Mary Mosquera
Health IT vendors should make sure they market and sell their products and services to healthcare providers in minority communities to avoid a new form of "digital divide" that could leave low-income areas without the benefit of electronic health records, according two of the nation's top physicians.
Federally funded "beacon" communities are tackling the problem of hospital readmissions and other tough healthcare challenges by testing the effectiveness of multiple treatment strategies simultaneously instead of taking the traditional approach of testing one treatment at a time, according to the program's director.
Healthcare providers should supply patients with layered and easy to understand notices of how their information will be used and protected when it is exchanged, says an advisory panel of the Health & Human Services Department.
The U.S. Army is looking for a vendor to deploy WorldVistA EHR, an open source version of the Veterans Affairs Department's VistA medical record system, for the Iraq Ministry of Defense. It will connect with the government's healthcare system to enhance patient record-keeping and improve the level of healthcare in Iraq.
The Department of Veterans Affairs plans to expand its use of information technology and telecommunications - including mobile and landline phones and video conferencing - to deliver healthcare to aging veterans and others who suffer from chronic conditions, according to senior telehealth officials.
The Department of Health and Human Services plans to release significantly more health-related data in December to spur commercial development of new software applications designed to help patients, providers and policymakers make better healthcare decisions.
The Veterans Affairs Department's pharmacy re-engineering project - tagged as a troubled project last year - was put back on track after being divided into a series of smaller, incremental jobs.
Electronic Health Records
The U.S. Coast Guard awarded Epic Systems Corp. a $14 million contract to set up an electronic health record system with a broad array of state-of-the-art e-healthcare features.
The Senate Appropriations Committee wants more details about how the Defense Department plans to modernize its electronic health record system, which DOD is upgrading in coordination with the Veterans Affairs Department.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services plans to correct a few inconsistencies in the meaningful use final rule it published in July and will post on its Web site more detailed guidance for providers on how to meet quality measures required by the health IT incentive program.