Arizona Cardiac Surgeons Pay $100,000 To Settle HIPAA Violations

ZixCorp just sent out a partner advisory discussing an article about a five physician practice that was recently fined $100,000 for HIPAA violations, including not encrypting PHI in email.

- April 2012, Forbes.comArizona Cardiac Surgeons Pay $100,000 to Settle HIPAA Violations

With proactive, random HIPAA audits now from the Office of Civil Rights, a huge increase in HIPAA audits and enforcement is a reality for 2012. There are many organizations vulnerable to high fines and irreversible damage to their reputation and now is the time to educate your clients and prospects on how ZixCorp Email Encryption services can prevent these harmful headlines from happening to them.

“This case is significant because it highlights a multiyear, continuing failure on the part of this provider to comply with the requirements of the Privacy and Security Rules,” said Leon Rodriguez, director of the HHS Office of Civil Rights. “We hope that health care providers pay careful attention to this resolution agreement and understand that the HIPAA Privacy and Security Rules have been in place for many years, and OCR expects full compliance no matter the size of a covered entity.” – April 2012, HHS.gov

New Intel Motherboard Feature Sets

Got a note from one of distributors discussing the features on the new Intel Desktop Boards.

• Intel Smart Response Technology: Maximize Responsiveness with Intel SRT; Rapid Start and Smart connect Technologies.
• Power Supervisor: Ensure System Protection from power supply failure, surge and over current conditions.
• Bios Vault Technology: Virtually incorruptible Bios that provides fault tolerance and secure firmware.
• Fast Boot: speed through system boot times and eliminate unnecessary delays.
• Wifi & Bluetooth Combo: Bluetooth/wifi module and front panel USB 3.0 modules included on select models.
• Intelligent Phase Shedding Technology: Keeps system operating in the most efficient power performance state.

If you want more information on Intel’s new products take a look at this resource:

http://www.intelbettertogether.com/main.aspx

Vertical Ready to Go Mobile with Wave 3.0

Press Release:

Vertical Communications is pleased to announce that Wave 3.0, featuring Vertical’s new ViewPoint Mobile enterprise mobility application, has been approved for “Release to Manufacturing” today, following the successful completion of our field trial and release criteria. With this solution, businesses and users will be able to enjoy reliable and seamless mobile access to all of their Wave premise-based enterprise communications services and tools, including unified communications, collaboration, presence management, call recording, telephony and market-specific applications. With the release of Wave 3.0, ViewPoint Mobile will be available for devices that run iOS version 4.3 or greater. (An Android version of ViewPoint Mobile is expected to be released later this year.) Wave 3.0 also features the addition of DSS/BLF for Edge 5000 IP phones and support for future hardware upgrades to the Wave platform.

The availability of ViewPoint Mobile represents a significant milestone in the evolution of business communications – and for your Wave customers! An all-in-one solution that extends the Wave’s powerful, premise-based communications services and features to smartphones and tablets, ViewPoint Mobile meets the needs of organizations of all sizes that rely on geographically dispersed offices and mobile workers to ensure that all staff have ready access to mission-critical features and business tools, whether they are in the office or out in the field. Most importantly, ViewPoint Mobile is built right into the core Wave IP appliance, giving you the ability to cost-effectively leverage advanced mobility capabilities when they’re ready or need to do so, without having to invest in any additional hardware or software.

ViewPoint Mobile offers a full array of premise-based unified communications, telephony, collaboration and business-specific functions to mobile users, including:

• Embedded presence management
• Access to Apple iOS contacts without leaving ViewPoint Mobile
• "One tap" call transfer, hold and conferencing
• Instant Messaging through Vertical's embedded IM server
• Voice mail Interface
• Built-in call log
• Embedded call recording
• Specific inbound/outbound DID number that is separate from personal numbers

Vertical will begin shipping new systems with Wave 3.0 the week of May 29, with subscription upgrades for existing Wave customers available within 90 days of product General Availability. The ViewPoint Mobile application also will be available for download from V-Connect and Apple’s App Store (through the Vertical AppMarket) the week of May 29.
For more information, be sure to visit and direct your customers to the new Vertical Mobility Solutions page on vertical.com at http://www.vertical.com/mobility/.

