Insufficient standards, varying privacy rules, concerns about how privacy difficulties in matching patients to their records and costs all are challenges facing providers and stakeholders regarding health information exchange, according to a report from the Government Accountability Office.

In an effort to solve challenges in patient matching, Saint Peter’s University Hospital, based in New Brunswick, N.J., signed a three-year agreement with Malta Systems for use of its patient health identity solution, Privasent.

The Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT has made corrections regarding four certification criteria to its proposed rule for the voluntary 2015 Edition of EHR technology certification criteria.

EHR adoption continues to rise nationwide, but a report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reveals considerable variation in adoption state to state.

The reason why the medical profession has been slow to adopt technology at the point of care is that there is an asymmetry of benefits, David Blumenthal, MD, MPP, former national coordinator of health IT, said in an interview published in The Atlantic.

The federal government has now paid out more than $24 billion in incentives through the Meaningful Use program, National Coordinator for Health IT, Karen DeSalvo, MD, MPH, MSc, said at a Federal Trade Commission event.

The findings of a survey released this week seem to encapsulate the dilemma EHRs pose: physicians find them both promising and frustrating.

Clinical Innovation + Technology was on hand at HIMSS14 to cover healthcare IT trends. We stopped in the Vital Images booth to learn more about images and the EMR.