Top 10 Things to Know about Meaningful Use Stage 2

1. The basic framework of the program has not changed. The dollars available through incentive programs remain unchanged for both Eligible Providers (EP) and Eligible Hospitals (EH). The eligibility parameters are (with very minor exceptions) unchanged as well, including which non-physician providers are able to participate in the EP program.
2. Eligible Providers will be required to report on 17 Core measures and 3 of 5 Menu measures; Eligible Hospitals will be required to report on 16 Core measures and 2 of 4 Menu measures. This is comparable to Stage 1 in the total number required, though the measures are not the same -- some have been consolidated and new options have been added.
3. The number of proposed Clinical Quality Measures (CQM) that providers will be able to choose from in reporting has increased dramatically. The number has moved from 44 to 125 for Eligible Providers and from 15 to 49 for Eligible Hospitals. Additionally, batch reporting – or reporting on the CQM as a group within the ambulatory environment – is proposed in an effort to simplify the process. The total number of available clinical quality measures will likely be decreased by the time of the Final Rule, but the current list significantly improves reporting options for specialists who felt that the Stage 1 CQM were too focused on primary care.
4. Allowances for exclusions in reporting the information included in the requirements will change. There really will be allowances only for providers who cannot meet a requirement because of the scope of their practice or issues specific to their geography that will have to be corroborated by the state or the FCC.
5. CMS has made changes in order to make broaden participation in the Medicaid side of the program. The means of counting patients towards the 30% threshold is now broader in allowing the inclusion of some CHIP patients, as well as all patients with Medicaid coverage, regardless of whether Medicaid is used to pay for the encounter. There are also now some children’s hospitals that are able to participate despite not having a CMS Certification Number.
6. Eligible providers will no longer be able to include in their attestation reports patient care provided in a location without an EHR by then recording it at another location that uses a certified EHR. The requirement to use a certified EHR for at least 50% of patient encounters in order to qualify for the program still stands, however.
7. Payment adjustments (otherwise known as penalties) will begin in 2015, as required by the statute. CMS will look at the providers’ behavior in 2013 to determine whether the 2015 fee schedule adjustments should occur. Program participants can attest to beginning their participation in 2014 through a 90-day EHR reporting period, but that must be completed and attestation finished at least 90 days prior to the end of the year for it be considered.
8. Interoperability is moving from the theoretical to the real. The exchange of information in the transmission of a care summary will no longer be just a test but rather require both making electronic information available to patients and the successful exchange of information between providers using different certified Electronic Health Records.
9. Patient engagement is an area of increasing focus. The goal is to help patients and their families feel that they are active participants in providing and accessing information related to their health so that they, in turn, increase the levels of successful self-management. CMS aims to get providers talking about health information technology and the patients’ ability to view, download and/or share that information by holding providers accountable for how many of their patients access their data and email their providers. Providing patients with access to their information by providing a patient portal or connecting to a Personal Health Record such as HealthVault will become a necessity.
10. The requirement to report to Public Health entities is expanding, with the addition of specialty registries and cancer registries. Syndromic surveillance reporting remains a Menu option, however, reflecting the ongoing challenges the states have in implementing their ability to accept the reported information.

ONC Proposed Rule:

• Read the ONC Proposed Rule [PDF - 2.3 M] [Word* - 807 K] >
• ONC fact sheet [PDF - 99 K] >

Ultrabooks–are they worth waiting for?

I just got my hands on the Toshiba Z820  Ultrabook that is just an amazing piece of technology. The WOW is in the the design and feel of the unit with the laptop. It is sleek and light and feels like a piece of tech art. When someone hands over the unit with the screen closed and you how thin and light it is and you still have the specs this system sports you can’t help but feel a little flush. I know, I am showing my geek side but I love where this technology is heading towards and I can’t wait until we see where it eventually settles into. Look below for specs and be sure to come and ask us what we thing about this wonderful product.

It’s Official! 3 Versions of Windows 8…

Surprise, Surprise… Microsoft makes Windows name OFFICIAL and there will only be three versions.

So what did we expect. Window 8 will be the consumer/home version, Windows 8 Pro is the business/enterprise version and what is the third version? WOA! WOA is the ARM version of the Windows 8 and that is all we get. That’s okay. What else do we need. This is of course overly simplified.

