Recent News

Surgeon General Creates Online Tool to Help Users Organize their Family Health History -- (November 2008) -- New tool is a part of the Surgeon General's Family History Initiative national public health campaign.

Health Care Stakeholders Release E-Prescribing Guide -- (October 2008 ) -- New guide will help physicians make informed decisions about how and when to transition from paper to electronic prescribing systems.

National Quality Forum Endorses New Health IT Standards -- (September 2008) -- New standards standards address electronic prescribing, electronic health record interoperability, care management, quality registries and the medical home.

Email & Medicine: One FP's Experience -- (July 2008) -- If you build a secure venue for patients to interact with you via email, will they use it?

AAFP, AAP, ACC, ACOG and MGMA launch "Get Connected" E-Prescribing Program -- (March 2008) -- The Center for Improving Medication Management, of which the AAFP is a partner, announces the "Get Connected" program, aimed at helping physicians' offices integrate e-prescribing.

California HealthCare Foundation Issues Report on Open Source Medical Software -- (January 2008) -- Report looks at free and open source software and whether such systems are suitable for widespread adoption and effective use as EHRs in physician offices.

NCVHS Releases Report on Security of Electronically Collected and Transmitted Health Data -- (January 2008) -- Recommendations in the report call for a "transformation to enhanced protections for all uses of health data by all users, independent of HIPAA covered entity status."

Pending NJ Legislation Would Create Statewide Health IT Infrastructure -- (January 2008) -- The bill has already been approved by the state legislature, and goes next to the Governor.

Wellpoint Members To Use Zagat Survey Tool to Rate Physicians -- (January 2008) -- Insurer will use ratings to supplement its database of cost and quality info.

Time-Motion Study Shows Carefully Implemented E-Prescribing Doesn't Negatively Impact Workflow -- (January 2008) -- Prescribers spent more time with the computer but less time in script-writing.

German Physicians Reject Idea of Centrally-held Patient Records -- (January 2008) -- Physicians' group suggests using thumbdrives instead.

E-Prescribing, Including Scripts for Controlled Substances, Gains Momentum in Washington -- (January 2008) -- AMNews covers a bill encouraging e-prescribing and a hearing on controlled substances.

News Archive -- Previous news stories related to EHR and HIT.