Healthcare IT News | Meaningful use, EHRs, ICD-10, HIE, NHIN, policy, big data and more

Better care not always better business May 21, 2013 | Erin McCann, Associate Editor

Healthcare not incentivized to eliminate profitable procedures that may not benefit patients

Transparency is a touchy subject in healthcare. It's one of the last market strongholds desperately clutching to its principles of secrecy, and it won't go down without a fight. But many experts say this stands as one of many reasons the industry continues to drag its feet in the innovation arena. More

May21

9 'Cs' lead to accountable care May 20, 2013 | Jeff Rowe, Contributing Writer

Lumeris CMIO puts forth steps to population management

There are buzz phrases, and then there are buzz phrases. And if there's one phrase that has permeated the healthcare sector more thoroughly than all the others, it's probably "accountable care." But what exactly does it mean? Or, more to the point for healthcare providers, how do you know when you're actually providing it? More

May20

URAC standards put to the test May 17, 2013 | Bernie Monegain, Editor

Beta users try out new clinical integration measures

Several organized physician groups are beta testing URAC's new clinical integration accreditation program standards. The independent standards organization created the new program to serve as a road map for health providers to achieve clinical integration and accountable care. By earning URAC accreditation, providers will demonstrate they are delivering improved patient care and reducing costs. More

May17

Senate confirms Tavenner as CMS chief May 16, 2013 | Tom Sullivan, Editor, Government Health IT

Response from healthcare stakeholders upbeat

Marilyn Tavenner's confirmation as official administrator of CMS immediately drew positive reactions from nearly every corner of the industry and government, as several healthcare stakeholders reacted to the 91-7 landslide Senate vote that took place late Wednesday. Tavenner is the first administrator in nine years to receive Senate confirmation. More

May16

Millennials fancy healthcare, tech jobs May 15, 2013 | Bernie Monegain, Editor

Eight healthcare organizations landed on list of 25 choice places to work

Healthcare and technology jobs have the most appeal to Generation Y, according to the sixth annual Millennial Career Survey, published May 13 by the National Society of High School Scholars, an international honor society organization based in Atlanta. More

May15

Mostashari urges healthcare change May 14, 2013 | Tom Sullivan, Editor, Government Health IT

ONC chief offers three inspirations for transformation

"It's systems that let ordinary people do extraordinary things," national coordinator for health IT Farzad Mostashari, MD said during a Health IT Policy Committee meeting talk that vice chair Paul Tang described immediately afterward as "inspiring and challenging." More

May14

UPMC data centers go green with wind May 13, 2013 | Mike Miliard, Managing Editor

Credits equivalent to 15,400,000 kilowatt-hours of renewable electricity

UPMC announced May 12 that it is the first health system in Pennsylvania to commit to the purchase of wind power energy credits equal to its data facilities' annual energy usage. More

May13

5 questions with ATA president Ed Brown May 10, 2013 | Bernie Monegain, Editor

'Telemedicine must be a part of all healthcare initiatives'

American Telemedicine Association President-Elect Ed Brown, MD is the founder and CEO of Ontario Telemedicine Network in Canada. Healthcare IT News caught up with him at the recent ATA conference in Austin, Texas, to talk with him about the state of telemedicine and what he envisions it will be in the coming years. More

May10

Hospitals show scant progress on safety May 09, 2013 | Bernie Monegain, Editor

Leapfrog scores 780 hospitals 'A' and 16 hospitals 'F'

An update to the Hospital Safety Score that assigns grades "A" through "F" to more than 2,500 hospitals in the United States shows they have made only incremental progress in addressing errors, accidents, injuries and infections that kill or hurt their patients. The Leapfrog Group, a hospital watchdog group, conducts the surveys. More

May09

EHR incentive payments surge to $13.7B May 08, 2013 | Tom Sullivan, Editor, Government Health IT

Nearly half of eligible professionals have registered for MU

Continuing the upward trajectory of EHR reimbursements flowing out into the healthcare industry, CMS said on Tuesday morning that the total paid as of March's end is more than $13.7 billion. More

May08

Today’s Headlines

EHRA critiques GOP's MU 'reboot' plan One month after six Republican Senators published a white paper calling for a new approach to the federal meaningful use incentive program, the HIMSS Electronic Health Record Association, has drafted... More	All Maine hospitals commit to HIE Maine's HealthInfoNet, a nonprofit that operates the statewide health information exchange, announced that all acute care hospitals are now under contract to connect to the query-based HIE.... More
$1M grant to support California HIE The California eHealth Quality program is offering $1 million in grants for physicians, clinics and hospitals in rural California to add health information exchange technologies and meet federal... More	VHA gets bullish on population health VHA, a nationwide healthcare network of 1,400 not-for-profit healthcare organizations that work to boost clinical performance while reducing costs, has cut a deal with Phytel to help its members... More
Health IT market in growth mode The healthcare IT applications market continues to grow, according to a new Research and Markets report, which projects that by 2017 the global market will expand at a compound annual growth rate of... More	New HIPAA rule supports clinical trials Ever since the updated HIPAA rule took effect last March, some hospital IT departments see themselves as "the HIPAA police," clamping down in ways that the rule doesn't require, says... More