Obama 2011 Budget Request: Department of Health and Human Services

Last year President Obama used his budget to lay the groundwork for comprehensive health-care reform, proposing a 10-year, $634 billion reserve fund as a "down payment" on universal coverage.

This year’s blueprint does not include that money, though administration sources said the overall federal budget assumes a bill will be enacted and result in deficit reduction of $150 billion over the next decade.

The budget for the Department of Health and Human Services envisions a few minor changes: a $1 billion increase for the National Institutes of Health, $1.6 billion more for child care and an additional $290 million for community health centers. Read more at the Washington Post.

EHR Implementation Experience & Expertise Needed

The Obama administration has placed a high priority on nationwide EHR adoption, and it is more important than ever for our sector to be an empowered partner in meeting this goal. Resources are critically needed to assist the healthcare documentation sector with facilitating and adapting to client migration to EMR/EHR solutions. What contributing factors should be considered/planned for? How can an individual MT or MTSO best assist clients in seamless transition to a transcription-enabled EMR or EHR? It is the goal of the AHDI/MTIA EHR Task Force to develop and release an EHR Readiness Toolkit, a resource guide for our sector in preparing for healthcare’s migration to an electronic health information infrastructure. To that end, the task force seeks to convene two focus groups with EMR/EHR integration experience to provide experiential insight, recommendations, and feedback that can help shape this resource. Approximately 8-10 MTs or transcription managers/supervisors who have experience as employees with facility migration to an EMR/EHR are needed for one focus group, and approximately 8-10 MTSOs or independent contractors who have been part of a client’s migration to an EMR/EHR are needed for the second focus group. We are asking focus group participants to complete a comprehensive questionnaire, participate in 1-2 meetings, and review the toolkit prior to its release. If you are interested and able to participate, please contact Tiffany Wagner (twagner@ahdionline.org or 209-341-2461). A member of the task force will follow up with you.