With "meaningful use" on the mind of every HIMSS10 attendee, Mark Leavitt, MD, CCHIT chair, presented at an EHR Certification Town Hall.

David Blumenthal, MD, the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, surprised a packed hall of attendees Tuesday afternoon at HIMSS10 with the release of the notice of proposed rulemaking on certification.

Blumenthal said he wasn't aware that the rule would be unveiled that day, but as hundreds gathered to hear the latest news from the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, he agreed the timing was right.

The introduction of a medical check list for the iPhone could be a benefit to providers as mobile technology is quickly being integrated into the care process.

Peter Waegemann, vice president of development for the mHealth Initiative, Inc. says so many health professionals have started using smartphones to help administer better care that some say they "don’t know how colleagues manage without them."

Members of a federal health IT advisory group last week proposed to relax the number of measures that would be required for healthcare providers to demonstrate "meaningful use" of electronic health record systems.

The Health and Human Service Department's meaningful use workgroup crafted an approach members said strike a "middle ground" between too few and too onerous a set of measures of meaningful use necessary to qualify providers for financial incentives under H...

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis announced Friday nearly $1 billion in grant awards for regional extension center, health information exchange and healthcare IT training.

The funding comes from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and will go toward advancing healthcare IT, training workers for healthcare IT jobs and helping to make healthcare IT available to more than 100,000 healthcare providers, according to Sebelius.

GE, athenahealth, and Sermo are among the top 10 innovative healthcare companies named by Fast Company. Kaiser Permanente is the sole healthcare provider on the list.

With 2010 bringing a heightened focus on healthcare compliance, reform efforts and enforcement, providers should be aware of the legal ramifications that surround these issues, says law expert Stephen W. Bernstein.

Bernstein, a partner at international firm McDermott Will & Emery LLP,  outlines the top ten health law issues for 2010. At number five is healthcare information technology.

1. Stark Law Self-Disclosure

Implementing a computerized physicians order entry system poses multiple challenges, with physician engagement at the top of the list.

“It is a complex and involved process,” said Leah Binder, CEO of the Washington, DC-based Leapfrog Group. “It involves a wide variety of clinical staff and you need to integrate with other systems. Also, the provider needs a CDS (clinical decision support) system that alerts physicians to potential errors, which there are a lot of.&rdq...

The White House on Friday called for the creation of a government-wide task force to strengthen coordination of healthcare IT among federal agencies that hold key roles in carrying out the administration's plans for a digital healthcare system.

The plan, described in a memo from Office of Management & Budget director Peter Orzsag and Health and Human Services secretary Kathleen Sebelius, sets up a way for agencies with heavy healthcare responsibilities to participate in planning he...

Vendors may suggest that many successful health information exchanges have been built with their technology, but the reality is different, according to a new report from KLAS.

A small number of vendors – with Axolotl among the top – have risen to the challenge enough times to claim a proven, repeatable model, the Orem, Utah-based research firm found.