The Health IT Policy Committee has recommended that the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT (ONC) add a year to the timeframe for phasing in Stage 2 expectations. This recommendation would only apply to eligible professionals (EPs) and eligible hospitals that attest to meaningful use in 2011, according to a 12-page draft letter from the committee.

The American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA) has worked with the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT (ONC) to develop health IT professional competency exams to help to fill the estimated 50,000 new positions that will be needed to implement the U.S. health systems transition to EHRs.

David Blumenthal, MD, MPP, former National Coordinator for Health IT, has been named chairman of the Commonwealth Fund Commission on a High Performance Health System.

While accountable care organizations (ACOs) have been tapped as the mold for the future of healthcare reform, little is known about what the model will look like or what benefits hospitals will incur. Now, after the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services put forth its 429-page document attempting to define the mystery of ACOs, some top U.S. hospitals and legislators are slamming the proposed rule.

WASHINGTON, D.C.Meaningful use is doable, necessary and here for the long term, offered Keith J. Dreyer, DO, PhD, vice chairman of radiology at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, during the Dwyer Lecture at the annual meeting of the Society for Imaging Informatics in Medicine (SIIM). In addition to shattering pervasive myths about meaningful use, Dreyer shared essential information to help radiologists meet its requirements.

WASHINGTON, D.C.Just as PACS liberated studies from their confinement to hard film, so CDs and cloud computing are enabling image sharing across institutions, communities and beyond. But as the cloud buzz grows louder, a group of presenters at the 2011 meeting of the Society for Imaging Informatics in Medicine (SIIM) argued on Thursday that the technology may be greenand ultimately inferior to Integrating the Healthcare Enterprise (IHE) initiative.

CMIO presents a weekly update of the EHR products certified by the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT Authorized Testing and Certification Bodies (ONC-ATCBs). The following EHR certifications were announced recently:

St. Lukes Episcopal Hospital, an 864-bed tertiary care teaching institution located in Houston, is expanding its use of GE Healthcare Performance Solutions Patient Care Capacity Management tool.