It’s ethical for medical students to tap into EHRs to track former patients, but safeguards are needed to protect patient privacy and ensure such work is restricted to research purposes, according to a study published in Academic Medicine.

Athenahealth's acquisition of the web-based EHR developed at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston fills a gaping hole in the vendor’s product line and helps the Harvard University-affiliated health system move its own IT operation forward.

Just weeks after officially entering the hospital EHR market with the purchase of a small vendor serving rural, community and critical access hospitals, athenahealth is taking the full plunge, acquiring the EHR technology of a major academic medical center.

EHR vendor Cerner has completed its $1.3 billion acquisition of Siemens Health Services (SHS), the U.S.-based health IT division of German industrial conglomerate Siemens AG, the purchaser announced Monday.

Meaningful Use has led the country to a dramatic increase in EHR adoption and the focus on information exchange makes the accurate linkage of patients with their health information more important and more complex than ever.

After multiple requests from a range of established organizations and newly created coalitions to relieve the burden of Meaningful Use, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has announced its intent to engage in rulemaking to update the Medicare and Medicaid EHR Incentive Programs beginning in 2015.

Providers in rural areas with small practices and fewer resources might not be able to sustain the meaningful use of EHRs, according to a study published in the Annals of Family Medicine.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Jan. 27, 2015 — The organization connecting Electronic Health Records (EHRs) for nearly one million patients at 11 different health care facilities in Georgia, is growing. In the past six months, the number of data sources providing information through the GRAChIE network has grown by 450 percent.