Today is my last blog for EHRWatch.com. On Monday, I hand off to veteran health IT editor Frank Irving, who will be blogging daily about the dynamic world of EHRs. Frank has more than 20 years of experience and I look forward to his views on the transformation of the healthcare industry as we move from paper to electronic. Please give a warm welcome to Frank. Read »

Cory Franklin wrote an op-ed piece for the Guardian, which included his thoughts that government should not "pay to abandon the horse and buggy" (referring paper records as the horse and buggy). He argues that the markets, thanks to the new generation of technology users - both patients and providers - will drive adoption of health IT. The federal programs are a "classic government overreach," according to Franklin. Read »

Now that Farzad Mostashari, MD, has stepped into his role as the National Coordinator for Health IT, many in the industry who don't know him or his past work very well should take comfort in something he said at his first meeting as ONC head: "I know from personal experience implementing electronic health records in small doctors' offices in some underserved communities in New York and health centers and hospital outpatient partners just how incredibly hard this work." Read »

The Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT has named Farzad Mostashari, MD, the new national coordinator. As most in the industry know, Mostashari was the deputy under former ONC head David Blumenthal, MD, when Blumenthal took over in the summer of 2009. Read »

The weather's been horrible across the country but spring is just around the corner. For the health IT industry, that means National Coordinator David Blumenthal’s days are winding down before he leaves office and heads back to Harvard. While no successor has been named yet, the role he or she will have to fill is perhaps even harder than what Blumenthal had to face when he came on board. Read »

I'm back to the Washington Post article about physician adoption of EHRs that I was talking about in yesterday's blog. I wanted to comment on some of the other physicians interviewed in the article. Read »

Health Affairs published results of an analysis of 154 recent studies on the implementation of health IT. The conclusion: 92 percent of the studies found health IT to be beneficial to patient care. Researchers at ONC, which conducted the peer review and included outgoing national coordinator David Blumenthal, MD, also found areas that need attention. Read »

I spoke with David Blumenthal, MD, on Wednesday about the current HITECH Act policies and Stage 2 meaningful use criteria, among other things. Dr. Blumenthal was quick to point out that his departure this spring as National Coordinator for Health IT will not create a continuity issue. Why? Read »

Outgoing ONC leader David Blumenthal, MD, described the health IT transformation as a "big social project, not just a technical endeavor." In some respects, the federal initiative would have been easier to implement if it were only a technical endeavor. Read »

HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and outgoing ONC leader David Blumenthal, MD, stressed the importance of health IT in driving the U.S. economic engine in their keynote addresses on Wednesday, Feb 23, at HIMSS11. Read »