Health IT News

• Week of 17 Jun 2013 EHR vendor selection doesn't always go well: Many rip and replace (18 Jun 2013)

  Nearly one-third of healthcare facilities are choosing a new EHR vendor only four years into the HITECH Act.

• Vendors crack the code on how to head off future EHR regulations (17 Jun 2013)

  Vendors may stave off stricter EHR regulations with the development of two new vendor codes of conduct.

• Week of 10 Jun 2013 Want to avoid meaningful use penalties in 2015? Attest now. (11 Jun 2013)

  CMS insider Rob Anthony says providers need to start working now to avoid penalties related to meaningful use in 2015. Time is running out.

• Week of 03 Jun 2013 Completing drive toward healthcare interoperability will be challenge (04 Jun 2013)

  Much progress has been made toward data interoperability in recent years. But how will the industry get over the final hump?

• AHIMA advice for managing personal health information via mHealth apps (03 Jun 2013)

  Amid the rising use of mHealth apps, AHIMA has released a guide to help consumers protect their personal medical information.

• Week of 27 May 2013 Problem lists drive CDS systems and population health management (30 May 2013)

  Policy experts say problem lists can amp up clinical decision support systems as well as population health management.

• EHR interoperability issues plague some telemedicine providers (31 May 2013)

  Telemedicine providers trying to connect their systems to EHRs are waiting for electronic records to be more interoperable.

• Epic tightens link with virtualization vendor VMware (30 May 2013)

  EHR giant Epic Systems Corp. announces it will provide a new level of support to platforms from virtualization vendor VMware.

• Week of 13 May 2013 HIMSS analytics study weighs in on wireless networks and cloud (17 May 2013)

  A 2013 HIMSS study reveals organizations in the midst of managing wireless networks and cloud computing, among other IT initiatives.

• Any hospital can unleash healthcare innovation (15 May 2013)

  Small hospitals and physician practices may not feel like innovators, but healthcare innovation can happen anywhere.

• Week of 06 May 2013 Five areas in which healthcare big data, NLP will affect patients (07 May 2013)

  Emerging technologies in healthcare, big data and natural language processing, are set to affect the quality of patient care in the near term.

• Obsolete technology hits efficiency, raises costs (06 May 2013)

  Using outdated technology like pagers and faxes makes doctors inefficient and costs healthcare billions, a new study finds.

• Upcoding agenda not the result of EHR adoption (06 May 2013)

  Health IT experts tell CMS that use of electronic health records does not result in upcoding or intentional fraud.

• Harnessing the power of data warehousing and patient data analysis (06 May 2013)

  A Silicon Valley hospital flexes its tech muscle through innovation. In this podcast, the CIO explains why use of patient data analysis is growing.

• Week of 29 Apr 2013 Progress toward interoperability in healthcare remains slow (30 Apr 2013)

  There has been a lot of movement around interoperability in healthcare recently, but tangible benefits remain elusive.

• Epocrates app to support secure physician-to-physician SMS texting (30 Apr 2013)

  Many docs use the Epocrates drug reference app once a month. New features will support physician SMS texting, rudimentary sharing of patient records.

• Week of 22 Apr 2013 ATA: Providers turn to telemedicine services for faster communication (22 Apr 2013)

  In this Q&A, ATA President-Elect Ed Brown discusses how telemedicine services are being adopted for chronic care, faster stroke care and education.

• What healthcare CIOs need to know from Verizon data breach report (22 Apr 2013)

  Verizon's report on data breaches covers all industries, but says healthcare's focus should be on laptops, thumb drives, credit card data.

• HIPAA regulations to bring compliance challenges for providers, BAs (24 Apr 2013)

  Updates to HIPAA's regulations could bring new compliance challenges to providers, sometimes without real benefits to patients.

• ATA president-elect on accountable care, telemedicine benefits (22 Apr 2013)

  ATA President-Elect Ed Brown discusses the benefits of telemedicine and its future in accountable care organizations.

• Week of 15 Apr 2013 SIEM systems monitor compliance, combat patient data security threats (15 Apr 2013)

  SIEM systems prove a proactive -- not reactive -- way to monitor HIPAA compliance and dodge security threats to patients' data.

• Payers, providers must share data to improve quality of care (18 Apr 2013)

  To improve quality of care and cut costs, payers must align incentives and share longitudinal patient data with providers.

• Improved systems will help make EHR benefits real (17 Apr 2013)

  The benefits of EHRs are much-debated, but they may only become real when systems are designed to facilitate new models of care.

• Republican lawmakers renew criticism of meaningful use criteria (17 Apr 2013)

  Flaws in the criteria for meaningful use could lead to billions of dollars in wasted taxpayer money, a Senate report says.

