Electronic Health Records (EHR, EMR)

In the year 2010 doctors should be looking at technologies that could help boost their communication with their patients, experts told Healthcare IT News in January.

In July, Hospital CIOs across the country reviewed the final rule on meaningful use of health IT with some relief that the government had given up its all-or-nothing approach.

Federal officials released the final rule on meaningful use July 13 - setting the criteria for physicians and hospitals to qualify for thousands of dollars in stimulus funding incentives for the adoption of electronic health records.

Identity management in healthcare was a hot topic at the Smart Card Alliance 9th Annual Smart Cards in Government Conference held last week in Washington. Controlling access to healthcare records, particularly when it comes to consent, was an issue recognized by experts as requiring more innovation.

Vangent has been awarded a $3.3 million contract with the Indian Health Service (IHS) to support meaningful use interoperability deployment. Its Health Information Exchange Open Source (HIEOS) technology will help IHS meet requirements for EHR certification.

Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and the Indian Health Service (IHS) have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to improve the health status of American Indian and Alaska Native veterans, officials announced Tuesday. The MOU includes improving care though the development of health information technology.

There's little question that electronic health records reduce adverse drug events and improve quality of care. But that doesn't mean we shouldn't be doing everything to make sure they're as safe and as easy to use as possible, said National Coordinator for HIT, David Blumenthal, MD, at the launch of EHRevent.org, a new safety reporting system that will allow healthcare providers to report adverse issues related to the implementation and use of EHRs.

The healthcare sector is among the top three industries seeing the heaviest adoption of the iPad for business use, according to data from Good Technology, a Redwood City-based provider of multiplatform enterprise mobility.

With the goal of bringing data, documents and guidelines on meeting and exceeding meaningful use into one location, HIMSS has made available a new CPOE Wiki.

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 at a regional extension center (REC) educational forum this week.