Brochures:

• Wave ViewPoint Mobile
• Wave IP Business Communications Systems
• Wave Call Recording
• Wave Contact Center
• Wave ViewPoint
• The Vertical Difference

Free 1GB of Additional Dropbox Storage

Michael Hunter, our Show Room Sales and Service Specialist has forwarded this notice to me on how to get an additional 1GB of storage for free on Dropbox.

https://dropbox.com/dropquest2012

For solutions to the questions, see http://dropquestguide.com and click “Just the Answers”.  It will take a few minutes to do all the puzzles, but once you complete all the steps you will have an additional 1GB of storage added to your account for free.

What is Dropquest?
Dropquest is a multi-step scavenger hunt that has you solve a series of puzzles (inspired by the likes of MIT's mystery hunt or notpron [though not nearly as time/effort-consuming]). Everyone who completes Dropquest will get at least 1 GB of space (even if you participated last year). Also, everyone starts at the same time, but the questers who finish the soonest get amazing prizes!

So you want an Xbox with Connect–Take advantage of this deal from Microsoft for just $99 + $14.99/mo

Microsoft today announced that it plans to sell a special subsidized Xbox 360 bundle. The bundle, which runs for $99, comes with a 4GB Xbox 360, a Kinect, and a two-year $14.99 per-month Xbox Live Gold subscription.

There is, however, a catch: the deal can only be redeemed in a Microsoft Store, which could be a problem for those not living in the vicinity of one.

Here’s the price break down:

The cost of the rumored Xbox subscription totals $360 over two years, a number that seems too apt to not have been intentional. Add that to the cost of the bundle itself and you’re paying $459 over two years, which is a bit higher than the $418 that customers would pay for a 4GB Xbox, Kinect, and two-years of Xbox Live.

The official confirmation also sheds light on the deal’s early termination fee. Starting at $250 for the first three months of the contract, the fee decreases by $12 each month, eventually dropping to zero by the time the agreement ends.

Of course, while all of this comes a bit too late for those who already own an Xbox, the deal is certainly an attractive one for those who have yet to take the Xbox (or Kinect) plunge.

Logitech Solar Keyboard Folio - New iPad & iPad 2

Logitech is introducing some interesting solar powered keyboard products and here comes one for you iPad 2 or the new iPad unit. Sorry, it doesn’t support the original iPad at this time. This keyboard connects to you iPad’s via bluetooth technology and uses the same solar cell technology as their desktop keyboard units. Once the battery charge is 100% Logitech claims that the battery will keep you typing for over 1,000 hours. The case is crafted of black, soft-touch, faux leather embossed with a small Logitech logo and has perforations for the iPad's speakers, plus a portal for the tablet's camera.

• 2 year-Limited hardware warranty
• Dye-sensitized solar cells
• (rechargeable NiMh batteries charged by the solar cells)
• Two-year battery life
• Bluetooth 3.0
• Numbers of keys: 64  (US layout)
• Key Travel: 1.5 mm
• Product dimensions: 428 x 17.8 x 253 mm
• Weight: 460 grams (without iPad)

Press Release:

Logitech Introduces Light-Powered Protection for the New, Third-Generation iPad
New Solar Keyboard Folio Provides Hassle-Free Protection with Minimal Bulk
NEWARK, Calif. - May 3, 2012 - Today Logitech (SIX: LOGN) (NASDAQ: LOGI) announced the expansion of both its solar and tablet accessories lineups with the Logitech® Solar Keyboard Folio.
Made for the new, third-generation iPad® as well as the iPad 2, the ultra-slim, book-style case and keyboard offer stylish design with protection, featuring a built-in keyboard that's powered by light.

