As I write this, the March Health IT Policy Committee meeting was just held, during which time Farzard Mostashari, MD, ScM, national coordinator of health IT, and several other speakers reiterated the message from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services: 2013 is the year of implementation. Mostashari made it clear that there would be no rule-making with regards to Meaningful Use Stage 3 this year, so everyone can focus on succeeding with Stage 2.

Most physicians want patients to engage in their own healthcare by updating their EHRs--but only to a point. A recent survey of doctors conducted by Accenture revealed that while 82 percent of U.S. physicians want patients to update their EHRs, only 31 percent believe they should have full access to that record.

Even as the new Omnibus federal privacy and security rules went into effect with an upcoming compliance date of Sept. 23, three data breaches were reported by healthcare organizations this week.

Ohio and Michigan are hoping to show that health information exchanges (HIEs) know no boundaries.Michigan Health Connect and Ohio’s CliniSync announced March 27 that the two HIEs now can securely exchange patient information through the Direct Project, an Office of the National Coordinator initiative that encourages industry collaboration to develop standards for safe and secure protected health information transmission.

Audits of the EHR Incentive program began last year. Leland Babitch, MD, MBA, former CMIO of Detroit Medical Center (DMC), shared his experience of the process with Clinical Innovation +Technology.

The federal government awarded an average of $15 million to 17 Beacon communities back in 2010. As the three-year grants come to an end, CI+T finds out how several Beacon grantees used the funds and their achievements with information exchange, patient engagement and care coordination. 

A Utah-based medical clinic notified federal health officials of a potential data breach of approximately 2,600 medical appointment records, according to a March 22 article in the Salt Lake Tribune.

A stolen laptop is the source of a data breach of approximately 4,000 Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) patients. The unencrypted laptop containing their personal health information was stolen from an OHSU surgeon's rented vacation home in February.