Knight Foundation is teaming with other organizations to offer a challenge competition that will offer $2 million for innovative use of health data to improve the population health of communities.

Fifteen patient groups are calling on federal officials to allow the Food and Drug Administration Safety Innovation Act workgroup ample time to develop proposed strategy and recommendations on an appropriate, risk-based regulatory framework pertaining to health IT to promote innovation, protect patient safety and avoid regulatory duplication.

The number of doctors who opted out of Medicare last year, while a small proportion of the nation's health professionals, nearly tripled from three years earlier, according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Other doctors are limiting the number of Medicare patients they treat even if they don't formally opt out of the system.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has added three new frequently asked questions relating to clinical quality measures specifications under the EHR Meaningful Use program.

At the second Senate Finance Committee hearing exploring health IT matters, lawmakers heard from witnesses speaking for and against a delay in Meaningful Use Stage 2. Meanwhile, senators and witnesses alike called for a heightened focus on interoperability and stressed a need to develop a business case to drive exchange efforts.

The International Health Terminology Standards Development Organisation (IHTSDO) and the Regenstrief Institute have signed an agreement—effective for a minimum of 10 years— to begin cooperative work linking their global healthcare terminologies, Logical Observation Identifiers Names and Codes (LOINC) and SNOMED clinical terms.

The Medical Group Management Association is concerned that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services will not conduct ICD-10 testing with external trading partners.

College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (CHIME) members called for a safe and smooth transition to Meaningful Use (MU) Stage 2 during a joint hearing of two federal advisory committees in Washington, D.C.