Take a look at the “Announcing the Windows 8 Editions” blog post to get more information. There is some detail here that will highlight the differences between the versions and you can determine what you will want from there.

http://windowsteamblog.com/windows/b/bloggingwindows/archive/2012/04/16/announcing-the-windows-8-editions.aspx

Cheat Sheet: 100 Windows 8 Keyboard Shortcuts

TechRepublic has put together a handy cheat sheet of 100 keyboard shortcuts. If you are just getting into Windows 8 you will want to take the time to download this document. It will help you get started rather quickly. If you want to take the Windows 8 Tour and looking for help use the short cut key choice of [WINDOWS] + [F1].

Here is the link to TechRepublic’s article and the free PDF you can download can be found here.

Windows XP only has two years support left

So, we are seeing the information coming to us from many sources but what does this deadline in 2014 really mean? So what is Microsoft saying to us? There are just two years to go. Two years to migrate your Windows XP-based PCs to a more modern operating system, such as Windows 7. Two years to enter the 21st century. Two years until XP support is over.

This week Microsoft began its two year countdown to the end of Windows XP support. The magic date is April 8, 2014. This is also true for Microsoft Office 2003. “If you still have some PCs running Windows XP and Office 2003 in your organization,” Microsoft director Stella Chernyak wrote in a post to the Windows For Your Business Blog, “now would be a good time to start migrating them to Windows 7 and Office 2010.”

The number of systems this will affect is huge. About 50% of Windows based systems (approximately 900 million) are still running Windows XP with that percentage probably much higher for enterprises. Microsoft downplays the benefits of continuing to use XP by stating that XP was “a great software release for its time”  but that the market and user’s expectations have grown with time. Most people would agree though, that Windows XP is no less usable today it just not able to take full advantage of today’s technology advances.

The number one reason most people tell me that they are hesitant in moving to Windows 7 is application compatibility. Either with actual programs or web applications. In most cases I haven’t seen this as a problem unless you are still running forms of DOS applications. Even then there are workarounds though not very elegant. Web apps are another concern though where in some cases older browsers are need to be used to function correctly. This has been a big problem especially since support for IE 6 has been dropped and the reported security problems with this browser version are well documented. This tie down of the infrastructure growth is something that needs to be addressed but in many cases is time consuming and could be quite expensive.

The number two and three blockers of Windows 7 migration have nothing to do with technology. Money and inertia are telling because in large institutions are like an ocean liner and you can move them easily from their current course quickly. In today’s tight economy everyone is looking at cutting costs not incurring new costs. We are all trying to learn to do with what we have for longer.

Paul Thurrott wrote:

XP, in some ways, is the best investment the enterprise ever made, the Windows version that refuses to die. Ironically, it came of age at a time when Microsoft was trying to grow beyond its roots as a maker of systems for smaller companies; in courting enterprises and big business, Microsoft had to extend the lifecycle for its platform offerings far beyond that of older products. And XP’s lifecycle was positively affected by the lateness of Windows Vista, which caused Microsoft to push things even further out.

So let’s go back to my initial question, what does it mean to you when Microsoft stops supporting Windows XP? Microsoft states: “An unsupported version of Windows will no longer receive software updates from Windows Update. These include security updates that can help protect your PC from harmful viruses, spyware, and other malicious software, which can steal your personal information. Windows Update also installs the latest software updates to improve the reliability of Windows—new drivers for your hardware and more.” In other words, your system could become open to attack with Microsoft no longer plugging the holes like they currently do with their patch updates. In a locked down environment this may  not mean anything but very few of us live in that kind of world. The internet has become a large part of our computer experience and a necessary evil. We need to look forward starting now to work our way into migrating our systems to Window 7 so that we are not caught up in the problems that could occur down the road by not taking the necessary steps and upgrading your equipment/software.

Windows lifecycle fact sheet

More Information from Microsoft:

Windows XP Support and End of Sales

Even though we ended the sale of Windows XP on October 22, 2010, we still plan to provide support for individual users and businesses until April 2014. For more information, see the Windows XP Help & How-to page. As Windows XP sales come to an end, it's also a good time to think about upgrading to Windows 7, which is designed to be compatible with many of the Windows XP programs you're accustomed to using.

My business relies on Windows XP. What'll happen if I have technical problems?

We understand some of our customers aren't ready to upgrade their PCs to Windows 7. Although Windows XP will soon disappear from stores, we'll continue to offer Extended Support for the operating system until April 2014. For more details, see the Microsoft Support Lifecycle.

