Preparing for a meaningful use audit
May 01, 2013 | John Halamka | Meaningful Use, Quality and Safety, Policy and Legislation
ONC/CMS provides strong oversight of the meaningful use program by continuousy reexamining the quality of certified products and auditing hospitals and practices that have attested to meaningful use. More
Optimizing Electronic Medication Administration Records
April 24, 2013 | John Halamka | Meaningful Use, Electronic Health Records
In June, BIDMC goes live with Electronic Medication Administration Records (EMAR) on one ward to be followed by 3 other wards, ensuring we meet our 10% Meaningful Use Stage 2 target by the reporting... More
An IT Perspective on the Bombings in Boston
April 17, 2013 | John Halamka | Mobile/Wireless, Quality and Safety
Many reporters have contacted me for an IT perspective on the April 15 bombings in Boston. Within moments of the event, social media became the preferred mechanism for communication and coordination. More
A Massachusetts HIE Update
April 10, 2013 | John Halamka | Health Information Exchange (HIE)
In the next few weeks, BIDMC will begin sending 50,000 patient encounter records per week through the state HIE (the MassHIWay) to our quality measurement service operated by the Massachusetts... More
Educating the Enterprise on ICD-10
March 05, 2013 | John Halamka | ICD-10
Given the impact of ICD-10 on the revenue cycle, quality measurement, and risk adjustment, it's clear that we must educate all stakeholders about the importance of the initiative, the workflow... More
The February HIT Standards Committee Meeting
February 21, 2013 | John Halamka | Meaningful Use, Policy and Legislation
The February HIT Standards Committee focused on the Committee workplan for 2013. Farzad Mostashari offered introductory remarks. He noted that we need to build the foundation for stage 3 while also... More
The 'Post EHR' Era
February 12, 2013 | John Halamka | Meaningful Use, Electronic Health Records
At BIDMC, we've already achieved 100% EHR adoption and 90% Meaningful Use attestation among our clinician community. Now that the foundation is laid, I believe our next body of work is to craft... More
The Health Information Exchange Hearing
January 30, 2013 | John Halamka | Meaningful Use, Health Information Exchange (HIE), Policy and Legislation
The Standards and Policy Committees met on Jan. 29 in Washington in joint session to take testimony from expert stakeholders about health information exchange. More
2012 in Review
January 03, 2013 | John Halamka | Meaningful Use, Electronic Health Records, Health Information Exchange (HIE)
It's the time of year that many writers reflect on the major events of the past 365 days. I'll let the journalists cover the impact of the election, the epidemic of senseless violence, and... More
Brainstorming About the Future of Clinical Documentation
December 18, 2012 | John Halamka | Electronic Health Records, ICD-10
In 2013, I'm focused on 5 major work streams. One component that crosses several of my goals is how electronic documentation should support structured data capture for ICD10 and ACO quality... More
Rethinking Remote Access
November 30, 2012 | John Halamka | Mobile/Wireless, Network Infrastructure, Privacy and Security
As I travel the country, I find that CIOs everywhere are struggling with BYOD in particular but remote access more generally. More
The Patient Experience of EHRs
November 21, 2012 | John Halamka | Electronic Health Records, Quality and Safety
I'm often asked if the use of EHRs diminish clinician-patient interactions in the exam room. More
Reflecting on Our IT Progress
October 31, 2012 | John Halamka | Meaningful Use, Electronic Health Records, Policy and Legislation
In a time of EHR naysayers, mean-spirited election year politics, and press misinterpretation, it's important that we all send a unified message about our progress on the national priorities we... More
The Meaningful Use Stage 2 Balance
August 28, 2012 | John Halamka | Meaningful Use
Over the past several days many people have written about Meaningful Use Stage 2. Some have said it is too aggressive, some have said it is not aggressive enough. To me, the perfect compromise means... More
The August HIT Standards Committee
August 16, 2012 | John Halamka | Meaningful Use, Policy and Legislation
The August HIT Standards Committee focused on criteria to assess standards maturity, concerns about the timing of the Meaningful Use 2014 edition final rule, further work on the national curated... More