Electronic Health Records (EHR, EMR)
A rural Montana hospital has filed suit against a big name electronic health record system provider alleging the company violated its contract by both failing to install an EHR system by the set deadline and not providing a system that meets 2014 federal meaningful use criteria.
With Congress working on a long-term Medicare "SGR fix" in the recent short-term budget deal, lawmakers laid down seeds for addressing issues such as value-based reimbursement and EHR compatibility.
The push for meaningful use Stage 3 has reached a point where a confluence of power structures are ready for more breakthroughs -- hence, the impetus for collaboration among IHE USA, ONC and S&I Framework, officials from these groups say.
The U.S. Defense Department has furthered its investments in digital radiography and medical imaging systems after awarding a one-year, $70.2 million contract to imaging provider Carestream Health.
Three hospitals -- in Hawaii and Texas -- recently reached Stage 7, the highest level of HIMSS Analytics Electronic Medical Records Adoption Model, which is used to track EMR progress at hospitals and health systems.
As we close out 2013 and look forward to a fresh new year, we present you with 10 stories that had you, our readers, most captivated. They inlcude news about IRS troubles and EHR breakdown at a major hospital system. Bad news seems compelling. But so does good news, in the form of lists.
In an eventful 10 years for healthcare, meaningful use made an unmistakable mark as vendors large and small took advantage of an unprecedented opportunity. As one observer puts it: "Obama's stimulus was the catalyst that lit this industry up five years ago. We haven't looked back since."
Driven by increasing demand for clinical information technology and administrative tools, the North American healthcare IT market is forecast to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 7.4 percent, set to reach $31.3 billion by 2017 from $21.9 billion in 2012, according to a new report from Research and Markets.
In a year-end set of new regulations, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and the HHS Inspector General finalized the Stark law exemption, which allows hospitals to fund up to 85 percent of EHR costs for physicians, and the OIG outlined the related anti-kickback "safe harbor" for "protected donors."
Physicians in the first subspecialty of clinical informatics, spearheaded by the American Medical Informatics Association, got their board certifications this month -- a pivotal moment in healthcare's "systemic overhaul," according to AMIA.