Can I run my earlier Windows XP programs on Windows 7?

Windows 7 is designed to be compatible with the most popular hardware and software products you use every day. Thousands of these will work just fine. The Windows 7 Compatibility Center makes it easy for you to find out if particular programs or hardware work with Windows 7.

What if my business software only runs on Windows XP?

Some editions of Windows 7 support Windows XP Mode, which enables you to run older Windows XP business software right on your Windows 7 desktop. Designed primarily with small- and medium-sized businesses in mind, Windows XP Mode comes as a separate download and works only with Windows 7 Professional, Ultimate, and Enterprise. Windows XP Mode also requires virtualization software such as Windows Virtual PC. Both are available free on the Microsoft website. 

Can I downgrade my OEM version of Windows 7 Professional to Windows XP Professional?

Evernote for Android get some great updates

Press Release March 27th: Today, we have an exciting update to Evernote for Android (3.6). We’ve added a great speech-to-text capability that makes dictating notes in Evernote really easy, plus we have a bunch of new features for the Evernote Widget app.  Get Evernote for Android and get the Evernote Widget App for Android

Speech-to-text feature:

While all of the Evernote apps have the ability to capture audio, the Android version will now provide speech recognition. Tap the new speech bubble icon in the tool bar above the keyboard to launch the feature. As you talk, the app instantly places your spoken words into the body of the note as text.

When you are done recording both the original audio as well as the converted text will be attached to you note. This allows you to easily search you audio notes. If you don’t want the speech-to-text conversion then tap and hold the speech bubble and it will switch to just a microphone. Tap the microphone to begin recording you message.

The speech-to-text conversion uses Google Android’s text transcription service you must be on line for it to work. This capability is also available on version 4 (Ice Cream Sandwich) and some versions of 2.2. If you see the speech-to-text option appear when you update then you will know that your phone or tablet supports this function.

New Widget Features:

Press Release: In this update we’ve added a bunch of great new capabilities to our widget app, available as a separate download from the Google Play Store.

Here is what TechSmith had to say about this update:

Customize your widget
We’ve added a new gear icon to the widget that lets you customize a number of features:

• Widget Color: Choose between original green or a new dark theme
• Custom buttons Choose which Evernote functions appear in the widget
• Large widget notes Choose what notes appears in the large widget—last viewed; last updates; specific notebooks, tags, or Saved Searches

New tiny widget
When you long press on the phone’s home screen and go to the Widget menu, you’ll now see a tiny 1×1 single function Evernote widget, which takes up the same screen real estate as an app icon. This widget is great for placing a single Evernote function anywhere you like.

Quick snapshot
The newest widget function is the Quick Snapshot. This feature truly lives up to its name. Tap on the Quick Snapshot icon, camera with lightning bolt, to launch the camera. Snap your photo and tap save. That’s it. A new snapshot note will be added to your Evernote account with an auto-generated title.

Splashtop makes the Windows 8 Metro test bed available to Apple’s iPad

Splashtop makes several useful applications to manage iPads and provide remote access and control to your PC’s from your iPad and iPhone.  Their new product offering provides a Windows 8 Metro test bed that you can install on your iPad.

The functionality is made possible by Splashtop, which is known for its remote desktop apps that are currently available for Android and iOS. It seems that a good amount of effort went into this application, known as the Win8 Metro Testbed, which offers the same swipe capabilities that will be available on a native system. This includes the ability to swipe from the left to switch apps, swipe from the right to reveal the Charms menu, and pull down from the top to close an application. Splashtop's Win8 Metro Testbed is currently available for a promotional $24.99 in the iTunes App Store, where after the promotional period will sell for $49.99.

Windows 8 Metro touch gestures are supported, so you can take advantage of all the underlying touch capabilities of Windows 8 as you build your app:

• Swipe from the right to view the Charms menu
• Swipe from the left to switch apps
• Pull down from the top to close an app
• Swipe slowly from the left to run two apps side-by-side ("snapping")
• Pinch to navigate files, folders, apps and data with Semantic Zoom
• And more

Win8 Metro Testbed is a must-have app for anyone who’s trying to build a great Metro style app without incurring the high cost of a Windows tablet!

What you are doing is installing the free Spashtop Streamer on your Windows 8 PC. Then you will need to install the Win8 Metro Testbed application found on iTunes onto your iPad. You will need both devices on the same wireless network. Voila! You will now be able to test out you program and any program using gestures and touch on your iPad.

