Last week we attended the big healthcare IT confab HIMSS in that grand city of sin, Las Vegas. Nearly every vendor we met with at HIMSS had a story to tell about how they had the solution the market was seeking for ACO enablement. MORE

Admittedly, our predictions for 2011 were modest. So for 2012, we’ll go out on a limb with many of our predictions. Hopefully that limb won’t crack sending us crashing to the ground. MORE

It is almost becoming the norm to say that it has been another tumultuous year in the healthcare IT market. If 2011, was a bit bumpy, believe we will see craters in the road to HIT enlightenment in 2012. MORE

Another year, another Health 2.0 under the belt. This being the fourth time attending it is interesting to see how this event and its participants have evolved. MORE

The recent post on Google Health going into the deep freeze has solicited a number of emails, including some from the press. MORE

From Chilmark Research’s perspective, patient portals are by and large much ado about nothing. MORE

As we move into 2011, we will continue to see an extreme amount of activity and turmoil in the HIT market with the biggest elephant in the room being what will actually happen to the healthcare reform bill that was passed at the beginning of 2010. MORE

The rapid adoption of smartphones and now touch-screen tablets (e.g., iPad) by clinicians will trigger enormous growth in the use of mHealth Apps within healthcare enterprises, with the market for mHealth in the enterprise projected to reach $1.7B by end of year 2014. MORE

Google Health is still in the game having made a number of significant changes to its platform. MORE

The Personal Health Record (PHR) market is fraught with challenges. MORE

Why did Ingenix pay so much for such a small HIT vendor? MORE

The Health Information Exchange (HIE) market is the Wild West right now. MORE

Since its initial launch to much fanfare, Google Health has struggled to be relevant. Since its formal launch in May 2008, Google Health has not dedicated the resources to build out this platform into a truly engaging ecosystem of applications to assist the consumer in managing their health or the health of a loved one. MORE

Yesterday, the California Health Care Foundation (CHCF) released a consumer survey report looking at perspectives on healthcare IT, privacy of personal health information (PHI) and use of internet tools, such as PHRs to manage their health or health of a loved one. MORE

There have been a lot of discussions on the net regarding the potential impact of the iPad in the healthcare sector. At this point, there is very little agreement with some pointing to the ubiquitous nature of the iPhone in healthcare as a foreshadowing of the iPad's future impact, while others point to the modest uptake of tablet computing platforms as a precursor for minimal impact. MORE

While the Apple iPhone was first targeted at the general consumer, Apple has been taking the necessary steps to bring this device into the enterprise, directly competing with RIM’s Blackberry. Unseating the Blackberry in many sectors, such as finance, may be near impossible but healthcare is another story. MORE

Reading through the headlines, the press releases and checking in on today’s HIT Policy Committee meeting, it appears that the over-riding theme of comments regarding Meaningful Use rules is to relax the rules, particularly regarding reimbursement and clarify other requirements of MU to ease the burden on providers seeking to comply. MORE

With the impending comment deadline for Meaningful Use (MU) fast approaching, many organizations, from CHIME to AHA to AAFP and others are asking for some form of relaxation of MU criteria in the final version. MORE

The big health IT industry confab HIMSS kicks off one week from today. With some 28 briefings scheduled over 2.5 days, the Chilmark Research team will be extremely busy to say the least. It is with that in mind that Chilmark has prepared the top 5 dos and don’ts that all vendors need to keep in mind when briefing analysts to insure that these briefings are fruitful for both parties. MORE

Since the beginning of 2010 there has been a series of acquisitions in healthcare IT market, which recently culminated in one of the largest, IBM’s acquisition of Initiate. MORE