Politico

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6 Ways Physicians can Free Patient Records

A certain doctor's practice had been using EHR software for many years; they had been paying a pretty penny too.  For their own reasons they wanted to change their software. They were going to brave the uncertain and scary world of transitioning their current EHR to another one. A round of applause for that decision alone, for many practices tolerate their EHR system only because they have paid a lot of money for it and have spent a lot of time training on it. They just don’t want to go through the pain all over again. This works out in favor of most EHR system vendors, doesn't it? Make the process so painful and costly that the physicians would not want to go through it again, thereby locking the caregivers into an eternal commitment.

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Congressman Roe Reintroduces Bill To Create Joint Military EHR System

On Tuesday, Rep. Phil Roe (R-Tenn.) reintroduced legislation that calls for the development of an integrated electronic health record system for members of the military and veterans, Politico's "Morning eHealth" reports (Allen et al., "Morning eHealth," Politico, 3/25)...According to WBIR, the bill would establish a temporary panel to create criteria for the EHR system, which would then be created by a U.S.-based vendor. The vendor would receive a lump sum of $50 million to develop the system, as well as $25 million annually over five years to operate the system. Roe said a joint military and veterans EHR system would help to streamline the transfer of medical records between DOD and VA. In addition, Roe said the system could help ease coordination of benefits claims and care.

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Do Epic And Interoperability Interface? Depends On Whom You Ask

Erin McCann | Healthcare IT News | December 12, 2014

The nation’s largest electronic medical record vendor has an image problem. Verona, Wis.-based Epic has come under fire this year over its lack of interoperability, spurring the company, once well known for its mum relationship with the press, to speak up...

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Government IT contractor sues VA over Cerner Deal

Arthur Allen | Politico | August 23, 2017

CliniComp, a major Pentagon and VA electronic health records provider, is suing the Department of Veterans Affairs over Secretary David Shulkin's decision to offer a no-bid contract to Cerner to replace the agency’s VistA system. The suit brought Friday in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims charges that the VA violated federal contracting law by making the June announcement without first conducting market research or assessing the cost of the contract. It demands that the judge restrain the VA from awarding the contract to Cerner until the protest is resolved.

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Hurricanes Harvey and Irma Draw the Line - Time for the US to Embrace Open Source Emergency and Disaster Response

For nearly 20 years now the global open source community and applications have been a keystone to disaster relief efforts around the world. The enormous number of disaster relief applications and knowledge that has been developed through all these years, should, and needs to be leveraged in the current crisis. For that reason, Open Health News is starting a series of articles to highlight some of the most important solutions. A substantial portion the open source applications for emergency and disaster response that exist are actually already on the news website in the form of articles and resource pages.

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Open Source to the Rescue in Puerto Rico

Darius Tahir and Arthur Allen | Politico | October 16, 2017

This week, a collaboration of private sector companies, the government, and not-for-profits hopes to deliver an EHR system to help Puerto Rico recover from Hurricane Maria, project leader Luis Belen told Morning eHealth's Darius Tahir. Belen, CEO of the non-profit, D.C-based National Health IT Collaborative for the Underserved, has been personally touched by the disaster: two of his aunts died because of the storm. The organization is coordinating with teams from HHS to bring a package of satellite phones, pre-loaded laptops, Amazon cloud storage, and an open-source software, OpenEMR+.

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OSEHRA 2017: Open Source Becomes Mainstream in the Healthcare Industry

One of the most exciting things about the OSEHRA 2017 Open Source Summit was to see so many leading edge open source health IT solutions, and to hear reports of the major strides they are making around the world. Our very own Editor-in-Chief, Roger A. Maduro gave a presentation on the state of open health IT. The room was absolutely packed, with standing room only. Maduro started his presentation by pointing out that during the recent HIMSS17 conference in Orlando, Florida, more than half of of the 300 sessions of the conference were based on open source solutions such as FHIR, Blockchain, Interoperability and the open/modular IT strategy being followed by Medicaid.

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Rush Medical Center Demoes Patient-Centered Blue Button 2.0 Mobile App at White House Event

Press Release | Rush University Medical Center | August 17, 2018

Information technology has changed the world, and now it’s changing health care in dramatic and fast-moving ways. Rush is a nationally-recognized leader in using IT to achieve better outcomes, lower costs and improve the patient experience. This leadership reached the White House on Monday, when...Rab and Boutrs presented MyRush Mobile, an app for mobile phones developed by Rush’s information systems department, to representatives of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, including CMS director Seema Verma. The presentation was part of the Blue Button 2.0 Conference, a gathering of software developers held in the White House South Court Auditorium.

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

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 »

VA to Employees: Zip your lips

Darius Tahir | Politico | July 27, 2017

VA TO EMPLOYEES — ZIP YOUR LIPS ON EHRs: Some VA IT officials Arthur [Allen] has spoken to this week got emails instructing them to sign a non-disclosure agreement regarding the Cerner deal with the agency. The emails were directed to people who “have been selected to participate in the planning for an electronic health acquisition,” and it prohibits them from discussing “all data, information and software” related to the purchase.

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Why the VA Should Stick with VistA and Not Waste $16 Billion on an Attempt to Replace It

This VA leadership lull provides an opportunity for reflection. Specifically, it’s worth asking while we have the time whether Cerner is the right path for the VA to take. While the decision may seem like a no-brainer to some, the VA’s situation is unique and arguably calls for a singular approach to both existing organizational issues and a major healthcare IT decision. Specific to the Cerner decision, what should the new VA secretary consider?

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