Are you anxiously awaiting CMS final word on meaningful use (MU)? Do you believe the feds will deliver at least some of the MU goods before spring turns to summer, as stated last winter? Although weve covered plenty of stakeholder comments and recommendations for changes since then, the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT has been comparatively quiet about when to expect a final ruling. Late spring was the official word. Now, late spring is on the verge of being early summer.

CMIO.net has been offering a glimpse at some of the results of our first-ever Top Trends/CMIO Census survey this week, in honor of the fifth-annual National Health IT Week, which is happening in Washington, D.C. Interoperability has been front and center at this weeklong event and our survey results reflect that focus among CMIOs in the field as well.

Versus Technology of Traverse City, Mich., a provider of real-time locating systems (RTLS) to hospitals and clinics, has entered a partnership with Iatric Systems, a Meditech integration services provider. The partnership will allow Meditech customers to add Versus RTLS data to existing systems for clinical location and automation.

Image and information management systems provider DR Systems has added new capabilities to its electronic medical information exchange (eMix), now allowing for importing and data sharing from CDs, DVDs and other external media.

Biotronik has released its ProMRI pacing systemsEvia pacemaker and Safio pacing leadsto the European market.

Litzenberg Memorial County Hospital in Central City, Neb., and Pioneer Community Hospital of Patrick County in Stuart, Va., have selected NovaRad RIS/PACS.

Declining profits and decreasing staffing may hinder hospital quality and safety, according to an analysis in the June issue of Journal of Hospital Medicine.

GE Healthcare has added the Saas (Software as a Service) tool for small, independent clinical practices, Centricity Advance, to its Centricity family; offering a combination of EMR, practice management and patient portal tools.