The Federal Health Architecture (FHA) has released CONNECT 4.0, an open-source platform for enabling secure health information exchange that supports current federal IT standards and Meaningful Use Stage 2 core objectives related to the secure electronic exchange of information through CONNECT’s support of Direct project specifications and NwHIN transports.

The National Health Service Corps awarded more than $10 million in funding for loan repayment to 87 medical students in 29 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, who will serve as primary care doctors and help strengthen the healthcare workforce, according to Department of Health and Human Services' Secretary Kathleen Sebelius.

eClinicalWorks has launched a patient engagement initiative aimed to improve communication channels between patients and healthcare providers. The company is investing an additional $25 million over the next 12 months to expand and update its patient engagement tools under its business unit Health & Online Wellness (healow).

Health IT interventions have improved access to obesity treatment and rates of screening; however, the impact on weight loss and other health outcomes remains understudied and inconsistent. This study was published in the January issue of Pediatrics.

Inadequate clinical information systems that lacked the ability to identify which patients should receive decision aids or the ability to capture whether patients' views were considered in subsequent care are some of the biggest challenges facing primary care physicians seeking to implement shared decision making. The results of an eight-site demonstration was published in the February issue of Health Affairs.

A new report from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality highlights findings and lessons from the experiences of grantees funded by the Enabling Patient-Centered Care through Health IT (PCC) Initiative. Grantees were selected to study different approaches for using health IT to create or enhance the delivery of patient-centered care in ambulatory care settings.

McKesson has reported a 1 percent drop in net income for the fiscal third quarter, which ended Dec. 31, 2012, even though the revenues were up 1 percent. The company also lowered fiscal year expectations slightly.

Pulmonary researchers at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore and University of Washington have expanded the Early Intervention in Cystic Fibrosis Exacerbation (eICE) study, including an additional 12 investigative sites that are now enrolling patients to the randomized study, which was initiated in February 2012.