Similar to Logitech's solar keyboards for Mac® and PC, the Logitech Solar Keyboard Folio includes onboard solar cells that charge the built-in Bluetooth® keyboard in any light, whether indoors or outdoors. When fully charged, the battery lasts for up to two years, even in complete darkness (based on a average use of two hours per day).

"Now that people are seemingly inseparable from their tablets, using them for everything from sending emails to watching videos, they want accessories powered to meet their needs," said Alexis Richard, director of product marketing at Logitech. "The Logitech Solar Keyboard Folio is a smart partner for your iPad. Its sleek built-in keyboard uses light to charge and it provides hassle-free protection for your iPad – both for the front and back. It gives you an ideal way to use and protect your tablet without adding bulk."

The Logitech Solar Keyboard Folio has two stand positions, so when you want to use your iPad you can choose the viewing angle that's best for you. Open the folio and place your iPad in the first position to enjoy the full keyboard when you're typing. Place your iPad in the second position and the first keyboard row acts as your one-touch media playback and volume controls, so you can play, pause and change volume instantly.
The folio also has an instant On/Off function, which means your iPad automatically wakes when you open the folio and goes on standby when you close it.

Pricing and Availability

The Logitech Solar Keyboard Folio is expected to be available in the U.S. and Europe beginning in May 2012, for a suggested retail price of $129.99. For more information please visit www.logitech.com or our blog.

Here’s a reasonable accessory for you iPhone or iPod Touch

Looking into the future, concept artists often equip their dream iPhones with built-in pico projectors. That feature probably isn't coming to an iPhone anytime soon, but Micron Technology's upcoming $99 Pop Video pico projector accessory may be the next best thing.

The key feature here is the 30-pin connector that allows you to dock your iPhone or iPod, forming one compact unit. The Pop Video is designed to be much more portable, fitting into a pocket when not in use.

There aren’t many specs being published yet but here is some preliminary information:

• Dimensions: 4.4 inches x 1.8 inches x .6 inch (HWD)
• Weight: 3.5 ounces (97g)
• Input: 30-pin dock connector
• Video Output: qHD (960 x 540 pixel resolution)
• Battery: Built-in Lithium-ion rechargeable battery
• Playtime: Up to two hours with full battery charge
• Charging: Micro-USB charging (1.2 compliant)
• Charge time: About 4 hours
• iOS version: 5.0 and greater
• Compatible with iPhone 4/4S and gen-3 and 4 iPod Touch
• Price: $99 (available for preorder now)

Take a look at the following video presentation…

Do the scheduled printer maintenance, and extend the life of your printer…

Yet another message from our friends at Lexmark…

Most people routinely change their car's oil, spark plugs, and wiper blades. And yet few people think to clean internal printer parts, replace their print heads, and perform regular printer maintenance. But just like newer cars these days, today's printers are more sophisticated machines that require a bit of service occasionally in order to operate at their highest standards. And when it comes to maintenance, a little attention goes a long, long way. By following these simple tips, you'll ensure that your printer runs great for many years to come.

• Don't ignore warnings: Just like ignoring a "check engine" light on your car, ignoring printer maintenance notifications can lead to everything from print quality issues to costly repairs—or worse, the need for an all-new printer. To prevent this from happening, just keep in mind that printers are affected by normal wear and tear, just like cars.

• Keep your machine clean: If your wiper blades started streaking, you'd try to clean them off, right? It's the same with your printer. When you see print quality declining on your inkjet printer, start by running a Deep Clean on your printhead. Simply go to your printer's control panel and follow the steps for performing a Deep Clean. If quality problems persist, it may be time to replace your printhead, just like you'd replace your wiper blades. If you own a laser printer and use it to print glue-based labels, make sure you order a special label cartridge and clean or replace the fuser wiper as directed. These fast, easy steps will ensure print quality and extend the lifespan of your printer.

