EMR/EHR

Electronic medical records (EMR) are a digital version of a patient’s chart that store their personal information, medical history and links to prior exams, texts and reports. The goal of these systems is to enable immediate access to the patient's data electronically, rather than needing to request paper file folders that might be stored in fragment files at numerous locations where a patient is seen or treated. EMRs (also called electronic health records, or EHR) improve clinician and health system efficiency by making all this data immediately available. This helps reduce repeat tests, repeat prescriptions and repeat imaging exams because reports, imaging or other patient data is not not immediately available. 

Cass Regional Medical Center restarts EHR system after ransomware attack

Missouri-based Cass Regional Medical Center brought its electronic health record (EHR) system back online after a July 9 ransomware attack. The IT department engaged in a complete shut down for 10 days until it could confirm the threat had been investigated and systems were improved.

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VA names ONC's Morris to lead VA EHR modernization

The Department of Veterans Affairs recently named Genevieve Morris, the principal deputy national coordinator for HHS, as the leader of the Office of Electronic Health Record Modernization (OEHRM). The VA announced the decision July 12.

UW Medicine approves $180M plan to implement single EHR platform

The University of Washington (UW) School of Medicine will begin a complete overhaul of its electronic health record (EHR) system—and it’s not going to be cheap. The school’s finance committee approved $180 million to replace existing Cerner and Epic systems with a single integrated platform.

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Benefits of EHR may be a ways off, but physicians need to see the potential

Lloyd B. Minor, the dead of Stanford University School of Medicine, equated problems harnessing the positives of EHR with the microscope. It took 70 years for that game-changing tool to lead to scientific breakthroughs—a delay that might have to do as much with the user as the instrument itself.

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GAO: Before Cerner transition, VA spent $1B a year on EHR

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is about to undergo a massive, $16 billion revamp of its electronic health record (EHR) system. A month after a $10 million deal with Cerner was finalized, the Government Accounting Office (GAO) released a report that found the VA spent $3 billion on EHR support between 2015 and 2017.

VA announces EHR oversight hearing

Representatives Phil Roe, MD, R-Tennessee, Chairman of the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs (VA), and Tim Walz, D-Florida, Ranking Member of the House VA Committee, have announced the “VA Electronic Health Record Modernization: The Beginning of the Beginning”—a that hearing will take place Tuesday, June 26, at 10 a.m.

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Allscripts offers buyouts to employees

Allscripts, the Chicago-based electronic health record (EHR) company, has confirmed it is offering buyouts to employees, according to reporting from POLITICO.

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Struggles with EHR create frustration among physicians

Attending emergency department (ED) physicians experienced increased levels of frustration due to difficulties using electronic health records (EHRs), according to a study published May 16 in Applied Clinical Informatics.

Around the web

The American College of Cardiology has sent a letter to HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. that outlines some of the organization’s central priorities and concerns. 

One product is being pulled from the market, and the other is receiving updated instructions for use.

If the Trump administration continues taking a laissez-faire stance toward AI—including AI used in healthcare—why not let the states go it alone on regulating the technology?