Rhode Island, Connecticut, Arizona and West Virginia joined the Medicaid EHR Incentive Program on July 4, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) reported. Eligible professionals and eligible hospitals in these states will be able to complete their EHR Incentive Program registration at the state level.

Shannon Medical Center has installed Siemens Uroskop Omnia, a multifunctional workstation for urology.

Following the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals June 29 decision to uphold the Patient Protection & Affordable Care Acts (PPACA) individual mandate, Senior U.S. District Court Judge David Dowd, of the Northern District of Ohi,o granted summary judgment July 1 in favor of the federal government and dismissed other constitutional challenges to the individual mandate, according to a Health Policy Brief published by Health Affairs online July 8.

A federal district court has convicted 41-year-old Radiologist Rajashakher P. Reddy, MD, of more than 30 counts of fraud and obstruction of justice in connection with his signing tens of thousands of radiology reports that neither he nor any other physician actually viewed.

Symantec and Allscripts have unveiled Allscripts Privacy & Security Risk Assessment, a web-based tool that automates the paper-based process of assessing a medical practices privacy and security risks.

During a Health IT Policy Committee meeting this week, Farzad Mostashari, MD, national coordinator for Health IT, reportedly stated that he supports the idea of delaying Stage 2 for the meaningful use of EHRs to 2014 for those first attesting to meaningful use in 2011. 

Government incentives have driven implementations or expansions of clinical information systems (CIS), but they are not the only factors contributing to this trend, according to a new report from market researcher KLAS.

Preparing for reimbursement models that place a greater share of financial risk on the practice is the top challenge cited by group practices, according a survey by the Medical Group Management Association (MGMA).