News

News

• August 09, 2017 09 Aug'17

  Delays for $1 million CHIME national patient ID challenge

  A critic of CHIME'S $1 million patient ID challenge calls it a gimmick, but CIOs defend the project -- originally crowdsourced but now potentially funded by CHIME.

• August 04, 2017 04 Aug'17

  President Trump and VA Secretary announce telehealth initiatives

  President Trump and Veterans Affairs (VA) Secretary, David Shulkin, M.D., announced telehealth initiatives that will help give access to healthcare for veterans across the country. Through new ...

• August 04, 2017 04 Aug'17

  ECW False Claims Act violation a new area of healthcare fraud

  As a wake-up call to other health IT vendors, the OIG's senior counsel airs a video in which he calls eClinicalWorks' False Claims Act violation a 'new area of healthcare fraud.'

• July 28, 2017 28 Jul'17

  All of Us precision medicine research program names community partners

  The National Institutes of Health has chosen four community partners to join its All of Us precision medicine research program, which seeks to gather data from at least one million people in the ...

• July 14, 2017 14 Jul'17

  Public health implications of infosec are 'complex,' researchers say

  In the wake of the recent WannaCry and Petya attacks that have hit healthcare organizations worldwide, a group of Boston researchers is urging the industry to consider the public health ...

• July 06, 2017 06 Jul'17

  Patient engagement strategy heavily influences tech investment

  Hospital IT professionals are welcoming patient engagement technology, based on the results of a purchasing intentions survey by TechTarget and CHIME.

• June 30, 2017 30 Jun'17

  HHS to award $195 million for health IT use in opioid treatment

  The Department of Health and Human Services will award $195 million to community health centers to expand substance abuse and mental health services that focus on awareness, prevention and opioid ...

• June 16, 2017 16 Jun'17

  Cybersecurity for healthcare a "public health concern," task force says

  A federal task force identified six areas that can improve cybersecurity for healthcare, including more education and information sharing.

• June 08, 2017 08 Jun'17

  The eClinicalWorks False Claims Act case: Implications for health IT

  For some health IT experts, the eClinicalWorks' False Claims Act case is about the EHR vendor's lack of interoperability and the failure of meaningful use.

• May 19, 2017 19 May'17

  WannaCry ransomware attack should push hospitals to gauge certain tech

  The WannaCry ransomware attack affected hundreds of countries and hundreds of thousands of systems, including health systems. Experts discuss what healthcare orgs need to do.

• May 05, 2017 05 May'17

  2016 healthcare data breaches surpass last year's record

  Healthcare data breaches hit an all-time high in 2016, according to a report by Bitglass. However, the volume of leaked records caused by 2016 healthcare data breaches decreased from the previous ...

• May 04, 2017 04 May'17

  Healthcare software developer jobs may be hit by Trump H-1B visa move

  The Trump administration's proposed changes to the H-1B visa program for highly skilled foreign workers could force health IT vendors to pay higher salaries to software engineers.

• May 03, 2017 03 May'17

  CIO: Consumer mistrust in health information security is founded

  A survey found that consumers mistrust health information security, especially with health technology. A CIO explains these concerns are founded and what improvements are necessary.

• April 28, 2017 28 Apr'17

  HHS secretary Tom Price discusses lack of interoperability, physician burnout

  Tom Price, Secretary of Health and Human Services, laid out two goals for the department moving forward: overcoming the lack of interoperability and physician burnout.

• April 17, 2017 17 Apr'17

  HL7 standards work slowed by lack of financial support, leaders say

  Leaders of HL7, the international health IT standards organization, say HL7 standards development is being held back by lack of financial support from some industry organizations.

• April 14, 2017 14 Apr'17

  New ONC challenge focuses on accuracy and reliability of health data

  A new ONC challenge is seeking ways to ensure the accuracy and reliability of health data, also known as data provenance. Data provenance refers to information about when the data was created, by ...

• April 05, 2017 05 Apr'17

  Health IT community welcomes new ONC head, Donald Rucker

  Donald Rucker has been named the new ONC head. The former Siemens CMO has been welcomed to the position of national coordinator by the health IT community.

