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Two New Federal Reports Released That Have Major Public Health Impacts

By Noam H. Arzt, Ph.D. | April 18, 2023

Two new Federal reports were recently released that have a public health impact. First, the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) released its 2022 Report to Congress: Update on Access, Exchange, and Use of Electronic Health Information. This report covers the current state of adoption of health information technology and access to electronic health information guided largely by the requirements of the 2016 21st Century Cures Act. The report observes that, “Although tremendous progress has been made with EHRs that capture and support the use of health information about individuals, the COVID-19 pandemic exposed gaps in health IT systems that support capturing and using population data. The challenges exposed during the public health response to the COVID-19 pandemic pinpointed the importance of health IT to monitor population health regarding public health surveillance of testing, diagnosis, and vaccine distribution.”

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U. S. Electronic Health Record Initiative: A Backlash Growing?

Robert N. Charette | IEEE.org | March 7, 2013

There seems to be a slow but steady backlash growing among healthcare providers against the U.S. government’s $30 billion initiative to get all its citizens an electronic health record, initially set to happen by 2014 but now looking at 2020 or beyond. Read More »

U.K. Considers Adopting VistA

Susan D. Hall | FierceHealthIT | July 5, 2013

The United Kingdom is considering the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs' VistA electronic health record system as it looks to expand open-source software for health IT. Read More »

Understanding Effect of EHR Usability on Clinical Workflows

Sara Heath | EHR Intelligence | August 26, 2016

As EHR use becomes ubiquitous in the healthcare industry, questions about EHR usability come into play. Read More »

Unhappy Lawmakers Take Aim At VA, DoD Plans To Nix Joint EHR

Jennifer Bresnick | EHR Intelligence | February 8, 2013

After the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Department of Defense announced plans to scale back costs by scrapping plans to create an entirely new EHR system shared between the two organizations, lawmakers on both sides of the aisle expressed disappointment and frustration... Read More »

United Kingdom Eyes VA’s Electronic Health Record

Bob Brewin | Nextgov | March 25, 2013

The Veterans Affairs Department and the United Kingdom’s National Health Service have teamed up to share ideas, strategies and leadership for development of health information technology, opening the possibility that the NHS could use VA’s electronic health record system. Peter Levin, the former VA Chief Technology Officer who retired this month, told Nextgov the Pentagon also should adopt VA electronic health record. Read More »

UnitedHealth Recalls Digital Health Record Software

Jordan Robertson | Bloomberg | September 10, 2013

UnitedHealth Group Inc. (UNH) has recalled software used in hospital emergency departments in more than 20 states because of an error that caused doctor’s notes about patient prescriptions to drop out of their files. Read More »

Universal EHR? No. Universal Data Access? Yes.

William Hersh | The Health Care Blog | May 23, 2013

A recent blog posting calls for a “universal EMR” for the entire healthcare system. The author provides an example and correctly laments how lack of access to the complete data about a patient impedes optimal clinical care. [...] However, I do not agree that a “universal EMR” is the best way to solve this problem. Read More »

Updated OIG 2015 work plan adds EHR issues under review

Marla Durben Hirsch | FierceEMR | June 8, 2015

The Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General continues to refine its scrutiny of electronic health records, adding a new focus area in an update to its work plan, but deleting several older items previously under review. The 2015 update says that for the first time, OIG will review the use of EHRs by accountable care organizations to coordinate care.

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Upgrading the PULSE Emergency Response Tool to a Community Edition

By Rachel Abbey | September 27, 2021

Seven years ago the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) began work on the Patient Unified Lookup System for Emergencies (PULSE). PULSE is an effort to create national resilience by improving first responder access to patient electronic health information they need to provide services and ensure public health during disasters, including public health emergencies. Recently, ONC launched a new, code-only technical solution called PULSE-Community Edition (PULSE Community) that builds on the original PULSE code. PULSE Community enables first responders and other response personnel (e.g., epidemiologists, emergency medical services, and health care volunteers) to securely access vital health information they need during emergencies and disasters from connected health care organizations.

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US and UK working to strengthen use of health IT for better patient care

Press Release | US Department of Health and Human Services | January 23, 2014

As the use of health information technology (health IT) grows in both the United States and the United Kingdom, HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and U.K. Secretary of State for Health Jeremy Hunt today signed a bi-lateral agreement for the use and sharing of health IT information and tools. The agreement strengthens efforts to cultivate and increase the use of health IT tools and information designed to help improve the quality and efficiency of the delivery of health care in both countries.

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US Defense Think Tank Calls for DoD to Adopt the Open Source VistA EHR and Avoid Closed and Proprietary EHRs.

By Roger A. Maduro | February 13, 2015

One of the most prestigious U.S. defense think tanks, the Center for a New American Security (CNAS), issued a white paper Thursday calling on the Department of Defense (DoD) to replace their existing dysfunctional “vendor-lock” medical records system with an electronic health records system (EHR) that is "extensible, flexible and easy to safely modify and upgrade as technology improves and interoperability demands evolve." The white paper warns that a "closed and proprietary" commercial EHR - such as the ones offered by Epic, Cerner or Allscripts - will lead to "vendor-lock” and isolation of health data. Read More »

US-UK sign healthcare IT MoU

Lis Evenstad | ehi | January 23, 2014

NHS England and the Health and Social Care Information Centre will sign a healthcare IT memorandum of understanding with the US Department for Health and Social Services today. The MoU focuses on sharing common values around healthcare informatics and making it easier for small and medium-sized enterprises to get a foot in the door on both sides of the Atlantic.

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Usability Of EHRs Remains A Priority For ONC

Jacob Reider | Health IT Buzz | January 6, 2014

The New Year is a time of reflection and anticipation. We reflect on what went well in the past (and perhaps what didn’t go so well); we anticipate future challenges and accomplishments. Read More »

Usability, Accessibility and Telehealth

By Bennett Lauber | September 4, 2015

This month there are two healthcare conferences that we will be attending here in Washington DC. One is the American Telehealth Association’s Fall forum and the other is The Interagency Committee on Disability Research (ICDR)’s Accessibility and Usability in Health Information Technology (HIT)...The ATA Fall Forum focuses on specific telemedicine topics and allows attendees to network and make lasting professional connections in a smaller-scaled environment. Tackle telemedicine, telehealth and mHealth industry issues right at the health care policy epicenter, Washington, DC.

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