Health Information Exchange (HIE)

Chalk one up the HIMSS Interoperability Showcase. Come 2013, the showcase, a popular draw at the Health Information and Management Systems Society's annual conference, will be on display and working on all things interoperable year-round a new showroom in Nashville.

With $220 million in hand among them, federally designated Beacon Communities across the country have begun the work of using healthcare information technology to do great things for their communities.

People love using analogies when talking about areas that are new, abstract or controversial. Not surprisingly, the nation’s health information technology infrastructure, having all three characteristics, is prime fodder for this game. If done well, analogies offer insight and specificity and if not they can be confusing and even comical.

Kevin Hutchinson serves on the federal Health Information Technology Standards Panel, advising President Barack Obama's national coordinator for health IT, Dr. David Blumenthal, on the development and use of health information interoperability standards.

The Electronic Healthcare Network Accreditation Commission (EHNAC), a nonprofit standards group, is recommending changes in the government's draft rules on health IT certification that EHNAC officials say would make the rules stronger.

Health Affairs recently published a study showing that the Veterans Administration’s (VA’s) investment in electronic health records and other health information technology yielded a whopping $3.09 billion in cumulative benefits and improved preventive care.

It was a stroke of genius and practicality at once that created the health information technology extension program.

A new bill would require the Department of Defense and the Department of Veterans Affairs to create an Internet-based portal for veterans to access their records and benefits.