Meaningful Use
Healthcare organizations with long-established electronic health records run the risk of "note bloat" and compromised patient safety unless they standardize physician documentation procedures and limit the amount of cutting-and-pasting doctors have to do, attendees of CHIME's Fall CIO Forum heard at a session on Oct. 9.
While physicians recognize the benefits of electronic health records, they also complain that many systems deployed nowadays are cumbersome to use and often act as obstacles to quality care, according to a new report from RAND Corporation.
During the government shutdown, only four of the total 184 on-board staffers at ONC would be retained and charged with handling "orderly phase-down and suspension of operations."
Intermountain Healthcare has signed a multi-year contract with Cerner to deploy Cerner's electronic medical record and revenue cycle technology across all of Intermountain's hospitals and clinics.
As two top leaders prepare to leave health IT's highest government posts, another ONC official -- a family physician, who also spent some time working at an EHR company -- prepares to take the reins.
The start date for Stage 2 of the meaningful use incentive program, expected to begin Oct. 1, 2013 for hospitals and Jan. 1, 2014 for eligible providers is once again up for discussion.
Outgoing National Coordinator for Health IT Farzad Mostashari, MD, spoke with Government Health IT Editor Tom Sullivan recently about the difference between applying his passion for improving healthcare through health IT at the local level and federal level.
The $2.4 billion hospital RCM software and services industry expects double digit increases in 2014 because of business shifts, reimbursement and payment reforms, accountable care participation, ICD-10 coding challenges, physician practice acquisitions, collection issues, and overall declining margins.
The Houston City Council approved this week more than $1.6 million in funding to implement an electronic health record system at the city's Health and Human Services Department.
The HIMSS Interoperability Showcase, held on Capitol Hill Sept. 17 and 18 was a highlight of this year's annual National Health IT Week, educating some 500 members of the public, congressional staffers and members of Congress about health IT.