Sara Heath

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ONC Beacon Program Highlights EHR Adoption, Use Challenges

Sara Heath | EHR Intelligence | February 10, 2016

A research program out of the Office of the National Coordinator of Health IT (ONC) offers insights into how communities use health IT and EHR adoption to achieve the triple aim of better care, better costs, and overall better patient health. Launched in 2010, the Beacon Community Program provided $250 million in grants to each of 17 communities to examine how these communities adopt EHRs and other health IT to better their overall healthcare structure. In an after-the-fact analysis of the program, NORC at the University of Chicago found that many of these communities faced similar challenges that other healthcare systems face when adopting their health IT...

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ONC Details Plan to Improve Data Standards, Big Data Analytics

Sara Heath | Health IT Analytics | May 17, 2016

ONC has proposed several pieces of legislation promoting better and more effective data standards for health information exchange, which would help to support the use of healthcare big data analytics to improve patient care. According to a recent blog post published by ONC’s Karen Desalvo and Lisa Lewis, the agency has proposed several pieces of legislation in an effort to keep pace with the quick evolution of healthcare IT...

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Personal Health Record Adoption Rates Exceed MU Requirements

Sara Heath | Patient Engagement HIT | March 31, 2016

Personal health record adoption is expected to reach nearly 75 percent by 2020, far surpassing what's expected in meaningful use patient engagement requirements.
Patient preferences for engagement tools, such as personal health records, may be outpacing meaningful use’s patient engagement requirements, according to a recent study published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research...

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Physician EHR Use, Workload Trumping Face Time with Patients

Sara Heath | EHR Intelligence | September 7, 2016

For every hour physicians spend with patients, they spend another two hours on physician EHR use and deskwork, according to a recent study from the American Medical Association. The AMA study highlights what many consider the primary issue with the increasing prevalence of physician EHR use: the significant workload the technology adds for providers...

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Physician Feedback Key to EHR Usability Improvements

Sara Heath | EHR Intelligence | August 3, 2016

In order to improve physician EHR use, health IT developers need to take into consideration the needs of end users and practice managers. New research shows that developers can improve EHR usability when they collect user feedback periodically. According to a research team led by Anne Press, MD, this user feedback is important when integrating new specialty functions into an EHR...

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Understanding Effect of EHR Usability on Clinical Workflows

Sara Heath | EHR Intelligence | August 26, 2016

As EHR use becomes ubiquitous in the healthcare industry, questions about EHR usability come into play. Read More »

Vets Call for VA EHR Optimization, Interoperability Advances

Sara Heath | EHR Intelligence | September 15, 2016

The Department of Veterans Affairs needs an overhaul of its Veterans Information Systems and Technology Architecture (Vista) EHR — either in the form of EHR optimization or a commercial EHR replacement — to improve care quality for American veterans, several veterans groups have claimed. Purchasing a commercial EHR may alleviate some of the VA’s issues in developing a robust health IT system, Harvey suggested. Few hearing witnesses disagreed that VA’s health IT infrastructure and EHR system need a significant overhaul...

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