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Learn more about HHS’s Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC)
From the ONC Desk EHR Adoption Grants Awarded
Dr. David Blumenthal | February 12, 2010
Today Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced the awarding of nearly $800 million in grants to help states and health care providers advance the adoption and meaningful use of health information technology. Funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, $386 million will promote health information exchange at the state level, while $375 million will support the development of regional extension centers (RECs) that will aid health professionals as they work to implement and use health information technology (health IT).
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EHR Case Studies New EHR Adoption Statistics
Dr. David Blumenthal | January 26, 2010
The CDC recently released its latest report on the adoption of electronic health records/electronic medical records (EHR/EMR) amongst office-based physicians from the National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey. As a physician who trained and initially practiced in a time where nearly every order, record, and prescription was paper-based, the results are striking to me.
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Meaningful Use The Meaningful Use NPRM Public Comment Open
Dr. David Blumenthal | January 15, 2010
The Meaningful Use NPRM and the Initial Set of Standards and Certification Criteria IFR have now been published and are available for public comment.
To view/download the Meaningful Use NPRM: PDF [7.38 MB] | HTML
To view/download the Initial Set of Standards and Certification Criteria IFR: PDF [247 KB] | HTML
Please make your comments through regulations.gov.
Also, my recent article in the New England Journal of Medicine zooms out for a bird’s eye view of how these regulations fit within the larger context of the HITECH Act.
Meaningful Use A Meaningful Use Defining Moment
Dr. David Blumenthal | December 30, 2009
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued its draft definition for the “meaningful use” of electronic health records (EHRs) today as part of its notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM). The NPRM describes the proposed implementation of incentives to providers for the adoption and meaningful use of certified EHRs. This NPRM from CMS kicks off a 60-day public comment period to help inform its development of the final 2011 meaningful use criteria.
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Local Implementation Support ONC’s Work to Stimulate Innovation and Diffuse EHR Best Practices
Joshua Seidman | December 28, 2009
A recent New Yorker article by Atul Gawande skillfully draws an analogy between today’s health care crisis and the food crisis our country faced a century ago. Whereas the heath care system currently consumes about 17% of the U.S. economy, Americans spent more than 40% of their income on food at the turn of the last century. Like our current health care system, there existed a huge chasm between what science suggested could be achieved in improved quality and productivity and how farmers dispersed throughout the country were actually practicing.
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