Diana Manos
With so many things coming to a head to advance electronic health record adoption like never before, you could say it's the summer of health IT.
Industry leaders gave a thumbs up for healthcare IT advancement over the past year and offered encouragement for achieving "lofty goals,” at a press briefing June 15 hosted by the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS).
Officials of HIMSS Analytics, the not-for-profit subsidiary of the Healthcare Information and management System Society (HIMSS), announced will add new questions to their annual study on meaningful use to gauge hospitals' readiness.
The past month has seen an overwhelming surge of emphasis on healthcare IT inside the beltway, as a host of agencies prepare to implement the vast changes initiated by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
Chief information officers at some of the most wired hospitals in the country say they will be hard-pressed to qualify for federal healthcare IT incentives by next year.
With some regional extension centers (RECs) poised to open this month, small physician practices will soon have access to the help they need to qualify for meaningful use bonuses under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
Ninety percent of U.S. healthcare leaders and 84 percent of global healthcare leaders recently surveyed by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) say information technology will be a "key factor" for transforming healthcare today and in the decade to come.
Certification of electronic health records was at the top of the news in April, with comments due April 9 for the temporary certification proposed rule, and by May 10 for the permanent rule.
While the Healthcare IT Policy Committee, a federal advisory panel, is working on projects that will outline patient protections, patient privacy activists warn that allowing patients to opt out of participation in electronic health information exchanges will be critical to building public trust.
Premier healthcare alliance has launched a new meaningful use best-practices library to help hospitals effectively implement electronic health records and earn Medicare and Medicaid bonuses.