The great thing about the HIMSS10 roundtable that I attended this past Wednesday was that there were great discussions, which means multiple blog entries for me. Read »

A survey recently released by research firm SK&A, a Cegedim Company, shows an increase in physician adoption of EHRs, confirming earlier findings by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Center for Health Statistics. Read »

The meaningful use workgroup, which reports to HHS' Health IT Policy Committee, recommended a reduction in the number of measures providers would need to meet in order to qualify for federal incentive funds under CMS. From the overall feedback CMS has received since the meaningful use criteria was released at the end of December 2009, it's the right thing to do. Read »

Imagine it's 2020. You had a test done the day before, a test that was ordered because your physician was alerted via your EHR to a gap in care. The following morning, both you and your physician receive the results via e-mail, you via your PHR and she via her EHR system. Read »

The Dept. of Health and Human Services published its Interim Final Rule, "Health Information Technology: Initial Set of Standards, Implementation Specifications and Certification Criteria for Electronic Health Record Technology," which includes certification criteria for EHRs, in the Federal Register Jan. 13. Now that the standards rules for certification have been updated to align with the meaningful use criteria, when will the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) create a process to recognize certification bodies, which is required by law? Read »

It's not a surprise that there would be supporters and detractors of the proposed meaningful use requirements. With heavyweights making noise, however, you have to sit up straight and listen. Read »

Here we go again: Another article on how electronic medical records are not a "cure-all." Can we please divorce EMRs and EHRs from the "cure-all" designation? EHR and EMR advocates don't see it as cure-alls, so why should critics?
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Quality reporting for performance measurement and provider feedback is the backbone of meaningful use of health IT, David Blumenthal, MD, National Health IT Coordinator, told attendees of a National Quality Forum conference last week. Read »