Diana Manos

Even as health IT providers and vendors are immersed in meaningful use, the federal government has its eye on ways to export the concept overseas.

Jonathan Blum, deputy administrator and director for the Center of Medicare at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, says doctors see the inefficiencies in healthcare today and are eager to try accountable care organizations.

The federal Pioneer Accountable Care Organization Model that was announced last May is asking too much of providers, too soon, according to Brian Yeaman, chief medical information officer of Oklahoma-based Normal Regional Health System.

One of the greatest boons on the journey toward achieving meaningful use is having physicians champion health IT, according to Greg Ator, MD, chief medical informatics officer for the University of Kansas Hospital.

Health Level Seven and the International Health Terminology Standards Development Organisation announced Thursday that they have expanded collaborative efforts.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has issued an interim final rule aimed at cutting red tape for providers. The rule won't be published in the Federal Register until Friday, but so far the Medical Group Management Association has weighed in as being "pleased" and “encouraged” by the proposal.

The Health IT Policy Committee, the advisory panel to the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC), voted June 8 to recommend delaying the start of Stage 2 of meaningful use until 2014.

– The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) recently announced it has paid out more than $75 million for the meaningful use of electronic health records under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA).

The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) approved in June the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) as the ONC-approved accreditor (ONC-AA) for the permanent certification program for health information technology.

The comment period ended on June 6 for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services' (CMS) proposed rule on accountable care organizations (ACOs).