The Utah Health Information Network is the first organization to earn health information exchange (HIE) accreditation from the Electronic Healthcare Network Accreditation Commission (EHNAC).

Certification standards have been clarified in the meaningful use final rule, and when possible, standards allow flow-through from meaningful use requirements, said Doug Fridsma, MD, PhD, acting director of the Office of Interoperability and Standards at the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT (ONC), speaking at the July 27 HIT Standards Committee meeting.

Patty Thierry Sheridan, MBA, has been elected president of the American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA).

The panel discussion titled HIE: Is it real? Does it work? at the recent AMDIS Physician-Computer Symposium offered an opportunity for HIE vendors Axolotl, ICA, Microsoft and McKesson to explain the value of health information exchanges to a roomful of CMIOs.

Health information exchanges are nearing meaningful use in terms of their business strategy, said Trudi Matthews, director of policy and public relations at HealthBridge, during a recent webinar discussion on the release of the eHealth Initiative's annual HIE survey. The webinar, hosted by the Washington, D.C.-based eHealth Initiative, disseminated data from the organization's seventh annual survey on HIE.

For an organization looking to build a health information exchange (HIE), a solid request for proposal (RFP) is vital for garnering accurate vendor proposals and a realistic estimation of costs. The RFP also is instrumental in honing technology and business requirements for all stakeholders before inviting vendors in.

Ninety-four percent of physicians are using smartphones to communicate, manage personal and business workflows and access medical information, according to a report from Spyglass Consulting Group. This represents a significant increase from Spyglass findings in a similar study published in November 2006 in which 59 percent of physicians reported using smartphones.

The University of Michigan Health System (UMHS) in Ann Arbor, Mich., has signed a contract with Epic Systems to become the primary vendor for clinical software and systems at UMHS for the first stage of a multi-year effort that will involve computing and clinical staff to transform the use of IT at UMHS.