What patient data are you allowed to access on your smartphone, and where? Please hold while a phalanx of federal agencies hammers out an answer.

A diagnostic picture is often worth more than a thousand words. But whetherand howto include images in the EMR as a requirement for meaningful use is an ongoing discussion. Thus far, images have been excluded from federal discussions of the criteria for meaningful use. At the grassroots level, however, the debate over images and meaningful use is lively to say the least. Many physicians claim images are a vital tool for accurate and timely diagnosis and should be at least considered in the scenarios for meaningful use. Others believe healthcare providers have too many other requirements on their plates right now.

Better communication is more than simply a matter of putting all necessary information together in one place. Im reminded of that every time I come to work at the VA facility in Tampa, where everythings there, in the VistA EMR, but theres so much there that its impossible in a one-hour outpatient visitnever mind the usual allotted 20 minutes of outpatient clinic timeto complete a review of whats happened since the physician last saw the patient.

Federal attorneys, acting on behalf of Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, filed a 39-page brief in the U.S. District Court of Richmond in Virginia this week, in an attempt to dismiss Virginias lawsuit against the Obama Administrations healthcare reform law.

The DAPT [Dual-AntiPlatelet Therapy] trial has expanded into seven countries in the European Union, according to the Harvard Clinical Research Institute.

The American Roentgen Ray Society (ARRS) has named Barry Benson Goldberg, MD, professor of radiology at Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia and Philip O. Alderson, MD, dean of the School of Medicine and vice president for Health Sciences at Saint Louis University as its gold medal recipients for Distinguished Service to Radiology.

Healthcare delivery is undergoing drastic changes, making interoperability all the more imperativeas long its done carefully, said George Conklin, senior vice president and CIO of Christus Health, a faith-based healthcare network based in Dallas, which has hospitals in Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, Georgia, Missouri and New Mexico, as well as Mexico. Conklin recently spoke with CMIO about Christus Healths initiatives to get beyond point-to-point interfaces.

The FDA has approved Boston Scientifics Latitude 6.0, a software upgrade to the company's Latitude patient management system.