Blog

One of the major goals of the federal government's push for nationwide electronic medical record adoption is to create an information network where "health data can flow freely, privately, and securely to the places where they are needed." So far, this is proving to be a challenge for the nation's hospitals and doctors.

An editorial in the American Medical Association's American Medical News applauded the relaxation of the proposed meaningful use criteria when HHS came out with the final rule in July. Still, the editorial says that the road to meaningful use will be "tough."

Here's a prophecy guaranteed to make healthcare CIOs and their staffs wake up in a midsummer night's cold-sweat: a triptych of regulations, when taken together, will require payers to transform almost all IT systems and architecture.

Cloud-based EHRs are being touted as a cost-effective alternative for physicians who are worried about the price tag of client-served, software-based EHRs. A recent article, however, questions whether they are such a good choice for a number of valid reasons.

One of the lesser discussed factors determining whether to adopt EHRs or not is the number of years that a physician who owns his or her practice has left before retirement.

Health IT is a team effort. The whole point is to increase communication and coordination among the different players in the health care system. You just can’t go it alone in this field.

One of the federal goals of having providers implement EHRs is to better track, manage and improve population health, but a recently published report by the Department of Health and Human Services' Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) finds that EHRs aren't equipped to complete those tasks.

Christine Bechtel, vice president of the National Partnership for Women & Families and member of the federal health IT policy committee, testified at a recent Committee on Ways and Means hearing.

The Rev. Will Bloedow of Appleton, Wis., was at the Health Industry Forum in Boston touting the benefits of EMRs.

Continuing on the theme of Monday’s blog on driving critical mass, two significant medical certification boards - the American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS) and the Federation of State Medical Boards (FSMB) - have announced their intention to make health IT deployment a standard in their assessment and certification of physician competency.