After the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) published its long-awaited final rule for Stage 2 of meaningful use (MU) last week, professional associations with stakes in health IT were quick to respond with some positive and some negative feedback.

Even in an integrated system, EHRs are not able to efficiently screen patients who may be candidates for medication adherence outreach. Researchers affiliated with the University of Minnesota School of Medicine in Minneapolis and the Department of Veterans Affairs used EHRs to identify patients due for statin resupplies, but only one-fifth of the patients identified were appropriate for efforts to reinstate long-term statin use, according to a study published in the July issue of the American Journal of Managed Care.

A successful EHR implementation doesnt happen overnight. The planning and implementation is complex and fraught with opportunities for practice mismanagement. Not surprisingly, not all implementations are successful. Equipped with a failure is not an option mentality, how do providers move forward and recover in the face of IT failures?

Facilities not focusing on physician documentation are missing a huge opportunity, says Richard Paula, MD, CMIO of Tampa General Hospital (TGH) in Florida. EMRs allow for coding and IT teams to interact with physicians in a way that was not possible before EMRs existed.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services spruced up its Medicare.gov website. A redesign of the Medicare homepage includes enhanced search features and improved functionality for mobile devices to make content more accessible for beneficiaries and their families.

This months health information exchange (HIE) news includes a survey indicating patient engagement as a priority, and more developments among several states

Two Ohio primary care practices have successfully begun sharing immunization data with the Ohio Department of Health through electronic health information exchange (HIE).

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) will provide $48.8 million in awards to states, cities and territories to bolster epidemiology, laboratory and health IT systems for the purpose of fighting infectious disease.