While many in the industry breathed a sigh of relief when the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced plans to delay Meaningful Use Stage 2 by a year, not everyone applauded the decision, contending that postponing critical components like interoperability comprises patient safety and healthcare delivery.

With top-of-mind concerns focused on the delay of ICD-10 and the proposed rules for Stage 2 Meaningful Use, a record-breaking crowd of 37,042 HIT professionals descended on Las Vegas last month for the 2012 Annual HIMSS Conference & Exhibition. “From the perspective of our customers and prospects, the most immediate concerns of participants were ICD-10
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The Department of Health and Human Services’ much-anticipated February 22 announcement of the proposed Stage 2 Meaningful Use regulations held few surprises for those who have been following the Office of the National Coordinator’s (ONC) work for the past year.

The announcement, made by ONC head Farzad Mostashari to an overflow crowd at this year’s HIMSS conference, reflected many of the recommendations made last year by the Health IT Policy Committee and the Health IT Standards Committee.

Reporting on Meaningful Use quality measures is getting a little easier for healthcare providers, thanks to the latest version of an open source solution. popHealth, an open source reference implementation software service developed by The MITRE Corporation in 2009 with funding from the Office of the National Coordinator (ONC) released its latest version earlier this
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Simply providing patients with a method to access their healthcare information will not ensure changes in patient outcomes, according to a recent study whose findings may warrant some additional thinking about the patient engagement and empowerment elements of Stage 2 Meaningful Use.  However, the study also suggests that providing educational and clinical intervention tools to
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Characterizing December as an “exceptional” month for Meaningful Use registration, attestation, and payments, Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services (CMS) officials recently announced that $2.5 billion in Meaningful Use incentive payments had been distributed as of December 2011. Additionally, Robert Tagalicod from CMS reported to the HIT Policy Committee at its meeting earlier this month
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Size makes a difference when it comes to successfully attesting to Meaningful Use Stage 1, says the IT director of a Critical Access Hospital. “Bigger hospitals may have started before we did but they’re still working on meeting Meaningful Use,” says Craig Wells, IT director at George C. Grape Community Hospital in Hamburg, Iowa.  “In
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Health information systems are being implemented fast and furiously, driven by the prospect of Meaningful Use incentives. However, a growing concern among industry watchers is that when the HITECH dust settles, the outcome may be less than ideal.

With the rush to implement health information technology, it’s no wonder that everyone in healthcare feels overwhelmed.  Change, even in a less manic environment than today’s, is difficult and while pushback from users is something to be expected, there are strategies that CIOs can use to effectively manage change. 1.  Take a walk in a
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The odds are pretty small that your healthcare organization will be unlucky enough to be one of the approximately 150 selected for the first HIPAA privacy and security audits under the HITECH Act.  But despite the odds, here’s what you need to know if the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Civil Rights
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