EVENTS

MAY

Summit on States' Implementation of Health IT Initiatives

Baltimore

MAY

West Coast Summit on Using Health Data To Boost Care

San Francisco

MAY

Briefing on Legal Issues Related to Health IT Use

Washington, D.C.

View All Events

FROM THE FOUNDATION

Informing Choices, Improving Outcomes

The California Joint Replacement Registry collects data on device efficacy, surgical techniques, and patient outcomes for hip and knee replacements. A new report details how this CHCF-sponsored effort is faring.

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Friday

Majority of Physicians Say EHRs Interfere With Care, Survey Finds

The third annual Physician Sentiment Index -- from online physician community Sermo and electronic health record provider athenahealth -- finds that 73% of surveyed doctors say that EHRs distract from patient care. The survey also finds that 32% of physicians have a favorable opinion of EHR systems, down from 39% in 2011. Healthcare IT News, Health Data Management.

Policy Brief Offers Ways To Strengthen Privacy, Security of Health Data

A policy brief by Consumers Union and the Center for Democracy & Technology describes ways to strengthen data security and privacy during health information exchange. The report offers recommendations to address data security gaps. Health Data Management.

Hospital Mergers Could Lead to Challenges With EHRs, Data Migration

Hospitals undergoing mergers might not use the same electronic health record systems, technical terminology or documentation methods. Such discrepancies could lead to technology challenges and data migration issues during a merger. Wall Street Journal's "CIO Journal."

Perspective Articles Describe Limitations in the Health IT Industry

A New England Journal of Medicine perspective piece states that current metrics have a limited ability to gauge productivity gains resulting from health IT. A separate perspective argues that electronic health record vendors might be stifling innovation. Healthcare IT News, CMIO.

Online Program Helped Reduce Certain Vascular Risk Factors, Study Finds

A British Medical Journal study finds that patients with vascular disease who were enrolled in an Internet-based, nurse-led treatment program saw slightly bigger improvements in vascular risk factors than patients who received usual care. Press Association/Google News et al.

Health Care Industry Struggles With Usability of Electronic Health Record Systems

Former National Coordinator for Health IT David Blumenthal, Jacob Reider, acting CMO at the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT, Matt Quinn of the National Institute of Standards and Technology, Rod Piechowski of the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society and Joseph Scherger of Eisenhower Medical Center in California spoke with iHealthBeat about efforts to boost the usability of electronic health record systems.

Running Time: 6:01

DATA POINTS

Are Hospitals Looking To Keep, Replace or Purchase New Business Intelligence Systems?

About 33% of surveyed hospital leaders said their institution plans to continue with its current business intelligence system for the next three years, while 33% said their institution plans to buy a new BI system and 19% said their institution plans to replace its current BI system, according to a report by research firm KLAS.

PERSPECTIVES

Portals Hold Promise for Patient Engagement but Challenges Remain

by Heath Bell and Fred Bazzoli

Few people disagree with the need to get more medical information into the hands of patients and their families, and many believe that patient portals are the easiest way to provide this access. But, as with other areas involving health IT, there are challenges and fears.

COMMENTS (2)

"I enjoyed your article very much about the nuances of designing patient portals. Our company works with clinical diagnostic labs, designing portals to deliver lab results to providers, but, also providing functionality for the provider to push to th..."

- Amy Paoleti

FEATURES

Electronic Quality Reporting Poses Major Challenges

by Ken Terry, iHealthBeat Contributing Reporter

Stakeholders warn that the proposed Stage 2 meaningful use criteria for clinical quality measure data collection will be difficult for vendors and health care providers to achieve. CMS is withholding comment on the issue until it releases its final rule, which is expected this summer.

COMMENTS (1)

"As far as I can tell, ONC and CMS have expected the challenge in reporting quality measures. That's why they have developed and released the open source reporting tool call PopHealth to help the reporting requirement. The tool is free. It takes in p..."

- AJ Chen