breast and ovarian cancer; ret- inoblastoma; thyroid cancer; Wilms' tumor, a type of cancer that starts in the kidneys; Wilson disease, which causes copper to accu- mulate in the liver, brain and eyes; and Lynch syndrome, a heredi- tary form of colorectal cancer. Sanford will securely store the genetic information to protect pa- tient privacy, and the insights gleaned from the tests will only be used to inform care. Sanford will not share the data with health insurers — including its in-house payer Sanford Plan — to make de- cisions on premiums or coverage. The new service will be offered as part of Sanford's Imagenetics program, an initiative backed by a $125 million donation from the hospital's namesake, Denny Sanford, in 2014. The genetic testing service will roll out in stages over the next couple of years, begin- ning by inviting patients who see a Sanford primary care provider and are enrolled in its MyChart patient portal. n

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