Little known printer tricks for reducing business printing costs…

Lexmark has sent out the following list of tips to help you reduce the cost of printing. In fact, this advice works for any manufacturer’s printer line as well.

Customize your printer setting and save.

Did you know that you can change the settings on your printer to save paper and even energy? In fact, one simple change, like switching to 2-sided printing, can reduce your paper consumption by up to 50 percent.

The following small changes can help you save big while avoiding many of the typical printing problems—and many of them can be made with little or no reduction in performance or quality. Best of all, you can change these settings in a snap, all from the main menu of your printer:

	• Print double sided: Set your printer to "duplex mode" to print on both sides of your paper. You'll save paper and the environment.
	• Use black and white: Change your settings to black and white printing, and make color the exception.
	• Adjust the darkness: Set your ink or toner darkness slightly lower to reduce consumption and get more from each cartridge.
	• Print only when you're ready: Set your printer to "print and hold" a print job in the printer until you are ready to retrieve it, instead of sending it to print and forgetting to pick it up.
	• Print in draft mode: If you have an inkjet, set it to "draft mode" to use less ink for internal and draft documents, and to print much faster. You can then switch to higher quality settings when you need to print the final version.

Should you be considering a mail encryption product?

Securing the personal information of customers, partners and employees is more than just a value-added service—it’s often the law. Compliance is closely monitored by a number of government and regulatory bodies.

Here’s a quick look at key links pertaining to email encryption and its examination by regulatory bodies:

The Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA) of 1999 protects consumers’ personal financial information held by financial institutions. Its “Safeguards Rule” requires all financial institutions to design, implement and maintain safeguards to secure confidential data. Its guidelines address standards for developing and implementing administrative, technical and physical processes to protect the security, confidentiality and integrity of customer information. For more information, click on:
http://www.ftc.gov/privacy/privacyinitiatives/glbact.html

In GLBA’s Section 501(b), the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the Office of Thrift Supervision have been ordered to establish standards for protecting the security and confidentiality of financial institution customers’ non-public personal information.

This came into effect on July 1, 2001. To learn more, go to:
http://www.fdic.gov/news/news/financial/2001/fil0168.html

Under the GLBA’s examination procedures, the encryption of electronically transmitted and stored customer data is listed as a key area to manage and control an institution’s risk. For more information, visit:
http://www.fdic.gov/news/news/financial/2001/fil0168a.html

In 2006, the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (FFIEC)released a handbook on information security practices. Regarding encryption, it stated that financial institutions should use encryption to mitigate the use of disclosure or alteration of sensitive information in storage and transit. Encryption should include. For more information, visit:

• Encryption strength sufficient to protect the information from disclosure until such time as disclosure poses no material risk
• Effective key management practices
• Robust reliability
• Appropriate protection of the encrypted communication’s endpoints

For more information, visit: http://www.ffiec.gov/ffiecinfobase/booklets/information_security/information_security.pdf

We have partnered with Zixcorp to add to our security product portfolio to help our customers to adhere and protect their at risk information. Look at Zixcorp’s list of clients and we believe your too will want to be added as a client as well. Be sure to contact us for more information and scheduling a demo of their wonderful products. If you handle anyone’s personal data this is product for you.

Some of the industries that should be looking at this type of product:

Financial  & Government Institutions	Professionals	Medical
Banks and Savings and Loans	Law Firms	Doctors
Federal Credit Unions	Accountants	Clinics
Asset Management Firms	Insurance	Hospitals
Government Agencies

The Verge–Great On Line Storage Comparison

The Verge comes up with great articles delving deeply into products and product comparisons. And again they have put together some great information that I want to pass along to my readers that have been following the last few articles that I have written.

