Hospitals and physician offices should collaborate over EHRs
Date: Aug 24, 2010
Everyone in the industry is painfully aware of the state of hospitals today, even before the economic recession sent healthcare providers down a darker, deeper spiral. Add healthcare reform and the federal incentives for the meaningful use of health IT to the mix, and you’ve got major changes that would make mere survival monumental.   Read »

Higher efficiency gleaned from EHRs
Date: Aug 23, 2010
Emergency rooms fully equipped with EHRs have been credited with treating patients who eventually have shorter hospital stays than hospitals that have paper or basic EHRs, according to a new study.   Read »

Tough, but not unreachable road to meaningful use
Date: Aug 19, 2010
An editorial in the American Medical Association's American Medical News applauded the relaxation of the proposed meaningful use criteria when HHS came out with the final rule in July. Still, the editorial says that the road to meaningful use will be "tough."   Read »

Do you trust the cloud?
Date: Aug 18, 2010
Cloud-based EHRs are being touted as a cost-effective alternative for physicians who are worried about the price tag of client-served, software-based EHRs. A recent article, however, questions whether they are such a good choice for a number of valid reasons.   Read »

Should physicians nearing retirement deploy EHRs?
Date: Aug 17, 2010
One of the lesser discussed factors determining whether to adopt EHRs or not is the number of years that a physician who owns his or her practice has left before retirement.   Read »

Population health tracking lacking in today's EHRs
Date: Aug 16, 2010
One of the federal goals of having providers implement EHRs is to better track, manage and improve population health, but a recently published report by the Department of Health and Human Services' Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) finds that EHRs aren't equipped to complete those tasks.   Read »

Technology is the enabler
Date: Aug 12, 2010
Christine Bechtel, vice president of the National Partnership for Women & Families and member of the federal health IT policy committee, testified at a recent Committee on Ways and Means hearing.   Read »

Clergyman touts benefits of EMRs
Date: Aug 11, 2010
The Rev. Will Bloedow of Appleton, Wis., was at the Health Industry Forum in Boston touting the benefits of EMRs.   Read »

Medical certification boards help drive critical mass of health IT
Date: Aug 10, 2010
Continuing on the theme of Monday’s blog on driving critical mass, two significant medical certification boards - the American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS) and the Federation of State Medical Boards (FSMB) - have announced their intention to make health IT deployment a standard in their assessment and certification of physician competency.   Read »

Payers continue to support health IT adoption
Date: Aug 09, 2010
Commercial payers don't come to mind when you think of health IT adoption, but many have been active in the area for quite a while.   Read »