Diana Manos

Sens. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) have introduced legislation to make doctors' Medicare claims data public for the first time.

The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology has issued a health IT strategic plan for 2011 through 2015 for public review.

Farzad Mostashari, the newly appointed and fourth leader of the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, is going to face some stiff challenges his predecessor David Blumenthal did not have to face.

Department of Health and Human Services officials have launched a new program, developed under the Affordable Care Act, aimed at eliminating medical errors on a national scale.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has paid out more than $37 million to providers under the Medicare and Medicaid EHR Incentive Programs this year.

The Department of Health and Human Services’ proposed regulations on accountable care organizations, released March 31, will be one of the first delivery-reform initiatives to be implemented under the Accountable Care Act and will be key to overhauling the U.S. healthcare system, said Donald Berwick, MD, administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.

The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology has named Farzad Mostashari, MD, to replace David Blumenthal, MD, as national coordinator for health information technology.

The Department of Health and Human Services has released regulations today on accountable care organizations (ACOs). The rules will guide provider organizations in setting up exchanges of healthcare data to improve care and reduce costs, as mandated under the Accountable Care Act.

While lawmakers in Washington continue to duke it out over the federal budget, many experts are saying the $27 billion allotted in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to reward providers for healthcare IT adoption should be secure, mainly because healthcare IT has bipartisan support.

David Blumenthal, MD, the national coordinator for health information technology, announced his departure from the ONC just 17 days before the HIMSS11 conference began on Feb. 19 in Orlando, Fla. Blumenthal came onboard just two weeks prior to HIMSS09.