WASHINGTON – More than 80,000 healthcare providers have signed up to receive incentives tied to the meaningful use of electronic health records.

Also, 70 percent of the physicians targeted by the regional extension centers (RECs) – a federal program to help guide providers in adopting healthcare IT – have signed on for help.

And, recently the Department of Health and Human Services released a proposed rule that would allow patients access to their lab results directly from the lab.

"That's a big deal," said HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, because every year many test results never get to the patient.”

Sebelius spoke Sept. 12 at a health IT summit, hosted by federal officials and jam-packed with new initiatives to advance HIT. The event was charged with a wave of energy toward grass roots change, specifically supporting patient-centered care.

The summit, held at the Department of Health and Human Services in Washington, D.C., was part of the Sixth National Health IT Week, a collaborative event hosted by the Health Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS).

The summit was part of a host of activities focused on healthcare IT during National Health IT Week, including lobbying on Capitol Hill, policy seminars and public briefings on the importance of healthcare IT.

It followed President Barack Obama’s Sept. 11 declaration that Sept. 11-16 would be hereafter federally recognized as National Health IT Week.

Farzad Mostashari, MD, the national coordinator for health information technology, who moderated the summit, emphasized the exciting times healthcare IT now faces. "It now costs nearly nothing to share ideas instantaneously with anyone, anywhere," he said. "This is changing our world, and healthcare."

Federal leaders emphasized the importance of getting patients involved in their own care, starting with access to electronic health records. "Patients are the most underutilized resource for healthcare," Mostashari said.

Don Berwick, MD, administrator for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, asked: "Why would we not use all the knowledge available? Why would we waste a bit of it?" Patients are the experts of their own healthcare, and doctors are the coaches, he added. "Caregivers are the guests in [patients'] lives," he said.

Mostashari said ONC has heard some reservations on the part of some physicians to give patients access to their electronic medical records.

Leon Rodriquez, the new director of the HHS Office of Civil Rights, clarified the situation. "Patients can have access to their records under HIPAA," he said.