A large number of organizations and medical providers have gotten together to do what the government should be doing, but is not. Those organizations are:

ECRI Institute,
The Alliance for Quality Improvement and Patient Safety (AQIPS),
The Bipartisan Policy Center (BPC),
The Pew Charitable Trusts

They all talk about usability, but there are no usability in healthcare organizations. So UX experts have little voice.

We should build up a community of interest that can have a voice and can influence policy. We need your particiption.

Most health IT management professionals routinely work on addressing problems with patient matching and duplicate patient records, according to a survey released Wednesday by the American Health Information Management Association, EHR Intelligence reports (Heath, EHR Intelligence, 1/

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).

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.

To improve the adoption of mobile health tools among the elderly and those with chronic illnesses, developers will need a better understanding of patients' needs and concerns, according to a study published this month in the Journal of Medical Internet Research, FierceMobileHealthcare reports.

This webinar provides an overview of the central components of a plan to develop a national Collaboratory focused on improving the safety and safe use of health IT. In the first presentation, Andy Gettinger, MD, will discuss the Collaboratory’s role in furthering HHS work in health IT safety, while Doug Johnston will review the process for convening a task force of health IT safety stakeholders to develop the Collaboratory Roadmap.

The Health IT Policy Committee approved draft recommendations from its Privacy and Security Workgroup for overcoming privacy and security challenges associated with using big data in a learning health care system, Clinical Innovation & Technolo

Achieving the Promise of Health Information Technology: What Can Providers and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Do To Improve the Electronic Health Record User Experience?

Watch the live stream at http://www.help.senate.gov/hearings/achieving-the-promise-of-health-info...

SENATE HEARING LINEUP:

Four Health IT Policy Committee work groups shared feedback on CMS' proposed rule for Stage 3 of the meaningful use program,

National Coordinator for Health IT Karen DeSalvo told senators that health IT is "foundational" to President Obama's Precision Medicine initiative and discussed ways to improve data sharing,

Rep.

The Joint Commission issued a sentinel event alert warning that while electronic health records and other health IT have the potential to improve care quality and safety, such technologies can pose inherent risks to patients, Modern Healthcare reports.

Health IT and interoperability will play key roles in an initiative launched this week to promote the adoption of alternative health care payment modes, FierceHealthIT reports (Bowman, FierceHealthIT, 3/25).

Click here for Update: The Final Rule for the 2015 edition certification has been released.

A new Black Book Market Research report names the top inpatient electronic health record vendors based on six client experience categories, EHR Intelligence reports.

Research published finds that the laboratory graphs displayed by many commercial EHRs present information in potentially dangerous ways.

The authors urged ONC to stringently oversee testing of the software - although FDA has said it won't regulate it.

The study published in the Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association examined the presentation of clinical lab test results in eight EHRs and found that most failed to graph the data in completely clear ways.

Hospital errors could be better avoided by improving the interoperability of medical devices, according to a survey of 526 registered nurses conducted by Harris Poll, FierceHealthIT reports (Dvorak, FierceHealthIT, 3/12).

Several health IT stakeholders say technology will play a key role in CMS' new "Next Generation Accountable Care Organization Model," which will expand coverage of telehealth services, FierceHealthIT reports (Bowman, FierceHealthIT, 3/11).

A coalition of mental health professionals and advocates has asked Congress to approve financial incentives to help mental health providers adopt electronic health records, but some professionals have raised privacy concerns about the use of EHRs among such providers, Kaiser Health News/Washington Post reports.