Electronic Health Records (EHR, EMR)

With numerous electronic health record systems continuing to fall short of providers' expectations, a report by Black Book Rankings suggests that 2013 may indeed be the "year of the great EHR vendor switch."

Two Stage 6 hospitals, one in Manhattan and the other in Honolulu - Mount Sinai Medical Center and Hawai'i Pacific Health - are due to pick up their 2012 Enterprise HIMSS Davies Awards of Excellence at the 2013 Annual HIMSS Conference & Exhibition in New Orleans, March 3-7.

Already this year, healthcare providers have launched 106 new accountable care organizations (ACOs) that will reach as many as four million beneficiaries, Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced Jan. 10.

Family physicians are adopting electronic health records (EHRs) at a much faster rate than earlier data suggested, reaching a nearly 70 percent adoption rate nationwide, new study findings reveal. 

A recent study by Weill Cornell Medical College shows how electronic health records can do much better when it comes to gauging the quality of patient care.

One thing I've learned in the government is that words matter, and sometimes, particularly in complicated or technical areas, it can be hard to use words that are precise and accurate.

As National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, Farzad Mostahari, MD, has, since 2011, led the government's efforts to transform the nation's healthcare structure into a 21st century digital system. The goals are to improve patient care, increase efficiencies and lower costs. Mostashari delivered a rousing keynote talk at HIMSS12, and he is slated as a headliner again this year (Thursday, March 7, at 8:30 a.m.).

Healthcare IT insiders regard interoperability as the key to effective health information exchange, and some might say, the hardest to pin down thus far. Industry leaders agree there can be no true exchange without interoperability. How can healthcare transformation occur unless doctor A's EHR can process the information received from doctor B's EHR?

In a Jan. 14 letter to National Coordinator Farzad Mostashari, MD, commenting on the Health IT Policy Committee's proposals for Stage 3 meaningful use, James Madara, MD, executive vice president and CEO of the American Medical Association, put forth some of the AMA's "concerns and recommendations" about the program.

Computer mistakes like the one that produced incorrect prescriptions for thousands of Rhode Island patients are probably far more common and dangerous than the Obama administration wants you to believe, says Drexel University's Scot Silverstein, MD.