See Video demonstration below:

Apple releases fix for Flashback malware

Apple has released a fix to remove the Flashback malware that is reportedly affecting 1 percent of all Macs. The fix is in the form of a Java web plug-in to disable the automatic execution of Java applets. Users may re-en-able automatic execution of Java applets using the Java Preferences application.

This Java security update removes the most common variants of the Flashback malware.

This update also configures the Java web plug-in to disable the automatic execution of Java applets. Users may re-enable automatic execution of Java applets using the Java Preferences application. If the Java web plug-in detects that no applets have been run for an extended period of time it will again disable Java applets.

This update is recommended for all Mac users with Java installed.

For details about this update see: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT5242

Sharing iTunes & iCloud Accounts in a Family

One of the biggest pains when it comes to synching your ios products is having multiple accounts or sharing a single iTunes account. iLounge has a Q&A that is helpful in understanding how to use and what to think about when setting up your accounts.

The discussion includes both iCloud and iTunes considerations. Hope this helps.

Flashback trojan is believed to have infected more than 600,000 Macs worldwide…

Welcome to the party Mac owners. This trojan horse program “Flashback” surfaced last last year is reported by several sources to have created a botnet on more than 600,000 Macs around the world, with more than half of them in the US alone.

Apple released a Java Security update on Tuesday to resolve the vulnerabilities that the malware is exploiting, but not before a number of Mac users had been hit with the malicious software. Oracle first issued a fix for the vulnerability in February as reported by AppleInsider.

CNNTech has a Mashable article here that shows you how to find out if your Mac has the Flashback Trojan. After determining whether you are infected or not be sure you install the latest Apple security update to fix the vulnerability.

CNET changing their video programming!

There are big changes happening over at CNET Video with the promise of new formats and shows and methods of accessing their video podcasts. If you are like me and you obtain most of your news through the internet, you probably have accessed podcasts from many sources. While many podcasts are available LIVE, I very seldom access them that way. I mostly subscribe to those podcasts that interest me and watch/listen to them at some future point in time. Whether I am sitting at my desk at home or at work, or using my phone or tablet to access and view or listen to them, I am typically doing so while I am doing some other process. In fact, at this moment I am at home on my computer, jumping through RSS feeds, listening to Windows Weekly and writing this blog entry all at the same time. I am constantly finding myself multitasking in this manner to make the most of each moment. I am looking forward to see what CNET is going to come out with in the next few months.

See editorial on this here…

Gartner reports that the "’Personal Cloud’ is going to supplant PCs by 2014

So what are they predicting? They are suggesting that the primary digital device for most users will not be the PC by 2014. I am not sure that will be true, we may see that in addition to PCs many people will also have a tablet, smartphone or some other kind of consumer device.

For those of us that are doing creative work, I’m not sure a touch device is the best answer. However, they are pointing at some of the cloud services like OnLive and CloudOn as predecessors to even more robust services that a less powerful system can access and still get the performance they need out of a tablet device.

Gartner has indentified five “megatrends” that are contributing to the shift toward the personal cloud:

• Consumerization. As users have become more technologically adept -- and more plugged into the Internet and social media -- they are demanding devices and connectivity on their own terms.
• Virtualization. Thanks to virtualization, users are no longer tied to specific devices or OSes, even in the workplace.
• "App-ification." User experience apps can be used to tweak existing applications so that they work on a greater range of devices and platforms.
• Self-Service Cloud. Personal, self-service clouds allow users to create virtual workspaces, tailored to their preferences and available on multiple devices, anytime and anywhere.
• Mobility Shift. Improved mobile devices -- including those equipped with touchscreens and other interactive UIs -- are increasingly able to perform traditionally PC-based tasks. Given this functionality, an array of mobile devices can be interchangeably used as primary devices while a user is on the go.

We are starting to talk to some of our clients that wanting to have the same desktop available to their employees on whatever machine they connect with, whether it is a desktop, tablet or some kind of thin-client machine. They site that having an expected sameness with any device will help them be more productive and give them a better use experience.

As we keep seeing the cost of hardware go down and their capabilities begin to soar up the scale we can see more of a push towards this direction. We will need to start seeing software costs that promote this style of interface for the client come more in line in cost to make this happen more quickly.

