Electronic Health Records (EHR, EMR)
A fresh batch of disheartening Stage 2 attestation numbers has prompted several industry groups to once again implore the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to shorten the meaningful use reporting period in 2015 and offer more leeway on some of its more problematic measures.
The final Physician Fee Schedule rule for 2015, published by CMS on Oct. 31, brings with it a number of changes that physicians and practice managers need to understand about chronic care, telehealth and meaningful use.
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.
You want genomic analysis and big data to take off? Don't count on it until interoperability becomes more than just a plan tossed about in federal HIT policy meetings. It actually needs to come to fruition, said Cleveland Clinic's Chief Information Officer C. Martin Harris. Otherwise, healthcare innovation: Welcome to limbo.
The Certification Commission for Health Information Technology, better known by its acronym CCHIT, is ending all operations, and expects to conclude the process by later this month. The closure follows an announcement earlier this year that it would stop EHR certifications and focus on advisory services.
MedStar Health, the largest healthcare provider in Maryland and the Washington, D.C., region, and Cerner have signed a seven-year agreement to streamline operations, help improve the quality of patient care and develop technologies that align with MedStar's vision.
Worries over the usability of electronic health records have escalated recently -- in tandem, it seems, with their broad adoption. Now comes research from Frost & Sullivan that confirms this, and suggests that EHR usability challenges are likely to get worse before they get better.
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 American Medical Association released a statement Monday that points to the organization's concern over the recent departure of key leaders from the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology. The ONC exits most recently include the coordinator herself, Karen DeSalvo, MD.
The topic at the Cleveland Clinic annual summit this Monday was healthcare innovation -- what's impeding it, what more is needed to foster it and the innovation milestones taking place today. It may come as no surprise: Health IT came up a lot at this year's event. (And, yes, so did Judy Faulkner.)