The following excerpt is from our whitepaper, "Engage, Retain, & Acquire Referring Physicians: Making Yours An In-Demand Radiology Practice." For years, getting radiology reports efficiently to referring physicians had been a conundrum; none of the options were great. Yet, they were the only ones available at the time: regular or special delivery mail, courier if the recipient was local enough, perhaps leaving the report in the physician’s mailbox at the hospital, or faxing it.

The following excerpt is from an article found on EHR Intelligence. It was written by Vera Gruessner. Over the last two decades, the medical industry has changed drastically in terms of patient care and access to medical records. It was nearly impossible to obtain one’s own health record 20 years ago. Forbes reports that patients had little choice but to press legal action if they wished to access their own medical data.

The following excerpt is from an article found on Health IT Outcomes. It was written by Katie Wike. According to a survey conducted by HIMSS in honor of Nurses Week, the majority of nurses wouldn’t go back to the way records were before EHR implementation. Nurses agree, EHRs improve patient safety and most couldn’t do their job without them. HIMSS conducted a survey of more than 600 nurses in honor of National Nurses Week.

The following excerpt is from an article found on Healthcare Global. It was written by Joyce Morse. Hospitals and clinics are always striving to find new ways to accomplish the same goal—providing excellent patient care. One of the ways that is happening is through cloud-based electronic health record (EHR) systems. Electronic health records make it easier to access patient data and communicate with other members of the team. Using a cloud system has even greater benefits for the medical facility.

The following is an excerpt from EHR Intelligence. It was written by Vera Gruessner. There are a variety of issues healthcare professionals, providers, and payers are concerned about regarding the ICD-10 transition deadline. Last week, we discussed and dispelled some common myths that stakeholders have about the ICD-10 transition deadline. This week we will go over an additional five facts that address some typical questions and concerns about ICD-10 implementation.

The follow excerpt is from an article on iHealthBeat. The increased adoption of electronic health records and other health IT has improved patient safety, according to an issue brief by the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT, Health IT Analytics reports. The issue brief -- which is the first of four that ONC plans to publish by September 2015 -- examined four systematic literature reviews and various studies that show how health IT has influenced factors that affect patient safety.

The following excerpt is from an article found on MedScape. It was written by Betsy Nicoletti. The US healthcare community is moving to ICD-10 in October 2015. There will be 70,000 choices of diagnosis codes alone, instead of a mere 16,000 choices currently available to describe a condition, illness, injury, or symptom. Coders are delighted. Physicians, not so much. But despite the notice and preparation, there are things that could go amiss.

The following excerpt is from an article found on The Business Journals. It was written by Mike Sabitov. The latest data breach of Premera Blue Cross, exposing the medical data and financial information of 11 million customers, offers the industry a solemn reminder that it simply isn’t doing enough to protect patient data from known security threats. If a business has any contact with electronic health records or medical information, Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) compliance and patient data security should be a prime concern. That’s because government regulations mandated by HIPAA states that the all protected health information must be strictly protected — and any breach of such information must be reported immediately.

The following excerpt is from an article found on Medcity News. It was written by David Harlow. The Meaningful Use - Stage 3 proposed rule has been released, with official publication due on March 30. Likewise, the 2015 edition of EHR certification criteria and related rules. Check out the CMS presser and ONC fact sheet. Key to these rules, which lay the foundation for a post-Meaningful Use incentive-driven Health IT ecosystem, is the use of APIs - for the uninitiated, "application programming interfaces" - or simplified connectors that allow for easier transfer of data. The Meaningful Use requirements have themselves been simplified -- whittled down to eight high-level requirements, expressed as program goals or objectives:

The following is an excerpt from our whitepaper, "The Importance of Patient Engagement & Why You Need It." Today it is difficult to think of an industry that does not take advantage of computers, internet access, and specialized software to get work done faster and more efficiently. That, combined with the fact that people (patients) are so accustomed to using computers and smartphones to access and provide information is why they are often surprised when the front desk staff at their medical practice hands them a heavy clipboard with a stack of paper forms to fill out. After all, shouldn’t a medical practice - almost more than any other type of business - be better automated than that?