American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA)

See the following -

AMA-led Group Asks Feds to Redo EHR Testing Program

Joseph Conn | Modern Healthcare | January 23, 2015

The American Medical Association is calling for an overhaul of a federal program to test and certify electronic health-record systems for suitability in the EHR incentive-payment program. Its request has been joined by 34 other medical specialty societies and healthcare professional organizations. Read More »

An Election On Health Care And Costs

Edmund Billings | Medsphere | November 9, 2012

The recently concluded election was seen by many as a referendum on the 2010 Affordable Care Act, now widely known and even embraced by the president as Obamacare. President Obama’s re-election ensures that the implementation of reform will continue, but how a divided Congress deals with it while trying to control federal spending will remain an open question for some time. Read More »

As EHR User Fee Idea Dies, Certification Questions Linger

Anthony Brino | Government Health IT | August 8, 2013

The health information technology user fee proposed in the Department of Health and Human Service’s 2014 budget request is incredibly unlikely to pass Congress — so unlikely it’s a little odd Farzad Mostashari, MD, the national coordinator for health IT, defended it. Read More »

Cerner CEO Makes An Emotional Plea For Interoperability Among Health Care Technology Providers

Diane Stafford | The Kansas City Star | November 4, 2014

...A rapt audience of about 11,000 Tuesday morning at the annual Cerner Health Conference heard Patterson emotionally invoke personal experience to illustrate his passion for what his company does.  The North Kansas City-based company is an industry leader in digitizing patient health records and working with other providers to make that information “interoperable” across health care information technology providers...

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CMS Reopens EHR Hardship Exception Application Timeframe

Mike Miliard | Government Health IT | October 7, 2014

Providers looking to attest to meaningful use but running into problems with their EHR versions just got a new window of time to apply for a hardship exception.  Indeed, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services said on Tuesday it will reopen the submission period — the new due date for hospitals and physicians hoping to avoid 2015 Medicare payment adjustments is Nov. 30, 2014...

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Commentary: IT Is Critical To Preventing Fraud And Waste In Austere Times

Ramani Vaidyanathan | Nextgov | September 14, 2012

In the face of intense and growing budget pressures, taxpayers, legislators, and commentators of all political stripes want greater transparency and accountability in government spending. Read More »

Dear New York Times: Next Time, Dig Deeper Into The EHR Vendor Industry

Marla Durben Hirsch | FierceEMR | February 26, 2013

There's been quite an outpouring of sentiment about last week's New York Times article "A Digital Shift on Health Data Swells Profits in an Industry", most of it negative. Many of the 525 comments that the article received blasted electronic health record systems themselves... Read More »

Electronic Health Record Adoption Uneven Across U.S.

Sharyn Alden | Center For Advancing Health (CFAH) | June 27, 2013

A new study in Health Services Research finds wide geographic variation in the adoption of  electronic health records (EHRs) by ambulatory health care sites, ranging from a high of 88 percent to a low of just 8 percent. Read More »

Electronic Health Records: First, Do No Harm?

David F. Carr | InformationWeek | June 26, 2014

EHRs are commonly promoted as boosting patient safety, but are we all being fooled? InformationWeek Radio investigates. Read More »

EMR Market Over $20 Billion: Report

Press Release | Kalorama Information | April 18, 2013

New York, April 18, 2013 -- Driven by hospital IT upgrades and the lure of government incentives, the market for electronic medical records (EMR) exceeded 20 billion dollars in 2012, according to Kalorama Information. The healthcare market research publisher says vendors should see robust sales this year and next as vendors try to avoid U.S. Read More »

Federal ‘Biosurveillance’ Plan Seeking Direct Access To Americans’ Private Medical Records

Barbara Hollingsworth | CNSNews.com | May 20, 2014

The federal government is piecing together a sweeping national “biosurveillance” system that will give bureaucrats near real-time access to Americans’ private medical information in the name of national security, according to Twila Brase, a public health nurse and co-founder of the Citizens Council for Health Freedom.  

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Feds Release Latest Version Of Connect

Joseph Conn | ModernHealthcare.com | February 13, 2013

The federal government has released its latest version of the open source Connect software platform for advanced health information exchange. Read More »

For mHealth To Succeed, We'll Need Standards

Bill Ash and Kathryn Bennett | mHealthNews | July 18, 2014

Do you FitBit? It’s a question that’s on the lips of millions of consumers, given that the device manufacturer captured a whopping 67 percent of total wearable fitness trackers sold in 2013...

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For RECs 'The Good Stuff' Is Still Ahead

Frank Irving | Medical Practice Insider | March 20, 2014

In every region of the country, physicians and office managers turn to their Regional Extension Center for help in navigating the EHR adoption process. They've done so in large numbers — with 45 percent of U.S. primary care providers having accessed REC programs and services.

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Glasses Half Full and Empty: EHR Use Has Doubled, But...

Jane Sarasohn-Kahn | Health Populi | February 21, 2012

With $3.1 billion awarded to doctors who are buying and learning how to use electronic health records (EHRs), Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleeen Sebelius told a Kansas City community college that 41,000 doctors and 2,000 hospitals were on the road to meaningfully using the technology — double the number of EHR users in 2 years. Read More »