Briefs

Healthcare IT Bill Moves Forward In House

The House Ways and Means Health Subcommittee May 24 approved legislation that would promote healthcare IT adoption.

The bill, H.R. 4157, sponsored by subcommittee chairwoman Nancy Johnson (R-Conn.), would:

Codify the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology; Ask the HHS to examine variations in state and federal security and privacy laws and determine whether they need to be strengthened to protect patient privacy. Under the bill, if Congress fails to enact legislation within 18 months of the study, HHS has the option to modify federal standards and limit state laws; Require HHS to adopt or reject coding and transaction standards proposed by the National Committee on Vital and Health Statistics (NCVHS) within 90 days of an NCVHS recommendation; Require HHS to report on the activities of the American Health Information Community, a public-private advisory body set to recommend standards to encourage healthcare IT adoption; and Call for development of a strategic federal plan to coordinate implementation of health IT standards, transaction standards and new coding systems.

Last year the Senate passed S. 1418, a bill with broad political support designed to promote healthcare IT adoption. Johnson's bill is expected to move to the full House Ways and Means Committee for a vote. If it passes, it would then have to be reconciled with the Senate version.

Medidata Expands, Partners with C3i

Medidata Solutions, a global provider of electronic data capture (EDC), management and reporting solutions, is expanding its customer support services through the addition of a new, state-of-the-art data center and the appointment of Louis Gilbert as vice president of information technology. Medidata has also entered into a strategic partnership with C3i, a consulting and services company that specializes in helping life science organizations advance customer management effectiveness.

Medidata's expanded hosting services allow sponsors to leverage Rave, a web-based, thin-client EDC solution, the company said in a May 30 announcement. A new Houston-based data center can deliver the same services as a sponsor's own internal hosting -- including storage, accessibility and protection of critical clinical data -- without the costs, provisioning, ongoing maintenance and security or privacy concerns associated with the delivery of web-based applications, Medidata said.

Staffed by full-time Medidata employees, the data center is designed to handle thousands of clinical studies simultaneously. Medidata hosting services allow customers to access new server deployments within 24 hours. And with Rave's thin-client architecture, they can immediately implement trials and manage clinical data globally without deploying unique hardware or software at the investigator site.

i3 Unveils Online Electronic Data Tool

Pharmaceutical services company i3 last month launched its new version of Market Manager, an online tool that leverages healthcare claims data to help users better understand critical issues about particular pharmaceuticals, such as provider behavior, patient switching and compliance, and geographic differences in the ways a drug is being used. The new version adds similar de-identified data from the Medicare Part D healthcare claims data on patients' medication refill behavior in response to copay fluctuations. Five of the top biopharmaceutical companies currently rely on Market Manager for market information, the company said.

Market Manager already accesses a U.S. database containing information on the de-identified healthcare experiences of more than 14 million patients. The addition of the Medicare Part D information adds to the existing information through customizable metrics that reveal patient usage, treatment patterns, compliance, market share, volume, cost and copayments.