The ONC has given guidance which is adding more roadblocks for hospitals and health systems working to become meaningful users of EHRs. As I posted on the ONC blog, they have published on the ONC website an FAQ stating that hospitals must have EHRs that have been certified against all 24 objectives of meaningful use, not just […]
Chatting with the National Coordinator for Health IT
I had a brief chat with Dr. David Blumenthal last week that basically covered four areas: Transparency at the ONC; HITREC and communities of shared learning; Personal Health Records and possible certification; Rural practices and Critical Access Hospitals. Regarding transparency, which is something I’m fairly passionate about and have seen some improvements on at the ONC, Dr. Blumenthal said, “Trust is such an important factor in the management of sensitive information that it has to be attended to in everything we do. I think that being open is one way to create trust.”
HIE the Oregon Way
Getting it done in Oregon with HITOC, REC, & OHN Interoperability of clinical systems and a robust health information exchange will be key to achieving the goals of using health IT: helping lower the cost of health care, and improving quality of care and clinical outcomes. This will not be instantaneous, or simple. In Oregon […]
Hospital Systems Want To Help
I keep bouncing between cynicism and optimism on ARRA and the meaningful use rule. There are definitely a few problems with the proposed rule but I want to focus right now on how it will define a hospital-based eligible provider. I’m trying to be an optimist, but this portion of the rule really seems counter […]