The U.S. is a leader in health IT use and adoption by physicians, according to a new eight-country study from consulting and technology services company Accenture. The study, which includes Australia, Canada, England, France, Germany, Singapore, Spain and the U.S., shows that the U.S. is one of the few countries in which health IT penetration is nearly equal among primary physicians and specialists.

Three U.S. Blue health plans are partnering with health IT provider Lumeris to acquire NaviNet, developer of communication networks for physicians, hospitals and health insurers.

EMR adoption is up from 2011 at U.S. hospitals but six key barriers remain, according to a survey commissioned by the Optum Institute for Sustainable Health published Feb. 15.

Were entering a new era of increased enforcement of HIPAA rules and regulationsare you ready? Audits are only going to increase and new vulnerabilities crop up all the time. CMIOs need to know about risk assessment, training, managing the use of mobile devices and more to keep their organizations compliant and their patient data secure.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Administrator Marilyn Tavenner has reportedly said that she would re-examine the ICD-10 implementation timeframe through a rulemaking process.

The capabilities of the Kentucky Health Information Exchange (KHIE) started as an unfunded idea in 2005 when legislation created the Kentucky eHealth Network Board.

The handheld device markets more than 10 percent growth since 2007 to $11 billion in 2011 has been fueled by many factors, including meaningful use requirements providers must meet to benefit from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services EHR incentive programs, according to Kalorama Information.

The cost, complexity and inflexibility associated with traditional EHR systems continues to discourage some healthcare organizations from adopting them and although new approaches like cloud computing could eliminate those barriers to adoption, they are currently constrained by federal regulatory legislation and oversight, according to an article in the March issue of the Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association.