Health IT leaders discuss what could and should appear in the new and future meaningful use regulations. Despite the delay of implementation of stage 2, various thought leaders suggest that the choice is pain now or pain later.

Busy emergency departments are finding the use of medical scribes helpful in alleviating the pains of the ever-changing relationship between the physician and the computer. More robust notes and physician satisfaction are driving the use of scribes into more areas of healthcare.

KLAS published its 2011 Best in KLAS Awards: Software & Professional Services report, an annual report ranking the best-performing healthcare IT vendors in more than 100 market segments based on ratings from over 18,000 interviews with healthcare providers.

The U.S. House of Representative passed the Middle Class Tax Relief & Job Creation Act (H.R. 3630) Dec. 13. Among other things, H.R. 3630 prevents an across the board 27 percent cut to Medicare physician reimbursement statutorily required by the Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR) formula. The bill provides physicians with a 1 percent increase in Medicare payments for 2012 and 2013.

Women diagnosed with breast cancer are increasingly burdened by multiple imaging appointments prior to surgery, according to researchers from Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia, who presented the findings Dec. 9 at the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium.

The U.K. Department of Healths Whole System Demonstrator (WSD) program to study the effects of telemedicine has yielded positive results so far, according to a December report.

It's time for the annual CMIO Compensation Survey. CMIOs and other health IT leaders are invited to help CMIO compile a comprehensive view of the trends in the industry and the factors that are most important when determining salary. Three participants will win a $100 Visa gift card.

Qualcomm has spun off a new subsidiary to develop its own line of wireless offerings for use with medical devices. The new entity also will establish a $100 million investment program to fund ventures in biosensor technologies, remote care systems and health IT apps.