Computer scientists from Kansas State University (KSU) are in the process of developing tools to strengthen the security of information systems, including those that hold patient medical records and other sensitive information.

The National Quality Forum (NQF) recently endorsed 70 measures that combine data from two or more common electronic sources such as administrative claims, pharmacy systems, laboratory systems and registries to advance use of electronic data for quality improvement.

Medicaid programs in Tennessee and Pennsylvania will receive federal matching funds for state planning activities necessary to implement the EHR incentive programs established by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, according to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. Tennessee will receive approximately $2.7 million in federal matching funds while Pennsylvania will receive $1.4 million.

The provisions of the Health IT for Economical and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act are best understood not as investments in technology per se but as efforts to improve the health of Americans and the performance of their healthcare system, wrote David Blumenthal, MD, the head of the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT, in a perspective published in the Dec. 30, 2009 edition of the New England Journal of Medicine.

A gap exists between policy makers' expectations that current commercial EMRs can improve coordination of patient care and clinicians' real-world experiences with EMRs, according to a study conducted by the Center for Studying Health System Change and published online Dec. 22, 2009, in the Journal of General Internal Medicine.

The Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society believes there is much more to applaud than criticize concerning the release of interim final rules on meaningful use and qualified EHRs from the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT (ONC). However, the American Hospital Association noted that while health IT holds great promise in improving care, widespread efforts toward adoption will be hindered unless key provisions in these rules are addressed.

The Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT (ONC) in the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has made available two additional grant programs to support the training and development of the skilled workforce required to support adoption and use of health IT.

There is no one financial silver bullet to funding a health information exchange (HIE), according to Keith Hepp, vice president of nonprofit HIE HealthBridge who spoke during a Webinar broadcast Dec. 22, 2009, sponsored by California eHealth Collaborate (CAeHC).