Need a Hotspot? Buy the iPad from Verizon.

Anand Lal Shimpi over at AnandTech reports that he has tested the new iPad as a hotspot device, and it far exceeds current Verizon Hotspot products supporting LTE from Novatel and Samsung. These devices provide about a 4+ hour window of support currently while the new iPad when setup to minimize battery usage was able to go 5 times longer to about 25.3 hours. Hands down no comparison. The people over at The Verge confirmed this with their own tests.

This seems to be one of the benefits that Verizon has over AT&T right now. AT&T is reportedly working on adding this feature to their service but I haven’t seen a timeline as to when it will be available. Of course LTE coverage is spotty at best for anyone so this may not be of concern or a benefit for you. But it is out there and is pretty interesting how well it is working.

Fake PC Power Speed–Malware

Another new malware program that installs on to your computer while you are surfing the internet. Fake PC Power Speed also downloads unwanted malicious files from internet to your pc and occupies a lot of your system’s resources. Fake PC Power Speed also has the ability to corrupt the system files and change your computer’s settings. Fake PC Power Speed hides itself in the computer and does not get detected by any of the current antivirus programs.

One method of removing this nasty beast is to try to do so with the following two programs. However, we have not had a lot of success removing it 100% from infected systems. If this doesn’t work try the second option listed below as well.

You need to run the two removal tools listed below to completely remove Fake PC Power Speed infection

1. Click Here To Download Regfix and Run it to fix the registry.
2. Click Here To Download SPYWARE Doctor and Run it to remove the Fake PC Power Speed virus

(During installation process of SPYWARE Doctor, you might get a warning from SPYWARE Doctor that you need to uninstall some programs before installing SPYWARE Doctor. Please Ignore that warning and select “Next” button available on that warning window to continue installation).

The Manual Fix

The following fix is taken from CleanPcGuide.Com website: Click Here to Download the PDF document…

Which Option should you choose for storing your music in the “CLOUD”

With Google relabeling its cloud storage system for movies, books and music, called Google Play, there is another option to choose for placing your music into a location that you devices can get to with multiple devices. If you have an IOS device or and Android device then you have a multitude of options at various costs.

For general storage there are a lot of choices with my favorite being Dropbox (2GB free), but you also have Google (10GB free), Microsoft (25GB free).

Microsoft SkyDrive provides 25GB’s of free space and is integrated well with Microsoft Office Applications and has some interesting things that it can do in regards to information sharing with OneNote.

iCloud (5GB free) and Amazon (not free). When it comes to your media files (mainly music oriented). It also integrates with a few document applications but this is solely an Apple based product for Apple products only.

Google allows up to 20,000 song titles. This service is primarily associated with Android Devices and desktops for access. It will now integrate with a central interface for accessing movies, eBooks, and music. It will be interesting to look at once it fully comes available. This is separate from Google Doc Storage which I talked about above.

Amazon Cloud Player for your music is limited to 5GB for free and all of you purchased MP3’s are stored for free.

Dropbox can also play back you media but unless buy into the large file storage levels and there isn’t a media player associated with it directly. But I like using it for everything that I throw at it for work, home and play. It is integrated with the largest number of application on your IOS and Android devices and that is one of the things that I am continually reaching for, high availability between applications and devices.

Another service that is out there that has a fairly close comparison with Dropbox is SugarSync. It provides a free 5GB account and reasonable larger accounts. It is more of a file share program that allows you to synchronizes between PC’s. Dropbox is pretty much limited to its file structure that syncs while SugarSync has more of a backup flair associated with it.

So if you ask me what I have, well, I have them all. Which do I use the most? Dropbox at this time. However, in reviewing these services I started thinking that SugarSync looks interesting and one that I didn’t even mention Box.com is something that I want to explore as well.

Let me know how you are using these types of services and let me know which one is your favorite and why.

Lenovo is pushing hard to be the first out of the gate with a Window 8 Tablet…

Speculation surrounds the Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga that Lenovo showed at CES 2012 a couple of months ago as to whether this will one of their tablets they will put Windows 8 on in the Fall. It was an impressive configuration with a 13.3 inch display, resolution of 1600 x 900 an with 10 touch points. The designed showed the screen turning around an axis 360 degrees allowing it to be turned from a notebook with a full-size keyboard to a touchscreen tablet.

