Family physicians are adopting EHRs faster than previous data suggested, reaching a nearly 70 percent adoption rate nationwide, according to findings published in Annals of Family Medicine. EHR adoption by family physicians has doubled since 2005, with researchers estimating that the adoption rate will exceed 80 percent by the end of 2013.

The National Cybersecurity Center of Excellence plans to test tools and technologies to support the secure exchange of electronic health information, especially for small healthcare providers.

Stage 3 Meaningful Use measures should focus more on measuring improvements in patient outcomes rather than a large and growing collection of functional measures, the American College of Physicians wrote in comments submitted to the Health Information Technology Policy Committee regarding the proposed rule.

Farzad Mostashari, MD, ScM, national coordinator for health IT, announced the winning designs of printed health records to help patients better understand and use their EHRs.

The board of directors of the Central Ohio Health Information Exchange (COHIE) has endorsed CliniSync, Ohio's statewide health information exchange (HIE), as the preferred HIE provider for the 14-county Central Ohio region served by COHIE.

The Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT has authorized four organizations to certify EHRs under the Stage 2 Meaningful Use program, known as the 2014 Edition of Certification.

In comments submitted to the Health IT Policy Committee and the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT (ONC), the College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (CHIME) called on regulators to reconsider the speed and scale for achieving Stage 3 Meaningful Use objectives by 2016.

The American Medical Association (AMA) submitted formal comments to the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT (ONC) on the Health IT Policy Committee’s proposal for Stage 3 of the Medicare/Medicaid Meaningful Use EHR program requirements.