To facilitate a healthcare delivery system in Kansas, Gov. Mark Parkinson has established the nonprofit, public-private Kansas Health Information Exchange (HIE) to uphold federal requirements for a statewide exchange of health information.

The Privacy and Security Tiger Team has a finite amount of time to determine how to protect personal health information, particularly in the growing trend of message handling in directed exchanges where intermediaries may be required, and therefore, an increased exposure to risk, explained Deven McGraw, Chair of Privacy & Security Tiger Team, during the HIT Standards Committee meeting on June 30.

To move the Nationwide Health Information Exchange (NHIN) from a set of broad policies to production systems, the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT (ONC) must translate strategy into operational actions, according to Doug Fridsma, MD, PhD, acting director of the Office of Interoperability and Standards at ONC. Fridsma made his comments during a presentation with Arien Malec, coordinator for the NHIN Direct, ONC.

Without governance, the National Healthcare Information Network (NHIN) exchange cannot expand beyond specific categories of participants because these are currently limited by legal guidance, stated Mary Jo Deering, PhD, Office of the National Coordinator for Health ITs Office of Policy and Planning, NHIN Policy and Governance during her presentation on NHIN governance at the Health IT Standards Committee meeting this week.

Claiming that not enough has been done to protect the privacy rights of patients, the Rhode Island chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union filed suit Tuesday against the R.I. Department of Health, challenging the rules the agency has adopted to implement a centralized database of patient healthcare records in the state for its statewide health information exchange.

The number of unnecessary cervical spine radiographs in the emergency department can be decreased with the addition of an imaging algorithm, according to a study published in the July edition of the Journal of the American College of Radiology.

A survey of members of the Medical Group Management Association (MGMA) shows that practice managers are concerned with three main challenges: dealing with rising operating costs; managing finances with the uncertainty of Medicare reimbursement rates; and selecting and implementing a new EHR system.

Eight in 10 hospital CIOs are reportedly concerned or very concerned they will not be able to demonstrate meaningful use of EHRs within the federally established deadline of 2015, according to a report from PricewaterhouseCoopers Health Research Institute.