Rumors have it that Lenovo is hoping to ship in October. It was the Verge that is speculating the Yoga as the product they will be dropping the operating system on. Basic specs make this a viable choice. My only concern would have been the screen size but minimum spec right now is 1024x768 which is more than met by the Yoga that was shown at CES 2012.

Need Help with LR4? Try a tutorial…

I really liked George Jardine’s Lightroom 4 Video Workshop. I enjoy George’s approach to training you on more than just how to use LR4 but from the beginning, talks to you about what you should need to know about LR4’s file structure and what you should consider when storing your pictures and where you are going to structure you catalog/library. He goes into great depths describing this and I have restructured my picture file storage to mimic his suggestions. It has worked well for me when I have gone on vacation and taken my library with me to make it easier to update process new pictures.

This new series is available to view in both flash and HTML5 formats. The second was helpful to me because I like to watch these videos using my iPad and so far it is working very well. The complete series costs $24.95 for 16 videos and over 6 hours of online video education. He has a easy to listen voice and when you watch each section you will definitely come away with a deeper understanding of the new Lightroom 4 program.

Here are the video titles:

1   The Library Structure Overview   –  14:45
2   The Lightroom Catalog Overview   –  7:43
3   The Lightroom User Interface   –  21:32
4   The Pro Workflow Overview   –  37:02
5   The Lightroom Import Dialog   –  17:31
6   The Library Module – Part 1   –  27:51
7   The Library Module – Part 2   –  42:21
8   The Keywording Panels   –  19:31
9   The Metadata Panel   –  27:52
10  File Renaming   –  22:06
11   Editing Methods in Lightroom 4   –  34:19
12   The Lightroom Filter Bar   –  14:36
13   Collections & Virtual Copies   –   24:38  (Check out the free sample movie, here.)
14   The Export Dialog & Publish Services   –  35:46
15   The Lightroom to Photoshop Workflow   –  17:09 (NOTE! This tutorial movie will be updated shortly!)
16   Photo Library Backup Strategies   –  22:00

Take a look at his blog post for more information if you are interested in this product. I really like his presentation style and recommend adding this tutorial series to your collection if you are really series about learning LR4’s photo library, workflow and asset management functions. He has more detail on the develop modules based on LR3, hopefully he will update these soon as well.

How and when to charge your tablet battery

Jack Wallen wrote a great article on the basic functions and care of your batteries on your mobile devices. Check out the article at TechRepublic.

I also have a printed copy that you can access here.

Is it time to move from Jing to Snagit?

I have been using Jing (Pro) ever since TechSmith introduce this product and I have been enamored with it forever! However, today I got notification that Jing Pro has only one more year to live and will no longer be a part of the TechSmith product line. It was suggested that I take a look at Snagit as a suitable replacement and much to my chagrin I am finding that I probably should have done so a long time ago. Jing was obviously a testing product for the features that have been added to Snagit to encompass all of the things that Jing did but on steroids. I have inserted TechSmith’s overview of Snagit 11 below for you to take a quick look. I know that I am going to make full use of this product just like I did with Jing and I recommend it to anyone who is doing sales, marketing, support, etc… Better yet I would also look at the very good companion product, Camtasia Studio if you are planning on doing any video editing work. It is simple and straight forward and allows you to put a quick flair onto any video project.

Introduction to Snagit 11

HDD Volumes to Restore 80% in Q1 2012

Just a quick note reporting from techPowerUp! stating that we can expect drive availability to slowly coming back to marketplace needs. Still not at 100% we hopefully will be seeing a decrease in cost to provide us with more reasonably price storage. SSD prices are still coming down in price but are still more expensive than their spinning platter counterparts.

techPowerUp!

Friday 1:44 AM by btarunr@techpowerup.com (btarunr)

In what could alleviate high prices of hard disk drives (HDDs) after the devastating flood in Thailand that affected HDD foundries, industry sources predict that the reconstruction efforts of these foundries, led by Western Digital, will pay off to a large extant. In Q1 2012 alone, global volumes of HDDs are expected to restore to 80% of what they were before the floods. The global production of HDDs will increase to 140-145 million units.

HDD vendors across the board have exhausted their inventories in Dec-Jan when they supply PC/notebook ODMs their inventories of HDDs, but they haven't hiked quotes due to the off-season that followed. However, the flood situation isn't the only factor that will affect HDD prices. With increase in prices of raw materials, components, and labour-costs, HDD prices are expected to go up 30-40%.