• HHS proposes extending Stark Law exception for EHR donations (17 Apr 2013)

  If the exception to the Stark Law and anti-kickback laws' safe harbor for EHR donations to physicians are extended, will healthcare systems use them?

• Week of 08 Apr 2013 What IT initiatives should you be planning? Analysts discuss (12 Apr 2013)

  Analytics and remote monitoring will be top IT initiatives for many hospitals in the months ahead.

• Obama cybersecurity executive order may have healthcare implications (09 Apr 2013)

  President Obama's cybersecurity executive order hasn't yet included healthcare. If it does, watch for compliance mandates, grant funds.

• HIPAA data breach prevention tips for health care IT leaders (11 Apr 2013)

  Speakers from recent health IT privacy and security conferences offer strategies to batten down network hatches and prevent a HIPAA data breach.

• A bill in Congress has people talking about meaningful use exemptions (10 Apr 2013)

  Proposed exemptions to the meaningful use rules are hailed as a potential boon for some providers, but will a new bill in Congress help bring changes?

• ONC issues grants for interoperability standards work (10 Apr 2013)

  HIE Exemplar program issued the first grants for interoperability standards work to New York eHealth Collaborative and Direct Trust.

• Policy committee previews HIE standards, stage 3 meaningful use (08 Apr 2013)

  At the latest meeting of the HIT Policy Committee, members discussed how to support HIE standards and new thinking on stage 3 meaningful use.

• Week of 01 Apr 2013 Conference urges docs to pay attention to healthcare design (05 Apr 2013)

  Incorporating design principles in the IT implementation of healthcare can improve care, said speakers at the Healthcare Experience Design conference.

• Epic CEO opens up about CommonWell data interoperability project (04 Apr 2013)

  Epic CEO Judy Faulkner says she worries the CommonWell data interoperability project will just be used as a competitive weapon.

• Conference recap examines highlights from AHCJ and HxD (01 Apr 2013)

  In this conference recap, SearthHealthIT reporters Ed Burns and Don Fluckinger review highlights from the recent AHCJ and HxD conferences.

• Farzad Mostashari explains the path for federal health IT regulations (01 Apr 2013)

  SearchHealthIT.com caught up with national coordinator Farzad Mostashari for an update on meaningful use and information exchange rulemaking.

• Week of 25 Mar 2013 Benefits of clinical decision support key to optimizing EHRs (27 Mar 2013)

  The benefits of clinical decision support don't just complement EHR use -- they can make or break it.

• Congress explores potential regulation of mobile health apps (28 Mar 2013)

  In three days of hearings, congressional subcommittees explored the FDA's draft guidance on regulation of mobile health apps. Many questions remain.

• Optimizing past health IT projects a focus of tech leaders at HIMSS (29 Mar 2013)

  Many health care leaders are holding off on launching new initiatives in 2013 as they focus on getting value out of past health IT projects.

• HIMSS 2013 attendees explain importance of nursing informatics (27 Mar 2013)

  Most IT systems are designed and implemented with physicians in mind. But health systems shouldn't overlook the importance of nursing informatics.

• HIMSS 2013 conference goers discuss interoperability in healthcare (25 Mar 2013)

  The issue of interoperability in health care was one of the most discussed at HIMSS 2013. Attendees looked at what's holding back data liquidity.

• HIMSS 2013 conference attendees discuss future of interoperability (26 Mar 2013)

  Without any national policy announcements, HIMSS 2013 conference attendees focused on interoperability.

• Week of 11 Mar 2013 Health care ripe for near field communication technology (12 Mar 2013)

  Special interest group formed by NFC Forum sees potential in widespread mHealth uses for new tech embedded in smartphones.

• Week of 04 Mar 2013 OCR officials say HIPAA audits are learning moments, not punishment (06 Mar 2013)

  Few providers relish going through a HIPAA audit. But representatives of the Office for Civil Rights say there isn't much to worry about.

• CMS to focus on healthcare interoperability in 2013, stay new regs (07 Mar 2013)

  CMS administrator Marilyn Tavenner said the agency will not release any new regulations this year but will push healthcare interoperability.

• Speakers at HIMSS 2013 talk challenges in meaningful use objectives (08 Mar 2013)

  No one said meeting all of the meaningful use objectives would be easy. Presenters at HIMSS 2013 discussed some of the biggest challenges.

• HIMSS 2013: Mostashari calls for changes to 'broken' health care system (08 Mar 2013)

  National Coordinator for Health IT Farzad Mostashari called for leveraging data to fix the nation's broken health system in his HIMSS 2013 keynote.

Health IT News Archive