For the first time in years, information technology (IT) leaders at healthcare organizations did not identify a lack of financial support for IT as an obstacle to implementation. So what's the problem? According to the 23rd Annual HIMSS Leadership Survey, released on Tuesday, one-quarter of respondents said adequate staffing resources within their ...

(Editor's note: This guest blog was written by Scott Warner, MLT(ASCP), a laboratory manager and freelance writer.) There's an episode of The Simpsons in which Prohibition briefly comes to Springfield. By the end of the story the streets flood with booze, and Homer toasts atop a barrel, ''To alcohol! The cause of, and solution to, all of life's ...

The Association of Health Information Outsourcing Services (AHIOS) gathered for its annual Spring meeting in New Orleans back in March. Joining the AHIOS members at the meeting were healthcare industry expert, Dr. Deborah Peel of Patient Privacy Rights and an expert from a Recovery Audit Contractor (RAC) vendor. Both presenters emphasized the ...

With patients across the country voicing a growing desire for greater engagement in and control over their medical care, a new study involving patients in Boston, Pennsylvania and Seattle will examine the impact of letting patients see the notes that doctors record during and after their visit. Funded through a $1.4 million grant from the ...

Last month, I reported that the Office for Civil Rights had posted a list of covered entities with privacy breaches affecting more than 500 patients. The list is part of the Department of Health and Human Services' (HHS) new obligations under HITECH. Well, it looks like they're keeping the log up-to-date. I was tipped off by PHIprivacy.net that ...

When the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) finally released the long-awaited proposed definition of meaningful use as it applies to electronic health records (EHRs), it opened up a 60-day public comment period. In the spirit of ''full'' disclosure, the government has posted some of these comments on a Web site. Here are just a few ...

Jobs I'd never want: First Doc, aka the President's primary care physician. Think about how Ford's physician must have cringed whenever he took a spill on the stairs, or the constant concern of how all that stress could be affecting Clinton's thumper. And, if the smoking rumors are true, the current White House medical staff is probably hard at ...

I just got back from vacation. Not to some luxurious lodge or all-inclusive resort, no. I bussed, boated and biked around southern Nicaragua. My college roommate is in the Peace Corp. there, so another college roommate and I thought a few days off would be well-spent exploring our friend's locale. My Peace Corp. friend isn't much of a planner, ...

I tend to watch the Super Bowl for the ads, so it's no surprise that while tuning in to the 2010 Olympics this weekend, a clever commercial caught my eye. GE Healthcare ran this ad about electronic health records (EHRs), showing how the technology connects physicians and improves coordination of care. The commercial starts in what appears to be ...

If my doctor closed up shop, I'd be miffed. If I couldn't get my records on file there, I'd probably say, the heck with ‘em. But as someone who's jumped around to a few docs over the past year, I know how helpful it is to have all your records in one place. Family history? No sweat. Immunization dates? Er, um, I know I got them at some ...