Electronic Health Records (EHR, EMR)
Ochsner Health System, with eight hospitals and 40 health centers in Louisiana, is deep into the deployment of a new Epic electronic health record system.
Meaningful use Stage 1 is now in effect, and work has already begun in earnest to define the criteria for Stage 2.
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.
Connecting has never been more critical.
Meaningful use incentives, HIPAA and ICD-10 conversion are combining to create a high demand for healthcare IT professionals in the marketplace. Eric Marx, vice president of healthcare IT services for IT staffing and recruiting firm Modis, discusses what hospitals and other healthcare organizations are doing to find the right people for the right jobs.
If you build or create something, wouldn't you take into account ease of use? It is unfathomable then that most EHR vendors do not systematically conduct EHR usability testing, according to Jiajie Zhang, who is overseeing a federal research project on the science of EHR usability in the SHARP program.
Many vendors give short shrift to the usability of their electronic medical records, says Jiajie Zhang, who is devoting the next three-plus years to addressing this usability factor - something he believes has been a barrier to physician adoption.
A podiatrist in private practice in Birmingham, Ala., says using an iPad has improved his workflow and given him more time with his patients.
The Health IT Standards Committee has begun exploring some of the functions that electronic health records should be capable of performing in Stage 2 of meaningful use, with providers using health information exchange to send patients their information to a personal health record (PHR) a prominent example.
The Montana Senate voted to restore the $35 million in federal incentives for electronic medical records for hospitals and community health centers across the state this week.