News
A regional health information organization formed by four Texas hospitals could serve as a model for electronic health record adoption in rural areas across the country, say its participants.
Hospitals across the country are on track to meet 2011 meaningful use criteria set by the federal government, according to new data from HIMSS Analytics. Nearly a quarter of the participating hospitals reported they could achieve 10 or more of the 14 required meaningful use core requirements.
The Rural Nebraska Healthcare Network, a consortium of nine rural hospitals and related clinics in western Nebraska, has begun work on an $18 million fiber optic medical network aimed at improving care throughout the Nebraska panhandle.
Mercy Memorial Hospital System, a 238-bed community hospital in metropolitan Detroit, will replace its legacy technology with an enterprise-wide health information technology system. The move is aimed at making it possible for the hospital, its 200 staff physicians and post-acute care providers to connect and collaborate for a team approach to care.
The number of CIOs who expect their hospitals to qualify early for stimulus funding connected to meaningful use of electronic health records has dropped by half, according to a survey by the College of Health Information Management Executives.
A hospital in Illinois known as “Good Sam” and a healthcare consulting group in Florida are among the seven 2010 Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award winners. And information technology is at the core of operations for both.
2011 is shaping up as an exciting moment for the people who work in healthcare information technology and who recognize IT’s promise – and its limitations.
“What do you really hold dear to you that you want to preserve into the future as you transition to an electronic medical record?”
Maine’s culture is to “get things done” – and when it comes to improving the quality of care through IT, the state has positioned itself well, said its director of the Office of the State Coordinator for HIT, James Leonard.
About half of all electronic medical record implementations fail, and most of those failures stem from poor planning and preparation, said a family physician who spoke at a regional extension center forum for providers in Maine.