It was reported on Jan. 26 that the Healthcare Information Technology Standards Panel, better known as HITSP, will close shop when its contract expires Jan. 31, but John Halamka, MD, said a contract extension will keep HITSP operational until ONC awards work for the next evolution of standards development. Read »

HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and David Blumenthal, MD, head of ONC, announced yesterday the release of $235 million in health IT grants to communities. The recipients will be local governments and non-profit organizations that already have health IT in place. The goal of the funding will be to help them expand and demonstrate health IT's benefits for population health. Read »

A recent Washington Times editorial, "Federalizing medical records," noted that the electronic health record is “not a cure-all” or a “panacea” and that "establishing an integrated national health information system isn't as easy or as beneficial as it sounds." Read »

Eric Schmidt, CEO of Google, warned members at a Thursday meeting of the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology that the Obama administration's health IT plan relies too heavily on outdated database technology. The current plan stifles innovation and encourages the use of proprietary, copyrighted databases that cannot easily duplicate or share information, according to Schmidt. Read »

Financial incentives to implement EHRs may finally nudge some paper-based hospitals and practices into the 21st century. But given the HITECH Act's short implementation timeline, those facilities that aren't even close to getting out of the paper game may be left in the dust. Too bad for them, I say. Read »