The deaths of three patients in a Veterans Administration (VA) hospital in Memphis last year were due to negligence by hospital staff and related to improperly following the facility’s EHR policies, according to a Veterans Administration Inspector General report.

San Diego Regional Health Information Exchange (SDRHIE) has a new name and two new major participants. The federally funded HIE has evolved into an independent, community-supported organization, San Diego Health Connect, which today announced that Scripps Health and Sharp HealthCare have signed agreements to participate in directing the exchange.  

No amount of prep work can ensure a smooth go-live. Learn from those who have been there how to ease the challenges that come with the on switch.

A pilot demonstration, conducted in collaboration with the Data Segmentation for Privacy effort of the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT, has successfully demonstrated patient control over release of protected health information (PHI) during the exchange of EHRs. Pilot participants include the health IT program at The University of Texas at Austin, Jericho Systems Corporation and Conemaugh Health System.

The American Health Information Management Association announced an initiative to encourage its 67,000 members and Component State Associations to adopt Blue Button technology to boost consumer access to personal health records.

In 2011, the majority of office-based physicians could exchange lab and medication data, and approximately one-third could exchange clinical summaries with patients or outside providers, according to a study conducted by the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT and published in the American Journal of Managed Care.

With more than 7,000 children’s health professionals in attendance at the American Academy of Pediatrics National Conference & Exhibition, Miami Children’s Hospital (MCH) and HealthFusion, Inc. unveiled their new electronic health record system, P.E.D.S. EHR Office Edition.  Dr. Jacques Orces, MCH’s chief medical information officer, and Dr. Sol Lizerbram, chairman and co-founder of HealthFusion, made the announcement at a private event last evening with a mix of reporters, physicians, and healthcare executives in attendance.

BOSTON—“Analytics at the point of care is a fun, fun area,” said Carl Dvorak, president of Epic, speaking at Partners HealthCare’s 10th Annual Connected Health Symposium.