The third CONNECT Code-A-Thon convened recently at Florida International University in Miami. The Federal Health Architecture's open source development event drew a range of participants, demonstrating the growing interest in CONNECT.

Bolstered by recently implemented specifications for data use and accountability, the Nationwide Health Information Network (NHIN) is poised to expand in scope and capabilities, according to speakers at a recent webinar sponsored by the National eHealth Collaborative.

For a short time last week, the ANIA/CARING annual conference in Boston became an informal HIE progress report from some of the savviest health IT users on the front lines. During a presentation that discussed the role of nursing informatics in the HITECH Act activities, nursing informaticists from across the U.S. weighed in.

For a short time last week, the ANIA/CARING annual conference in Boston became an informal HIE progress report from some of the savviest health IT users on the front lines. During a presentation that discussed the role of nursing informatics in the HITECH Act activities, nursing informaticists from across the U.S. weighed in.

BOSTONThere are mountains of problems to overcome when it comes to automating systems and getting patient health records off of paper. And the HITECH Act has added urgency to the tasks at hand, said John Delaney, RN, BSN, director of IT outreach at University Medical Center in Lubbock, Texas. Its a huge job and weve got big problems, said Delaney during a session at the ANIA/CARING conference last week.

BOSTON--The Office of Nursing Services (ONS) at the Department of Veterans Affairs is developing an inter-agency standards-based catalog of terms to drive data use, re-use and sharing. And now this effort is at the tipping point, said Murielle Beene, MBA, RN, chief nursing informatics officer at the ONS; and Diane Bedecarre, MS, RN-BC, during a session at the recent ANIA/CARING conference.

The health information exchange (HIE) infrastructure will change dramatically over the next two years with enterprise HIEs potentially reaping the benefits, according to a report from health market researcher IDC Health Insights.

Radiology services provider Optimal IMX has implemented MobileMD's technology and services to establish health IT connectivity and interoperability with its client facilities and physician community.