The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid announced it has paid about $14.6 billion in Meaningful Use incentive payments to eligible hospitals and health care professionals as of the end of April, an agency official announced earlier this month.
The Department of Defense (DOD) announced it will scrap plans for a joint electronic health record system with the Veterans Affairs Department. Instead it will seek bids from a number of commercial EHR vendors, according to Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel.
The House Appropriations Committee solidly backed the development of a single joint electronic health record for the Department of Defense and Veterans Affairs department this month in its preliminary version of VA’s FY2014 spending bill.
Two electronic health records developed by EHRMagic have had their certifications revoked, according to an announcement by the Department of Health & Human Services (HHS). The revocation is the first of its kind within the certification programs led by the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC). Farzad Mostashari, MD, the national
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The Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT would like to impose a total of about $1 million in certification fees on electronic health record vendors, as outlined in the agency’s FY2014 budget.
The HIT Policy Committee took a critical look at the CommonWell Health Alliance at its April 3 meeting, raising questions about the vendor-led coalition’s motivations, sustainability, and efficacy in promoting interoperability.
The Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, chaired by Rep. Tim Murphy (R-PA) concluded last week with a pledge from the Federal Drug Administration (FDA) that the agency’s policy on mobile medical apps would not include the regulation of consumers’ smartphones or tablets.
While pledging to continue to aggressively compete for customers, five healthcare IT vendors agreed last week that they were united by a desire to create seamless interoperability solutions. In a joint March 4 announcement Cerner, McKesson, Allscripts, athenahealth, Greenway Medical Technologies, announced the launch of the CommonWellHealth Alliance (http://commonwellalliance.org).
The benefits of electronic health records (EHRs) may become more widely available to children through an EHR format for children’s health care announced February 6 by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) and Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS).
A number of industry and professional associations are recommending to the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) that policymakers slow down the path to Meaningful Use and assess the activities of the incentive program before pushing ahead with Stage 3 Meaningful Use recommendations.