Their comparison includes the following services:

• Google Drive
• Dropbox
• iCloud
• SkyDrive
• Syncplicity
• Wuala
• Mozy
• Spideroak
• Box
• Sugarsync
• Cubby
• Livekive
• Insync

As many as they have listed here, there are still many out there that are still missing.

Cloud Storage - How are you using it

There are many products available to you that allow you to take advantage of either pay or free storage on the internet. To name a few that I use, Dropbox, SkyDrive, iCloud, Google Docs, SmugMug, Picasso, Flicker, Google Play, Amazon MP3…

How do you decide what to use for your situation? Let me pose a few questions that should help you make a decision. There will be a lot variables I’ll throw at you that may have you looking at several options to accomplish your end goals.

The first thing to consider about ‘Cloud Storage’ is to decide what the overall reason is for storing your files offsite. Are you contemplating this to make the files available to yourself and possibly others, on different devices and from different locations, or do you just want a backup?

Answer: If you’re looking for just a backup solution, you should be looking for an automated backup solution. We all have the best of intentions when we decide that we should be backing up but we all are so busy that eventually we lose sight of doing these in a timely basis. So you want to look for a service that is automated.

One of the best of these for a home environment is Carbonite. I have reported on this in previous posts and I would probably direct most people looking for this solution to go in this direction. For $59/year - $149/year, you can back up a single PC’s physical drives using their service with unlimited storage. They have three plans now for the Home PC owner. All three only support a single PC but you can upgrade your service to meet what your needs are. See this article to get more detail on Carbonite’s Service.

What I finally did for myself was to create a large drive array on my central workstation with multiple 1 TB drives using a hot swap drive cage that lets me play several different games. Since most of my storage is a combination of scanned documents (I’m trying to get as paperless as possible), photos and videos. My scanned docs do not take up much space, however, my photos and videos right now are closing in on 600GB. This is a massive amount of information and it would take a long time to move into the cloud using a backup service initially. Because I want instantaneous access to my image backups I do a more manual backup, but if you keep it local, you need to keep up a strict regimen to maintain a multiple site backup and keep it up to date, it is easy to become lazy so you must not allow yourself to become so.

I know that a lot of people also use a photo storage service as their method of backing up their images. If you are using a free service, look at how you would reacquire your files/images from that service. You may or may not be able to do so easily or at all. Those images may not be stored with their original information or resolution and this is not a good situation to be in. I use a service called SmugMug because it allows me to create galleries of the photos that I want to share, provide access to the images to download to friends and family to download and lets me create documentation to describe my insights about the images that I take. If I want a copy I can either download them, point at them for inclusion in one of my blog sights or have the service create a disk of the images and send it to me. Now I am paying for this service and there are a couple of different levels that you can get into. I chose the pro version to accommodate the larger videos that I seem to be taking more of. But even for the$100 annual expense I have unlimited capacity to push information there. This service solves two of my main concerns with an easy method of reacquiring my pictures, and having those shares available for my family.

This service does not handle my document storage needs though. There are several things I do to accommodate this. But again, it may be easier to use a storage service like Carbonite to do this for you.

The other thing that you can do is use a cloud based storage system that is available in both free and paid versions. I personally use Dropbox to share all of my current shared documents between my office, home and other devices. This allows me to easily move between the best devices to access the information that I am working with. This article is a good example for instance. I started when I was sitting at home using my iPad with CloudOn and continued in the office on my desktop. I stored the information to Dropbox and it was easy to move from system to system to be able to access the files I needed.

Here are some of the other locations that you can get cloud storage for free or paid as well:

Revisiting the Carbonite Backup Solution

It is about time that I present an updated review of the Carbonite system since I have been away from it for so long. They still don’t have what I would call a household plan that would allow you backup multiple machines in your home under an umbrella contract but they have extended their plans for the home owner to allow for three varying levels of support. You will need to decide after looking at this at which one best meets your needs.

