Government & Policy
A study by Harvard Medical School-affiliated researchers, published in June in the Archives of Internal Medicine, showed that Massachusetts physicians who used electronic health records saw a reduction in malpractice claims.
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) released a national survey on July 18 on the use of electronic health records by office-based physicians. The results should help fuel the fire over any lasting debate as to whether stimulus package funding used to incentivize the use of EHRs was well spent.
Now that the Supreme Court has upheld the substance of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), a collective sigh can be heard, of relief by some and frustration by others, but certainly of avoided tumult.
"The true number of military personnel injured in Iraq is in the hundreds of thousands – maybe even more than half a million – if you just go a bit beyond the Pentagon's narrowly-tailored definition of 'wounded in action," writes Dan Froomkin, deputy editor of Niemanwatchdog.org in a December 2011 piece on the site.
"Know thy health record" may seem a far cry from Socrates’ ancient Greek aphorism, "Know thyself," but the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) hopes its new "What's in Your Health Record??" video contest will bring patients some of the same good old-fashioned enlightenment.
The Supreme Court ruled on June 28 that it is constitutional to require all Americans to either obtain health insurance coverage or pay a penalty, defying the expectations of many that the majority conservative leaning justices would strike it down.
Wolfgang Ward enlisted with the United States Marine Corps fresh from high school in 2001. The September 11 attacks occurred while he was at boot camp. Within two years, he was deployed to Northern Iraq.
The Western New York HIE's executive director discusses the pact HealtheLink signed with the VA this week to exchange clinical information among providers, the ways each sides will benefit, and challenges ahead.
Health information exchange, much like online and ATM banking, will succeed when people cannot live without their health data. Someone has to create that appetite, says Reginald Coopwood, MD, chairman of HIP TN.
When it comes to protecting patient health information, it's what's lacking that matters most. The forthcoming Health Information Privacy Bill of Rights might help.