Jeff Rowe

Doctors at Lucile Packard Children's Hospital in Palo Alto, California, say computerized physician order entry (CPOE), which is typically one of the first functionalities used in EHRs, has saved lives at their institution. It marks the first time evidence, which was published in the journal Pediatrics, has been presented that links EHRs with a decrease in mortality.

If federal healthcare policymakers are wondering how successfully they’re engaging healthcare CIOs in their efforts to ramp up the transition to new HIT, they may want to consider the results of a recent “snap” survey.

Getting clinicians and other end users involved in the selection, implementation and training of an EMR is a key component to successful provider adoption, but Oroville Hospital in northern California has taken clinician participation to a new level.

A recent editorial in the American Journal of Medicine highlights the dangers of cutting and pasting data in an electronic health record.

A new report on the challenges presented by the first stage of Meaningful Use (MU) compliance provides a good road map for healthcare providers making the transition to new HIT.

The National Cancer Institute announced it will offer a specialized, lightweight electronic health record for cancer patients. Healthcare organizations can and often do customize the EHRs they implement to suit their clinicians' workflow and to capture data that they deem relevant. But there's a need for further EHR customization for specialties, such as behavioral health, and diseases.

In a recent overview of how new HIT is rapidly changing the patient/doctor relationship, Scientific American takes the time to note some of the potential downsides of the transition.

As the American Hospital Association (AHA) gears up for its annual conference next week in Washington, the association has released a series of papers outlining its 2010 priorities. Health IT was identified as a top priority.

Congressman Patrick J. Kennedy (D-RI) and Congressman Tim Murphy (R-PA) introduced the Health Information Technology Extension for Behavioral Health Services Act of 2010 late last week.

Federal officials are asking the public to plug into upcoming discussions of Meaningful Use definitions, but the request comes at a time when it’s still not clear how much the general public actually knows about the subject of HIT.