• March 31, 2017 31 Mar'17

  Medical record breaches down in 2016, but internal threats proliferate

  Financial services may have replaced healthcare as the most breached industry in 2016, but that doesn't mean healthcare is in the all-clear. According to a report by IBM Security, the healthcare ...

• March 31, 2017 31 Mar'17

  A guide to healthcare IoT possibilities and obstacles

  This essential guide explores the potential of the internet of things in healthcare, as well as some of the obstacles that may hinder its wider adoption.

• March 30, 2017 30 Mar'17

  Arrival of new HHS healthcare tech boss could augur big changes at ONC

  President Trump's appointment of former GOP congressman John Fleming, M.D., to a newly created health technology post could portend ONC downsizing and MACRA changes.

• March 23, 2017 23 Mar'17

  Experts not surprised that EHR patient safety issues top ECRI report

  Experts were not surprised by the recently published ECRI report on patient safety issues. In fact, experts agreed these issues have been around for a while.

• March 20, 2017 20 Mar'17

  VA launches collaborative 3D printing hospital network

  The Department of Veterans Affairs is collaborating with a 3D printer manufacturer to encourage surgical planning and anatomical modeling for personalized healthcare.

• March 10, 2017 10 Mar'17

  HIT Squad podcast recaps HIMSS 2017 Orlando hot topics

  In this podcast, the SearchHealthIT HIT Squad recaps HIMSS 2017 hot topics including AI in healthcare, patient engagement and a relative lack of government issues.

• March 09, 2017 09 Mar'17

  AMA, provider groups call for delay of 2015 certified EHRs

  The American Medical Association and 102 other physician groups have called on CMS and ONC to delay the use of 2015 certified EHRs beyond the current timeframe of required use starting in 2018 ...

• March 01, 2017 01 Mar'17

  New Epic EHR systems to carry lower prices, aimed at smaller hospitals

  New, more minimalist versions of the Epic EHR system will feature lower prices, though also less functionality. And these will be aimed at smaller hospitals, according to Epic.

• February 24, 2017 24 Feb'17

  Gaining a new appreciation for health IT at the 2017 HIMSS conference

  Attending the 2017 HIMSS conference -- my very first foray into the largest annual health IT gathering -- was daunting, to say the least. Navigating the massive Orange County Convention Center and ...

• February 23, 2017 23 Feb'17

  HIMSS 2017 conference: new health IT beyond meaningful use and EHRs

  The HIMSS 2017 conference focused on newer health IT strategies and segments such as medical imaging and avoided government regulation issues.

• February 22, 2017 22 Feb'17

  HIMSS 2017 buzz ranges from patient engagement to AI, machine learning

  The busy floor and outskirts of HIMSS 2017 were abuzz with hot health IT topics ranging from patient engagement and care collaboration to AI and machine learning.

• February 20, 2017 20 Feb'17

  Cognitive computing in healthcare: MD Anderson puts IBM Watson on hold

  News recently broke that MD Anderson put its project with IBM Watson on hold. Some interpreted this to be a setback for AI and cognitive computing in healthcare. Others disagree.

• February 17, 2017 17 Feb'17

  Health data breaches and hacker attacks spiked dramatically in 2016

  Health data breaches caused by hacker attacks rose by 320% in 2016, ransomware attacks became prominent, and many smaller hospitals were hit hackers.

• February 17, 2017 17 Feb'17

  HIMSS 2017 conference coverage and analysis

  The SearchHealthIT team will be attending the HIMSS 2017 conference in Orlando. Follow this guide for coverage from the show, post-conference reactions and a recap of HIMSS 2016.

• February 10, 2017 10 Feb'17

  Telemedicine parity laws are on the rise, but restrictions impede use

  While more than half of the country has enacted telemedicine parity laws, restrictions on the types of telemedicine technology that are covered by health insurance often prevent patients from being ...

• February 03, 2017 03 Feb'17

  Patient-reported data often excluded from EHR documentation

  A recent eye health study found that patient-reported data doesn't always get recorded in a patient's electronic health record (EHR), raising questions about the accuracy of clinical documentation. ...

