The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has released a request for information to search for qualified vendors capable of meeting VAs requirement to provide a national mobile device management tool.

A revision in the U.S. EHR Incentive Program has allowed radiologists to partake in the financial incentives for meaningful use of a certified EHR. However, now that radiologists can attest to meaningful use, there is now a process to better understand what is included in Stage 1, which involves more patient data. Also, there are discussions on how radiology as a specialty can be better represented in Stage 2.

An alternative to a bevy of paperwork is attractive. That was partly the case when the Minnesota Health Information Exchange (MN HIE) decided to close up shop and consolidate its business operations into the Duluth, Minn.-based Community Health Information Collaborative (CHIC) and its HIE offering, HIE-Bridge, this summer. Yet, as history goes, to understand the present, one must understand the past.

The consideration of radiologists as eligible providers under the provisions of the federal HITECH Act has been the subject of much consideration given the availability of an estimated $1.5 billion in potential incentive payments to radiologists. However, the potential transformation of radiology into a specialty that utilizes an EHR as a core clinical application has much greater clinical implications both for the CMIOs, as well as radiologists.

The speed of technology moves can be mind-blowing. Its seems just yesterday that I had a flip-phone in my pocket with a green screen. Flash-forward to this past weekend and I find myself on a bus departing from New York City bathing in the dim glow of smartphones, laptops, tablets and Kindles.

Since 2007, states have improved interoperability, integration and data exchange functionality as resources have allowed; however, the need to exchange information with external partners is escalating, according to an article in the Oct. 21 edition of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

Wireless patient monitors are outpacing their predicted growth, according to market research firm Kalorama, which reported a growth rate of 23 percent between 2008 and 2010. Revenues have doubled in the last four years, making wireless monitors the fastest growing device category, and are expected to double again over the next four years.

Larger physician offices have adopted EHRs at a rate of 75.5 percent, according to a report from SK&A.