The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has proposed a new timeline for the implementation of Meaningful Use (MU) for the Medicare and Medicaid EHR Incentive Programs and the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) proposed a more regular approach to update its certification regulations.

This week the Health IT Policy Committee held its December meeting which covered the most recent Meaningful Use incentive figures, how to include patient-generated health data into records and more.

Patient engagement, payment models, data harmonization and exchange and innovative encounter models are the four critical areas for the next decade of health IT, according to the Workgroup for Electronic Data Interchange (WEDI) Foundation's report.

It’s been a busy month of news related to electronic records from the latest figures associated with Meaningful Use incentive payments to studies showing how EHRs are saving costs and improving screening rates.

For rural hospitals, the number one barrier to achieving Meaningful Use attestation is acquisition of an EHR system, reported Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Health Insurance Specialist Robert Anthony to the Health IT Policy Committee on Dec. 4.

As of October, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has distributed just shy of $17 billion in EHR incentive payments to 329,688 unique eligible professionals and hospitals, CMS Health Insurance Specialist Robert Anthony reported to the Health IT Policy Committee on Dec. 4.

Happtique, a mobile health solutions company, has certified 19 health and medical apps that meet certain benchmarks in privacy, security and operability.

Thirty-four Chicago-area hospitals are poised to link up to the city’s new health information exchange (HIE), set to launch in early 2014, according to the Chicago Tribune.