• February 02, 2017 02 Feb'17

  Vendor calls for reversal of Joint Commission CPOE texting ban

  Cries of protest arose when the Joint Commission prohibited secure texting of computerized physician order entries, but now the level of disenchantment among some in the secure text messaging ...

• February 02, 2017 02 Feb'17

  Accountable care organization model will likely survive ACA repeal

  As congressional Republicans push ACA repeal, accountable care organizations appear safe because of bipartisan support for value-based care and reimbursement.

• January 26, 2017 26 Jan'17

  Major healthcare organizations urge Trump to continue push for value-based care

  President Donald Trump has already begun the process of repealing the Affordable Care Act, known as Obamacare, by signing an executive order that allows certain government officials and entities to ...

• January 25, 2017 25 Jan'17

  Under pressure, ONC still making noise

  With its leadership and programs in flux because of uncertainty accompanying the new administration, ONC has produced a flurry of activity lately punctuated by a slate of sessions scheduled for ...

• January 25, 2017 25 Jan'17

  HIMSS 2017 health IT topics to include cybersecurity, value-based care

  In this podcast, the HIT Squad talks about hot health IT topics SearchHealthIT expects to cover at HIMSS 2017; they include health data cybersecurity and value-based healthcare.

• January 24, 2017 24 Jan'17

  Interoperability may be in sight as Epic and Cerner work together

  As two of the largest EHRs in the healthcare space, Epic and Cerner have often appeared to be at odds with each other. But that seems to be changing via an ONC initiative.

• January 20, 2017 20 Jan'17

  Healthcare data breaches cost $6.2 billion a year

  Healthcare data breaches cost the industry $6.2 billion a year, while the average cost of a single data breach across all industries is $4 million, according to Protenus. Additionally, nearly 90% ...

• January 13, 2017 13 Jan'17

  IBM Watson Health partners with FDA to study blockchain technology

  IBM Watson Health and the FDA are collaborating on a research initiative that aims to define a "secure, efficient and scalable exchange of health data using blockchain technology," according to an ...

• January 11, 2017 11 Jan'17

  ICD-10 glitches cause CMS to back off

  It turns out the transition to ICD-10 didn't go quite as smoothly as previously thought, particularly for the small practice physicians who were most anxious about the changeover from ICD-9 on Oct. ...

• January 04, 2017 04 Jan'17

  Intermountain’s part in DoD-Cerner EHR project

  I caught up with Intermountain Healthcare CIO and vice president Marc Probst at the CHIME16 Fall CIO Forum and got a chance to ask him about Intermountain's role in what is one of the biggest EHR ...

• December 30, 2016 30 Dec'16

  ONC launches health IT privacy policy challenge

  ONC has launched a challenge for developers, designers and health data privacy experts to create an online model privacy notice generator for health IT products that will encourage transparency and ...

• December 29, 2016 29 Dec'16

  Marc Probst calls for government healthcare interoperability standards

  Intermountain CIO Marc Probst is well known for insisting that the government set interoperability standards for health IT so providers and vendors can freely exchange health data.

• December 28, 2016 28 Dec'16

  Joint Commission bans CPOE secure texting for physicians

  Vendors and patient advocates criticize computerized physician order entry ban following new Joint Commission and CMS clarification of secure texting rules.

• December 23, 2016 23 Dec'16

  ONC releases 2017 Interoperability Standards Advisory updates

  The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology has released its 2017 Interoperability Standards Advisory, which expands its focus on health research interoperability, ...

• December 23, 2016 23 Dec'16

  Trends in health IT for 2017: Ransomware, RPA, blockchain predictions

  A health IT expert weighs in on the top trends in health IT for 2017, including predictions about ransomware, RPA and blockchain.

• December 20, 2016 20 Dec'16

  Writers discuss their favorite interviews with healthcare IT experts

  SearchHealthIT's writers talked to a lot of big leaders in health IT in 2016. In this video, our journalists discuss their favorite personalities and moments.

• December 16, 2016 16 Dec'16

  Hot in 2016: Data blocking and patient access to personal information

  In 2016, the health IT world spent a lot of time addressing data blocking issues and patients' access to personal information like their health records. Learn more in this photo story.

