Mike Miliard

The past few years have been "a very, very intense time" for health IT workers, said Jim Turnbull, chief information officer at University of Utah Health Care, speaking at the CHIME Fall CIO Forum this past week. As he and other CIOs look ahead toward the next few years, they see more challenges still to come.

Here are some quotes from anonymous hospital CIOs that may sound familiar: "Morale is really bad; folks are burned out." "ICD-10 will never happen, we'll just keep spending money on it." "Doing more with less can only go so far." But there are reasons for optimism these days that shouldn't be forgotten.

The healthcare industry is swimming in Social Security numbers, thanks to the necessities of patient record management technology. But balancing those requirements with fraud mitigation and privacy protections is proving a big challenge.

Wes Wright, chief information officer of Seattle Children's Hospital, had a couple big reasons for embracing a virtual desktop infrastructure strategy for the 323-bed tertiary care facility. "Speed and ubiquity," he says. But soon he found a bonus.

For wearable technology to live up to the hype, especially when it comes to healthcare, it will have to be "interoperable, integrated, engaging, social and outcomes-driven," according to PwC.

Frustration with electronic health records has never been higher among RNs, with vast majorities complaining of poor workflows, bad communication and scant input on implementation decisions, a new survey shows.

In a bid to drive better quality, wider access and improved care coordination through health information technology, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has launched a new investment initiative for accountable care organizations taking part in the Medicare Shared Savings Program.

Here's the good news: Seventy-seven percent of free-standing physician practices have an ambulatory electronic medical record system installed, and a robust 90 percent of hospital-owned providers are up and running with EMRs. But there's not-so-good news, too.

Providers have begun to make targeted use of leading-edge technologies to optimize their electronic medical records, but the vast majority don't yet have the IT capacity to make full use of advancements such as big data and the cloud.

The Federal Trade Commission has some news for health IT vendors whose zeal for competitive marketshare outweighs their willingness to share data: They're watching, and will step in where necessary.