News
As we close out 2013 and look forward to a fresh new year, we present you with 10 stories that had you, our readers, most captivated. They inlcude news about IRS troubles and EHR breakdown at a major hospital system. Bad news seems compelling. But so does good news, in the form of lists.
In an eventful 10 years for healthcare, meaningful use made an unmistakable mark as vendors large and small took advantage of an unprecedented opportunity. As one observer puts it: "Obama's stimulus was the catalyst that lit this industry up five years ago. We haven't looked back since."
An unencrypted USB drive ended up costing one dermatology practice, which has settled with the Department of Health and Human Services for failing to address HITECH's breach notification provisions.
Driven by increasing demand for clinical information technology and administrative tools, the North American healthcare IT market is forecast to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 7.4 percent, set to reach $31.3 billion by 2017 from $21.9 billion in 2012, according to a new report from Research and Markets.
The Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute has approved 30 projects under the pilot phase of its new "Pipeline to Proposal" awards program. The Tier I awards, totaling $432,100 in requested funding, are the first to be made through the initiative.
Among this week's people on the move, Cerner adds a former governor to its board of directors, and Cambridge Healh Alliance welcomes a new chief medical officer.
Karen DeSalvo is certainly more than qualified to head up ONC, having brought post-Katrina New Orleans up to snuff on electronic health records and more. How well do you know her background? Here are some lesser-known facts.
In a year-end set of new regulations, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and the HHS Inspector General finalized the Stark law exemption, which allows hospitals to fund up to 85 percent of EHR costs for physicians, and the OIG outlined the related anti-kickback "safe harbor" for "protected donors."
No matter what the job setting, at some point, every health information technology professional ponders, "Am I really being paid what I am worth?" The 2013 HIMSS Compensation Survey makes it easier to answer that question.
HIMSS has announced that the HIMSS Foundation and the National eHealth Collaborative have merged. NeHC has worked closely with the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT as well as other public and private organizations to encourage effective use of health IT.