• December 15, 2016 15 Dec'16

  Patients want info in one place

  Health data and patients' electronic access to their own health information are real, personal issues, not just the stuff of health IT government and vendor debate. Some 94% of respondents in a new ...

• December 15, 2016 15 Dec'16

  IBM Watson enters cyber security arena to improve security in healthcare and other industries

  Cognitive computing may be the next big advance in health IT security. According to a recent study from the IBM Institute for Business Value, nearly 60% of security professionals say cognitive ...

• December 09, 2016 09 Dec'16

  Telemedicine pediatrics is focus of new telehealth provider offering

  The Nemours children's health system is offering pediatric telemedicine services for out-of-state patients as part of the new American Well telehealth exchange.

• December 07, 2016 07 Dec'16

  The 21st Century Cures Act: Implications for Health IT

  The U.S. Senate passed the 21st Century Cures Act on Dec. 6, legislation that has some important implications for health IT including providing funding to initiatives started by President Barack ...

• December 02, 2016 02 Dec'16

  RSNA 2016: to cloud or not to cloud

  CHICAGO - Scott Seidelmann, founder and CEO of Candescent Health, a cloud medical imaging service vendor and sort of spin-off of cloud EHR vendor athenahealth, Inc., got off a plane and headed ...

• November 30, 2016 30 Nov'16

  VNAs must push medical imaging technology boundaries

  This issue of SearchHealthIT's Pulse zeroes in on vendor neutral archives -- a distinctive, medical imaging technology in healthcare designed to allow providers to view images in a standard format.

  The market for medical imaging ...

• November 30, 2016 30 Nov'16

  The vendor neutral archive market heats up as technology advances

  As technology advances, health systems are increasingly adopting vendor neutral archives to store, share and analyze medical images from multiple specialties, not only radiology.

• November 29, 2016 29 Nov'16

  RSNA 2016 features AI, cloud and VNAs for medical imaging

  Artificial intelligence and machine learning in medical imaging and cloud and telemedicine applications for radiology are among the technologies featured at RSNA 2016 in Chicago.

• November 18, 2016 18 Nov'16

  Health data breaches down in October

  The number of health data breaches decreased for the second month in a row following a summer that saw a record number of breaches, according to the Protenus Breach Barometer. There were 35 ...

• November 11, 2016 11 Nov'16

  ONC health IT report: EHR use up, but work remains

  The 2016 annual report from Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology found that the use of EHR technology has dramatically increased in the past eight years. The report ...

• November 10, 2016 10 Nov'16

  Experts say how Trump presidency might affect the future of health IT

  What will the future of health IT be under the new Trump administration? Health IT experts offer up predictions and reassurances for the future.

• November 07, 2016 07 Nov'16

  The CHIME bell sounds

  PHOENIX -- Yes, the CHIME 2016 Fall Forum, the College of Health Information Management Executives' biggest annual conference, came with a soundtrack. And we're not talking Foreigner, the 70s-rock ...

• November 04, 2016 04 Nov'16

  White House CIO warns health CIOs to beware the internet of things

  In keynote at CHIME16 Fall CIO Forum conference of healthcare CIOs, White House CIO Tony Scott says they should be wary of the internet of things and focus on cybersecurity.

• November 02, 2016 02 Nov'16

  At 2016 CHIME CIO forum, health IT CIO group chief looks ahead

  In a podcast from the CHIME fall forum in Phoenix, Russ Branzell, CEO of the health IT CIO organization, explains CHIME's policy agenda for 2017.

• October 31, 2016 31 Oct'16

  Organizations discuss cybersecurity, healthcare data breach prevention

  Healthcare organizations and health IT professionals addressed cybersecurity awareness training and how to prevent health data breaches in a Twitter chat hosted by ONC.

• October 24, 2016 24 Oct'16

  Digital health a 'first responder' for behavioral health conditions

  One in five adults in the United States suffer from mental illness, and many of them will consult their smartphones before they do a health professional. However, with digital health often acting ...

