The Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT predicts 50,000 additional health IT workers will be needed during the next five years to satisfy EHR meaningful use criteria. Thus, providers, payors and other stakeholders need to fill in workforce gaps with skill sets from other staff and focus on alternative ways to install and operate systems that realize economies of scale and therefore reduce health IT staff demands, according to a study from IT company CSC.

When the Northern Virginia Regional Health Information Organization (NoVaRHIO) goes live with its first step towards an eHealth Information Exchange connecting patients and physicians across the region, it will leverage GE Healthcare as an infrastructure partner.

Digital imaging company Canon is premiering its wireless digital radiography (DR) offering, the CXDI-70C Wireless DR System, at the 2010 American Healthcare Radiology Administrators (AHRA) meeting and exposition Aug. 23-26 in Washington, D.C.

In a letter to National Coordinator for Health IT David Blumenthal, MD, the federal Health IT (HIT) Policy Committee's Privacy and Security Tiger Team recommended an approach to privacy and security that is comprehensive and firmly guided by fair information practices.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has published a set of approved procedures for testing information technology systems that work with EHRs. The approved and finalized testing procedures are now available for use, according to the institute.

The North Carolina Hospital Association (NCHA) and the North Carolina Medical Society (NCMS) along with Moses Cone Health System and WakeMed Health & Hospitals have chosen health IT companies Thomson Reuters and CareEvolution to develop and launch the North Carolina Healthcare Information Exchange (NCHEX).

Memphis, Tenn.-based MidSouth eHealth Alliance (MSeHA) has signed a multi-year contract with Informatics Corporation of America (ICA) under which ICA will provide health information exchange (HIE) capabilities to MSeHA.

Ingenix, a subsidiary of payor UnitedHealth Group, is acquiring HIE service provider Axolotl, for an undisclosed amount. The Axolotl management team will remain in place and lead Ingenix efforts in healthcare community connectivity, according to Ingenix.