Electronic Health Records (EHR, EMR)

For 15 years, Congress has bestowed special privileges to some small remote hospitals, usually in rural areas, to help them stay afloat. Medicare pays them more than it pays most hospitals and exempts them from financial pressure to operate efficiently and requirements to reveal how their patients fare. Nearly one in four hospitals qualifies for the program. Despite these benefits, there's new evidence that the quality of many of these hospitals may be deteriorating.

Chicago health information technology company EMRapproved recently announced a partnership with a new collaboration called HealthITxChange, an online community where healthcare practitioners and health IT professionals can share best practices and lessons learned, or "pearls" on EHR adoption.

Making good on its promise, Health Level Seven International's primary standards and other intellectual property are now available to license at no cost. The decision represents HL7's commitment to the betterment of healthcare worldwide by ensuring that all stakeholders have equal access to its HIT standards, officials said.

A newly proposed bill garnering the support of several medical associations would establish exemptions and amend certain penalties for Medicare providers struggling to attest to meaningful use.

Eighty-two percent of U.S. doctors responding to a recent survey indicate they want patients to actively participate in their own healthcare by updating their electronic health records. However, only 31 percent said they believed a patient should have full access to his or her own record.

At the third annual Healthcare Experience Design conference on March 25, several hundred designers, developers and other creative thinkers put their minds to drawing up better experiences for patients and providers alike.

In the third of three hearings held by subcommittees of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, Farzad Mostashari, MD, reassured a congressional panel that health IT interoperability will take some dramatic leaps forward within the next two years.

Sharing data has saved 92,000 lives and $9.1 billion over four and a half years, according to Premier healthcare alliance, which today released results of its QUEST collaborative, made up of 333 hospitals that are members of the alliance. Hospitals nationwide could save 950,000 lives and approximately $93 billion over five years by replicating performance boosting practices employed by QUEST.

At the Healthcare Experience Design conference, which takes place March 24-26 in Boston, designers, technologists, product managers and entrepreneurs will explore the ways healthcare and design intertwine -- looking for ways to improve the digital interactions of patients and providers alike. Healthcare IT News spoke with HxD's founder about about the challenge and promise of user-centered design.

Healthcare IT News has won a Jesse Neal Award for Best Issue of a Newspaper/Tabloid for its November 2012 print publication, awarded by a board of judges composed of more than 100 experienced business editors.