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

Proposed Electronic Health Record Incentive Programs and 2015 Edition Health IT Certification Criteria rules issued for comment

Senate and House lawmakers introduced bipartisan, bicameral legislation (HR 1470) to permanently replace Medicare's sustainable growth rate formula that includes several health IT provisions, Modern Healthcare reports (Tahir, Moder

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).

In a Health Affairs blog post, a group of Republican senators write, "There is inconclusive evidence that the [HITECH ACT] has achieved its goals of increasing efficiency, reducing costs and improving the quality of care."

The FDA launched a new mobile application that allows users to share and obtain information about drug shortages, Modern Healthcare reports.

Mobile health technologies can improve adherence to chronic disease management, but mixed evidence of the tools' effectiveness necessitates further research, according to a study published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research,

The majority of health-related Web pages allow third parties to view users' information, raising privacy concerns for health-related search practices, according to a study published in the journal Communications of the ACM, Time reports.

The House Ways and Means Committee passed by voice vote the Electronic Health Fairness Act (HR 887), which would exempt ambulatory surgical centers from the meaningful use program, Politico's "Morning eHealth" reports (Gold et al., "Morning eHealth," Politico, 2/27).

Mississippi has been a leading adopter of telehealth and its successes have had an effect on other states and the debate over telehealth policy at the federal level, Politico reports.<

On April 27, 2004, President George W. Bush proclaimed a bold goal for the nation: "Within the next 10 years, electronic health records will ensure that complete health care information is available for most Americans at the time and place of care, no matter where it originates. ... These electronic health records will be designed to share information privately and securely among and between health care providers when authorized by the patient." 

More than 10 years later, most observers within the U.S. health care system and the health IT industry would agree that this goal of interoperability has not yet been achieved, and may not even be within clear sight.  Although pockets of interoperability exist, the EHR systems used by inpatient, outpatient and ancillary providers generally cannot exchange patient data electronically, sometimes even among systems developed by the same EHR vendors. Although myriad interoperability standards exist on paper, real world connectivity between individual EHR systems still requires extensive custom interface development, attended by large and often prohibitive costs. 

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Sylvia Burwell announced this morning an important Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) funding opportunity, which is part of a Department-wide effort to achieve the safe and secure exchange and use of electronic health information to improve health and transform care as outlined in the Shared Nationwide Interoperability Roadmap, Connecting Health and Care for the Nation: A Shared Nationwide Interoperability Roadmap Version 1.0.

Lawmakers in Congress are circulating a revised draft bill intended to develop a regulatory framework for FDA's oversight of health IT, FierceHealthIT reports (Bowman, FierceHealthIT, 1/26).

The Federal Trade Commission released a report highlighting the public health benefits of devices that can transmit health data to the Internet, as well as the security and privacy risks that could come along with such technologies and undermine U.S.

The FDA for the first time approved a set of mobile applications that will allow providers to monitor glucose levels in real-time for patients with diabetes, the Washington Post's "To Your Health" reports (Dennis, "To Your Health," Washington Post, 1/24).

HIMSS NCA Lunch and Learn Webinar - "The Importance of User Experience in Health IT"

The first lHIMSS NCA unchtime webinar of the 2015 will take place on Wed, Feb 25, 2015 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM EST and will focus how to understand what users want and how they want it, and design and build tools and apps that actually get used.

Section 508 Best Practices Webinar: Accessible Electronic Documents - Authoring Guide for Making an Accessible Document in MS Word 2010 (January 27)

A coalition of 35 medical societies led by the American Medical Association sent a letter to National Coordinator for Health IT Karen DeSalvo calling for major changes to the meaningful use electronic health record certification program, The Hill reports.

While most physicians own a smartphone, few use their personal device to access or communicate through electronic health record systems, according to a new report by Spyglass Consulting, MobiHealthNews reports.