All three versions have the following support:

• Quantity (1) Computer per Subscription can be backed up
• Both File and Folder backup
• You can access your files from an internet connection or a Smart Phone (Blackberry, Android or iPhone)
• Operating Support: Windows and Mac on the Home plan and Windows only on HomePlus and HomePremier packages
• Phone, chat and email support
• Video Backup (Home and HomePlus are manual and HomePremier allows you to automate it)

HomePlus and HomePremier add:

• External hard drive backup – Files and Folders from one external hard drive can be included in your online backup
• Mirror Image backup – This gives you the option of creating a copy of your entire drive to an external hard drive. You will need to provide that hard drive for the backup. This is something that you could perform using Windows 7 backup as well.

HomePremier has two other features

• Automatic Video Backup
• Courier Recovery Service – This gives you the option to have a copy of your backup shipped to you. If you have large amounts of data this could be a lifesaver if you have to restore a system. This is available in the U.S. only. They will charge you shipping for it.

This get you a little closer to being able to provide critical offsite backup to your home systems at a very reasonable price. $149/year for the HomePremier version to completely automate the process is great if you have a machine that also acts as central storage system. I have configured my home machine to have a three drive rack add-on that would allow me to share that area to the rest of the equipment on my home network and then run the Carbonite program on that machine to provide a solid backup scenario including backing up my video files.

Is using Stamps.com a good deal?

My initial impression is positive but the real question is whether I am going to be able to use it enough to reach the $15. per month requirement for the pro account. If I use this for the office I will save a lot of time and effort by using this program. The software is fairly flexible and will allow you to quickly address and create the required postage stamp to mail the packages and large envelopes of data that I send out all week long.

The package came by US Postal service and came in a small box containing a scale with a USB cable to connect to your computer, a program cd, some sample stamp and label sheets, $5 worth of postage, and instructions on how to setup and use the product.

How does Stamps.com make money? By selling you the supplies of course. You can get anything from the labels in different sizes and formats, envelopes in different styles and formats and USPS shipping boxes. The prices for these products aren’t exorbitant but they are not the cheapest products that you can find either. The big thing to remember here is how much more convenient this is compared to having to hoof it to the post office to basically due this same thing. If you have been using one of the many other choices out there that rents you the certified postage meters you will see that this is another area that you will save a lot of money on the monthly fees associated with this service.

The big questions I am going to have to answer for myself is whether I am going to take this into the office to keep at my desk or if I will hoard it at home to be used from there instead. It may even become part of my traveling bag. We’ll just have to see who will win out!

HHS Announces Proposed Delay of ICD-10 until October 1, 2014

On Monday April 9, 2012, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced a proposed rule that would delay, from October 1, 2013 to October 1, 2014, the compliance date for the International Classification of Diseases, 10th Edition diagnosis and procedure codes (ICD-10).

The ICD-10 compliance date change is part of a proposed rule that would adopt a standard for a unique health plan identifier (HPID), adopt a data element that would serve as an “other entity” identifier (OEID), and add a National Provider Identifier (NPI) requirement. The proposed rule was developed by the Office of E-Health Standards and Services (OESS) as part of its ongoing role, delegated by HHS, to establish and adopt standards for electronic health care transactions under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA). OESS is part of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). As with other proposed rules, this will entertain a 30 day comment period after the publication of the Federal Register (expected to be April 17). See page 2 of the rule to learn how you can provide commentary.

HHS notes how important it is for all covered entities to transition to ICD-10 at the same time, as failure for any one industry segment to comply would negatively impact all other industry segments, resulting in rejected claims and provider payment delays. “Provider groups have expressed strong concern about their ability to meet the October 1, 2013 compliance date and the serious claims payment issues that might then ensue” HHS notes in the proposed rule. “We believe the change in the compliance date for ICD-10, as proposed in this rule, would give providers and other covered entities more time to prepare and fully test their systems to ensure a smooth and coordinated transition by all industry segments.”

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?