Last week, URAC beefed up its health information technology regulations to protect the privacy of personal health records and assure the quality of information on consumer health web sites.

The disparate initiatives underscore broad challenges faced by accreditation agencies in keeping pace with the IT utilization patterns of health care providers and consumers.

URAC revised its HIPAA Privacy and Security standards to account for the proliferation of USB drives, laptops and other portable data storage devices in health care organizations. These devices can contain sensitive patient information and can easily be misplaced or fall into the wrong hands. As a result, URAC now requires organizations to train employees and conduct assessments regarding these risks.

In the consumer health arena, URAC now requires accredited Web sites to verify and disclose the credentials of its health content reviewers as well as the details of their credentialing processes.

WebMD has long since been accredited by URAC and John M. Hopkins, its VP of Best Practices, supports the increased scrutiny. “As consumers now rely on the Web as their primary source of health information, URAC’s Health Web Site Accreditation provides…confidence that the quality and credibility of the health information is transparent,” he said in a URAC press release.

URAC was the first regulatory agency to offer accreditation services for consumer health information sites.

Last week, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services announced an incentive plan for physicians and other prescription writers that should accelerate the adoption of e-prescribing, a technique believed to reduce medication errors and costs.

Providers will receive a 2% bonus on total Medicare charges during 2009 for using qualified e-prescribing systems. The incentive would be on top of the 2% bump received by physicians who provide data using the Physician Quality Reporting Initiative (PQRI), and the 1.1% fee schedule increase mandated by the Medicare Improvements for Patients and Providers Act of 2008.

To capture the bonus, providers must use e-prescribing systems that:
-Communicate electronically with the patient’s pharmacy,
-Remind physicians about cheaper alternatives (if available),
-Provide Medicare formulary information, and
-Alert prescribers about allergies, improper dosing and drug interactions.

“E-prescribing can greatly reduce the number of medication errors that jeopardize the health and safety of Medicare patients and waste precious healthcare dollars treating conditions that never should have happened,” said CMS Acting Administrator Kerry Weems.

The literature appears to back-up Mr. Weems’ claim. Scientists recently reviewed published studies regarding the effectiveness of computerized physician order entry systems. They found that 23 of the 25 studies of the matter concluded that the systems reduce medication errors or adverse events. In these studies, the relative risk of a medication error was reduced by an amount ranging between 13% and 99%.

Sixty years ago, Popeye the Sailor Man introduced the concept (incorrect though it might have been) that spinach can get you ripped.

Pretty much ever since, food bioengineering advocates have foretold a future in which hearty crops can not only fend off pests, thrive in parched soil and ward off frost, but the super foods they produce can fight human disease.

Just last week in fact, we came to learn that genetically engineered tomatoes, rendered purple by an abundance of antioxidants, protected mice against cancer.

Similar research is underway to increase the nutritional value of staples such as rice, bananas and cassava, and to add healthy omega-3 fatty acids to vegetable oil.  Food scientists are even trying to boost levels of the cancer-fighting antioxidant resveratrol in beer and wine.

Agricultural biotechnology has in fact had a huge positive impact on global crop yields by making plants more resistant to pests and weeds. The improvements have helped feed millions and represent one of the great scientific achievements since World War II.

But we’re a long way from the promised land when it comes to super foods and frankly, purple tomatoes won’t be on store shelves any time soon.

Minimally, years of testing in animals and humans lie ahead, and that’s assuming a company decides to assume the risk of developing, marketing and selling the freaky fruit. There’s not a lot of money available to support research in these areas, and there are technical difficulties and safety concerns associated with the multiple gene transfers required to produce the super foods.

Food expert Margaret Mellon, of the Union of Concerned Scientists is particularly unenthusiastic about super foods. “It doesn’t look exactly promising that we’ll get any of that kind of benefit anytime soon, if ever,” she recently told the Washington Post. “Genetically engineering fruits and vegetables for nutritional benefits has proven far more difficult than the industry expected.”