Government & Policy
In a recent federal court decision that went quietly under the radar but further opened the door for healthcare cost transparency, a U.S. district judge ruled to vacate a 33-year-old injunction that prevented the release of Medicare claims data.
With more than $500 million in HITECH Act startup funding set to run out by the end of the year, too many health information exchanges "haven't figured out how to fund themselves."
As more doctors and hospitals consider switching EHRs, or buying them for the first time for Meaningful Use, the ONC's has unveiled a new certification to guide purchasing.
As we reach the "tipping point" of electronic health record adoption, the Office of the National Coordinator has issued a mark for EHRs and other health IT products that's meant to serve as visual proof that they can offer functionality, interoperability and security.
National Coordinator for Health IT Farzad Mostashari, MD, told members of the Health IT Policy Committee on Tuesday to remain steadfast, bask in the progress made over the past four years, but continue to "react and respond to the world as it is, while striving to make the world as it should be."
The HITECH Act has had its desired effect so far, according to the latest annual report from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, which finds heartening adoption levels of health IT across the board, from small physician practices to academic medical centers, over the past three years.
The California HealthCare Foundation examined how data analytics might bolster disease management programs to help payers, providers and patients understand behaviors, health status, risk factors, and treatment. Here's a look at what the study determined.
Over the past decade, the healthcare industry has added 2.6 million jobs nationwide, according to a new report from the Brookings Institution, accounting for a 22.7 percent employment growth rate over 10 years, compared with 2.1 percent in all other industries.
Jonathan Bush, CEO of athenahealth, treated the audience to an energetic keynote at Healthcare Datapalooza IV, offering up a great deal of humor and perspective on the state of data exchange, policy and the healthcare system at large.
Bending to criticism that requirements were burdensome and complex, the Obama Administration announced late Tuesday it would delay until 2015 a key provision in the healthcare reform law -- the requirement that businesses with more than 50 employees must offer them insurance.