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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.

Everyone who cares about the privacy of their PHI should read Latanya Sweeney’s written testimony on the NHIN flaws. Her criticisms of the proposed models National Health Information Network are sorely needed.

As I write, physicians throughout the United States are deciding whether to become meaningful users of electronic health records by 2011 when Medicare and Medicaid start making extra payments to meaningful users. For some the decision may be pretty simple.

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.

For those concerned about the digital divide growing wider and deeper with the push for EHR adoption among providers, have no fear.

As the nation moves toward standards for EHR and the Nationwide Health Information Network, the future of electronic health records has arrived.

Although healthcare reform has its supporters and detractors, healthcare IT reform - the use of technology to improve the quality, safety and efficiency of healthcare throughout the country - has broad support from all stakeholders.

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

Some software vendors have not yet issued HIPAA 5010 enhancements, let alone those for ICD-10. What's more, providers and payers should already be gearing up for internal testing of HIPAA 5010 and at least beginning the ICD-10 implementation phase. So without the upgrades, what are providers and payers to do?

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.