• October 24, 2016 24 Oct'16

  CRM goliath Salesforce aims at dominating CRM for healthcare market

  A CRM system for healthcare as explained at Dreamforce by Josh Newman, M.D., Salesforce chief medical officer; and a visit to West Coast ambulatory EHR vendor Practice Fusion.

• October 21, 2016 21 Oct'16

  Digital health technology poised to help an aging population

  Startups and established mHealth and health IT vendors showcase care coordination and telehealth apps, while speakers talk about tech tools for the elderly and mentally ill.

• October 18, 2016 18 Oct'16

  MACRA final rule met with guarded, but mostly positive reaction

  The MACRA final rule eases ways for doctors to measure patient care data for Medicare reimbursement; meanwhile, ONC focused its authority on patient safety in health IT systems.

• October 12, 2016 12 Oct'16

  OCR HIPAA guidance

  As Boston lawyer and HIPAA healthcare expert David Harlow points out in his eminently useful blog post on the Office for Civil Rights' recent guidance on cloud computing, there's really not that ...

• October 06, 2016 06 Oct'16

  HHS awards funding for cybersecurity threat information sharing

  The Department of Health and Human Services awarded funding to a Florida-based healthcare data sharing center to build a more effective system of information sharing about cyberthreats. The Office ...

• October 04, 2016 04 Oct'16

  Ambulatory EHR vendors having success on East and West Coasts

  As big EHR vendors battle for large healthcare system market shares, purveyors of EHRs for small physician practices are still finding success with moderately priced systems.

• September 30, 2016 30 Sep'16

  Cancer research panel calls for National Cancer Data Ecosystem

  The Cancer Moonshot's Blue Ribbon Panel has called for a national infrastructure that will allow researchers, clinicians and patients to collaborate in sharing their data and knowledge about ...

• September 28, 2016 28 Sep'16

  Like it or not, blockchain is coming to health IT

  Get used to it. Blockchain is invading health IT. And it's moving fast. Sure, while blockchain's encrypted distributed ledger technology has already made big inroads in the finance sector, in ...

• September 28, 2016 28 Sep'16

  Healthcare blockchain ideas swirl at government conference

  Proponents and skeptics of blockchain for healthcare came together at a workshop hosted by NIST and ONC to work out proposals and problems with this new technology.

• September 26, 2016 26 Sep'16

  The CIO of MGH discusses health information exchange challenges

  It is well known in the health IT world that health information exchange challenges abound. The CIO of MGH discusses the challenges he has witnessed in Massachusetts.

• September 22, 2016 22 Sep'16

  ONC: More hospitals than ever making information available to patients electronically

  Efforts to make health information available to patients are paying off, according to the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology. ONC published a data brief about how ...

• September 19, 2016 19 Sep'16

  ONC national coordinator rebuts report on doctor discontent with EHRs

  Vindell Washington, M.D., the new national coordinator for health information technology, hits back at a survey citing widespread physician dissatisfaction with EHRs.

• September 19, 2016 19 Sep'16

  CTO: EHR market challenges and how this technology will evolve

  The former CTO of Epic Systems Corp. and current CTO of Pure Storage discusses the challenges facing the EHR market today and shares his thoughts on how he thinks EHRs will evolve.

• September 16, 2016 16 Sep'16

  HHS awards over $87 million to encourage adoption of health IT

  The Department of Health and Human Services is awarding over $87 million in funding to more than 1,300 health centers in all 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia, as well as Puerto Rico and ...

• September 09, 2016 09 Sep'16

  Telemedicine as effective as in-person visits for children with asthma

  Telemedicine can be a viable alternative to in-person visits for children with asthma, according to a new study published in Annals of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology. The study found that ...

• September 09, 2016 09 Sep'16

  For Interoperability Standards Advisory, ONC aims for Wikipedia style

  In a Twitter chat, an ONC executive discussed plans to enhance 2017 interoperability technology specifications. Chat members also brought up meaningful use and blockchain.

• September 07, 2016 07 Sep'16

  To delay MACRA or not is the question

  Eight high-ranking congressmen are calling on federal healthcare officials to consider "flexibilities" in administering the new MACRA healthcare law, particularly as it applies to small physician ...

