Sutter Health renews EHR expansion; will others follow?
Sutter Health, a Northern California not-for-profit network of community-based healthcare providers, announced it will resume implementation of EHRs throughout its hospitals. Not that the large hospital system is a bellwether for the economic recovery, but given that it stopped its initiative because of the recession, it's easy to come to that conclusion at first blush. The second thought is whether other health systems feel comfortable enough to resume their health IT initiatives. Read More
Date: Mar 17, 2010  
CCHIT says IFR on standards and certification may slow adoption rate
With some standards being dropped and others being added, the Interim Final Rule (IFR) for EHR standards and certification is not aligned with CCHIT's current certification process. If the Final Rule is largely unchanged from the IFR, CCHIT says the new process could slow down the EHR adoption rate. Read More
Date: Mar 16, 2010  
Should the FDA be tasked with health IT oversight?
In the last two years, the Federal Drug Administration (FDA) has received 260 reports of health IT malfunctions, some of which resulted in 44 reported injuries and six deaths. These numbers are prompting FDA officials to call for a federal framework and oversight to ensure patient safety. Read More
Date: Mar 15, 2010  
An Evolving EHR market can be unsettling
Amidst a still-faltering economy, the bright spot has been healthcare IT, thanks to ARRA and its HITECH Act. Just as there is a lot of hope and energy invested in moving the healthcare industry into the 21st century, there are equal parts of anxiety and pessimism that billions of dollars will be spent without transforming the industry in the form of increased quality and efficiency of healthcare delivery, and reduction of medical errors and cost. Read More
Date: Mar 11, 2010