Portrait of Andrew Gettinger

Meet Dr. Andrew Gettinger, ONC’s New CMIO

Andrew Gettinger | April 28, 2015

So what is an anesthesiology critical care specialist with over 30 years of clinical practice at a highly regarded academic medical center doing as the ONC’s chief medical information officer?  The answer includes direction from Dr. Jack Wennberg, pioneer researcher in medical systems and founder of the health services research group that is now best known for the Dartmouth atlas, followed twenty years later by the same but much clearer advice and direction from former Surgeon General,

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Portrait of Andrew Gettinger

The Evidence Shows IOM Was Right on Health IT and Patient Safety

Andrew Gettinger | April 27, 2015

The potential for health IT to reduce errors has been a pillar of health policy on patient safety since the Institute of Medicine’s To Err is Human (2000) and Crossing the Quality Chasm (2001).  In 2012, in Health IT and Patient Safety: Building Safer Systems for Better Care the IOM found the evidence on the impact of health IT on patient safety was “mixed.”  

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Portrait of Dr. Karen B. DeSalvo

Health Information Technology: Where We Stand And Where We Need To Go

Dr. Karen B. DeSalvo | April 24, 2015

Karen DeSalvo, M.D., M.P.H., M.Sc., the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, discusses her view of the health information technology landscape. She outlines an agenda for her office that includes incentivizing interoperability, “standardizing standards,” and establishing shared expectations and actions around data security and privacy. This post, which also appears on Health Affairs Blog, is based on Dr. DeSalvo’s presentation at the Health Information and Management Systems Society 2015 annual conference last week.

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Portrait of Matthew Swain

Health Information Exchange among U.S. Hospitals Grew Significantly in 2014

Matthew Swain | April 15, 2015

Advancing secure and interoperable exchange is a core component of the Federal Health IT Strategic Plan 2015-2020 and the focus of the Nationwide Interoperability Roadmap. A key goal of both plans is to increase interoperable exchange of health information across the care continuum, and advance better care, spending health care dollars more wisely, and a healthier nation by enabling providers and individuals to send, find, receive, and use health information when and where it matters most.

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