• September 01, 2016 01 Sep'16

  ONC Blockchain Challenge winners show health IT uses

  A wide range of possible use cases for blockchain in healthcare are revealed in 15 papers chosen by the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology as the top proposals ...

• August 29, 2016 29 Aug'16

  Informatics and analytics: closer ties in wake of health data boom

  In the wake of an explosion in the volume of digital health data, medical informatics and analytics are becoming more allied as informaticians seek to extract the best data.

• August 29, 2016 29 Aug'16

  Advances in health technology groom analytics, data sharing still lags

  With advances in health technology and data analytics comes far-flung potential -- but only if electronic health record systems allow information to be shared more freely.

• August 29, 2016 29 Aug'16

  Data analytics boosts value-based reimbursement and clinical decisions

  In this issue of Pulse, SearchHealthIT's writers explore the current state of data analytics use in clinical care and peek into what the future holds. In the cover story, News Writer Kristen Lee presents a timeline of future uses of data in ...

• August 26, 2016 26 Aug'16

  VA partners with NCI, DoD for precision medicine program

  The Department of Veteran Affairs (VA) is partnering with the National Cancer Institute (NCI) and the Department of Defense (DoD) to form the nation's first screening program intended to provide ...

• August 26, 2016 26 Aug'16

  Data analytics aids value-based reimbursement, but bigger goals loom

  Although data analytics will play a role in precision medicine, experts say we're far from achieving the full potential. Instead, the focus of analytics now is on value-based care.

• August 25, 2016 25 Aug'16

  Members of CommonWell will enable patients to access health data

  If you're a patient of a hospital or physician that is using the technology of a CommonWell Health Alliance member—including Cerner Corp., athenahealth, Inc., and McKesson Corporation, to name a ...

• August 19, 2016 19 Aug'16

  Many health and fitness apps lack privacy policies

  A recent study by the Future of Privacy Forum found that the top health and fitness apps lag behind other types of apps in terms of privacy policies -- only 70% of the top 100 health and fitness ...

• August 17, 2016 17 Aug'16

  E-prescribing of controlled substances on sharp rise

  Electronic prescribing of controlled substances, or EPCS, such as opioids increased dramatically in 2015, according to Surescripts Inc., the national pharmacy IT network. ECPS is now allowed in all ...

• August 12, 2016 12 Aug'16

  Karen DeSalvo, M.D., out as ONC national coordinator to focus on HHS

  In the waning days of the administration, ONC national coordinator Karen DeSalvo, M.D., leaves ONC to focus full time on her other post as acting assistant HHS secretary for health.

• August 10, 2016 10 Aug'16

  Dentists and meaningful use

  It may be time for dentists to sink their teeth into meaningful use. Dentists, while theoretically eligible for the federal EHR incentive program, have for the most part stayed away because there ...

• August 05, 2016 05 Aug'16

  MHealth apps too complicated for vulnerable populations

  There's no denying that mHealth apps have the potential to help patients better manage their health. But according to a recent study conducted by researchers from the University of California, San ...

• July 29, 2016 29 Jul'16

  Intermountain becomes telehealth provider in a big way

  Utah's Intermountain Healthcare, one of the country's biggest health systems, has become a major provider of telehealth services, including direct to the consumer.

• July 29, 2016 29 Jul'16

  Gender pay gap among health IT workers grows wider

  Female health IT professionals in the U.S. are paid less than their male counterparts, and the wage gap between the two has only grown larger over the past decade. In 2006, the average female ...

• July 28, 2016 28 Jul'16

  Healthcare IT topics: Cloud, consumerization, wearables are hot

  Among the trending topics in health IT are cloud technology, consumerization of healthcare services and wearable devices, says SearchHealthIT editorial director Scott Wallask.

• July 27, 2016 27 Jul'16

  Most hospitals say they have EHR disaster recovery plans

  While about a third of U.S. hospitals reported to the Office of the Inspector General of the Department of Health and Human Services that they don't have HIPAA-compliant EHR disaster recovery ...

• July 22, 2016 22 Jul'16

  CMS releases overall hospital quality data

  The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) is preparing to unleash some stark numbers on care quality at individual hospitals across the country. But before CMS publishes those star ...