Interoperability

This much is known about the health information exchange marketplace: It's probably the most fast-changing and unpredictable sector in health IT.

Americans may not be embracing social media as a way to communicate with their doctor – and most doctors aren’t using it, either – but experts say it still has value to doctors.

TRICARE, the Department of Defense healthcare program, has contracted with San Mateo, Calif.-based Epocrates to offer physicians mobile access to the TRICARE formulary list.

Health plans are stepping up to become key players in forming accountable care organizations.

Several years into the national interoperability initiative, it’s fair to wonder if the healthcare industry is making as much progress as expected when it started under the George W. Bush administration.

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

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.

Kaiser Permanente this week has opened a new Center for Total Health near Capitol Hill.

Kudos to David Blumenthal, MD, as he returns to his academic work after what many in the health IT realm view as a stellar two-year run (and we do mean run) as the nation’s health information technology chief.

With each advance in medical imaging, the role of radiology in healthcare becomes more central and the need for clinicians to have immediate access to medical imaging data more critical.