Healthcare Usability

Nearly 200 health care organizations have sent letters to the Senate and the House urging lawmakers not to defund the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality,

The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee is developing legislation to address electronic health record-related issues identified by stakeholders during a series of six hearings this year, National Journal reports (Roubein, National Journal, 10/21).

A dozen electronic health record vendors have agreed to adopt a set of metrics and engage in ongoing reporting to help gauge the U.S.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology has released a new guide to improve the usability and safety of electronic health records, Clinical Innovation & Technology reports (Walsh, Clinical Innovation & Technology, 10/12).

CMS and the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT released the final rules for Stage 3 of the meaningful use program, modifications for 2015 through 2017 and the 2015 Edition Health IT Certification Criteria,

The proposed meaningful use modifications for 2015 through 2017 have prevented CMS from collecting Medicare program attestation data for the 2015 reporting periods, according to a CMS data update, EHR Intelligence reports (Murphy, EHR Intelligence, 10/6).

At the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT's annual Consumer Health IT Summit, National Coordinator for Health IT Karen DeSalvo announced that ONC will develop a policy framework to identify best practices, gaps and opportunities for the use of patient-generated health data in research and care delivery through 2024,

The Institute of Medicine in a new report made several recommendations calling for better use of health IT to help hospitals reduce diagnostic errors, which are likely to affect nearly all U.S.

In an opinion piece for The Hill's "Congress Blog," Reps. Joyce Beatty (D-Ohio) and Morgan Griffith (R-Va.) tout the importance of a bill (HR 2799) that would expand Medicare coverage of telehealth services for stroke evaluations.

The Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT released the final Federal Health IT Strategic Plan for 2015 to 2020, which focuses on patient-centered data and care rather than implementing IT systems,

During a Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee hearing on Wednesday, committee chair Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) called for federal regulators to immediately implement proposed modifications to the meaningful use progr

The American Society for Clinical Oncology released a position statement urging Congress to pass legislation that would strengthen interoperability of electronic health records, Modern Healthcare reports (Muchmore, Modern Healthcare, 9/15).

The statement was released during a Capitol Hill briefing on big data.

The Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT announced a new online form where users of certified electronic health records and other health IT products can file complaints, Healthcare IT News reports (Miliard, Healthcare IT News, 9/14).

In the weeks since the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT released its roadmap for the creation of a health IT safety center -- recently redubbed the "Collaboratory" to better articulate the center's vision -- the response has been largely positive, in principle. But some industry stakeholders question its ultimate operating potential and efficacy given that the Collaboratory's funding has not been assured.

The rate of telemedicine adoption among health care providers increased by about three percentage points between 2014 and 2015, according to a new HIMSS Analytics study, FierceHealthIT reports (Dvorak, FierceHealthIT

The Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society has named interoperability, cybersecurity and telehealth as the top policy priorities that Congress should address in the next year, Healthcare IT News reports.

Some electronic health record vendors are not following usability testing standards or meeting federal user-centered design rules, even though they have been certified as meeting meaningful use program requirements, according to a study published Tuesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association,

Patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease who used a telemedicine application to report daily symptoms to a provider experienced improved health benefits, according to a study published in the journal Telemedicine and e-Health,

Google executives rocked the Internet with the announcement of Alphabet -- a new portfolio-like company that will separate Google's core business -- such as search, Gmail, YouTube and maps -- from projects, such as those in health care, that are farther afield.

Greenway Health is the leading electronic health record vendor for user satisfaction among primary care physicians, according to a survey by Black Book Market Research, FierceEMR reports (Durben