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Sentara Healthcare, which operates more than 100 sites in Virginia, has partnered with Sunrise, Fla.-based MDLIVE to offer patients virtual medical consultations with its network of physicians. As part of the deal, Sentara will take an equity stake in the privately held telehealth firm.

Vendors say Stage 2 is 'doable.' But test scripts, and guidance on quality measures, would be appreciated to really get going.

The Armstrong Institute for Patient Safety and Quality at Johns Hopkins Medicine has partnered with the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) to design and deploy a set of interventions to reduce medical errors in intensive care units.

The American Medical Association recently called on CMS to exempt physicians who were close to retirement from the meaningful use program, arguing it would be too costly, perhaps even driving doctors to drop their Medicare patients to avoid the program's penalties come 2015.

The healthcare industry has been lethargic, resistant even, to redesigning care models and embracing innovative technology that other industries have long utilized. One organization, in particular, seeks to change that.

As it rolls out a new electronic health record system across eight hospitals, MaineHealth will also deploy speech recognition technology to make it easier and quicker to fill in the patient chart.

I'll admit it ... I had never even heard of "predictive analytics" while practicing medicine or even in the decade after leaving clinical practice.

As we move into the next stage of IT enablement for healthcare, hospitals and health insurers will need to help lead the charge on population health and care coordination. The entire focus of healthcare reform has been to expand access and improve care and quality for the population, and ultimately for the individual.

Everyone wants to be heard. And, by all accounts, the providers and healthcare organizations that commented on the proposed rule for meaningful use Stage 2 weren't just wishing upon a star when they sent their carefully crafted comments to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services for consideration.

The Seventh Annual National Health IT Week, held September 10-14, celebrated the need for health information technology in making comprehensive healthcare reform possible, and was a testament to the progress being made. If renowned nurse, "The Lady with the Lamp," Florence Nightingale were alive today, she would most likely be amazed and pleased. Nightingale (1820-1910) meticulously collected data on healthcare and used it to improve outcomes. She was the founder of several data analysis tools still used today, according to American Nurses Association.  To some today  -  and perhaps to Nightingale  -  healthcare IT adoption may be going too slow, but there is achievement worth noting. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services recently reported it has paid nearly $7 billion in Medicare and Medicaid electronic health record payments since the program's beginning in 2011, with $6.9 billion paid out to 143,800 physicians and hospitals in total program estimates through the end of August. In July, the totals were $6.6 billion since the program's start, paid to 132,511 eligible providers. Of course, it's not all roses. Most hospitals and health systems report being well along in completing electronic health record implementation, but many still have doubts about their ability to meet new EHR standards, according to a new poll from KPMG. Forty-eight percent of hospital and health system business leaders who participated in the survey said they were confident in their organization's level of readiness to meet Stage 1 meaningful use requirements, say KPMG officials. Thirty-nine percent said they were somewhat confident, 3 percent said they were not confident at all, and 10 percent didn't know what their level of readiness was. With the impending election and fears that the Affordable Care Act may be dismantled should Republicans take power, some are also afraid the frenzy to cut federal spending could blossom into cutbacks on health IT incentives into the future. But for now, HIT incentives are safe through the HITECH Act. One thing is certain. With or without incentives, healthcare IT will move forward, if simply to catch up with a rapidly advancing tech society, accustomed to new smart phones and computers with new bells and whistles on an ongoing basis.  It may be only the seventh year  -  a small step  -  for National Health IT Week, but it is part of a big leap for healthcare consumers.