Electronic Health Records (EHR, EMR)

Ever since the updated HIPAA rule took effect last March, some hospital IT departments see themselves as "the HIPAA police," clamping down in ways that the rule doesn't require, says one industry expert.

Healthcare organizations will need to be more effective, cost efficient and productive in the future to not only survive, but also to maintain positive cash flows, according to Brian Fugere, COO of RemitDATA.

Several organized physician groups are beta testing URAC's new clinical integration accreditation program standards. The independent standards organization created the new program to serve as a road map for health providers to achieve clinical integration and accountable care. By earning URAC accreditation, providers will demonstrate they are delivering improved patient care and reducing costs.

Members of Congress are lauding a bipartisan bill that limits funding for an integrated electronic health record system between VA and DoD and requires aggressive progress updates from both agencies, which have, in recent months, come under fire for the dilatory pace at which they're moving forward with the iEHR.

"It's systems that let ordinary people do extraordinary things," national coordinator for health IT Farzad Mostashari, MD said during a Health IT Policy Committee meeting talk that vice chair Paul Tang described immediately afterward as "inspiring and challenging."

Larry Garber is a believer. The physician and medical director for informatics at Worcester, Mass.-based Reliant Medical Group has seen electronic health records make big, real life changes both financially and clinically, and now he's set out to spread the word.

Continuing the upward trajectory of EHR reimbursements flowing out into the healthcare industry, CMS said on Tuesday morning that the total paid as of March's end is more than $13.7 billion.

Responding to a feedback request from Senators on Capitol Hill regarding health IT adoption, the College of Healthcare Information Management Executives called for a one-year pushback of the Stage 2 meaningful use deadline and defended the efficacy of the federal incentive program.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) this year implemented pre-payment audits on Medicare and dually eligible -- Medicare and Medicaid -- providers participating in the EHR Incentive Programs. The audit programs target between 5 and 10 percent of eligible professionals attesting for meaningful use, according to Elizabeth Holland, director of the HIT Initiatives Group within CMS' Office of E-Health Standards and Services.

Although the telehealth concept has been around for decades, the changing healthcare business model combined with the proliferation of wireless communications may finally give it the spark it needs to really catch fire, market observers say.